Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series

What do you dislike about L&T?

I dunno, I just don't like the style of the songs that much... it's a boring listen for me ("Mississippi" aside). I don't really start locking in with Bob again until Together Through Life. It's all good...

It's the same production!

It's the songs, man! Not Jack Frost's icy knob-twiddling...

I mean, if "Summer Days" and "Lonesome Day" and "Sugar Baby" did nothing for ya...

FWIW, with Time Out of Mind, the version I usually listened to has a few personal tweaks: I replaced "Cold Irons Bound" with this version from Masked and Anonymous (his touring band though by this time David Kemper had been replaced by George Receli), I replaced "Make You Feel My Love" with "Red River Shore" from disc one of The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs (though to be fair, I like hearing that song on Adele's 19), and I replaced "Can't Wait" with the early version, also from the same disc on BS Vol. 8: TTS, but I trimmed off the brief dialogue heard at the start. It really improved the back half for me, so as much as I love Time Out of Mind, I have to admit that what I enjoy isn't really what was released.

I'll also add that I think Love & Theft is the better album and would not change anything about it.

I sometimes rate Dylan albums by how funny they are and Together Through Life is corny as fuck and L&T is a top 3 funny Dylan album.

I mean the way he sings "must have been Don Paquale making a 2AM booty call" - that's amore.

"The size of your cock will get you nowhere" from "Black Rider" is hysterical.

this sidebar inspired me to go back to love + theft for the first time since it was new and i'm pleasantly surprised! the second half is way better than i remembered and the ballads! awww, sweetheart bob!

exclamation marks!

I'd be inclined to say that "LOVE & THEFT" is the best new Dylan LP of the century, along with ROUGH & ROWDY WAYS - which feels, I suppose, more ambitious, more risky, maybe is ultimately even greater ... But the fun-loving cigar-chewing whisky-glugging joke-telling qualities of "L&T" seem plain.

I don't think I've ever found much "humor" in Dylan, once you get past, say, the Blonde on Blonde era (and not counting some of the bizarre humor on The Basement Tapes).

Romeo, he said to Juliet, “You got a poor complexion
It doesn’t give your appearance a very youthful touch”
Juliet said back to Romeo, “Why don’t you just shove off
If it bothers you so much”

Yeah Love and Theft is full of jokes

"Othello told Desdemona, 'I'm cold, cover me with a blanket/ By the way, what happened to that poison wine?"/ She says, "I gave it to you, you drank it."

Guess I should revisit L&T

100 Funny Bob Dylan Moments

I really like Modern Times but it doesn't seem to get the love

"Ain't Talkin'"'s my favorite of his recent Long Doomy Album Closers.

Modern Times may be my favorite Dylan album. I certainly listen to it more than any of his peak-era '60s records. And Alfred otm re: "Ain't Talkin'."

"I was WUUUN-der-in where in the WOOORLD alicia KEEEEYs could BEEEEE" is one of my fav Dylan funny lines

I don't think I've ever found much "humor" in Dylan

you may be a preacher, full of spiritual pride. might be a city councilman, taking bribes on the side. you might be working in a barbershop: you may know how to cut hair.

i rode with him
in a taxi once
only for a mile and a half
seemed like it took a couple of monnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnths

and WHEN HE DIED! i was HOPING! that it WASN'T CONTAGIOUS!

well i dunno which is worse:
doing your own thing
or just being cool

(sorry. should be in the other thread.)

You're gonna need my hel,p sweetHEART
you can't make looooove all bah yourselffff

l+t in partic does have a lot of direct actual "jokes", some of which he deliberately overnudges-- "i'm stark naked but i don't care / i'm goin off into the woods / i'm... HUNTIN... BAAAARE"-- but also as ever his delivery of "normal" lines can be exhilaratingly funny-- "i see your loverman coming / coming across the barren field / well he's not a gentleman at all / he's ROTTEN to the core / he's a COWARD and he / STEALLLLLLSSSZZZSZSSZ"

that stealllzzzzee might be my favorite Dylan pronunciation of the new century

In other words, morrisp, you can't separate Dylan's humor from his delivery. Like any joke, really.

Well, you're certainly making the case!

last night the wind was whisperin
i was trying to make out what it was
yeah last night the wind was whisperin somethin
i was tryin to make out what it was
well i tell myself “something’s coming”
but it
never does!!!

I guess my humor is more on the "Make love to Elizabeth Taylor, catch hell from Richard Burton" level

you may be a preacher, full of spiritual pride. might be a city councilman, taking bribes on the side. you might be working in a barbershop: you may know how to cut hair.

― difficult listening hour, Wednesday, February 1, 2023 11:23 AM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

you gotta serve somebody has so many weirdly matter of fact lines like that which are super funny to me

a classic with the setup/punch rhythm of standup:

they say i shot a man named gray,
and took his wife to italy.
she inherited a million bucks,
and when she died,
it came to me.
i can't help it
if i'm lucky.

^Yeah, forgot about that one

I got a cravin’ love for blazing speed
Got a hopped up Mustang Ford
Jump into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard
I can write you poems, make a strong man lose his mind
I’m no pig without a wig
I hope you treat me kind
Things are breakin’ up out there
High water everywhere

I mean, with his really over-top-delivery, this is pretty funny coming from a 56 year old

I’m a little torn on the de-Lanois-ing, in part, because I think when that pairing is at its best, it’s exceptional and I don’t think you can take him out of those recordings. For instance, while it was nice to hear some alternate versions of “Most of the Time” on Tell-Tale Signs, the best is absolutely still the completed track on Oh Mercy!, which is an All-Time Bob Song for me.

I actually notice the Lanois (and de-Lanois) effect a little bit less on Time Out of Mind and Fragments. Not sure how different I find it but the remix of “Highlands” sounds pretty great.

Ah well, it's been a good run.

Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Is ‘Definitely Winding Down’

We don’t have a lot of good tapes of the ’78 tour,” says the source. “There’s something coming. The ’78 tour will be revisited at some point in the future. I’m not at liberty to say how.”

there day 1 for at budokan bootleg series

Who's the "source" quoted throughout that piece – Rosen himself?

What's funny is, despite the expectation-setting, he does seem to tease at least three(?) likely forthcoming sets...

I'm guessing the '78 tour may have a videotaped show, so maybe a documentary film? They seem to like making those, as they did with the Rolling Thunder Revue and the evangelical shows.

He seems to specifically rule that out? (“I wish there was a movie,” says the source. “But there’s very little footage.”)

ah, never mind then!

(Probably should've read the whole article rather than lazily read what they displayed behind the paywall.)

Yeah, I'm at a loss what it could be if they don't have many good tapes. Without footage, it sounds like the best you could do is release another live album or show. If they were willing to update Street-Legal with a remix, I can see another 1978 live album as a corrective to the disappointing Budokan.

There are hours of Rundown rehearsal sessions from that era — a lot of it has already been bootlegged, but I think there's more ... I've got to hear Dylan's cover of "Rainbow Connection" before I die, anyway.

Any tracks in particular that you'd recommend Tyler? This is my least favorite Dylan era, the only one where I didn't keep a single track on iTunes or a disc on the shelf, but I imagine there must be something I've overlooked.

It would be funny if all the quotations in the RS article were from Bob Dylan.