Northern Lights – Southern Cross

{{Infobox album

| name = Northern Lights – Southern Cross

| type = studio

| artist = the Band

| cover = NorthernLightsCover.jpg

| alt =

| released = {{Start date|1975|11}}

| recorded = Spring–Summer 1975

| venue =

| studio = Shangri-La Studio, Zuma Beach, California

| genre =

• Roots rock
• folk rock
• country rock
• Americana

| length = 40:40

| label = Capitol

| producer = The Band

| prev_title = The Basement Tapes

| prev_year = 1975

| next_title = The Best of the Band

| next_year = 1976

}}

{{Album ratings

| noprose = yes

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r29849}}

|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2Score = B+{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: B|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=B&bk=70|access-date=February 21, 2019}}

|rev3 = MusicHound

|rev3score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book|editor-last1=Graff|editor-first1=Gary|editor-last2=Durchholz|editor-first2=Daniel|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/72 72]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/72}}

|rev4 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev4score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}Brackett, Nathan, with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=lRgtYCC6OUwC&q=cahoots&pg=PA42 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide] (4th edn). New York, NY: Fireside. p. 42. {{ISBN|0-7432-0169-8}}.

| rev5 = Uncut

| rev5score = 8/10{{Cite magazine|title=Robbie Robertson: Buyer's Guide|magazine=Uncut|date=November 2023|page=90}}

}}

Northern Lights – Southern Cross is the sixth studio album by Canadian-American rock band the Band, released in November 1975. It was the first album to be recorded at their new California studio, Shangri-La, and the first album of all new material since 1971's Cahoots. It was recorded using a 24-track tape recorder, which allowed Garth Hudson to include multiple layers of keyboards on several tracks, and it is the only Band album where all songs are credited as compositions of guitarist Robbie Robertson.

Three songs from the album – "It Makes No Difference", "Ophelia" and "Acadian Driftwood" – were performed at The Last Waltz, the group's 1976 penultimate stage performance of all five members. "It Makes No Difference" and "Ophelia" were included in the film and on the original 1978 soundtrack album, and "Acadian Driftwood" was included in the 2002 extended re-release of the soundtrack album. These songs in particular have enjoyed subsequent revivals and cover versions. "Acadian Driftwood" was featured in a 1984 CBC-TV special titled Murray McLauchlan's Floating Over Canada. The only Band member to appear in the sequence was Levon Helm. In this presentation of the song, Levon, his wife Sandy Helm, and Murray McLauchlan depict the expulsion of Acadian citizens by British forces.

The album was well-received critically: Rolling Stone declared that the Band had kicked "a field goal",{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/northern-lights-southern-cross-19760129|title=Northern Lights, Southern Cross|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=29 January 1976}}{{not in citation|date=January 2025}} and, while he was put off by the sentimentality of the lyrics, Robert Christgau wrote "the pure comeliness of every melody on this album led to an immediate infatuation."{{Cite web|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=The+Band|title = Robert Christgau: CG: The Band}} John Bauldie in Q Magazine called the album "glossy and slick" and lamented that the close-knit aspect of the group playing together had disappeared.{{Cite journal |last=Bauldrie |first=John |date=5 March 1991 |title=Northern Lights - Southern Cross re-issue review |journal=Q Magazine |volume=55 |pages=84}}