Tell Tale Signs - Dylan Bootleg Series Vol 8

yeah, i got the third disc by nefarious means ... and it is pretty good! though i've read some grumblings from dylan nerds about the inclusion of the live stuff, it sounds good to me -- that version of "highwater" that closes out disc 1 is intense.

i like the live stuff...this era hasn't really been documented with a live album like all his other eras have been, so it's interesting to me to hear that stuff...would like a proper live album sometime.

yeah, it'd be nice to have a well-curated multi-volume live set of the neverending tour, for those of us who don't have the inclination to wade through the billions and billions of bootlegs of the last 20 years. and this is coming from someone who has tons of those bootlegs.

This set is extraordinary, and handily puts to rest the long-held and annoying myth that Dylan has been washed up since '74, or even earlier, as some claim.

This set is extraordinary, and handily puts to rest the long-held and annoying myth that Dylan has been washed up since '74, or even earlier, as some claim.

Sorry, but who still makes this claim?

Anyway, this is marvelous. It's as if melodies and chords were unimportant; it's his granitic personality and voice that finally matter -- "everything is broken," etc. Songs exist as guides, not templates.

Tossing "Girl From The Red River Shore" from TOOM was stupid AND intelligent: it would have shown up that overrated album.

I don't care for the spare version of "Series of Dreams," one of the few great Dylan songs to benefit from Daniel Lanois' voodoo.

Looks incredible. Huck's Tune alone makes it worthwhile.

Great song. On par with "Things Have Changed".

I've just realised that a major oversight is not including anything from the 1994 sets with the Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra. Their version of Hard Rain is one of the best ever.

Bryan Ferry's is my favorite: it kids the many bad lines, but does right by the gooduns, which gradually take over. Hey, speaking of live, have yall heard the Japanese import-volume of the Bootleg series, live from 1961 til the mid-90s? Incredible--also incredible that Greil Marcus and I were the only ones to Pazz & Jop it--no brag, for more than one reason--for instance, not many people heard or heard of it. Why does Dylan do this kind of thing? Mebbe he McCain alibi: it's his people. Let Dylan be Dylan, people!

finally got my proper copy of this ... listening now, the set seems a little frontloaded -- the 1st disc can definitely stand up as a great Dylan album, on par with Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft and Modern Times. Everything here is pretty fucking awesome -- the acoustic "Most of the Time", "Red River Shore", "Born In Time", "Dreamin' of You", "Marchin' To The City"!!! Phew. Interesting to hear these Lanois outtakes that have been mixed by someone other than Lanois - a lot less murk and mist. And I like the murk and mist, but "Marchin' To The City" and "Red River Shore" benefit from the clearer mix.

Tom Ewing's review in p4k is fantastic as usual

this version of "most of the time" still kills me.

Tom Ewing's review in p4k is fantastic as usual

― baaderonixx, Wednesday, October 22, 2008 12:49 PM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah was great! don't go to pitchfork a lot anymore so i missed it but that was a great review.

first disc on this is a motherfucker

I got the 3CD version cheap in Fopp (£25 or thereabouts)

What's with the bobdylan.com 7" extra?

'Cross the Green Mountain' was the real standout on this for me. An absolute masterpiece. Up there with 'Blind Willie McTell' or 'Up to Me' as not only some of the best non-album tracks ever but some of the best songs ever written full stop.

mark which fopp and were there many there? i would def get it at that price.

actually i see its down to only £40 on amazon now so seems holding out a while has actually worked.
now just gotta wait until neil young archives is £50

This was Tottenham Court Road, London, though I have seen it in other places.

(or was it £35?, cannae remember...)

(Check the Monsieur Fopp thread, I posted it there)

The major disappointment from this set was that the version of Born In Time I mentioned above wasn't one of the two(!) versions included. So the (to my mind) definitive version remains bootleg-only.

yeah, i guess the "born in time" from those Oh Mercy bootlegs is different from this one ... Still the same general arrangement though, right -- vastly superior to the Under the Red Sky version.

