― naturemorte, Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:26 (eighteen years ago) link
dunno about "FA" but "MYBOMM" was covered by a few people--as the Scorsese doc makes clear, his publisher made sure his songs got covered.
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 6 October 2005 19:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― Justin Farrar (Justin Farrar), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:11 (eighteen years ago) link
I've had the the first box for a few years and been meaning to pick up vols. 4-7. Some faves from it that haven't been mentioned much:
Seven Curses (I'm sucker for mystical revenge/stolen virginity/evil lawmen/wronged man folklore stuff)Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence ("She's turnin' me into an old man/and man, I ain't even 25!")If Not For You (It's prettier than the official version)Nobody 'Cept You (Good call kornrulez)Seven Days (Since i dig this and the rolling thunder biograph tracks, how urgent is it for me to pick up Vol.5? And also is the 1st version w/the dvd worth tracking down?)Foot of Pride (The homesick blues, nearly 20 years of schoolin' later, and still on the day shift)Tell Me (Bob can do Pop) Xpostthanks for answering my question before I posted it. that sounds cool.
― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Matos-Webster Dictionary (michaelangelomato...), October 6th, 2005.
Most notably and beautifully by Rod Stewart.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Thursday, 6 October 2005 20:24 (eighteen years ago) link
1st Disc Standouts:"Hard Times in New York Town""House Carpenter" (Is this a cover or an original? It's become one of my Dylan favorites)"Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues""Rambling, Gambling Willie""Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues""Who Killed Davey Moore?""Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie" (if for nothing else, those ending lines:
"You'll find God in the church of your choiceYou'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital
And though it's only my opinionI may be right or wrongYou'll find them bothIn the Grand CanyonAt sundown"
― Suzy Creemcheese (SuzyCreemcheese), Thursday, 6 October 2005 21:03 (eighteen years ago) link
Sung with such beauty, control, and weight, I can't get over it. Devastates me every time.
― Taylor, Friday, 7 October 2005 01:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Friday, 7 October 2005 02:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jason Dent (jason dont), Friday, 7 October 2005 03:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― 100% WJE (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 7 October 2005 05:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 7 October 2005 05:56 (eighteen years ago) link
Listened to some Live 64, did not think much of it really. But I shall persevere.
Crawl Out Your Window is on Biograph, I think, Pinefox. Should you wish, I could copy it for you when I rescue it from "storage". I also have a J. Hendrix version recorded for the BBC Light Programme.
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 7 October 2005 07:06 (eighteen years ago) link
glockenspiel!
― naturemorte, Friday, 7 October 2005 07:37 (eighteen years ago) link
It's a cover - it's a ridiculously old trad song. A great version is on Harry Smiths' Anthology of American Folk Music.
― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Friday, 7 October 2005 07:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 7 October 2005 07:45 (eighteen years ago) link
seconded; amazing song/performance, totally spellbinding
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 7 October 2005 08:03 (eighteen years ago) link
Madness. I can't really say if it's the best disc but it's definitely the one I've listened to most. 'Foot of Pride','Every Grain', 'Blind Willie McT', 'Angelina', 'Seven Days' = throwaway??
― Baaderonixx and the hedonistic gluttons (baaderonixx), Friday, 7 October 2005 08:04 (eighteen years ago) link
So classsssssic.Also turned me on to "St James Infirmary", from which the melody is lifted. Checl out Bobby Blue Bland's version if you have the chance.
― Baaderonixx and the hedonistic gluttons (baaderonixx), Friday, 7 October 2005 08:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― AleXTC (AleXTC), Friday, 7 October 2005 08:19 (eighteen years ago) link
Vol. 1-3 I heard before a lot of the albums, and it's the thing that made me obsessive about Dylan. Had a 90 cassette of tracks, mostly discs 1 & 2, that I completely wore out that summer and beyond. It started with "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie". Upon hearing the original version of say "If Not For You" without the "Ready George?" and a certain wobbly reckless energy of a lot of the tracks on 1-3, the originals sounded rather polished or staid. "Santa Fe" is another good example. Even "Idiot Wind" at the end of Vol. 2 is more biting and mean than the album vers.
Vol. 4 opened my eyes in a big way to the pre-'66 material, as I'm sure it did for a lot of people. I actually prefer disc 1, particularly the devestatingly sad "Desolation Row" and Dylan's expressive harp playing thoughout. Almost like he's testing the audience with his harp playing, similar in aggression to part 2 "Play it fucking loud". I find the guitar playing on disc 1 tattered, like he means it, it all fits the mood nicely.
