Exactly. Slow Train even had Bob's last Top 40 hit while Self Portrait had what going for it...being his worst reviewed album? Give us some Gospel Bob already!
Count me in on that Bootleg Series but try and include the 1983 sessions as well. Might be too much good stuff for just a 2-cd set though.
I think the most likely reason we wouldn't see a gospel set, or maybe not before he slips this mortal coil: Bob just doesn't want to have to explain himself. A Bootleg Series release would require a full-on marketing campaign surrounding his Jesus years for the first time since, well, his Jesus years. You could say he's put this material out there before – a few tracks on Bootleg Vol. 3, "Gotta Serve Somebody" on GH Vol. 3, dusting off tracks like "Solid Rock" and "Saving Grace" live in recent years, the Gospel tribute album. Yeah, it's not like he's trying to hide the material, but he's not putting a hard spotlight focus on it, either. Does anyone think that would be an issue for him? I do.
I don't know that I agree with you on this one. Has he really even promoted any of the Bootleg Series? I can't say I've read any interview or really anything about them coming from Bob himself. Jeff Rosen & Co. would do the work promoting it like usual I'd guess.
A bootleg series to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1974 tour with The Band was presented to Dylan earlier this year and he said no.
No, Bob himself hasn't promoted any of these. I'm thinking more of all the press releases and marketing materials and such. All the newfangled commercials on YouTube and other media outlets. That copy has to come from somewhere, and it inevitably will attach itself to Bob. The main thing I think he'd be worried about is being called out for thinking one way then and another way now. Maybe I'm making too much out of this.
Possibly too much. I don't think Dylan really cares what anyone thinks anymore. Not for a while now...
It took 32 years to get Live 1966 released...40 years to get Dylan (1973) remastered and re-released...47 years for the Basement Tapes...Bob moves in mysterious ways. We just have to wait.
Have driven by Facets on Fullerton too many times to remember - however never once took in a movie. Thanks for the insightful review. I wonder if enough of the raw footage still exits to recut the film and/or make an interesting "Making of" documentary like they did with Apocalypse Now. Heck, if the footage still exits why not start up a Kickstarter campaign to make something happen. If Neil Young can do it why can't Bob?
Bob's never wanted to explain himself, so he just doesn't. Has anybody ever made Bob Dylan talk about something he doesn't want to talk about? Additionally, I'm not sure his thinking has changed that much. His recent albums are still filled with apocalyptic imagery.
I don't think he would have any issue with the Christian material being released. In the Rolling Stone interview that supported the Tempest release he mentioned he thought going into the project he was going to be making a religious album.
Explaining himself, or explaining any particular period? In a word, no. Has Bob even acknowledged any of the Bootleg Series? What makes you think he'd suddenly feel the need to explain one of them?
To be clearer, again I don't mean Bob explicitly making any public statements in the marketing materials or whatever. He'll remain quiet like he always does. What I mean is how do his people at Sony frame the release of product that, ideally, would include fire and brimstone sermons and the like. The passion and themes of some of that stuff will catch a lot of people by surprise. People will understandably ask if Bob still feels that way. Writers will write about it. Bloggers will blog about it. They do now, but now we're talking mainstream press and Rolling Stone and etc. The Gospel Years represent an incredibly personal body of work for Bob, arguably his most personal. But even if you think something like Blood on the Tracks put more on the line for Bob on a personal level, it's entirely acceptable to pour your heart out over the loss of romantic love. Jesus, on the other hand? Just opens up a different flavor of scrutiny that might be something he'd prefer to punt on. I sure hope not. I'm a pretty secular guy but I covet this material like very little else. But we live in very polarized times now, even more than 1979-1981. This reminds me of a funny story when a pal and I were getting ready to walk into a show in Fort Myers, Florida, in 1995. This big truck pulled up and parked next to us, and out came two massive, burly rednecks who looked like they just came out of the Everglades swamps. They were talking between themselves and I couldn't hear much of what they were saying, but I heard one thing cut right through: "...but if he starts playing any of that Jesus ****, I'm outta here!"
Well I can definitely see a studio outtakes gospel era set being released, and maybe a live release with the sermonizing edited out. I'd assume that a release including all the unedited sermons, would only be released posthumously (if at all). I don't think he has a problem with any of the songs that he's ever written/recorded, but I'm guessing he may be embarrassed by the overt on-stage sermonizing. Remember, he did change the Saved cover art after he got "un-Saved"
Yes, I would absolutely include the Infidels sessions to "anchor" such a Bootleg Series set; I left 1983 out of that particular post to highlight the more challenging years. Make it 3 CDs and it will be fine!
A Week In The Life - all the footage assembled more or less logically over 6 discs, with Pennebaker's Something Is Happening and ETD as 'bonuses'.
Wonderful post. You know the artist and you know the score. When the subject of Dylan's Gospel Years comes up, I always try to remind myself how much I love the hymns and religious songs done by Blind Willie Johnson, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and so many other artists who delve into that genre. (Anybody heard Jerry Lee's long rant in the middle of a Sun Records session?) It's clear that Bob was equally passionate about seeking "salvation," and was "troubled in mind" for awhile, and played all that out in public, before retreating into a less overt stand about his religious beliefs. Some of it I thought was brilliant, some a little shrill. I've heard live tapes from that period, including the classic Warfield shows, and I understand why many people want at least some of that material released. But while a Gospel Years collection is definitely in my Top Ten list, I have to say it's probably right around number five, after Blood on the Tracks, Blonde on Blonde and a few others. Again though -- if it turns out to be Bootleg Series Volume 13 or 14, I'll pre-order it on day one.
He's probably got some amazing personal reel-to-reel or cassette tapes forgotten in a trunk somewhere that he recorded at home in 1965-1966 and never bothered to revisit again.
Just like the Houston Street Acetates, waiting for some new tenant to trip over them in a closet...yeahhh.
My thoughts, too. Release the BOTT box while they work on the Blonde On Blonde plus '66 Tour dvds. I figure they're going to go for what they think the Dylan demographic really wants next, and those two above are it. Would not be surprised to see a Dylan/Grateful Dead rehearsals/shows box in the coming years.
Well, 2015 would be the 40th anniversary of Blood on the Tracks and and 2016 would be the 50th for Blonde on Blonde and the tour. So, maybe that's how it will play out.
It's strange, but the last two Bootleg Series releases (Another Self Portrait and the upcoming Basement Tapes) only came about after the record company "rediscovered" old tapes. I wonder if they were planning on making Blood on the Tracks the follow-up to Tell Tale Signs, but then changed course when they found the Self Portrait reels? And as we all remember, the BOTT outtake of Meet Me In The Morning was first said to be from the "upcoming" Volume 11, but then that promotional blurb was yanked, maybe when Garth finally coughed up the Basement reels. So maybe the Blood on the Tracks box set was finished several years ago, but they've simply been waiting for the right time to release it. Not sure about this theory, but I do wonder. Hey, we could see it early next year! Yeah, that's the ticket...
It's funny, because not only was BOTT seeminly advertised as volume 11, but the "insider" sources didn't seem to indicate the Basement Tapes would happen so soon. It really seemed to be a few volumes away. I ain't complain' though! They do have to get a move on though as far as Blonde On Blonde. If they do BOTT for 2015, BoB needs to come out in 2016, or else the recordings hit public domain. For that matter, actually the initial New York sessions expire after 2015.
