Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series

arguably 4th street

you might be going somewhere after all

She has half of what she needs

This is no fun, the originals are all better.

I liked See You Later Allen Ginsberg when the Zombies did it

Think this was the first biography to confirm that motorcycle accident actually occurred, though haven't read it, so don't know details. Also revealed the marriage to gospel singer (they had kids? B'lieve so).And that was just the first edition!
http://www.howardsounes.com/assets/images/book_covers/bob_dylan_uk_new.jpg

Tyler, did you score a ticket to see Mr. D.?

i didn't :/ -- tough for me to shell out the cash (even though tix were just about $50 at the box office). oh well!

FWIW, this is selling at Amazon Germany for two-thirds of the price Amazon UK are asking for it: €85 at Amazon Germany (= £66) compared with £102 at Amazon UK. Might be worth UK residents ordering from Germany and paying a little shipping to save a few quid.

Fopp are selling it for £70 in the UK

Why is there a picture of Don Was on the cover of that book?

Good point by Matos, re "Clothes Line Saga"and"Ode To Billy Joe." The former is life as many a young boondocker (def me 'n' Bobby Pre-D.) lived it much of the time, any real or reverie Billy Joes aside. Reminds me, was already thinking "Silent Weekend" is kissless cousing to "Lonely Weekends" by mid-60s Charlie Rich (wisely minus any paraphrase of the part where country, bluesy cat Charlie suddenly roars, "Well I make it all RIGHT," slams into a wall, and bops off into the rest of the chorus, which coming around again, "From-uh Mon-day mornin' 'til Fri-day night/But oh-h-h, those lone-some weekends").
Great fucking song, and recall BD name-checking Rich, along with Percy Mayfield (think Sir Douglas was mentioned in same mid-ish 60s interview). Also, R. Stone recently mentioned a reel labelled "Charley Rich" among the Basement (it was actually an attached garage) trove, maybe a home tape of Rich records, the reporter thought (what if it's all Rich covers though?!)

kissless *cousin*, that is; damn.

if charlie rich secretly made a record with the band in saugerties ca. 1968 or something i'd be over the fucking moon

lol

Have you heard Charlie Rich version of "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby"?

yeah it rules, isn't that before the sam & dave version?

Just seen a mini review of a Charlie Rich late 50s/early 60s compilation in the new Mojo. Love the Smash recordings set.

& just got the 2cd Raw set today and so far only heard 1st disc once but it sounds great. Looking forward to becoming familiar with it.

what's the name of the new charlie rich comp? i eat that shit up.

ooh i like the version of the fleetwoods' "mr. blue" on this. so pretty.

Charlie Rich compi is 'Lonely Weekends' on Hoodoo. It covers 58- 62.
Can't remember title of Smash recordings set but it's great. Is it 'It Ain't Gonna Be That Way'? Mainly hearing tracks at random on my walkman recently.

what's the name of the new charlie rich comp? i eat that shit up.

ah, I would never have guessed that.

Arrived in the mail today. Lots of reading material. Took me a while to actually locate the six CDs!

"Mary Lou, I Love You Too" is so good, can't believe this never made it out before. would be a jam on a Doug Sahm record. I guess Bob knew Doug by then? wonder what Springsteen thinks of this tune too. so good.

what's the name of the new charlie rich comp? i eat that shit up.

See, I laugh at my own jokes..

Have we discussed this yet?

Now that the whole experience is behind him, Wikingsson has one final dream: "I want Dylan to release an official Columbia EP of the concert called Songs for Fredrick."

Awwwwwwwww....

"How does it feel to be on your own?"

"JUDAS!!!"

Ahah. It would have been a classic (and gutsy) thing to do !

I selected all Dylan songs, but they just had these crappy Byrds versions."I've been there.
Thanks, will def check his podcast too. I hadn't read it before because I thought it would be some cybermogul treating himself to a million-dollar bash, or a dying fan's request, thus too sad.

About 23 tracks in, and it's fine: coverage tends to over-emph. the "realness": laidback stoner vibe and the good business move of stockpiling no-budget new song demos for coverage by other hitmakers. These tracks are fluid, but intense, or intent, and mostly covers so far (think most of the total is not original, but I haven't checked allll those credits yet). We get the emotional/stylistic range and levels at the core of his appeal from the beginning. Incl. the humor: much enjoy that "Folsom Prison Blues" here sounds like the Band is playing "dum dum dum dum doo wah diddy, talk about the boy from New York City," which totally fits the loose flair of D.'s singing (the convict, still regretful, is also getting cranked up on cellblock cocktails). This performance of "The Bells of Rhymney" starts reminding me of "All Tomorrow's Parties," to the further credit of both songs and their performers, incl. writers.