Vol. 5 I bought when it came out and only listened a handful of times. Need to return to it. I remember it sounding very punk rock, though.
Vol. 6 is the 1964 disc, right? Never bought that.
Vol. 7 don't have yet.
― mcd (mcd), Friday, 7 October 2005 12:54 (eighteen years ago) link
but anyway, i love the bootleg series' one and all, but part of me wishes that Dylan (or Columbia) would do like Elvis Costello and just reissue the albums each with a bonus disc of outtakes/live stuff/etc. Of course they just did that big SACD reissue series a few years ago, so that's unlikely to happen any time soon.
― tylerw, Friday, 7 October 2005 13:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 7 October 2005 13:15 (eighteen years ago) link
The fall reissues have an extra disc, but as they mostly have Peel sessions, they are pointless if you have that "Ah, the Fall Peel Sessions box set, you guys" set.
― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 7 October 2005 13:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― AleXTC (AleXTC), Friday, 7 October 2005 13:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― tylerw, Friday, 7 October 2005 13:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― AleXTC (AleXTC), Friday, 7 October 2005 14:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― tylerw, Friday, 7 October 2005 14:14 (eighteen years ago) link
Latest discoveries:
'Tangled Up In Blue' - a centrepiece of the set to me when I first heard it - is it in E, and the LP version in G?
'Call Letter Blues' is doing more for me than before: some poignancy in the words.
I have never loved 'Idiot Wind' but am now impressed by the relative tenderness of this (NYC?) version as vs the LP.
The bootleg 'If You See Her' is a lot better than the LP's, surely.
Is 'Golden Loom' the first time Bob and Emmylou H sang together? Assuming it's her.
It's funny how that is country, then 'Catfish' is blues. I have always thought 'Catfish' kind of unimportant, but actually I like the depth of its sound, the reverb around those slides and harmonicas.
Is the barking dog the reason that this 'Every Grain of Sand' was not used? I like this song a lot considering that it's religious.
The whole set is an amazing way to take a rapid-fire time-tour through Dylan's career, hearing the flavour of one year (those Desirous violins) for a track or two before the next sound comes along.
― the bobfox, Friday, 7 October 2005 14:34 (eighteen years ago) link
Unlike PJM, I like Live 1964 a lot.
This glockenspiel rumour remains mysterious to me.
But christ, so many great things: 'Barbed Wire Fence', 'Train To Cry', '... Go Now' on bootleg 2. Peerless!
― the bobfox, Friday, 7 October 2005 14:37 (eighteen years ago) link
fun and sad at once ! (especially considering the quality of this song you can imagine all the gems lost forever...). jeez, you'd think someone would have had the idea to record EVERY SINGLE NOISE dylan was making at the time...it's around the same time that he and the beatles recorded a track that made paul understanding the mysteries of the universe...but then forgot all about the next day !
― AleXTC (AleXTC), Friday, 7 October 2005 14:43 (eighteen years ago) link
The sad version of Idiot Wind is fantastic, I think. Ditto If You See Her.
I have not yet paid attention to 1964. Not properly. But I will. One of my problems with these records is that you have to pay attention, rather than just use them as a background to nosepicking or whatever.
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 10 October 2005 07:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Monday, 10 October 2005 17:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:35 (eighteen years ago) link
I finished my consecutive listen to Bootlegs 1-3 the other day. It is worth doing, I think. An odd thing is that I have listened to CD3 a lot in the past but certain tracks seemed almost previously unheard to me: 'Tell Me', for instance. I note that the sleevenote on this track is misleading.
PJM is right about the acoustic, quiet 'Idiot Wind', so much better than the LP version; yes, right too about 'If You See Her. Say Hello'. But PJM, I thought you already liked heads-down, no-nonsense boogie rock!!
I'm glad Don likes 'Golden Loom' with ELH. Big surprise for me from the notes: it's not ELH singing on 'Every Grain of Sand', but Jennifer Warnes! I almost think this must be another mistake.
Has anyone explained the barking dog yet?
'When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky' is disappointing. 'Blind Willie McTell' is more about the US South than I had realized. 'Series of Dreams' is still good.
I think I need to listen to 'Eternal Circle' again.