Wonder what the next Bootleg Series will be?

Still patiently awaiting Basement Tapes

that'd be something! i assume it'll happen someday ...

Yeah, the Born In Time on the Oh Mercy bootlegs is the same arrangement, but a different take I guess. One of the Tell Tale Signs versions is an edit of two takes iirc, which surely must have happened at the time; it would be an odd thing to do 20 years later when there are perfectly good full takes in the can.

Pure speculation of course, but I can only assume that if an edit was made at the time, it must have been a contender for inclusion on the album by someone at some point.

oh goodness the "Born In Time" on disk 3 is extraordinary; as the guy says at the end of the next song on disk 3, "fuckin lovely". Who's on guitar? A perusal of the net suggests that Dylan, Lanois, and Malcolm Burn (a compatriot of Lanois, evidently, and later producer of Iggy Pop & Mellencamp) each played guitar on the track. And Dylan played dobro on it too!

I really need to snag this one. G;ad to see 'Mississippi' getting some love in the box. I think its among the best Dylan tunes of the last two decades & ranks pretty high in the overall list. Love & Theft was a nice gritty disc.

Dylan's laugh at the end of Marching To The City is great.
Did he steal the opening lines? Whatevs, they're awesome.

Well, I'm sitting in church
in an old wooden chair
I knew nobody
would look for me there

"Born in Time" has a lovely melody, but it's on the generic side, joining "Emotionally Yours" and "To Make You Feel My Love" – a bunch of okay, disconnected lines attached to a non sequitur chorus.

still like these lines a lot

On the rising curve
Where the ways of nature will test every nerve
You won’t get anything you don’t deserve
Where we were born in time

The lyric is ok, with some def. clunkers and some nice parts, but it's forgivable with a melody that lovely and playing that delicate.

yeah---"You won't get anything you don't deserve" is a nicely hard-nosed line, the sort of wrath of God lyric he's always excelled at.

i think it's one of those "bob has been listening to old tin pan alley songs" lyrics. "The foggy web of destiny" etc. But yeah, with Dylan's delivery (on the Oh Mercy outtakes) and the melody, it's something special.

Doesn't Randy Jackson from American Idol play on Born In Time? I'm pretty sure he does.

He plays on the Under The Red Sky version. On the Oh Mercy ones (which I'm talking about specifically), it's Daryl Johnson.

When will Bob be a guest judge on AI?

They floated that a few years back and Simon made some snarky remark asking "when was the last time he had a hit song." Then ironically enough, last season some guy sings To Make You Feel My Love and Simon gushes about what a brilliant, incredible song it is. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a Garth Brooks song.

i mean, a dylan night on that show wouldn't be the nuttiest thing in the world -- those songs are open to a wide range of interpretation.

not that i'm advocating for that kind of thing. it'd probably be godawful.

Even with Bob Dylan, I don't think I could sit through an episode of AI.

especially if the singer picks the most boring Dylan song of the last twenty years. I don't get the attraction to "To Make You Feel Like My Love" -- is it so popular because it's so colorless and vacant?

have people other than Garth Brooks and whoever the person on AI was covered it?

Billy Joel.

I think that may be exactly why its so popular. Nobody has to do any of that icky thinking stuff.

ha, billy joel covered it?
i don't think it's a horrible song, but as far as Dylan love songs go, it's not so hot.

accroding to Wiki: It has also been covered by Trisha Yearwood, Neil Diamond, Joan Osborne, Luka Bloom, Josh Kelley, Timothy B. Schmit, Kelly Clarkson, Ronan Keating, Winifred Horan (from Solas), Emily Loizeau, Bryan Ferry, Mary Black, Ruarri Joseph, Phil Keaggy, Taylor Hicks, Jon Peter Lewis, Kris Allen and Maria Muldaur.

it's a modern standard

He has probably 500 better songs.

Oh, I forgot Ferry's version, which should tell you something.

