Bob Dylan – Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks (2 Nov 2018)*

TOOM was filmed for a 45 minute t.v. special to tie in with the release of the album called “My Heart’s In The Highlands” it was largely filmed by Daniel Lanois’ brother I think.
Obviously it never came to light.

 

Yes, I agree -- I've always seen TTS as the sequel to Vol. 1-3, picking up where it left off (1989) and continuing for nearly 20 years. Future Bootleg Series will presumably fill in the gaps of BS8 just as many of the other BS sets have filled in the gaps in BS1-3.

 

I think that would be a great idea, as long as it was in addition to all the studio material they plan to release, and not in place of any of it...

 

In the dozen or so most plausible ideas for future Bootleg Series releases, these two would be at or very near the top of my list...

 

I'd add The Infidels Sessions too.

 

Given my Wimbledon and World Cup predictions, I think we can all safely rule out the 6 disc option

 

I'll be judging this one against the "high water mark" of The Cutting Edge. That was the holy grail for me. Nothing (and nobody) can touch the genius of that period for me.

 

Agreed. Infidels could easily have a really top notch 7-8 Disc box set though.

 

Double

I’m skeptical about a Blood On the Tracks Bootleg Series entry, personally. For one thing I feel passionately protective about the album and the New York sessions and the outtakes as already existing perfection — I see dilution instead of illumination as one possible outcome of giving BOTT the deluxe atomic microscope treatment, and feeding it into the maw of Dylanology, otherwise known as the brains behind Pa.

The alternative scenarios of some kind of mid-70’s blending of 1974 to 1976 material, some kind of Planet Waves to Rolling Thunder to Desire mish-mash is equally unappealing to me, because Blood On the Tracks stands so profoundly apart from what came before and after. Spreading out the supreme vertical that is Blood On the Tracks across some sprawling horizontal timeless, amid all those discontinuities, just feels off to me.

I may be dead wrong. Tell Tale Signs and Another Self Portrait showed how in the dark we could be about unknown possibilities.

 

BS15: More Tales, More Signs

 

You may be right. If the Blonde On Blonde sessions had been released on their own, there might have been some disappointment. There are probably about as many gems from those sessions as there are from BIABH and Highway 61, despite the Blonde On Blonde having more takes and tracks. And many of those highlights from BOB were already available, officially or otherwise. Bundling it all together was a brilliant decision. But at the same time, I still love the whole progression and "microscopic treatment" of it all, and I'd welcome something similar for Blood On The Tracks. I would expect that a distilled 2 disc option will be available, and perhaps that will satisfy all but the Dylanologists, a sort of companion set to BOTT that will appeal to all who love the album.

 

Before anyone keeps quoting me as if I was serious, I was being silly.

 

It’s true! One of the reasons that TCE works so well, both in the 18- and 6-disc iterations, is how relatively focused and concise the BIABH sessions are (thereby setting a stage artistically). From there, the process branches out in organic ways, and it’s a thrill to behold if you are willing to concentrate. BOB sessions released on their own would have been a real head scratcher.

 

Aside from the multitude of On The Road Again takes, the entire BIABH session is easily digestible in one sitting. Highway 61 has a healthy dose of both alternate arrangements and close-but-not-quite-there takes. Plus it's the first time that the master takes have been remixed. Blonde On Blonde sessions have their moments too. The Just Like A Woman session is great. But the New York sessions are at times a bit difficult to get through, and then in Nashville sometimes it's just a matter of getting the best take, and as a result the alternate takes are simply inferior to the album cuts, due to some mistake or what have you. The last session in particular has little variation, what with Dylan and the cats knocking out 6 songs! I Want You does have an interesting evolution at least.

 

Well said, it is a thrill to behold. It's been a couple of years now since it came out, but I'm still going through Big Blue over and over again, trying to crack all the codes and figure out what was going on within Dylan's ever-expanding visionary framework back then, when he actually was kind of a 'jet pilot', relentlessly pushing himself to keep reaching higher into the upper stratospheres of musical and lyrical imagery. (I agree with revolution_vanderbilt about the often 'tense' NY Blonde sessions, but all of the Nashville takes/mistakes are pure gold to me.) The Blood On The Tracks sessions certainly deserve a similarly expansive full-illumination treatment, and I hope they do them up right, and serve them complete. Even if that means hearing a lot of shirt buttons clacking against Dylan's pickguard.

