A song of dimly lit, strange salvation, “Just Another Whistle Stop” is a gem worth digging up for those who rarely get past the Band’s first two albums.

Long after the Band’s initial split, Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm remained torn by disagreements over songwriting credits.

The Band begin turning away from the enveloping narrative worlds that defined their first albums to deal with the very real issues of their lives.

Levon Helm once summed up the place that “King Harvest” occupies: “It was like: There, that’s the Band.”

For Robbie Robertson, the Thanksgiving season can be a complicated time.

Not much, thus far into the Band’s official discography, had hinted at the lip-busting brawn of their early work with Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan – until this.

The Band’s Richard Manuel doesn’t sing this as if telling the story of a man walled off by loneliness; he lives and breathes every bruising syllable.

Levon Helm’s delicately poignant vocal completely animates this key song from the Band – stripping bare the awful costs of these kind of conflicts.

A cross between a Memphis blues and a Storyville saloon romp, “Rag Mama Rag” showed the Band’s complete grasp of American song styles.

The Band’s initial live release found them off-handedly overhauling their catalog, rather than attempting to simply replicate it.