Bob Dylan: "Trouble No More 1979 - 1981" - The Bootleg Series Vol. 13

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by DeeThomaz, Sep 24, 2015.

  1. The Bard

    The Bard Highway 61 Revisited. That is all.

    Location:
    Singapore
    Maybe not absurd but it does require a leap of faith.
     
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  2. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Shorter than you think. Some of those early folk and blues songs, like Hezikiah Jones aka Black Cross, are the same as preaching especially when performed live. Hank Williams preached a little during his shows and live on the radio, as so did Johnny Cash. Both had gospel albums out long before Dylan ever recorded a note, and he knew all their songs. They were among Dylan's heroes when growing up. He also knew their gospel songs, and he knew Elvis Presley's gospel records. Many of Dylan's songs, the moralizing and sermonizing of stuff like Who Killed Davey Moore, Walkin' Down the Line, are the same as preaching. It's not a big-deal to the well-informed folk singer.
     
  3. LonesomeDayBlues

    LonesomeDayBlues Forum Resident

    Location:
    Long Beach, CA
    It is getting exciting. I do hope they deliver on time. Wonder if the indie shops will be getting a poster or something. Anyone heard anything from best buy? I think I got a poster with the No Direction home re-release.
     
  4. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    If they don't deliver on time you can always go to your nearest record store and pick it up for another big cash outlay.
     
  5. wanderer1

    wanderer1 Forum Resident

    Mystery Train was excluded as well, I really enjoy that one, and he also had lots of unfinsihed ideas and jams that weren't considered "songs" yet. Didn't he also make a lot of songs with one of his background singers during SOL sessions too? I would assume she was singing on them, but those would also be interesting. Not complaining at all, looks like a great set of songs, but I had assumed there would be more unreleased studio material, especially from SOL. I guess we got spoiled after the 65-66 BTS with basically every noise made in the studio being released. This is more selective and not a complete data dump. Different sessions, different era, different recording techniques, etc. More emphasis on the live material I guess. Maybe they will release more from this era, including more live shows, depending on what the response is from the marketplace. At some point, they will need to start selling his live shows online or something like many artists do already. They could make a fortune.
     
  6. JohnnyBorgan

    JohnnyBorgan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    Maybe the most interesting about it is the time it was recorded. Way before Tempe.
     
  7. bem

    bem Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indianapolis
    I myself find some of the lyrics simplistic and lacking the imagery of his other periods. Bit that is me. I am one of those who will have to keep an open mi d. I am also buying the 2 cd set before committing to the 8 cd set. Although i know i will eventually buy it, i want to test the waters, so to speak.
     
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  8. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    Don't forget how many of us wanted the complete sessions with Johnny Cash and George Harrison on Another Self Portrait.
     
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  9. I have both already and I have to say I'm personally relieved they included neither. The Dylan / Cash stuff is awful apart from the ragged but perfectly acceptable duet of "Girl From The North Country" which was on Nashville Skyline. They chose that track well. Whilst I love both Dylan and Cash that particular session does nothing for either singularly or as a duet.
     
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  10. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    To me, that common argument about later Dylan is itself simplistic. The imagery of a song is much more than the sum of its parts, much more than the lyrics, the melody, the arrangement together. The power of the entire sound of a live performance or recording, with the phrasing and emotion behind the voice itself, and in the context of the time of the performance and the listeners themselves, is the true measure, where imagery really lies.

    There is a story of how the legendary Russian bass singer Feodor Chaliapin sang a song which was banned by the Czar - Dubinishka, the song of the forest clearers (essentially the slaves who were worked to their deaths) - directly to the Czar from the stage. The standard punishment for singing this song was execution. Chaliapin, who went to the edge of the stage and sang with incredible power directly at the Czar, survived. The lyrics were indeed simple. The imagery was beyond imagination.

    Imagery is in the performance of a song, not in the components of a song.

