Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series

to be fair, i bet those nashville and new york session guys have to deal with this stuff all the time. lots of great singers and songwriters are musically untrained.

That's true, and many have an intermediary, a "musical director" to translate (Dylan's currently is his bassist, Tony Garnier). Prior to Blonde on Blonde, Dylan was mostly working with rockers who likely had little more technical knowledge than he did, so he could say, "Can you go eeehnnnhh?" and they'd be like, ok, sure.

i think al kooper had developed into that "musical director" role by the end of the blonde on blonde sessions ... but so much of it seems like happenstance.
Best quote I've come across so far about the Hwy 61 sessions -- from Michael Bloomfield:
"I was there man, I’m telling you it was a result of chuckle-fucking, of people stepping on each other’s dicks until it came out right."

hahaha

I love how, something like four takes after what would become the master, Dylan angrily stops a take of LARS saying, "Why can't we play it right, man?!"

yeah, pretty crazy. you can almost imagine some alternate universe where he stopped at three takes of LARS and was like, "screw this, I don't like this song anymore."

people stepping on each other’s dicks

ow

people stepping on each other’s dicks
crumble into one another

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0N4twV28Mw

hahaha oh man that Bloomfield quote

"screw this, I don't like this song anymore." Seems to happen a lot, judging by the number of regrettably-to-insanely unreleased tracks all along the winding watchtower. And/or maybe he just loses the original thread too quickly. (Also, saw at least one interview where he said he's sometimes looked at even some of his well-known lyrics and thought "wtf?")

speed/heroin/? is a helluva drug

did he ever have a heroin problem?

think he is rumored to have dabbled w/ it around the 65-66 period, but i don't know whether he was deeply into it...

I thought that was all driven by Professor Garbagedigger or whatever his name is

Dylan doesn't seem like the junkie type to me (speed makes way more sense), apart from the Nico connection I don't see much basis for it

After a concert in March 1966, on board a private plane in Lincoln, Nebraska, bound for Denver, the singer told critic Robert Shelton: "I kicked a heroin habit in New York City. I got very, very strung out for a while, I mean really, very strung out. And I kicked the habit. I had about a $25-a-day habit and I kicked it."

of course, you generally have to take everything dylan says around this time (or any time!) w/ a grain of salt...

and yeah weberman was convinced that dylan was a functioning addict through 1970 or later, and every song had coded references to it.

oh yeah I forgot to mention that I am AJ Weberman

hey guys

(there's also that back of a limo clip with Lennon where they'd supposedly taken heroin)

haha, they'd definitely taken something. if there's one clip that makes rock stars look uncool taking drugs it's that one.

That Lennon one, I think it's Dylan who had taken some opiate, and Lennon had done something else (speed?) and was totally nervous to hang with Dylan, who the whole time looks like he's going to barf.

Playing with Dylan sounds exhausting, but maybe no more than other temperamental artist. (My fave story came from a friend whose own friend jammed with James Brown one session. This friend was playing organ and was really getting into the groove, so moved up to the second keyboard level. James Brown immediately stops the session. "Hold it, hold!" it shouts, turning to the guy. "You've got no *business* on the second level!!" Then they started the track again.) Anyway, Dylan's delivery and cadences are weird, but seem to be something any good musician could navigate - mostly just bluesy stuff. Now, doing something he likes, or getting that take before he gets bored, that's another matter. I can imagine an unconventional dude like Dylan - you're a great player, you do everything right, then he just stops you and goes "no, no, that doesn't FEEL right!"

Artists, man.

Anyway, Dylan's delivery and cadences are weird, but seem to be something any good musician could navigate - mostly just bluesy stuff.

no way man. Listen to "Highway 6" and try to imagine playing bass on that. Simple 1-4-5 progression, right? But where those 1s, 4s, and 5s happen makes ZERO sense unless you are following every word Bob sings. And even then there is a pretty good chance you'll fuck up. The alternate takes on this new box really drive this point home, imo. Dude makes John Lee Hooker look like Tony Rice.

