The Band: Cahoots (Capitol SMAS-651)

THE FIRST five times I played Cahoots I liked it — perhaps because I considered Stage Fright such a drought, and the new LP was at least a little bit of rain. Cahoots seemed at first blush to possess the virtues of both the first and second Band albums, but after five more listenings Cahoots has begun to reveal its shallowness and lack of purpose, and the tunes which originally enthralled me have become commonplace to my ears. The album yields none of the exquisite staying power of either Big Pink or The Band, and it upsets the hope that The Band would reverse their steady downward trend. They have tried very hard, sometimes to admirable effect, to revitalize the group, but they have, quite disappointingly, failed to effect a major overhaul. The new LP for the most part is a hollow reminder of past glories.