 

May I be the first to say:-

Welcome back @HominyRhodes , and I hope all is well with you and yours. Wherever it is that your boot heels have taken you wandering these past few months I'm very pleased that the wind has blown you back in this direction....

 

Nice to read you again Hominy. I was afraid we may have lost you as a result of the BS 13 Deluxe ordering/delivering fiasco. Always enjoy reading your insights and detailed reviews. Here is hoping BS 14 hits all the right notes.

 

hear! hear!

 

Be cool to get the BOTT announcement around September 16, the day the sessions began.

With a little Gaslight on the side.

 

Welcome home, HominyRhodes.

Compared to Blonde On Blonde there aren't as many songs and I suspect less takes and development in the Blood On Tracks sessions. But we'll see what they give us.

The Gaslight Cafe 1962 tapes are also likely to be released.

 

It's possible, but I'm willing to take the chance.

 

I didn't like the way they released all those sessions in one drop. One session each day would have been cool. Pace yourself I always say to myself when I'm binge watching 8 seasons of a TV show.

 

Although I love Tell Tale Signs, I agree with others: it is so powerful that I would have preferred individual releases --- much more for each.

I, too, share the belief that there are not only Time Out of Mind songs we have not heard (or versions, a la Lanois) but likely songs Dylan has but have not been revealed. Sometimes artists appear to greatly underestimate their work. Some of what they think are "throw aways" are gems.

I think there are Time Out of Mind sessions we'll love;
Together Through Life sessions we'll love;
and so on.

I wonder if there is even a song or two from the Blood on the Tracks that are yet unheard. In an interview with a MN session player, he struggled with memory and seem to suggest trying to learn a song on the fly, untitled.

Hmm.

I think we're gonna love the next release, regardless. People (myself included) LOVE "Another Self Portrait" with many expressing surprise.

 

Meanwhile, back in New York....

Having recorded eight of the songs that would appear on the LP (and two that wouldn't) in the first six hour session, Bob pays off most of the band, retaining only Tony Brown for the next session on the 17th because the bass accompaniment is working well; it has that "John Wesley Harding" feel to it. He also needs some spooky B-3 organ but didn't hit it off too well with Tom McFaul:-

Tom McFaul (keyboard player): "I don't have perfect pitch...so I would go up to the piano to find out what key he was in. Dylan would stop me:

Bob: "We don't want the piano, we want the organ."
Tom: "I know, I'm just trying to figure what key we are...."
Bob: "We don't want the piano, we want the organ".
Tom: "Yes sir!"

I would go back to the B-3, which was way on the other side of the studio, and which I could not hear, and hope like hell we were in A major."


Who better to call on, then, than Paul Griffin. He's done it all before on "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde"...even worked with Phil and Lenn on Paul Simon's most recent LP.



Three songs are selected for the LP from this session. "You're a Big Girl Now", with its delicate organ trilling, is later ditched in favour of the Studio 80 version.

"Lenn" says in his book, referring to 17th September:-

"Paul, a garrulous guy, tried to sunny up the date with his charm and smile. But he, too, didn't make the cut. His smile gone, he shrugged, and departed with his tail between his legs."

Gill, in "Simple Twist of Fate" quotes Tony Brown as saying Paul was there on the 19th. "I really thought that what Paul Griffin and I did (September 19) was far superior to what was used on the final version of the album. Nothing can touch our version of "Idiot Wind".


I can't hear any B-3 on the tracks we have from the 19th, but "Idiot Wind" is not listed by Krogsgaard as being recorded on the 17th. The "Idiot Wind" on the test pressing is apparently from 16 September with spooky organ overdub by Paul on 08 October. Somewhere (it escapes me now) I recall Tony Brown saying that he, Bob and Paul were in the studio doing multiple takes of "Idiot Wind" with no overdubs.

I hope the liner notes in "More Blood, More Tracks" bring clarity. Fat chance....




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I think I mentioned this earlier, but I'm confused why any of the musicians were unsure about keys (and the mention of A major above), because every song was in the key of E major! It wouldn't take a competent musician long to realise that Bob was playing in an open tuning and so every song would be in that key.

The Minneapolis sessions are another matter, with Bob back in regular tuning and using different keys.