Bob Dylan - 50th anniversary collection - 1964

Some musings on the Eric von Schmidt session:

This is the session info from Olof’s site:

Eric Von Schmidt's Home, 532 Beach Road, Siesta Key, Sarasota, Florida. May 1964

1. Blues Improvisation (?)
2. Black Betty (?)
3. Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies (trad).
4. Long Johnny Coo-Coo (?)
5. Long Johnny Coo-Coo (?)
6. Joshua Gone Barbados (Eric von Schmidt)
7. Money Honey (Jesse Stone)
8. More And More (Webb Pierce/Merie Kilgore)
9.Mr. Tambourine Man
10. Suzie Q (Hawkins/Lewis/Broadwater)
11. Glory Glory (trad).
12. Movies Improvisation (?)
13. Stoned On The Mountain (?)
14. Stoned On The Mountain (?)
15. Stoned On The Mountain (?)
16. I Want To Hold Your Hand (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
17. I Got A Hold On You (?)
18. Walkin' Down The Line
19. Joshua Gone Barbados (Eric von Schmidt)

Bob Dylan (guitar and vocal).
Note. This session is not in general circulation.
Session info updated 2 February 2002.

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This is the way it should look according to the ‘Telegraph’ article?:

01. Bob and Eric Blues #1 (Dylan & Von Schmidt ) (6:35)
02. Black Betty (Traditional, Arranged by Dylan and Von Schmidt) (1:22)
03. Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies (Traditional, Arranged Dylan / Von Schmidt) (4:48)
04. Florida Woman (Eric Von Schmidt) (2:58)
05. or 06. Johnny Cuckoo (Traditional, Arranged by Eric Von Schmidt) (3:47)
07. Money Honey (Jesse Stone) (3:34)
08. More and More (Webb Pierce and Merle Kilgore) (4:00)
09. Mr. Tambourine Man (Dylan) (6:11)
10. Suzie Q (Dale Hawkins, Stan Lewis and Eleanor Broadwater) (5:36)
11. Harmonica Duet (Dylan & Von Schmidt ) (2:27)
12. Glory Glory (Traditional, Arranged by Dylan and Von Schmidt) (3:08)
13. Dr. Strangelove Blues (Eric Von Schmidt) (5:45)
14. and/or 15. Stoned on the Mountain (Dylan) (2 Separate Takes?) (1:35)
16. Stoned on the Mountain (Dylan) ( Take 3. Long Version) (3:28)
17. II Want to Hold Your Hand / Walkin’ Down the Line (Dylan) (3:00)
18. Joshua Gone Barbados (Eric Von Schmidt) (Long Version) (4:03)

Dylan intro missing from take 1 of ‘Stoned on the Mountain’ if indeed there are 2 separate takes present, if not, then 14/15 should be 15. (Take 2) This track is attributed to Dylan though it sounds like a collaboration to me.

‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ (not the Beatles lyric) is sung to the tune of ‘Walkin’ Down the Line’ before that song actually begins as we know it.

All observations welcomed.

 

Artists like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Elvis Presley have basically had every note they recorded released, down to false starts and flubbed takes. It seems inevitable that sooner or later, that will be the case for Dylan's 60s work, although the copyright extension deadline is speeding up a process that otherwise wouldn't have happened until after Dylan's death.

 

You know, I know all the songs on Royal Festival Hall really well -- so well that I don't listen to them that often, in favor of more obscure material. But listening again with fresh ears: man, these are masterpieces. Good lord. I can almost see why people got a bit upset when he started writing more densely-poetic, hard-rocking, hallucinatory, or oblique stuff (of course, thus begins my favorite Dylan era, so I'm definitely not one to complain!) -- there's a real rhetorical genius at work here in the early days of 1964: a cultural critic and superhero with "cultural critic" as his superpower, and he'd never again use his superpower for such obvious and immediate good.

"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" literally made me get choked up this morning, thinking about some of the recent incidents here in the news in the U.S. -- it's never had that specific effect on me before. Powerful stuff. And early versions of "It Ain't Me Babe" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" -- all the pieces are in place, but they're so fresh as Dylan's still figuring 'em out. It's truly thrilling.

You know, I know some people who are great songwriters and know as much, but who don't give a damn about Dylan. Maybe they've only heard his more bizarre vocal deliveries or later voice, or maybe they're under the impression that his lyrics don't make a lot of direct sense ('cause of some of that later stuff), or maybe they're under the impression that he's an ignoramus musically (not untrue, but only a small part of the story). They clearly haven't heard the Carnegie Hall or Royal Festival shows. The lyrics and the vocal performances are just staggeringly and objectively brilliant, and the guitar playing and phrasing sound simply like no one else.

As many of you probably do, I thank the universe just about every day that Dylan didn't stay one type of writer or musician or artist; but today, I want to sit in quiet awe at the unique genius that was Dylan in this particular period of his writing.