― the bobfox, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 12:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― the bobfox, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:55 (eighteen years ago) link
Today I almost went and re-bought some 'proper' albums. But I think I probably have enough with the Bootlegs and Biograph. Enough to be going on with.
I wonder if I kept that Mo-Jo comp or if I threw it away like a pranny.
PS: This is the only thread I like now. I may 'subscribe' to it.
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 18:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― William Paper Scissors (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 18:22 (eighteen years ago) link
Miller, I am glad that you like the thread.
― the bobfox, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 19:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― William Paper Scissors (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 19:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― shookout (shookout), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 23:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― don, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 23:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 17:47 (eighteen years ago) link
Last night I went to The Fopp to re-buy Blonde on Blonde, but the queue was too long and they kept messing about and I was missing the football.
However, perhaps I would be better off getting Volume 7 instead. Thing is, it's £15, whereas the previous volume was £13.99 (I still have the receipt). That's £1.01 more expensive. Perhaps if I think about it long enough, the urge will pass.
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Thursday, 13 October 2005 06:41 (eighteen years ago) link
Also, I note that Germany has entered a Grand Coalition.
― the bobfox, Thursday, 13 October 2005 14:39 (eighteen years ago) link
Oh I may be mixing posts up, sorry. The whole “Wagon Wheel” thing is bizarre… I’ve never actually seen the song performed, but I understand it’s a popular choice for bands to play.
― I wanna key his car, I wanna make him lunch (morrisp), Saturday, 23 December 2023 08:10 (four months ago) link
yeah, didn't know the story tbh
from that rs article:
The 1973 collection that just hit will be largely familiar to Dylan fans since the Pat Garrett sessions leaked several decades back. Former Old Crow Medicine Show singer/guitarist Chris “Critter” Fuqua picked up a copy of the bootleg during a family trip to London when he was in high school, which he passed along to bandmate Ketch Secor. He became enamored with the song fragment “Rock Me Mama,” which is little more than Dylan and his bandmates messing around shortly after cutting “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”Secor fleshed out the composition into a finished work and eventually released it as “Wagon Wheel” on Old Crow Medicine Show’s 2004 self-titled LP. It became the group’s signature song and found an even bigger audience in 2013 when Darius Rucker took it to #1 on the Country chart.
Secor fleshed out the composition into a finished work and eventually released it as “Wagon Wheel” on Old Crow Medicine Show’s 2004 self-titled LP. It became the group’s signature song and found an even bigger audience in 2013 when Darius Rucker took it to #1 on the Country chart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNTsYfjBcuQ
― corrs unplugged, Saturday, 23 December 2023 11:34 (four months ago) link
the "new" set is called "50th Anniversary Collection 1973"
― corrs unplugged, Saturday, 23 December 2023 11:35 (four months ago) link
further to the strange second life of the song, Nathan Carter's version of Wagon Wheel was voted "Ireland's All Time Favourite Country Music Song" at the Irish Country Music Awards a few years back
Even though the song (and the singer) isn't remotely Irish
But then the whole Country & Irish thing is deeply weird anyway...
― Number None, Saturday, 23 December 2023 11:50 (four months ago) link
Yeah, thanks for the clarification---rs ads etc were too much for my old computer to paste that excerpt, but should have summarized better. As for the Irish-Dylan affinity, he hung out and was maybe sometimes on the same bill with the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem in early 60s Village, and one of 'em turns up in Howard Soules' Dylan book many years later, accusing Dylan, "a notorious philanderer," of shagging his gurl back in the day (may have been same Clancy in No Direction Home, supposedly grossing out some UKers and Irish with his beard, cigs, dental situation, speaking voice etc.---although online push-back: "That's like my uncle!" "That's like me!")Was thinking that the melody for "Tempest" was cited as actually Irish, but maybe it was just the feel of the track---Dylan volunteered (in RS, I think) that he lifted it from Carter Family obviously one they trad.-arrd.---as for some of the words, I haven't heard the Carters':
These days, as Dylan continues to wend his way through the world playing over 100 gigs a year, he spends more time in hotel rooms than he does on any of his properties. One night, perhaps rifling through a minibar, he stumbled upon James Cameron’s ultimate Hollywood disaster pic. Early in the film, Leonardo DiCaprio says, “When you got nothin’ you got nothin’ to lose,” a line from “Like a Rolling Stone” evoking a 1965 sentiment plausible for a roustabout of 1912. Dylan, who has, in this century, shown an almost pathological tendency for using other people’s words, must have seen DiCaprio throwing his own words at him and then thought of the Carter Family’s “The Great Titanic.” Then he thought that the world needed a song for the centenary, in which he even refers to DiCaprio, not by the name of his character—just plain Leo. “Tempest” is a doomed sea chantey, with David Hildago’s violin adding an Irish lilt, and while it runs 14 minutes, you get the idea pretty quickly.
― dow, Saturday, 23 December 2023 20:46 (four months ago) link
I can't say the new copyright set interests me, but it's a good sign that they were willing to do one given the material. Probably means there will be one next year, though we'll see if it includes professional quality recordings from the tour. (As for studio material, it would be great if a better outtake of "Nobody 'Cept You" exists, but most likely not. The solo renditions he did during the first week of the tour were amazing - if a good professional recording of one exists and they release it, that would be a godsend.)
― birdistheword, Sunday, 24 December 2023 01:50 (four months ago) link
Haven't heard of that song, thanks. Which tour?
― dow, Sunday, 24 December 2023 02:18 (four months ago) link
It’s a Planet Waves outtake (on the OG Bootleg Series set)! And yes, it’s excellent…
― I wanna key his car, I wanna make him lunch (morrisp), Sunday, 24 December 2023 02:30 (four months ago) link
Correct! (The tour with the Band in 1974.)
Also this was posted on another forum - great info:
On October 5, 2023 Clinton Heylin read from his new book at the Pigeon Loft at The Robin Hood in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. The reading was followed by a Q & A, during which Heylin was asked about the future of the Bootleg Series. Now, this being Heylin, you have to take what he said with a huge pinch of salt, but the gist of what he told the audience is this:
- At least two more Bootleg Series sets that were overseen by Jeff Rosen [note: producer/curator of the Bootleg Series] are planned. Jeff Rosen's role is winding down.- After that the Bootleg Series will no longer be a Dylan office project and it will be up to Sony, because they now own the rights to the recordings [note: acquired from Dylan in early 2022].- The Tulsa Archive owns the actual recordings [note: the physical objects on which the recordings were captured – tapes and hard drives]. The people at Tulsa store, restore, transfer/digitize and catalog the recordings. Every time Sony want to release something from the vault (since they now own the rights to do so) they have to pay Tulsa for the transfers of the recordings. [note: The publishing rights to the songwriting are a separate thing, they were sold to Universal in 2020.]- It is unclear which path Sony will take with future releases: big deluxe sets or more affordable, smaller CD sets.- Heylin says that "Jeff Rosen has a blind spot for 1978."*- The 1978 material includes a dozen unreleased songs. [note: According to Michael Chaiken from the Tulsa Archive they also have the Street Legal "piano demos".]- "The Complete Budokan" was a project by Sony Japan and had nothing to do with Jeff Rosen.
*This contradicts what Rob Stoner posted on Facebook in 2020: "The Rundown rehearsals are killer. I remixed and edited many of them for Jeff Rosen and they'll be out eventually. Bob and I came up with some wack arrangements, most of which have never been heard."
If Heylin is right and there will not be an additional release covering 1978, then the only still unreleased projects on Jeff Rosen's most recent list of future Bootleg Series sets as outlined in an interview with rollingstone.com (February 3, 2023) are "The Villager/pre-fame recordings" and the "Oh Mercy" sessions. If Sony release a 1974 Live Recordings set it will not involve Jeff Rosen – again from rollingstone.com (February 3, 2023): 1974 tour with the Band – Could we see a huge box set of recordings from that tour? “That’s going to be up to Sony,” says the source. “We’ll see what they want to do.”
― birdistheword, Sunday, 24 December 2023 02:34 (four months ago) link
The glaring omission of course is anything with substantial NET material and not just a handful of selections, but I think they covered that in earlier interviews - basically it's not something Bob wants while he's 1) still touring and 2) still alive.
― birdistheword, Sunday, 24 December 2023 02:36 (four months ago) link
(Also it was mentioned that a lot of their own NET recordings don't sound great, which is why they used actual audience bootlegs for certain officially released tracks.)
― birdistheword, Sunday, 24 December 2023 02:37 (four months ago) link
Always first read that as NFT
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 24 December 2023 02:51 (four months ago) link
Have they tapped into the Desire studio sessions any more than what they included on Biograph and the original Bootleg box?