Still, greatest music ever, obvs

Uh, I mean "Highway 61", obviously

And even then there is a pretty good chance you'll fuck up.

Man, there are, afaict, tons of fundamental fuck-ups all over Dylan's stuff, right? Like out of tune guitars and wrong bass notes. It's not because the stuff is hard to play, imo, it's because Dylan makes it hard to play. By not letting the musicians hear the song first, by changing styles/tempos/keys/times, irregular measures, etc. Doesn't hurt anything, though. It all adds what they call "character."

Yeah, I mean, a lot of these songs filtered through Peter Paul & Mary, or even the Byrds and The Band and Baez and hundreds of others, reveal their structural simplicity, it's true. Dylan himself is the x factor. But I agree about the "character," and I think it's one of the many things that makes listening to Dylan, on teh whole, more interesting than the others I named.

And yes, there are clunkers everywhere on those records! But this happened more often back then, I guess. I'm sure there are many reasons (not least of which: no digital editing; tape degrades if you erase over it too much, so you had to 'commit' to things, etc). Have you listened recently to the tambourine on the Stones' "Time Is On My Side?" If not, check it out.

The early version of "Just like a woman" is instructive..

The backing is generic bobdylanband style with the lyrics/tune crammed around it. The finished version is a perfect arrangement. Clearly a lot of work had to be done between the two but how did they get there from here? (I don't have anything but the 2cd version)

"She's your lover now" is ooh kay, but no great loss as it stood (to me) but then again if similar magic had been applied to it, it could have been amazing too.

Is there any other 'archive' project where the subject is treated as "gone" like they died and can't answer those begged questions?

Even has his unused words set to new music by those 'respected' performers of the Costello/Bragg farm..

The Complete Basement Tapes were revelatory to me, even after hearing A Tree With Roots

I guess I need to give that a listen! bought the vinyl edition which is only 38 songs - great stuff but no shockers iirc

re dylan being tricky to play with, I always think of this when I see him live, it's like whenever a song starts you can see the band trying to guess what song they're playing and how - remember one time he started "All Along the Watchtower" on keyboard and the band didn't catch up, after 10 seconds he grabbed the guitar, showed a few chords, the band fell in and he went back to keyboard

reminds me of this story (also linked on the dylan poll I think) from NY recording session for BotT

“Let’s do Tangled up in Blue, in G.”

He hit his guitar, but instead of a G chord, it was an A. He was playing in a different key from the one he had called off. And the lyrics were, “IfBob Dylan in the Studio you see her, say hello,” another song. If any of the musicians, trying to keep up with the unexpected switch, missed a chord, he’d wave his hand, signaling them to drop out.

The feeling in the studio was tense. This was Dylan. No one would tell him he couldn’t do this, but this was wrong. You are at least supposed to tell the musicians the key and the song.

Everyone there had been incredibly excited to be playing with this guy, making a record with him. You could tell that even these jaded studio cats were jazzed. It was all anticipation to that point, but it was becoming apparent to each musician, as they were summarily dismissed, that this was not likely to happen.

The feeling just got worse. We all stole looks at each other, not understanding what was going on, not knowing what to do, hardly believing it. He did this again, and again, calling off one song and starting another, oblivious.

Musicians dropped liked swatted bugs, writhing on the ground, waiting to die. Studio musicians are tough; they’re hired to do whatever it takes. When we would record with guys like Steely Dan, you might work on a basic track for 12 hours, searching for an impossible perfection, and you’d never say no, or show the slightest bit of attitude.

But that was the game. This hurt. You could see it in the musician’s eyes, as they sat silently behind their instruments, forced not to play by the mercurial whim of the guy painting his masterpiece with finger-paints.

