Cahoots was The Band’s 4th studio LP and the critics were ready to dismiss it after praising earlier efforts to the skies. Being a critical darling can suck. I’ve always been very fond of this record and frequently use the U word to describe it: Underrated.
The packaging and cover art were one of the original LP’s strong points. The cover art is by Gilbert Stone and the eye popping death mask style back cover photo was lensed (is that a word?) by the great Richard Avedon.
Here’s the back cover. Wake up, y’all:
Here’s a swell song, co-written by Robbie Robertson and Van Morrison and featuring the latter doing a duet with Richard Manuel: