Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series

otm.

Ah, released version of LaRS was Take 4 from June 16. Never mind, nothing to see here.

The great thing about collecting Dylan was that he always had tons of unreleased *songs*. When it gets down to deathslog toward creation of the long-known result (as happened much more often with the Beatles), not exactly suspenseful, most of the time.

― dow, Thursday, September 24, 2015 7:43 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seems like there should be a lot of stuff from 75 (Rolling Thunder Tour Bootleg Series) to 1989 (where Tell-Tale Signs Bootleg series starts)??

man if there were Street Legal outtakes and shit I'd be all over that....I guess Blind Willie McTell was from Infidels sessions but outside of that there hasn't been a ton...

weren't some of the Christian era tours supposed to be pretty smokin?

maybe "The Bootleg Series Vol 13: For Afred, Lord Sotosyn: The Complete Empire Burlesque"

yeah xian era live shows is my dream bootleg series but i'm not sure demand is anywhere near what it'd need to be and it hasn't really been rehabilitated or become part of the mythology in a positive way and bob doesn't seem super interested in dwelling on it

Reminds me, this is the first of The Bootleg Series I heard, and ideally so, from 61-89---91, counting the remix of "Series of Dreams." Sure wish he'd let out some more of those; only other authorized remix I know of is Future Deluxe's "All Along The Watchtower." Plenty unreleased, sometimes reminding you just how crazy he could be ("Golden Loom" left in the can, man, to make more vinyl room on Desire for shit like "Joey"). And the alternate versions can be fine too, like the fast version of "It Takes A Lot To Laugh..." Can see why he went with the slower version version though; needed some contrast to all that spiky Punk Laureate-in-shades stuff.
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bootleg_Series_Volumes_1%E2%80%933_%28Rare_%26_Unreleased%29_1961%E2%80%931991#Disc_three

I was talking to a friend with obsessive/completist tendencies today, and he said the way he typically listens to these studio dumps - '60s stuff, mostly Beatles, Beach Boys and Dylan - is almost as ambient music. He just hits play and lets the various takes, banter, false starts and other detritus hum around in the background while he works. Sometimes something catches his ear, but his gist was that it's ultimately that pretty much impossible to listen to the way you might listen to albums, and instead better to approach it as an immersive experience. I like the sound of that approach, or at least can recognize its appeal.

I guess Blind Willie McTell was from Infidels sessions but outside of that there hasn't been a ton...

Looking at the link dow posted, most of disc 3 of the original box covers this era (including 5 Infidels outtakes and a further 3 from Shot of Love), but I imagine there could be more stuff still uninvestigated...and aren't there a few unanthologized b-sides from this period as well?

I was talking to a friend with obsessive/completist tendencies today, and he said the way he typically listens to these studio dumps - '60s stuff, mostly Beatles, Beach Boys and Dylan - is almost as ambient music.

That's how I listened to the complete Infidels' sessions too.

Disc 3 looks amazing!

Somehow hadn't quite taken in that this was all the studio tracks he'd recorded at the time, which still leaves out several hours of live recordings that I have some of as bootlegs.
Still wondering if the inclusion of everything from a 2 year period into one (what seems to me to be) oversized box means that it al blends into one whole, and if it has remained otherwise being thought of as 3 separate lp entities or if there has been any blurring over the interim period. But mainly, would this be more digestible as 3 lp centric immersion boxes?

I'm still not sure what level of variety to expect, haven't been exposed to all the versions of everything. I know he did tend to record on the fly and I think he changed speeds pretty heavily for at least some tracks. Words too to some extent.

ah werll will wait to see if I do get a chance to hear at least some of it through.

variety will probably be pretty heavy, judging from the stuff that's already come out or been bootlegged. i was just listening to the no direction home set, and the early take of "mobile blues" has a radically different rhythm ... it's nowhere near as good as the finished product, but (to me anyway) it's amazing to hear that the song started out that way. dylan didn't have very set ideas in terms of arrangements, so there will probably be a bunch of that kind of thing. might not be for everyone, but i'm interested.

agree completely

He just hits play and lets the various takes, banter, false starts and other detritus hum around in the background while he works

yeah there's really only a few artists that are worth this imo and they're the ones you cite, and that's pretty much how I approach them. there's no point in listening to all the tracks in sequential order like they're an album. although I kinda think the Smile! box set is an exception there, because listening to that entire thing on a roadtrip was v illuminating in terms of hearing how things progressed and were assembled gradually, which was p interesting.

I can't afford most of these things anyway.

and yeah with Dylan it's not really about composition or different overdubs like it is with the Beach Boys or the Beatles - it's about improvising arrangements on the fly, which often results in radically different takes that can be interesting. I really love the LP version of It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, but the sped-up version fucking smokes too, it's a different beast.

yeah! i mean, i'm sure there will be boring parts, but i think it'll be cool/illuminating to see how dylan got from extremely loose ideas to the iconic, finished versions everyone knows. and also, these records just have such a wonderful sound, it'll be nice to swim in it.

then again, yeah, i listened to that whole "good vibrations" disc on the smile sessions for pleasure just a little while ago, so i am probably in the minority.

road trip seems like a really good context to actively listen to these things

Speaking of alternate versions (and unreleased originals, covered by other artists), The Witmark Demos been on my mind--anybody heard 'em?

sure, they're good! maybe the least "exciting" of all the bootleg series' but still cool, if you like bob dylan.

Just listened to live version of "Isis" on Biograph. Is he saying "This is for Leonard, if he's still here"? For Leonard Cohen?

yeah, think they tried to convince him to play that night but he didn't want to...