Is the "Born In Time" that's raved about on this thread, the one on Genuine Bootleg Series volume 2 (disc 3)?

i don't think it's the exact same take, but it's pretty much the same? i feel like the vocal is slightly different.

Do you have a rec on a good Oh Mercy sessions boot? once again blown away this morning with "Born In Time" & the other "Oh Mercy" tracks on the various Genuine Bootleg Series vols are hott.

Picked up a double lp this weekend called No Direction Home : Additions to the Bootleg Series 1989-2005 (very confusing name). It appears to be some of the stuff from the bonus cd of Tell Tale Signs, as well as some other stuff. Quite a lot of live recordings, including a gorgeous version of Trying To Get To Heaven which I remember being a highlight when I went to see him in Stirling Castle. TO be honest, there's not a huge amount of exciting stuff here, but I just love this period, so am happy to buy it all up.

Has anyone else seen/bought this at all? I'll post up the tracklisting shortly.

Wanted CKA 846898-2

Side A
1. Cold Irons Bound (Live)
2. Duncan And Brady
3. Things Have Changed (Live)
4. Tell Ol Bill
5. Marchin To The City
6. Ring Them Bells

Side B
1. Born In Time
2. Most Of The Time
3. Can't Wait
4. Red River Shore
5. Mary And The Soldier

Side C
1. Love Sick (Live)
2. Knockin On Heavens Door (Live)
3. Forever Young (Live)
4. Train Of Love (Live)
5. People Get Ready
6. Blowin In The Wind (Live)

Side D
1. Not Fade Away (Live)
2. Mississippi
3. Senor (Live)
4. Blind Willie McTell (Live)
5. Try To Get To Heaven (Live)

bootleg

So yes, double-checking my original post, that'll be the 3rd cd from the original releases, with 10 extra tracks, 8 of them live tracks, then People Get Ready and Tell Ol Bill (this version of which is absolutely lovely).

this is awesome.

I love that after so many stabs at "Mississippi" he finally said, "Hm, if I get rid of this...this Lanois thing, it actually sounds and feels perfect!"

And the photo of Dylan messing with Bono reminded me of Ian MacLagan's account of being in Dylan's band in 1983. Mick Taylor told Ian to make up a list of Dylan songs he wanted to play and present it to Dylan. Mac duly did so, Dylan looked it over in the hotel bar and said, "Hm...yes...ok, we'll do these! Good suggestions!"

From that point forward, at no point in the tour were any of those songs ever played.

it's kind of mind-fogging how there are three mississippi's on here so if you play it all together on repeat he seems to be singing an awful lot about mississippi, or missing mississippi

mississippi am i spelling that right

~~~mississippi~~~

M. I. MISS. ISS. IP. PY. MISSISSIPPI.

I wish I'd got the 3-disc version of this. It was just soooo expensive... This is one of my favourite Bootleg Series. And I've been on a Paul Brady trip (again) these past few weeks and would love to own Dylan's version of Mary and The Soldier

ain't gonna worry
aboot meeee
any more

eat when i'm hungry, drink when i'm dry

love that song so much but wrong album dude! u shoulda revived the time out of mind thread

i have never listened to that

i revived this one b/c tell tell signs rulez ok

ok let me revive a highway 61 thread and post the following on it: "early one morning the sun was shining"

yall are dumb

That lines in "Dreaming of You" on this record as well as "Standing in the Doorway" so it's a fine revive.

lol sorry j

the "High Water" on this smokes so hott

and actually

https://books.google.com/books?id=73eAjOofhCAC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=dylan+eat+when+i%27m+hungry,+drink+when+i%27m+dry&source=bl&ots=1ONdfpy3LU&sig=dZ0hN8xm0_JkgBbdUdpyK0NujSk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBWoVChMIrbv5psb-xgIVlg-SCh3waQJ6#v=onepage&q=dylan%20eat%20when%20i%27m%20hungry%2C%20drink%20when%20i%27m%20dry&f=false

dylan dylaning too

THROW YOUR PANTIES OVERBOARD

alrighty