Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series

Jesus....rocks

have you heard the good news?

santana's solo on "the groom's still waiting at the altar" really goes in

https://image.spreadshirtmedia.com/image-server/v1/mp/compositions/P1001859509MPC1003190313/views/1,width=300,height=300,appearanceId=70,backgroundColor=E8E8E8,version=1468495391/jesus-rock-and-roll-men-s-ringer-t-shirt.jpg

the "Blessed by the Name" on disc 2 of the 2CD set is so nuts, just a freight (not slow) train of a groove

sometimes it's so over the top with the fervor and the backup singers i wonder if nick cave had heard some of these boots when he was making lyre of orpheus/abbatoir blues

(or henry's dream)

Consideringg what a "Street-Legal" fan Cave is I am guessing he most have, I was thinking the same thing over the wknd but yeah this live band is totally a Lyre of Oh/Abby Blues template

From Mojo magazine, January 1997:
MOJO: What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?
CAVE: I guess it's Slow Train Coming by Bob Dylan. That's a great record, full of mean-spirited spirituality. It's a genuinely nasty record, certainly the nastiest 'Christian' album I've ever come across.

esp. the more gospelly they get (away from the apex of 'slow train' sleaze), i think the band often sounds not far from what you can often hear on like those 'fire in my bones' comps, church bands playing, don't see why cave couldn't have heard some of that sort of stuff the normal ways back in the day (or since)

Reminds me: wonder if he ever heard this, before doing all that? Originally released in 1969, so maybe---see for yourself which songs, several I wouldn't have thought of for this, but I like it (also might have been an influence on New Morning, a little bit*, though not sure when that was recorded):
https://lightintheattic.net/releases/1007-dylan-s-gospel

*Also maybe the black gospel-associated harmonists x white country-associated steel guitar [before most of us listeners knew about the black church communities documented much later in Sacred Steel) on the chorus of "George Jackson" ( a rare if not unprecented musical move at the time, and taken as standing for solidarity): https://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/george-jackson-a-song-by-bob-dylan-1971/ Not great, but very much to the point, and unabashedly related then to some events still controversial in some respects (incl. Jackson's whole life, as well as death, and the Marin County Courthouse shoot-out afterwards)
(Also "Property of Jesus" etc. got covered later.)

In case that won't play, here's a key line: "Sometimes I think this whole world/Is one big prison yard/Some of us are prisoners/The rest of us are guards."

^^ has "George Jackson" ever been reissued? great tune.

think it was only included the mid-1970s Masterpieces comp (I might be wrong though ...)

the acoustic version is on this

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/615D-Rvn6eL._SX355_.jpg

xp that's the (edited) "big band" version from the A-side, Number None's link is the acoustic B-side

so I guess it has been reissued, buried in two separate 3LP/2CD comp sets

on the plus side the starting Discogs price is $3

BS13 is mighty good

Finally listened to the sampler on Spotify last night---17 tracks, 76 minutes---and maybe it's an unfortunate choice of tracks, compared to the actual (2-disc standard, 8-disc/1 DVD etc. box) releases)--but, despite a few engaging cuts ("I can manipulate people as well as anybody!" Sounds even happier when he combines this with "I ain't gonna go to hell for anybody!" Not even victory over family is worth that!), I found much of this increasingly oppressive, especially on headphones. Like locking myself in the basement with something dead and rotting, someone else's reeking, blood-soaked dreams of vengence on shadows of will, bulletproof suits with flys open, tantalizing, do-wrong women---many of whom seem like shadows, projections of his own insatiable, paranoid drive, maybe xpost cocaine dreams and then some.
Yes, the performers, including him, are putting out, but so far, most of the time, just doesn't seem worth it. What I get for going once more into the charms of Spotify (b-but it's never been like this---at least the commercials brought fleeting relief)

"Everytime I say 'You' I mean 'I'," he once said in an interview, and he seemed to live that self-awareness in some writing, some performances, as I mentioned above--but he seems to have forgotten it here, and this phase went on for years---wonder how he came out of it, as the songs gradually got better (maybe he just decided to keep some shit to himself, but that seems like a major achievement, after hearing this).

I don't find this stuff to be less hectoring or joyless or whatever than most of his best stuff. I guess I can see for listeners sensitive enough abt being proselytized to that the condemned "you" scans as you the listener, it could make you feel like Sara Dylan w/ front row seats for Idiot Wind

Personally I could give a shit. This is hands down his best band. He's in peak voice, the energy is often up there w/ the best Rolling Thunder nights. The songs are by and large really good.