 

i've said it before and i'll say it again: columbia needs to make "in concert" a full-blown series alongside the bootleg sets. town hall, carnegie and now festival hall would all be great contenders for this type of stuff; things that the average dylan nerd has heard or owns in one shape or another but presented uncut and with the best possible sound

get on it

 

It's really an extraordinary body of work. I do wish he would have had a harmonica wrangler, who would have always had a case of new, in-tune Hohners for Herr Dylan.

 

You know, they really bungled this with the Carnegie Hall EP and the the No Direction Home Bootleg Series 7. I know that BS7 one was supposed to be the big deal at the time, and the documentary and then Chronicles, but it would have been a good time for the complete In Concert to come out in full. I hope they feel like there's enough interest here to revisit. Those three concerts (and other material from the era) certainly deserve their own Bootleg Series volume.

 

I think those shows will undoubtably be released in full eventually. Personally, I would be disappointed if an upcoming Bootleg Series comprised of that material as opposed to the never before heard (or never before heard in pristine quality) material that we have been getting recently. BS7 was great (in some places) because it gave you a glimpse at uncirculating sessions. I'd much rather get something that's been locked away than something that is out there.

 

I agree, but for the sake of the Dylan brand, they need to make certain things "canon"! by a certain point, don't they?

 

Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Royal Festival Hall are all terrific, Bootleg Series-worthy recordings. I think at least one, probably Carnegie Hall, will see a full, commercial release eventually. But, with the All Hallows' Eve and Brandeis CDs not long out of the gate, Sony, perhaps, feels that this is not the time for another live acoustic release. They are trying to mix things up a bit for the general public, which is no bad thing for Brand Dylan.

 

At some point, sure, but there's so many more interesting and diverse periods to cover than yet another early period concert.

 

What gets me is, for such a limited release as this purports to be, the number of "new sealed" copies there are already on eBay for £250 upwards to £900! Clearly at least half of those copies already sold are being purchased by people with no interest in Dylan whatsoever. It's just shameful profiteering.

 

For those of you anticipating a gigantic box for next years "50th Anniversary" release of 1965 material, you might be disappointed: from 2014 onwards the law in Europe has been changed from 50 years to 70 years from the date of recording. So following this latest release, they do not have to worry about 1965 onwards until 2035!!!!!!!

 

Are you sure? The law changed in regard to RELEASED recordings, giving them 70 years protection, but unreleased recordings stayed at 50 years from the recording date. Any details about this change?

 

No, I'm not sure. I've read a lot of conflicting things about this but it appears it might be just 50 years for unreleased recordings. But what defines "unreleased" if bootleggers have already ensured certain material is already in PD? Unreleased by original copyright owner only?

 

I'm fairly sure that the owners of the sound recordings need to release it within 50 years to retain their copyright.

 

Unreleased by the copyright holders, I think. Bootleggers have put the stuff out there, but generally not for commercial sale (as in they're not found in high street stores or on amazon.com etc.). So the law is an opportunity for copyright holders to renew their copyright.

 

So to recap, all material that was recorded by Dylan over 50 years ago and that which has also been bootlegged is the sole material requiring protection? Anything locked up in the vaults which has not been copied, leaked or bootlegged is still safe by virtue of its inaccessibility, irrespective of its age?

 

Yes, but if previously uncirculating material does turn up in the future, Sony can't stop someone else releasing it if Sony haven't released it themselves within 50 years.

Also, Sony can't 'save' stuff for future release. If they don't release it now, they will never have exclusive rights to it.

 

Crikey! So if some unscrupulous person has been sitting on a tape for years and never let it be copied, circulated or bootlegged AND the material is now 50 years old and unreleased by Sony, this person is legally entitled to release it? Prepare for lots more of those dodgy looking CD's on Amazon then.

 

Correct. So it can be a gamble for the record companies - just release what is circulating (and hope no one has a copy of something more), or protecting everything (thereby giving fans lots of stuff that they would rather not release at all).

 

Which is great for us, in a sense, as it will encourage Sony to err on the side of caution and release, potentially, everything that MIGHT be out there, as well as what they know/the general collecting community knows is circulating.

 

Any Londoners interested, they have at least one copy in stock at Sister Ray on Shoreditch High St., £90. Or at least, they did when I was in there 5 mins ago.

 

Okay please hold it for me... I'm going to catch a plane from Los Angeles... be there tomorrow!!!! It's mine!

 

Lol, if you could post it to me I will take it and pay you a commission , the 1963 was not nearly this hard to get!

 

If I had a spare £90 I'd probably have picked it up for myself!

I'm sure I've posted this before, but I wish Sony would put out a concert series along the lines of the Grateful Dead's Dick's Picks - not major releases like the bootleg series, just a regular flow of low key CDs. I'd buy them!