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 24 December 2023 04:07 (four months ago) link
The Desire sessions are the big gaps in his archives, with many masters from those sessions MIA
― beamish13, Sunday, 24 December 2023 09:23 (four months ago) link
You're A Bored Ape Now
― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Sunday, 24 December 2023 13:17 (four months ago) link
The only outtake I know from the xpost Desire sessions: another reminder of how crazy he can be, to leave songs/tracks this good in the can, man, esp. considering some of the stuff that did make the cut---I like Maria Muldaur's cover even better:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv_ERkjVej8
― dow, Tuesday, 26 December 2023 04:05 (four months ago) link
^^The Dylan version of that one is on the first bootleg set, alongside "Catfish", which he gave to Rolling Thunder accomplice Kinky Friedman. "Abandoned Love" (which the Everly Bros. covered in the '80s) appeared earlier on Biograph, and another song called "Rita May" appeared earlier still on the live "Suck Inside of Mobile..." single in '76 (and inspired a cover by Jerry Lee Lewis in '79).
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 26 December 2023 04:30 (four months ago) link
It's interesting that all the known surviving Desire outtakes all had notable contemporary-ish covers.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 26 December 2023 04:33 (four months ago) link
“Abandoned Love” is a cool-ass songImagine writing a tune like that, and lyrics like this, and it doesn’t even make the album!
― Larb starter (morrisp), Tuesday, 26 December 2023 04:51 (four months ago) link
Oh, and then there's "Seven Days", which appeared briefly during the Rolling Thunder tour with a live take appearing on the first Bootleg box.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 26 December 2023 04:53 (four months ago) link
Studio "Rita May"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdJ0xLV1ULI
Only live version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fizmkogBv50
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 26 December 2023 05:02 (four months ago) link
Imagine writing a tune like that, and lyrics like this, and it doesn’t even make the album!
...and furthermore only playing it live once before taking it into the studio...and then never ever playing it again!
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 26 December 2023 05:05 (four months ago) link
Thanks for all that! Because of the Jerry Lee-style "To Be Alone With You," I'd thought "Rita May" was from the Nashville Skyline sessions---always enjoyed JL's version(s)(studio/live).I knew "Abandoned Love" was in the early-middle 70s, didn't know it was from Desire---here's the best audio of that impromptu live performance I've heard:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNeZVC2sn4A
In case that goes away, dig poster Swingin' Pig's notes, incl quotes, especially:
8901234567890123456789 12345678901234567890123456789 , 12345678901234567890123456789 12345678901234567890123456789 12345678901234567890123456789 views Nov 20, 2018Some Dylanologists say this is Bob's best live performance. Although I personally don't think it's his very best, I can understand why some think so. It's a positively breathtaking moment of his career. Furthermore, the song itself if probably one of my favorite Dylan songs. In my opinion, it was a huge mistake to leave off Desire. There are a lot of versions on YouTube, but I thought they were all very bad quality; the hiss in the background was unbearable. I ripped this version off of a bootleg disc, then cleaned up the lossless audio as best I could.Here's a very interesting account by Joe Kivak of the night it was recorded at The Other End (now The Bitter End), a little club in Greenwich Village:"On a Thursday night in July 1975, I headed out to see Ramblin' Jack Elliott at The Bitter End in New York City. Because I wanted to learn his technique, I got there early enough to get a seat near the front so I could watch him play guitar. After the first set, a P.A. announcement told us we were welcome to stay for the second set if we honored the two-drink minimum. As the lights flashed on and I got up to leave, I glanced around the club and was stunned to see Bob Dylan seated toward the back with Jack, wearing the same striped tee shirt and leather jacket he had on in a photo with Patti Smith on the cover of the then-current Village Voice.Naturally, I sat right back down. There was absolutely no way I was leaving at that point. Soon, others began to notice him, too, so Jack and Bob left their seats and went backstage. But when the engineer set up another microphone, we knew Bob was going to sit in. The electricity in the room was tangible as the club began filling up with more bodies. Finally, Jack came out and started his set. After a couple of songs, he began "With God on Our Side." After the first few lines, he turned his head toward the back of the stage and said, "Bob, you want to help me out on this?" The place went nuts as Dylan walked onstage. I can still see that shy look on his face as he nervously squinted out into the audience. He was so nervous, in fact, that he didn't notice that the capo on his guitar was crooked and buzzing badly.Their first song was "Pretty Boy Floyd," with Bob singing