After a few disastrous takes, it ended up just Dylan and the bass player, Tony Brown. Tony sat inches from Dylan, watching his hands, trying to follow the chord changes as Bob made them, never knowing what chord or song was to come in the next moment. Dylan was on his own wavelength, and you either were on it or you didn’t exist.

We cut the entire album in one day like that.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110819085458/http://shrinky.net/2011/music/bob-dylan/bob-dylans-blood-on-the-tracks-the-untold-story

disc-by-disc rundown:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/review/album-review/6762375/bob-dylan-cutting-edge-bootleg-series-box-set?page=0%2C0&mobile_redirection=false

This made me lol:

DISC 11
Dylan grows increasingly frustrated by how he feels the Hawks are mangling “She’s Your Lover Now.” “Aw, it’s ugly,” he says. “I can’t. I can’t even.” Did Bob Dylan just invent the 21st century catchphrase “I can’t even”? I think he did!

hahaha

later, an angry dylan mutters "omg this is the worst lol"

"Talk to the hand, Danko!"
"Oh no you DIDN'T, Bloomfield!"
etc

after finishing the master take of "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands":

"its lit, fam"

"Damn Koop that organ lick is on fleek"

"Just like a char-ah-tee mus-taaache--of, bacon."

Kooper: "I think, maybe, perhaps we..."

Dylan: "Don't go there!"

"Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule - NOT THE ONION!"

Nashville Session Dude: "If this thing gets any longer, I won't be able to sit down again for a week!"

Dylan: "That's what she said!"

"let's listen to mac demarco"

"its lit, fam"

irl lol

got the vinyl box and it's beautiful - love the huge booklet with all those great pictures that for some reason never really show up online, essays are good too

love hearing the alternate takes, lets me hear something new in the old songs, kinda like Nick Hornby writes abt Please Crawl Out:
http://i.imgur.com/Rv7j7kj.png

but the real revelation will probably be listening to the complete sessions

hilarious that "She Belongs to Me" was announced as "Worse Than Money" - surprised to hear Dylan goofing about a song tentatively titled "uuhm... mmh.. Bank Account Blues" and then going directly into the beautiful take of "I'll Keep It with Mine"

"Damn Koop that organ lick is on fleek"

― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, November 17, 2015 2:28 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

Hey niels, where is that Hornby quote from?

took it from Google's scan of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songbook_%28Nick_Hornby_book%29

haven't read that one though, know it from Dylan Encyclopedia

Thanks very much

"The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face."

Joan Baez: "Literally me."
Sara: *sips tea*

anyway, I guess it was suggested upthread that this is less a revelation (1-3, Tell Tale Signs, Another SP) more a documentation (whitmark, basement tapes) type bootleg

This is my impression too. I don't think I need this much material from this period. Don't get me wrong - it's a great period - I just don't think there are enough unheard gems - mostly just interesting alternate takes. I've got a bootleg CD called "Thin Wild Mercury Music" which I'm guessing overlaps with this release. Probably the new release has better sound, but that one's enough for me.

Whoo-Hooo!
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/inside-the-restoration-of-dont-look-back-20151127

"The Donovan scene has always been read as this big takedown. Now, you can actually hear Donovan ask Dylan to play 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' for him — it changes the intention of the scene entirely. It's not nearly as negative! All of us in the office were watching the movie right after we put the sound track in and we suddenly, Wait...did he just request the song?!? And none of us could remember hearing that before."

I remember hearing that. Don't you?

just watched the scene and I don't hear him asking Dylan to play it. Even if he did, I don't see how that affects the takedown.

Well, the idea was that Donovan plays a nice tune. then Dylan plays something fantastic as if he's going "yeah, listen to THIS, kid"

I do hear it, I have that 2006 box set version, did you listen to it on Youtube?

I did but it was just the first versh that came up on a youtube search so admittedly it may not have been that version I saw

I also think it's the disparity in the songs that makes it a takedown, Dylan is clearly rubbing Donovan's face in it which would still be the case even if it had been a request