To clarify, SD was advertised as an exclusive 2CD offer with limited quantities. The other bonus offers were not.
San Diego is from a cassette. All the 1979-80 concerts were recorded on cassette at the mixing board for archival and security reasons. . A stereo feed. I'd heard about the taping from Paul Williams who had been talking to the Dylan organization during the tour (he wanted access but they wouldn't give it to him), and now it is confirmed by photos of the cassettes in the book that comes with the Deluxe 8-CD 1-DVD edition. A couple of shows in Toronto were recorded on multi-track for possible release. (Also there were security video cameras at the back of each auditorium and hidden onstage for security purposes).
Hey Richard, Just wanted to say thank you so much for your posts. I fully concur with your feelings on the new release, I do have it but am recovering from major surgery, and the logistics are rough at the moment. Have heard the sampler, etc but am quite distressed to learn of the extreme editing of concert chatter, and also the wonderful Gospel singers, etc. I know there is a load of fantastic stuff here, and it will be a blessing. I thank God for the ROIO gigs that pop up on music blogs.
Been having some fun listening to this set. I actually repaired the dropout and re-inserted it back into the setlist and moved the version of the previous night as a bonus track. I'm loving this show a lot!
Seemed very odd they treated that one with so much respect, with the separate release you mention and even a vinyl edition. And yet the full New York Town Hall and Carnegie Hall shows are scattered over several sets in piecemeal fashion.
The Town Hall and Carnegie Hall shows have been copyright-protected by the 50th Anniversary 1963 set, plus other releases, so Sony can afford to kick their heels for a while. I think we’ll see an official release of these shows eventually.
I don't believe a complete Town Hall 63 nor a complete Carnegie Hall '63 can be assembled from all the songs scattered across official releases. Wouldn't there would still be important parts missing?
Definitely. I know there are practical reasons for these decisions. And in any case, the bootlegs of the complete shows are in superb quality. Not sure they could improve all that much on them, anyways.
Wish this box-set had a track list sheet for easy reference so that I wouldn't have to keep flipping pages in the CD book. The cover and pages are too dark for the fonts. They needed to work on this a little longer, get the brightness and contrast levels right.
I’m perfectly happy with the boots, but it would be nice if these two shows received a full, official at some point — but only after we’ve had the BOTT sessions, Infidels, etc.
Rare Cool Stuff (Geoff Gans' design company) is on Facebook. This would be a very valid criticism to bring to their attention. On the whole, the books are gorgeous, but this issue definitely impacts readability.
My windows vista keeps crashing when I go to such websites. Soon I'll buy a better PC with a newer platform. Meanwhile, do mention it to them, Dee. The complete shows, when I finally got my hands on them in 2005 or thereabouts, turned out to be quite a revelation. The artistic growth in Dylan that took place in the several months between concerts is very apparent. The song selection, how the concerts escalate, the vocal delivery, the way the audience hangs on every word. And yet the mood of the singer and the audience have changed. There is an even deeper shift by the time Dylan gets to the Royal Festival Hall concert in 1964. Again, sound quality is wonderful, but it needs to be heard with the in-between ambience and remarks intact. And I suspect it has been speeded up a second or two. The official copyright protection releases prunes it too tight. Bootleggers haven't released a complete version, that I know of.
Listening to the Earl's Court concert from 1981, the gospel songs are truncated. Sound quality is much better, but to hear the complete songs in the killer arrangements you gotta go to San Diego '79 and I suppose Toronto '80.
I have a love/hate relationship with the design on these sets. In general I love the small format and print quality of the CD deluxe sets, which I much prefer to some sort of oversized box. The use of lots of photos and ephemera for the photo books are always nice, and inside the set the typography generally seems to tastefully reference the period, and be decently set. The contrast issues don't bother me too much. That said, I can't stand most of the typography on the cover designs on any of these releases, which often come across as tasteless at best, and amateurish at worst. I can't stand the type on the gospel cover, especially that particular script font and gold band with Columbia logo they ran across the bottom. It totally looks like some sort of cheap mail-order or made-for-tv job. It almost feels like the person who does the type design on the covers for these sets is a completely different person who does all the interior work... For my own iTunes I did make revised cover art that removes the gold bands at the bottom. Sharing here if anyone else feels the same.
Yeah I used the replacement track bit and edited it into the missing time part. Roughly speaking, the track is 99% Nov 28 and 1% Nov 27 with no sign of an obvious edit.
I wish Dylan Inc. had thought of it. The cover art on this set is too dark. I have 20/20 eyesight and sharp eyesight even in the dark, but the cover art on this set is too dark. I get the aesthetic necessity for the blacks and the surrounding darkness, but printed boxes aren't the same as the luminous monitors on which cover art is designed. They could have played with the gamma and the fonts a little and not sacrificed the aesthetic.
Day and half to go and it’s at £56, that’s $74! BOB DYLAN SAN DIEGO 28 NOVEMBER 1979 NEW SONY 2CD LIVE RARE | eBay
That's just mad. The box with SD is still available! Bob Dylan Official Music Store | Bob Dylan EU Whoever is bidding that mustn't like the rest of the set???