harmony and his guitar buzzing right along. Then Jack started "How Long Blues." After the first verse, he looked at Bob in a way that seemed to ask him to sing a verse. Bob simply shook his head and mouthed something inaudible. When the song finished, however, Dylan began strumming his guitar. But since it was still buzzing, he asked Jack to trade instruments with him [this can be heard in the video at . At that moment, everyone in the room was in a trance; it's not every day one gets to hear an impromptu Bob Dylan performance in a tiny club. After a couple of lines, we realized he was performing a new song, with each line getting even better than the last. The song was "Abandoned Love," and it still is the most powerful performance I've ever heard.Ramblin' Jack started strumming along in the beginning, but he soon realized the rarity of the moment and stopped and stepped to the side. As Bob sang, the nervousness so evident earlier vanished completely. He was so moving. There he was, hitting us with new material, with everyone hanging on his every word. It was an incredible feeling to be in that small club listening to Bob Dylan perform a new song. We all felt we were watching history in the making. After he finished, he returned to his seat near the back of the club and quietly watched the rest of the show. Jack appeared so speechless and overwhelmed by Dylan's performance that he started his next song with Bob's buzzing guitar.Later, as we began filing out into the night onto Bleecker Street, we could see Bobby Dylan through the outside windows, leaning over his table and deep in conversation with someone, the candle in front of him highlighting his face. It's a moment I'll never forget."Enjoy this gem while you can!
There are a lot of versions on YouTube, but I thought they were all very bad quality; the hiss in the background was unbearable. I ripped this version off of a bootleg disc, then cleaned up the lossless audio as best I could.
Here's a very interesting account by Joe Kivak of the night it was recorded at The Other End (now The Bitter End), a little club in Greenwich Village:
"On a Thursday night in July 1975, I headed out to see Ramblin' Jack Elliott at The Bitter End in New York City. Because I wanted to learn his technique, I got there early enough to get a seat near the front so I could watch him play guitar. After the first set, a P.A. announcement told us we were welcome to stay for the second set if we honored the two-drink minimum. As the lights flashed on and I got up to leave, I glanced around the club and was stunned to see Bob Dylan seated toward the back with Jack, wearing the same striped tee shirt and leather jacket he had on in a photo with Patti Smith on the cover of the then-current Village Voice.
Naturally, I sat right back down. There was absolutely no way I was leaving at that point. Soon, others began to notice him, too, so Jack and Bob left their seats and went backstage. But when the engineer set up another microphone, we knew Bob was going to sit in. The electricity in the room was tangible as the club began filling up with more bodies. Finally, Jack came out and started his set. After a couple of songs, he began "With God on Our Side." After the first few lines, he turned his head toward the back of the stage and said, "Bob, you want to help me out on this?" The place went nuts as Dylan walked onstage. I can still see that shy look on his face as he nervously squinted out into the audience. He was so nervous, in fact, that he didn't notice that the capo on his guitar was crooked and buzzing badly.
Their first song was "Pretty Boy Floyd," with Bob singing harmony and his guitar buzzing right along. Then Jack started "How Long Blues." After the first verse, he looked at Bob in a way that seemed to ask him to sing a verse. Bob simply shook his head and mouthed something inaudible. When the song finished, however, Dylan began strumming his guitar. But since it was still buzzing, he asked Jack to trade instruments with him [this can be heard in the video at . At that moment, everyone in the room was in a trance; it's not every day one gets to hear an impromptu Bob Dylan performance in a tiny club. After a couple of lines, we realized he was performing a new song, with each line getting even better than the last. The song was "Abandoned Love," and it still is the most powerful performance I've ever heard.
Ramblin' Jack started strumming along in the beginning, but he soon realized the rarity of the moment and stopped and stepped to the side. As Bob sang, the nervousness so evident earlier vanished completely. He was so moving. There he was, hitting us with new material, with everyone hanging on his every word. It was an incredible feeling to be in that small club listening to Bob Dylan perform a new song. We all felt we were watching history in the making. After he finished, he returned to his seat near the back of the club and quietly watched the rest of the show. Jack appeared so speechless and overwhelmed by Dylan's performance that he started his next song with Bob's buzzing guitar.
Later, as we began filing out into the night onto Bleecker Street, we could see Bobby Dylan through the outside windows, leaning over his table and deep in conversation with someone, the candle in front of him highlighting his face. It's a moment I'll never forget."
