I totally see what you're saying regarding Like a Rolling Stone and the others, and I LOVE the Isle of Wight tracks, but in my opinion they ruin the flow of the record. At a certain point, Dylan decided to "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks," but there was a perfectly great folk album in there already. Chalk it up to general frustration and his puckish sense of humor I guess. Including the Isle of Wight tracks as part of Self Portrait puts the album into the realm of messy odds-and-ends compilation, when Self Portrait really is a highly focused exploration of the folk tradition as Dylan was living it, ca. early 1970. The album would be a clearer document if it were only studio material. Besides, Isle of Wight deserves its own full, separate release, rather than forever being a footnote to Basement Tapes / Nashville Skyline / Self Portrait!
Gotta say that period is one of my least favourite Dylan eras: Self Portrait is awful. ASP was enjoyable enough (but as you guys have said, does not rescue the original SP). Nashville Skyline? New Morning? Pleasant, but meh. Isle of Wight is an average concert at best. I like my Bob with a lot more bite. Roll on The Gospel Bootleg Series! All just my 2c obviously.
If Dylan had opened with the electric Blind Willie McTell and closed with Foot of Pride it would have made a lot of sense 1-Blind Willie McTell, Jokerman, Sweetheart Like You, Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight 2- Man of Peace, Someone's Got a Hold of My Heart, I and I, Foot of Pride
I'm glad that he held off and worked on "Someone's Got A Hold Of My Heart" an album later as it is a big improvement. Haven't heard the electric "Willie".
IMHO, you've not missed much. The "electric" version sounds very tentative and almost like a first draft / run through to me; it certainly doesn't sound like a proper finished take worthy of consideration for the album. The acoustic version released on BS 1 - 3 is a masterpiece of understatement on the other hand.
I'd add Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground, Tell Me and especially Lord, Protect My Child but I'd have to delete Man Of Peace and I don't care for Sweetheart Like You much either.
The original track listing was: Side A: 1. Jokerman 2. Someone’s Got A Hold Of My Heart 3. Neighborhood Bully 4. License To Kill 5. Blind Willie McTell Side B: 6. Man of Peace 7. Foot of Pride 8. I and I 9. Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight
As strong as the unreleased material is (and some highlights of the decade, we're talking, if not of his career!) I happen to like the album as it is, and I wouldn't want to see anything cut. Maybe just make it a double album!
Exclusive: A Look Inside Bob Dylan's Secret Archives Worthwhile and current article at Rolling Stone about the Dylan museum and its contents along with brief mention of Heylin's new book.
"Tomorrow Is A Long Time" may longer be the most tragic omission from ASP: Employees are still in the process of transferring many of the audio files, though they do have John Wesley Harding outtakes that have never been heard by fans. A click on the first take of "As I Went Out One Morning" reveals a drastically slowed-down, dirge-like rendition of the song. Exclusive: A Look Inside Bob Dylan's Secret Archives
"And I think from 1966 on they have almost all the shows in one way or another, whether they are soundboard or audience recordings." You have to think that as cds die out there will have to be some sort of streaming site started for future BS releases. Perhaps Tulsa could open something up with a subscription rate giving you access to this stuff.
they could do them as a bonus disc from bobdylan.com like with Carnegie Hall. i would hate to pay the extra $50 direct to them rather than going through amazon or importcds for the cheaper price but i would do it. alternately, they could do the Amazon exlusive disc like they did with Brandeis. are you listening Sony? you will likely get orders of the set from people that wouldn't even have purchased it just to get those JWH outtakes!
I'd like it if Sony just went ahead and made the John Wesley Harding outtakes a mainstream release. I don't want it to be limited and expensive. I just want to support another in the bootleg series as my way of saying thank you and that they will have my continued support. I hope they will consider that.
Not quite! It was actually: 1. Jokerman 2. Licence To kill 3. Man of Peace 4. Neighborhood Bully 5. Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight 6. Blind Willie McTell 7. Sweetheart Like You 8. I and I 9. Foot of Pride But I do like the sequence you posted better
Indeed! Yes, I don't care for the released album at all now, sorry to say, but I did for a short while back in the late 80's. Apart from maybe Jokerman and I and I especially (the best two songs on the released album in my opinion) I prefer the best out-takes to any of the other released songs. I think he purposefully ditched the songs people clamoured for shortly thereafter in a bid to replace them with the more direct, confrontational, perhaps 'relevant' sociopolitical 'protest' songs connected with that era. It's a little like when he recorded George Jackson to counter those critics who said he'd gone soft and couldn't write relevant songs any more but when I hear Neighbourhood Bully, License To Kill, Union Sundown and Man Of Peace it makes me wince a little. On a more superficial level Infidels is now also notable for being the first Dylan album to feature that awful dated 80's production style. Oh Mercy was such an astonishing break-through after the run of poor 80's albums, it's almost tragic that it's not more fondly remembered by everyone today. I think Daniel Lanois deserves a lot of credit for that too! I think it was the best sounding Dylan album at the time of its release.
Wouldn't logic have dictated that the electric version was the obvious choice for BS 1 - 3 in that case? Only the released 'acoustic' version ever sounded finished to me.