LOST ON THE RIVER: THE NEW BASEMENT TAPES VOL. 1 Dylan/T-Bone

Here's one that may have escaped your attention. Freeze the video at 2:05 and see unused lines on the "Kansas City" lyric sheet.

You tell me a thousand things a day
And then sleep somewhere’s else at night
I’m going back to Kansas City
People don't care if you're black or white

You invite me into your living room house
And then you say you gotta pay for what you break
I'm going back to Kansas City
People don't care if you're asleep or awake​

 

Great catch!

 

That was my initial reaction to the advance videos, as well, and Mr. Mumford's involvement is irritating, IMO, but I know there's gold in them thar hills, and I'm going to follow the lead of Dee & Ray and give the album as many "tries" as it may take for the songs to unfold and reveal themselves.

 

Where you hear "distracting" I hear "oh my good gracious unbearably sexy." But we each have our own things.

 

FYI the documentary of the making of this record debuted on Showtime yesterday and it is well worth a look. I had zero interest in this record until I saw the movie which really turned me around on it.

 

Finally got to listen to this album. Started to a couple of times, but couldn't get through Down On The Bottom. Now that I did listen to the whole thing, I enjoyed it. But I did find it hard going as far as finding that Basement Tapes spirit. But no, this is the New Basement Tapes, and it's a new sound and spirit. And it's good stuff.

Married To My Hack was fun and compact. Spanish Mary was very much in the vain of the old traditionals. I could imagine Bob doing it for Self Portrait. When I Get My Hands On You was very sensuous and captivating, if not a little dark in tone. Hidee Hidee Ho #10 was a pleasant surprise. I immediately thought it sounded very cabaret, almost like a mellotron, and sure enough, it probably was done with plenty of that old machine. The strings were the giveaway, but even the piano bits could be mellotron samples. The instrument sounds like it shows up a few other times too. (fun point harking back to the BS11 thread, where we're talking about the essay that drives home the point beyond any need that Dylan and the band were so distanced from psychedelia, while here one of the hallmarks of British psychedelia was using unusual instruments like the mellotron.) Card Shark was a surprisingly awful track, lyrics and music. Quick Like A Flash had a bassline that sounded like it came from a Michael Jackson song, but somehow it worked. The last four tracks were a real knockout set.

I'm not really familiar with any of the performers here aside from Costello, so I don't know how much this music sounds like their other works, but Six Months In Kansas City sounded very Costello.

Sidenote, that the album was very heavy on the low-end. Couple of tracks I had to lower the volume on (Spanish Mary for sure).

 

Sorry for asking this before reading every bit of online material I can find, but...

My question is - how much have the lyrics been changed or adapted, if at all?
Is there any info about how complete the manuscripts were?

Did these artists take any liberties with the lyrics?

 

I haven't seen much on this but an example was given earlier in the thread and I believe that yes, liberties were taken. I think that is entirely appropriate.

 

I find Dylan's "fingerprints" in a lot of places in the lyrics, but I agree that "Card Shark" sounds like it was written by a middle schooler. It took me a while to get into "Down on the Bottom" but now it's one of my favorites on the record. Nice and bleak.

 

Down On The Bottom just sounds so thoroughly modern, production wise. Again, the few times I tried to do it, I was not in the right mindset, so I figured there was no point in trying to soldier through the album. It did take a bit of readjusting to appreciate. You can hear Dylan all over it, but his words, taken out of their time and origin, reveal the elements of his style the remain unchanged throughout the years. The humor, the romance. These don't have to be from '67. They could be from '77, '87, etc. The whole Basement Tapes connection is in the end a bit of a gimmick. The important part is that it's Dylan's words, and that the performers breathe life into them.

T-Bone Burnett was given more than just Basement Tapes material. Dirty Lie by the Secret Sisters was a fun release; offhand I know Dirty Lie comes from a rehearsal/soundcheck tape from the mid-eighties, a tape with a few other half finished songs that will maybe get a helping hand too.

 

"Dirty Lie" was done during rehearsals for the '84 European Tour. I don't know if T Bone had the same tape as the one that has long circulated, or something more fleshed out.

If they pick Bob's bones this way while he's still alive, I can't begin to imagine what will happen when he's gone.

As Elvis Costello once said sarcastically about another musician, Bob's "every fleeting thought is a pearl".

 

I almost prefer they "pick his bones" now while he's alive; it feels more authorized. It would be nice to see Bob himself get in on the action though...

 

I think this may be the most universally appropriate stocking stuffer released since Love and Theft.
You'll want all your friends to have this beautiful collection of sounds and crosscurrents of talent/craftsmanship to represent what 2014 had to offer.
from an archeological standpoint at the very least.

weird sound mastering though.
sounds better on youtube than on vinyl.

 

Listening to it right now - songs and performances are good, but as a few others have mentioned, the production kinds of gets in the way for me - too thick and ambience-laden for my tastes. Really wish they'd went for a rawer, more immediate sound more in line with the original basements, but I suppose then it wouldn't be as palatable commercially. In fact, most of this stuff sounded better to me in its "pre-production" state on the video documentary.

 

Received for Christmas and have listened once through. I like it a lot. With this kind of participation the album sounds quite diverse. Jim James also participated in New Multitudes which were given access to Woody Guthrie lyrics. (For some bizarre reason he listed himself as "Yim Yames", but it is certainly the same chap!) So he is no stranger to this type of project.

 

I agree 100%. All these songs sounded better as raw works in progress than the final versions. I also had the same reaction watching the documentary about the Elton John/Leon Russell Union album. The obvious common denominator is T Bone Burnett.

 

After the seven course meal of the real deal Basement tapes, I finally got around to this - and I'm digging it a lot!

Great headphone listening, and more than a couple of tracks have been hummed by yours truly. It's passed the Old Gray Whistle Test!

I think I might even work up a version of Duncan & Jimmy for my bluegrass band.

*oops* I never posted the above, and have since showed Duncan & Jimmy to my band. I must say, they are traditionalists, almost to a fault, but they really warmed to this tune - which is a great accolade!

As for myself - I'm now sure it's my favorite new album of the year (the Basement Tapes box is my fave archive release, naturally).

 

BTW - For those decrying the production quality because it doesn't mirror the sound of the basement, I'll just quote Elvis C in the documentary, "You've missed the point."

The sessions were about collaboration & fun.

For me, watching them create this music together, and the fun they obviously had (not to mention some tears & sweat) has been inspirational.

But, that wouldn't matter much if the resultant music wasn't so fantastic.

 

There's a 15-track version in a jewel case and a 20-track version in a gatefold cardboard sleeve.

 

The problem with the production isn't that it doesn't "mirror the sound of the basement" (how could it possibly at this date and time?), but that the high-gloss Burnette treatment to a large degree mitigates the "collaboration and fun" that I saw in the video documentary. All these performers are talented enough to make this stuff work fine on its own - if only T-Bone had left it that way...

 

Would one of the vinyl owners please report on the pressing and mastering quality? Also, I scanned through this thread and have perused the inter webs and cannot find who or where this was mastered for vinyl nor where it was pressed. Any help there would be great!

FWIW - I saw the Carolina Chocolate Drops a few years back at the Folks Fest up in Lyons, CO. It was absolutely awesome, but this album has made me fall madly in love with Ms. Rhiannon! Holy Smokes!

Thanks!