    Chaliapin

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. JohnnyBorgan

    JohnnyBorgan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    Weeeeell, Hezekiah Jones was hung because he didn´t have the right faith: "I believe that a man should be indebted to his neighbors
    Not for the reward of Heaven or fear of hellfire." Although I really love Dylan´s work and incredible performances in the period we´re talking about, I would agree that the message of especially "Saved" is radically new and a long step from the more literary use of the Bible - on "Saved" partly including the focus on both the reward of heaven and the fear of hellfire.
     
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  12. culabula

    culabula Unread author.

    Location:
    Belfast, Ireland
    Agreed but I’d much rather they chosen "One Too Many Mornings" instead, which at least is tuneful.
     
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  13. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    It’s as much about the audience as the performer.

    The very existence of gospel albums by Hank Williams and Johnny Cash (and, of course, Elvis) suggests that their respective audiences were comfortable - or at any rate not too uncomfortable - with these performers expressing their religious beliefs.

    That wasn’t the case with Dylan. In the songs you give as examples (and of course all his other secular “moralizing and sermonizing” songs from the same period), Dylan is preaching to the converted who make up his audience; in 1979-80, he’s not.

    It may have been a short step for some, but surely not for Dylan.
     
  14. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    There were many people at the concerts of 1979-1980 who were comfortable with the songs and performances by Dylan, even though some of those theaters still had seats from the 1920's.
     
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  15. JohnnyBorgan

    JohnnyBorgan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
    Beautiful rehearsal version of Every Grain of Sand out now. Pretty close to the Bootleg Series-version when it comes to vocal performance, but without Jennifer Warnes and a dog barking.
     
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  16. JohnnyBorgan

    JohnnyBorgan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norway
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  17. gellie

    gellie Forum Resident

    Where is this version?
     
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  18. streetlegal and DeeThomaz like this.
  19. savemenow

    savemenow Forum Resident

    Location:
    SE Pa
  20. The BS Vol. 13 format is unique as far as I can see at this point. It's the first to include as many discs compiled from live performances as from studio outtakes and rehearsals, whilst also including a contemporaneous documentary film and complete live shows. It'd be like a version of Tell Tale Signs Deluxe, complete with two shows from NET and a documentary about Dylan's so-called "renaissance years".

    Could they repeat this format successfully for any other period?
     
    highway likes this.
  21. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    I would like that as a 75+ CD set. Because, as we know from the Tell Old Bill Sessions, Dylan probably did at least one CD worth of variations for every song he recorded
     
  22. Wordnat2

    Wordnat2 Square as hay, dull as cattle.

    Location:
    Boise
    Thanks for reading my mind, #8.

    (BTW, any truth to the rumor that the new box set will include a few Saved tracks free of Jimmy Swaggart’s obtrusive, heavy-handed production..?)
     
  23. How many songs did he write / record for the film?
     
  24. subtr

    subtr Forum Resident

    As I read the first post, the song that came to mind to demonstrate this was 'Tell Old Bill'. To me, that song lyrically is just adequate; musically it (as we all know) borrows from the Carter Family and doesn't push at any boundaries. But the performance, on the released take at least, totally makes the song. I enjoy the outtake on TTS and the rest of the session too but I really do think that the essence of the song is put across at its best in that take. The whole thing builds amazingly to the 'Tell Old Bill when he comes home' line, and despite it being a song packed with traditional 'imagery', its build up makes this moment perfect as everything appears to come together simultaneously.

    In terms of soundtrack songs, I know a lot of people love ''Cross the Green Mountain' (and very good it is too) but 'Tell Old Bill' blew me away with much greater strength when I first heard it.
     
  25. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Thanks for the link. It does sound like a rehearsal (or 'rehersal'(sic) as it's labeled on the video -- LA Times, c'mon!), with Dylan trying to find the internal rhythms of the verses. It seems more tentative than "Making a Liar Out of Me," but what spoils it even more for me is that tinkly electric piano -- it's distracting, and only serves to remind me of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood or something...

    Otherwise, happy to see them releasing tracks like this. Every little bit helps to fill in a more complete picture of that period.
     

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