Enjoy this gem while you can!
― dow, Tuesday, 26 December 2023 05:36 (four months ago) link
And speaking of xpost going back to the beginning for the end of The Bootleg Series, here's another Swingin' Pig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ZlUjQ2bQ0
As promised, here is the complete "Minnesota Party Tape 1961", a mysterious bootleg with a colorful history. It shouldn't be confused with the "Minnesota Hotel Tape" (also recorded at Beecher's home but several months later) or the "Minnesota University Tape" (recorded a year earlier). However, these tapes go by many different names, so I recommend you look over Olof's files if you're interested in Dylan's timeline: http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00020%20196.... According to his database, this tape was recorded at an unidentified coffee house at Minneapolis, MN in May 1961.Below is a tracklist with timestamps, and below that is an amazing backstory about "Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?" told by Jaharana Romney (wife of Hugh Romney/Wavy Gravy), formerly Bonnie Beecher, the subject of this song.TRACKLIST:0:00 - Ramblin' Round (W. Guthrie)4:15 - Death Don't Have No Mercy (G. Davis) [Amazing rendition, wish he finished it]6:40 - It's Hard To Be Blind (trad.)9:35 - This Train Is Bound For Glory (B.B. Broonzy, arr. by W. Guthrie)12:50 - Harmonica solo [Fun little jig to wake you up in the morning]16:44 - Talkin' Fish Blues (W. Guthrie)22:56 - Pastures Of Plenty (W. Guthrie) ["I learned this from Woody", Dylan says, referring to his meeting with him in January 1961. Can't tell what he says after that--Can anyone transcribe it?]29:05 - This Land Is Your Land (W. Guthrie)33:00 - Two Trains Runnin' (M. Morganfield)36:14 - Wild Mountain Thyme (trad.)39:00 - Howdido (W. Guthrie)40:45 - Car, Car (W. Guthrie)42:55 - Don't Push Me Down (W. Guthrie)44:37 - Come See (W. Guthrie)47:09 - I Want My Milk (W. Guthrie)50:17 - San Francisco Bay Blues (J. Fuller)52:57 - A Long Time A-Growin' (trad.)57:32 - Devilish Mary (B.L. Hawes)59:13 - Railroad Bill (trad.)1:03:26 - Will The Circle Be Unbroken (A.P. Carter)1:04:30 - Man Of Constant Sorrow (trad.)1:07:40 - Pretty Polly (trad.)1:13:12 - Railroad Boy (trad.)1:16:00 - James Alley Blues (R. Brown)1:19:35 - Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?"He came to my apartment and said, 'It's an emergency! I need your help! I gotta go home an' see my mother!' He was talking in the strangest Woody Guthrie-Oklahoma accent. I don't know if she was sick, but it was an unexpected trip he had to make up to Hibbing and he wanted me to cut his hair.' He kept saying, 'Shorter! Shorter! Get rid of the sideburns!' So I did my very best to do what he wanted and then in the door come Dave Morton, Johnny Koerner, and Harvey Abrams. They looked at him and said, 'Oh my God, you look terrible! What did you do?' And Dylan immediately said, 'She did it! I told her just to trim it up a little bit but she cut it all off. I wasn't looking in a mirror!' And then he went and wrote that song, 'Bonnie, why'd you cut my hair? Now I can't go nowhere!' He played it that night in a coffeehouse and somebody told me recently that they had been to Minnesota and somebody was still playing that song, 'Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?' It's like a Minnesota classic! And so I've gone down in history!"~Jaharana Romney (Bonnie Beecher)"Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?" is one of the earliest recorded Dylan originals, only preceded by a few tracks recorded from 1958-1960.Credits to Olof Björner for information and backstory.Peace & Love,~SP
Below is a tracklist with timestamps, and below that is an amazing backstory about "Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?" told by Jaharana Romney (wife of Hugh Romney/Wavy Gravy), formerly Bonnie Beecher, the subject of this song.