The Toronto discs 5-6 are just amazing

less more

This is hands down his best band. He's in peak voice, the energy is often up there w/ the best Rolling Thunder nights

Clearly this is a matter of taste, I don't rate his 70s live voice very highly, find it too shouty on both Before the Flood, Rolling Thunder and Hard Rain.

What's the best Dylan band? We might poll this one, if we're able to find an overview of all the constellations. John Wesley Harding trio is a personal favorite with Kenny Buttrey on drums and Charlie McCoy on bass.

picked up the 6-disc Basement Tapes for 50 bucks and have been wallowing in it all day, damn this stuff is great. I haven't gotten to disc 6 yet but I'll be the judge of "very poor sonic quality" thank you very much

love dow's posts about this upthread, all this stuff works as a whole with the throwaways, the fragments, the covers, and the staggering originals all mixed up in a stoned loose flow. I never went much further than the 1-disc Safety Tape, still am not very familiar with the rejigged '75 2LP, so most of this stuff is a revelation

The first few tracks with Joan Baez are fine.

The rest are dull, and if the sound quality had been great, they'd still be dull.

Joan Baez? She is not on the basement tapes. Dull? No!

as usual Mark G has absolutely no idea what he's talking about

get out of this thread, you're fired

also, FP

what is going on here?

still bumping Trouble No More a lot, Fred Hackett is my hero

what's going on here is that The Complete Basement Tapes are awesome, I know I'm late to that party and we're all talking about the new set but hey this is the Bootleg Series thread.

disc 6 sounds fine to me!

the version of "the auld triangle" on the basement tapes box is one of the best things

Oh, that was the other set, nm.

i know greil marcus builds up sign on the cross as the earthquake omitted from the 2LP but my favorite of the left-outs is definitely All I Have to Do is Dream

Trouble No More is so good.

I got the 2-disc set for Christmas. So far I've listened to the 1st disc. I already knew and loved most of the songs from the original studio albums, and in a few cases at least I think I still prefer the studio versions (especially the ones on Saved vs some of the early live performances where it seems like the road-testing of the songs improved them), but some of the performances reveal whole new sides of the songs or feature a particularly great vocal, so this for me is well worth having.

To me it's worth it just for the super cool intro he does for Solid Rock...

"Gonna do a request tonight. Somebody shouted out a song called Solid Rock. Hanging onto a solid rock made before the foundation of the world, is that the one you mean?"

haha yeah that's great

Just finished the new Clinton Heylin book accompanying the set.... Some of it familiar from Behind The Shades but a good deep read on the period nonetheless

I just wish Property Of Jesus was on the 2 cd live set, that's always been my favorite fire and brimstone Bob song.

I dug out "Slow Train Coming" recently because of this set, and liked it more than I thought I was going to.

So, may be back 'on the bus' regarding this set,

Has anyone watched the dvd documentary? My local art house theatre is doing a one time showing of the doc in a few weeks and was wondering if it was worth catching.

I'm amazed and touched to find that (12-13 years ago) I started this thread!

Came here seeking views on TROUBLE NO MORE. Will read with interest. I just have the 2CD set.

I didn't recall that there was a whole Clinton Heylin book on this. (Is there any Dylan he hasn't written a book about?)

Though quite a Dylan fan I have NEVER heard the Christian LPs before -- most of these songs come to me totally new. I find it remarkable that he played dozens of concerts, for months, playing ONLY the new songs, nothing from before c.1978 -- very unlike what he went back to doing later in the 1980s I think.

My sense is that the Christian message doesn't get in the way too much for me (though it's not my kind of message, especially as, as all know, it's so hectoring and aggressive) - maybe many of the other LPs had this kind of lyrical material anyway, just less concentrated? -- and the big bonus seems to be the band.

Heylin book just came out last fall as a companion to the new Bootleg Series (a la his recent 1966 book). haven't read it yet, but plan on it ...
EZ, just finally watched the DVD and it's great. Michael Shannon sermons might be a little iffy for some, but I don't know, they add an interesting wrinkle ... I do wish that they'd also have included the complete Toronto show in pristine quality, but I guess YouTube will have to suffice for now. The semi-staged rehearsal footage at Rundown Studios is pretty interesting — the version of "Abraham Martin & John" that comes at the end is kind of stunning:

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

Would love a whole album made up of these Dylan / Clydie duets ... they sound amazing together here. There's an uncirculating session from 1982 apparently:

Rundown Studios

Santa Monica, California

1 June 1982

Clydie King session.