*press* coverage tends to over-emph, I meant.

haha I almost copied that same karaoke quote

No matter how he tortures his voice, it all works out (though: he knows when to start over in another key (not very often) and the road vets are unfazed, they've seen it all (prob had the occasional club patron come up onstage, when there was a stage. and demand to sing). Roots seem to incl Beats (the Beats were often, maybe always, at their best as performers, at least as recorded): festive & fatalistically-inclined, which go w both blues & country o course---no fingerprinting or sneers here, tho' the laid-back zingers of "Clothesline Saga" are up ahead.
But no matter how self-mocking or plain fun-loving he gets, or deeply empathetic for that matter (and so often relishing the flavor and texture and structure of songs and singing), what's coming through more and more is a sense of freaked-out, unappeasable accountability, I can't un-know that this is when he was supposedly all happy as a young hubby and pappy (they're in the garage so as not to disturb the tots). And while. sure he's letting off steam, and already "yowling like a tomcat up the backstairs," as I think xgau said of Planet Waves, he's also not million miles from the strung-out, mental relationship trap of "Dirge, also on PW, or the version of "Ballad of A Thin Man" (which recalls an interview: "When I say "you" I mean 'I') on Before The Flood. Both of those albums have him back with the Band, like something else has to come out, at least for a while (even if it has to get by "Forever Young). All going back to these sessions, at least as much as the '66 tour weirdness.

I also can't un-know that a tape from '61 or '62 already has him dropping the cute Bobby D. mask long enough to snarl through "Wade In The Water" like he's commanding the audience to come be baptized in Shit Creek---speaking of a freaked-out, unappeasable sense of accountability, drawn on and distilled for protest, punk etc. purposes, and the gospel phase didn't seem so bad once I heard him start out preaching "Serve Somebody," and already veering away, resorting to "You can call me Ray," which was a line from a TV commercial, which I think starred Gallagher (or. even better, somebody doing a rip-off imitation of) the TV/club comic who had been a carnie and/or boardwalk hawker: a professional jive turkey, to use the 70 TV parlance: loud 'n'proud). So, a touch of the ol' Basement Tapes head-flow, and a clue that this too should pass, hallelujah, and another bottle 'o' bread. ("This" meaning the full-time evangelist bit, not spiritual quest, other underlying concerns, sometimes resurfacing in different forms).

Typing in this tiny font, on a Mac, which I'm unfamiliar with (and which keeps "correcting" me). Also going too fast. Sorry for all the typos.

great posts, dow, don't stop!

Thanks. Last night I made it through most takes of his songs selected for the '75 double-LP (didn't miss Robertson and engineer Frabroni's overdubs and other tweaks). Mostly, they chose the right ones, given the amount of room reserved for the Band's own tracks (incl. newly recorded tracks, according to recent Rolling Stones)What the heck, they pretty much earned it. They're always in combo, on point with Dylan: unobtrusive, upfront, adaptable as needed. Think I'm getting into Robertson specifically for the first time ever, despite having heard almost all their albums. Did he do anything worth hearing after he left these guys?
Tracks that made it to the double (though I still haven't made to most of the funny ones) continue re xpost accountability, though no longer freaked out: might sound like confrontations to outsiders, but citizens call 'em business meetings ("Wheel's On Fire" just following up), while the John Wesley Harding narrator skulks around the edges, and the kid in "Open The Door Homer" maybe trains to be a made guy (or girl? Is that why he actually sings "Rachel," despite "Homer" in the title??)
"All American Boy"---is this a parody of Bobby Bare's first, flukey hit of the same title?

Greil Marcus reads "All American Boy" as a parody of the Bare song iirc.

think he's singing open the door, richard there -- some kind of reference to this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_the_Door,_Richard
more via wiki as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Basement_Tapes_songs_%281975%29#.22Open_the_Door.2C_Homer.22

Yes.

Think I'm getting into Robertson specifically for the first time ever, despite having heard almost all their albums. Did he do anything worth hearing after he left these guys?