TRACKLIST:0:00 - Ramblin' Round (W. Guthrie)4:15 - Death Don't Have No Mercy (G. Davis) [Amazing rendition, wish he finished it]6:40 - It's Hard To Be Blind (trad.)9:35 - This Train Is Bound For Glory (B.B. Broonzy, arr. by W. Guthrie)12:50 - Harmonica solo [Fun little jig to wake you up in the morning]16:44 - Talkin' Fish Blues (W. Guthrie)22:56 - Pastures Of Plenty (W. Guthrie) ["I learned this from Woody", Dylan says, referring to his meeting with him in January 1961. Can't tell what he says after that--Can anyone transcribe it?]29:05 - This Land Is Your Land (W. Guthrie)33:00 - Two Trains Runnin' (M. Morganfield)36:14 - Wild Mountain Thyme (trad.)39:00 - Howdido (W. Guthrie)40:45 - Car, Car (W. Guthrie)42:55 - Don't Push Me Down (W. Guthrie)44:37 - Come See (W. Guthrie)47:09 - I Want My Milk (W. Guthrie)50:17 - San Francisco Bay Blues (J. Fuller)52:57 - A Long Time A-Growin' (trad.)57:32 - Devilish Mary (B.L. Hawes)59:13 - Railroad Bill (trad.)1:03:26 - Will The Circle Be Unbroken (A.P. Carter)1:04:30 - Man Of Constant Sorrow (trad.)1:07:40 - Pretty Polly (trad.)1:13:12 - Railroad Boy (trad.)1:16:00 - James Alley Blues (R. Brown)1:19:35 - Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?
"He came to my apartment and said, 'It's an emergency! I need your help! I gotta go home an' see my mother!' He was talking in the strangest Woody Guthrie-Oklahoma accent. I don't know if she was sick, but it was an unexpected trip he had to make up to Hibbing and he wanted me to cut his hair.' He kept saying, 'Shorter! Shorter! Get rid of the sideburns!' So I did my very best to do what he wanted and then in the door come Dave Morton, Johnny Koerner, and Harvey Abrams. They looked at him and said, 'Oh my God, you look terrible! What did you do?' And Dylan immediately said, 'She did it! I told her just to trim it up a little bit but she cut it all off. I wasn't looking in a mirror!' And then he went and wrote that song, 'Bonnie, why'd you cut my hair? Now I can't go nowhere!' He played it that night in a coffeehouse and somebody told me recently that they had been to Minnesota and somebody was still playing that song, 'Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?' It's like a Minnesota classic! And so I've gone down in history!"~Jaharana Romney (Bonnie Beecher)
"Bonnie, Why'd You Cut My Hair?" is one of the earliest recorded Dylan originals, only preceded by a few tracks recorded from 1958-1960.
Credits to Olof Björner for information and backstory.
Peace & Love,~SP
― dow, Tuesday, 26 December 2023 05:44 (four months ago) link
As speculated: “Sony Entertainment this year will be releasing a box set of 1974 Dylan/Band tour concerts.”
Per Harvey Kubernik: https://www.musicconnection.com/kubernik-robbie-robertson-testimony-autobiography/
― birdistheword, Thursday, 21 March 2024 06:25 (one month ago) link
I forget which Dylan thread gets used the most. Here’s drummer Jon Wurster re 2 recent Dylan gigs he saw , and Dylan on the St Patrick’s Day show doing a song he hadn’t done live in 20 years . An Irish folk song
https://www.flaggingdown.com/p/notes-from-the-road-in-north-carolina
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 21 March 2024 15:48 (one month ago) link
I think the “Overrated” thread is most used for general purposes…
― let’s get intertwined (morrisp), Thursday, 21 March 2024 15:55 (one month ago) link
Is there a Dylan site, comparable to Sugar Mountain for Neil Young, which documents the performance history of all songs? I know about boblinks.com but it doesn't go into that level of detail.
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Thursday, 21 March 2024 16:00 (one month ago) link
the official site!
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 21 March 2024 16:24 (one month ago) link
Thanks, I'd never have thought to look there...
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Thursday, 21 March 2024 16:29 (one month ago) link
Setlist.fm also has Dylan concert information
Irish folk song “The Roving Blade”
https://www.setlist.fm/stats/songs/bob-dylan-1bd6adb8.html?songid=5bcf6314
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 21 March 2024 19:11 (one month ago) link
https://www.flaggingdown.com/p/guitarist-jj-holiday-talks-bob-dylans
Guitarist Jj Holiday and the bassist and drummer of the Plugz rehearsed a bunch with Bob Dylan 40 years ago and backed him on David Letterman. Holiday talks about the experience in this long q and a
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 23 March 2024 19:52 (one month ago) link
You should post that to this thread as well: Bob Dylan's punk period
― let’s get intertwined (morrisp), Saturday, 23 March 2024 20:11 (one month ago) link