Upgraded and expanded?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP--PD1BcGE

This is the first Bootleg Series release that I'm not interested in. I'll buy it (the 2 disc version) because I'm a completist fan, but it seems superfluous. Will probably supplant Vol.6 as my least favourite of the series.

Only 2 of the entire series don't contain songs from the 60s. Am I right? Understandable, but....

Vol 6? I'd put that as my 2nd fav.

I think they all contain songs from the sixties

letterman thing is definitely an upgrade! think I've heard all of the rehearsal, but maybe never seen it all? classic.

Live 75 contains songs from the sixties, true, but I count it as a 70s release. And Tell Tale Signs is 60s-free.

Yes, Live 64 is one of my least favourites. It's too tinny, too slight soundwise for my taste. I prefer the studio recordings from that era.

Xpost

I never got proper into vol 5 since the very aggressive/shouting dylan voice is not my fav but a friend told me he'll get it on vinyl and can't wait to hear what he finds and actually really looking forward to revisiting it

vol 7 has amazing stuff but doesn't make much sense does it?

whitmark demos was also a bit boring as a release but all good stuff obv

haven't listened to 6 much - vol 4 is my go to live Dylan album, so good

otm on vol 5 but the 1965 songs on vol 5 are great though, that slowwwww "gates of eden" and "hard rain", prob my fav versions of both

love vol 5... vol. 6 is probably the one I've listened to the least.

oh ish I meant vol 6

yeah there's good stuff on there, i just think bob and his audience are a little too in-sync at that point, which is not always a recipe for his best work. still, it's amazing to imagine hearing something like "it's alright ma" for the first time there.

yeah that's another one of the great ones there

This weekend read a Dylan bio by a guy named Dennis McDougal. It leans towards the dishy, pathography end of the spectrum and has some annoying if minor mistakes, at least the ones I noticed—misspelling of Lownds as *Lowndes* , wrong reason given for Bruce Langhorne's losing fingers, James Dean's red jacket being described as made of leather—but it does have some kind of narrative drive that propels it forward and keeps one turning pages.

vol 6 is my idea of a perfect pre-electric best of, and yeah the debuts are incredible. "this is called 'it's alright, ma, it's life and life only'." [hipster audience laughter] "haha, yes. it's a very funny song."

fun: compare the chilly, reverent silence after "even the president of the united states sometimes must have to stand naked" in 1964 with what happens after the same line in before the flood

"this is called 'it's alright, ma, it's life and life only'." [hipster audience laughter] "haha, yes. it's a very funny song."

haha great stuff, I'll have to revisit

tell tale signs is my fave but i think that's just my favorite dylan period in general.

When he says "Do it again, one time for Bozo"in "Dress It Up, Better Have It All" is it supposed to be reminiscent of The Beatles' cover of "Honey Don't" and "Ah, rock on George for Ringo one time."?

there's something almost... disappointing about the apparent new strategy for these bootleg series volumes. after years of saying, "i wish they would just release everything from *insert era here*"... well, that's exactly what they're doing. only you are going to pay an incredible premium for it. and the whole things smells of exploitation of a rabid fanbase. which is how it was always going to be, i guess. but it's one of those "i got what i wanted, now what..." sorts of things.

also, diminishing returns are presumably going to set in when we get bootleg series vol. 46: complete 'under the red sky' sessions

a whole disc of 'wiggle wiggle'

"i wish they would just release everything from *insert era here*"... well, that's exactly what they're doing.

That's why I wonder if one reason for the $600 outtake dump is European copyright extension -- iirc, after 50 years, anything unreleased essentially reverts to public domain in Europe.

that's a very good point

I am listening to various things through streaming, a variant of the "ambient" strategy mentioned above, but yeah see your point(s). I mean actually buying the big boxes might be depressing/oppressive.

That's why I wonder if one reason for the $600 outtake dump is European copyright extension -- iirc, after 50 years, anything unreleased essentially reverts to public domain in Europe.

oh, absolutely! they've actually been releasing the earlier stuff in big box sets in extremely limited editions for the explicit purpose of copyright extension. with this one, they just figure they can make bank off of it at the same time.

there's something almost... disappointing about the apparent new strategy for these bootleg series volumes. after years of saying, "i wish they would just release everything from *insert era here*"... well, that's exactly what they're doing.
well, yeah, but at least there are various options. if the 18-disc thing was all they were doing, it'd be kind of crazy, but there are still the 6 and 2 disc versions...

Yeah, I don't really get why they went the super-limited route with those earlier copyright extension releases.

But in all honesty, while I know it's aesthetically the least-appealing option, if the 18-disc set's contents were available as a download-only, I could see myself ponying up $100 for it (like what the Beatles did with their 1963 Bootleg set) (except that was way cheaper than $100) (and hey, why wasn't there a 1964 set?)

xp

xpost

but how can those ever feel like anything but a horrible compromise? :)

don't you at least want to know if they really cherry-picked the best stuff?

i guess i could put it more prosaically: i really want all this music, but cheaper, and above all i can't stand these super-deluxe box sets with the pointless coffee-table books, the vial of dylan's dead skin cells, the bottle of Absolutely Sweet Marie energy juice so you can stay up through all 18 discs....

yeah, i see what you're saying. with something like this, it almost seems like they should roll out a whole other means of presenting it ... like a subscription service or something? i don't know. i mean, i want to hear it all, but yeah, i couldn't care less about 7-inch repros etc.