Robertson is probably right there with George Harrison as most talented member of a genius combo whose subsequent solo output does almost nothing to validate his reputation, except of course Robbie produced even exponentially less than George, never managed even one (let alone a triple LP) masterpiece, and gave up early to go A&R hack. It's one of those big maybe-not-a mysteries: if Robbie was so essential to the band, and at the least no one can doubt his guitar playing skills, then how did he manage next to nil after the Band broke up?

Your post has some much RONG cheek by jowl with a little bit of right that I cannot begin to pick it apart.

Sorry, maybe I was just taking umbrage at George Harrison being compared to Robbie Robertson.

Oh, no comparison, George Harrison is incredible! But returns diminished rapidly after "All Things Must Pass." And like I said, Robbie didn't even manage one solo masterpiece, and he was the one who tried grabbing so much credit for the Band's songs.

Thanks guys. Got from the grotesque yet sympathy-inducing-from-distance torment of "Sign On The Cross" (with the cute gentle radio preacher intermittently broadcasting more little chills---"maybe that door is closed" "don't worry 'bout it, just sing your song"---if you're not among the Elect, might as well) to don't ya tell Henry that weird thing I just disclosed to you, note to self even, and why is Henry the one to keep it from, to that good old apple suckling tree, only now I notice even this has something about hell in it, and all lil children hollerin at us, who are cruisin on the Greyhound bus, "Get your rocks off/getyourrocksoffMe" and the billowing sidewalk of gimme another "Bourbon Street" and this tube amp, balls up "Blowin In The Wind" "take 'til he KNOWS" the isolation and uncertainty, eh Heisnberg, cos there's always also one who knocks, the neighbor or somebody else.

Anyway, my only question tonight is, did Beefheart ever comment on this stuff, or on Dylan at all? And, thinking of the doowop, did Zappa?

"that weird thing I just disclosed to you about your fly," meant to say. Also meant there's always the original Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and yet also always someone like Mr Walt Heisenberg White of course, maybe young or old and daily growing somewhere within you without you (salute to good old Uncle George again)

Re: Robertson/solo records, I think Robertson coasted on "guitar player" cachet
that was worth more in the 70s, but did any of the other guys
make classic 70s recs? The Band is like the
perfect example of "the whole is more than the parts"

Robertson coasted on ego, because he didn't even play guitar on anything after the Band, did he? Did some film scores, but his first solo album did not come til 1987, and it rested on a lot more than his rep (see: Lanois, Peter Gabriel, U2). The other guys, it's not really fair. Danko and Manuel had serious substance abuse problems, and obviously both did not even live through the '90s. Garth, on the other hand, has played or appeared on all sorts of cool stuff, especially for a reclusive guy, while Levon put out some fine records. But Robbie, for his supposed/unearned prowess as a songwriter, never managed any truly great songs after the Band, and like I said, as a totally justified guitar hero similarly comes up oddly nil. Even the other guys kept it up as great musicians. Robertson sort of threw in the towel, and afaik never so much as sat in with any other groups, which would have been cool.

Come to think of it, I saw Rick Danko & Friends (didn't recognize the others) in the late 70s, on the same bill with Graham Parker & The Rumour. Danko's crew more than held their own, even though GP&TR were at a peak of live (and studio)performance in them days. Think I might try finding that online.
Fairly good reviews of a s/t Danko debut LP around then; don't think he ever did another.
When I met DA Pennebaker in the mid-ish-90s, he daid he'd just been in Canada, filming Danko, Eric Andersen and Bjorn Somebody in concert. Think I saw a set by them in the archives of the Public Radio show Mountain Stage.
Yeah, Levon did some good albums in '07, '09; also, I saw a VHS of Marriane Faithfull performing Blazing Away live, with Garth's keys holding forth.

Of course all of 'em except Robertson did Bobby Charles a solid on his s/t album, which still sounds good. Too bad those four couldn't have gotten him in there for their post-Last Waltz "comeback," although they did include members of the Cate Brothers Band, who were kind of in there between the Average White Band and the Crusaders (when the latter were responding to the former's trending with "Street Life," and backing BB King on two good albums). So that might've worked, adaptability-wise, but they were rejected by some biz powers like Bill Graham, and may not have tried all that hard, biz-wise. Seem to recall some good tracks, like a cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City," though.