1. Standing In The Light

2. Average People

3. Average People

4. Average People

5. In The Heat Of The Night

6. Dream A Little Dream Of Me

Clydie King (vocal), Bob Dylan (organ, guitar, bass), Jimmie Haskell (piano).

oh yeah, that's a great little performance!

you have to be kind of fearless to sing with Bob like that, but here it totally works

From MVD Entertainment Group:

https://mvd.cloud/300dpi/MVD0843D.jpg

Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs Of Bob Dylan
Coming to DVD and digital formats February 9th

Features an intense performance from Bob Dylan, plus performances from Aaron Neville, Shirley Caesar, Dottie Peoples, and many others during behind-the-scenes making of the Grammy-nominated compilation "Gotta Serve Somebody" released 15 years ago

"The best African-American covers of Dylan songs since Jimi Hendrix."
- The New York Times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AWgnsYECLo
Marking the fifteenth anniversary of GRAMMY-nominated album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan, MVD Entertainment Group will reissue the film of the same title. Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan features an intense Bob Dylan performance from 1980 of "When He Returns" as well as powerful performances and interviews with Aaron Neville, Shirley Caesar, Fairfield Four, Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Dottie Peoples, reflecting on their faith and connections to Dylan's Christian music.

Now, with the November release of Columbia Records' "Trouble No More: The Bootleg Series Vol. 13 / 1979-1981," a further exploration of that period has taken place, which began with this album and film. "It was an honor to have made an impression on the great artist himself with these recordings," said the film's producer Jeffrey Gaskill. From 2009 to 2011, Bob Dylan opened 40 concerts around the world with Gonna Change My Way of Thinking (his Grammy-nominated new version re-written and recorded for Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan with Mavis Staples.) in concert halls in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Adelaide and this performance in Tel Aviv (video HERE).

Just a month after his recording with Staples he would kick off a new tour in Stockholm Sweden and perform Solid Rock (what many consider the theme song to his gospel era concerts) for the first time in over twenty years. Dylan would continue to perform this rousing song as well as other gospel era songs at numerous concerts across Europe and beyond. The two-time Grammy nominated compilation would be released on Sony/Columbia one year later on April 1, 2003

"This gospel music was Bob Dylan's ultimate rebellion, and it took much more courage than strapping on an electric guitar," said Gaskill. The film offers historical insights into this Bob Dylan era provided by Jim Keltner, Fred Tackett, Spooner Oldham, and Regina McCrary - all of whom performed and recorded with Dylan at the time. Famed record producer Jerry Wexler, who produced the records, and music journalists Paul Williams and Alan Light, also disclose insights.

PRESS QUOTES:

"The best African-American covers of Dylan songs since Jimi Hendrix."
-The New York Times

"Another corner of American music has, appropriately, claimed Dylan as its own."
- Associated Press

"Even agnostics may now agree there was something nearly supernatural about Dylan's mastery of an unlikely idiom--black gospel."
- Entertainment Weekly

TRACK LISTING
Arlethia Lindsey - Every Grain of Sand
Bob Dylan - When He Returns
Sounds of Blackness - Solid Rock
Shirley Caesar - Gotta Serve Somebody
Dottie Peoples - I Believe in You
Aaron Neville - Saving Grace
Helen Baylor - What Can I Do For You'
The Fairfield Four - Are You Ready
Great Day Chorale - In the Garden
Mighty Clouds of Joy - Saved
Chicago Mass Choir featuring Regina McCrary - Pressing On
Rance Allen - When He Returns

looks pretty cool to me! the album is on Spotify but not streamable in my area:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0gJ0twaeXyBLPs8Nyiqjs0

haha wait though the Mavis/Bob song is available and has a pretty hilarious skit!

TROUBLE NO MORE - I must now have played the 2CDs about 20 or 30 times each.

Favourites include:

guitar on first 'slow train coming';

speed of second 'slow train coming'.

Groove on first 'gotta serve somebody';

Bo Diddley rhythm on second 'gotta serve somebody'.

Graceful music and possible Knopfler pastiche on 'precious angel'.

'Solid rock' especially the intro to it as 'RE-QUEST'.

Slick groove and kooky delivery on 'do right to me baby'.

Lead guitar riff on 'saved'.

Band introductions on 'are you ready?' and Dylan asking if someone will tell him if he's ready.

'Shot of love' like a prototype for 'high water'.

Scorching, remarkable 'groom's still waiting at the altar' with chorus lyric quite different from the record - 'tell her I still think she's neat'!

'Shot of love' like a prototype for 'high water'.
yeah, I can totally see that