Oh, believe me, I've gone into that material in depth. Even Dean Martin's version of I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine, which Elvis did at Sun Records.
Has there even been any mention of the Bootleg Series tackling anything other than the 60s and Blood On The Tracks so far? That would seem to be the next big hitter in the pipeline. The other one that makes sense, from a commercial standpoint, is some kind of Grateful Dead tie-in for the '87 tour and rehearsals. A Band '74 tour box would seem to be in the offing as well, ditto an RTR mk. I-II box. Classic and Commercial Dylan will be first in line, and that matches up chronologically with time constraints and copyright coordinates. It will be interesting to see whether the John Wesley Harding sessions get a BS release; I'm hoping they do, maybe with a Nashville Skyline/Johnny Cash combo. Studio-wise, everything between Desire and Oh Mercy! can be seen as the 'lost years', commercially and/or artistically, so I don't know what incentive Dylan Inc. would have to re-examine that stuff for release right now (and some of the considerations for releasing session work will also depend on whether Bob was still recording 'live' in the studio at the time). They've got years and years before they have to seriously consider the Gospel years, Oh Mercy!, TOOM, and the NET - not that they wouldn't unless legally prompted, but I could see how they would think there's simply no rush at all. The only rush will be if they want Bob to be around for every single archival release as it happens.
Well, I never said there was a "massive" connection, did I? But I do see a through-line, in that two songs from the Infidels sessions ("Someone's Got a Hold" and "Clean Cut Kid") were re-worked for Empire; a bunch of Empire songs ("Danville Girl," "Maybe Someday," "Driftin'" etc.) were re-worked for Knocked Out Loaded; and KOL kind of bled into the Hearts Of Fire project, which morphed into Down In The Groove -- which of course contained an Infidels outtake ("Death Is Not The End"). So there is something of a "full circle" quality to the period for me. Not disputing that, and of course if Jeff Rosen wants to do a 3-CD set of Infidels only, I'd welcome it with open arms -- but not if that meant that 1985-88 gets ignored forever. Fair points, and I already said that my reason for including Infidels in this pretend box would be purely commercial -- you'd want to have one classic (or near-classic) album to anchor the set and give it some legs. A box set of only Empire, KOL and DITG outtakes would be a considerably harder sell, I think. (Even ASP had some Nashville Skyline and New Morning tracks on it, so it wouldn't have to rely on ONLY Self Portrait material.)
I'd sign up for this, maybe a combo pack including Knocked Out Loaded sessions too, this would be epic! I enjoyed Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove then -- still love them now. Listen to "Under Your Spell", "Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)", "When Did You Leave Heaven" and "Had a Dream About You Baby" on a hot autumn day in southern California, when the desert winds are blowing in -- like today! These albums offer up their treasures more slowly but they are there.
Ha ha ha..... this is turning into the re-evaluation of Dylan's '80s material thread! While we're talking about 'lousy' Dylan albums, I've always enjoyed the 'Dylan '73' album
I say any album that has ONE masterpiece at the level of Brownsville Girl is a great album. When you are lucky enough to get something like that on an album, I cannot understand saying the album is a terrible album. It is an epic song masterpiece, and Dylan has only created a few like that in his entire career. Why look for ways to criticize?
Are blu-spec the only way to get the individual remasters? Does blu-spec sound better or is it - like SHM - highly debatable/doubtful?
I live on a dead end street. One time, when I went 40 mph down that, my neighbor got real pissed. 90 Miles an Hour down a dead end street seems to describe much of my life (what a thrill)
I'm not looking for ways to criticize, but a song is a song, and an album is a collection of songs. It's perfectly reasonable that you can have a great song on a bad album. I don't think this is a radical thought, but you are free to disagree. EDIT: Please note that saying an album is "bad" doesn't mean the album has no value. I own all of Bob's albums, even the "bad" ones, because they are all part of the larger story of Bob's journey. I value them all.
There have been plenty of hints about up to a dozen possible Bootleg Series releases, mostly via well-placed quotes by a Dylan "source" in Rolling Stone. I keep a running list of all these little bread crumbs, and here it is -- minus the stuff that's already been released or is about to be (BS12). As you can see, the well is far from dry: COFFEEHOUSE BOB: "We've always wanted to do one of pre-album stuff where Bob is just singing songs in Greenwich Village coffeehouses," says the Dylan source. (September 2015) BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: "Sets for Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde will eventually come out." (July 2013) "We don't know exactly what the next Bootleg Series is going to be," says a source close to the Dylan camp. "There's a couple of things on our minds, but the natural next one is Blood on the Tracks." (January 2014) "We're thinking we'll revisit the 1975 era and Blood on the Tracks," says the source. "The unheard stuff from there is crazy. You can hear the first day of recordings before they put all that echo on. It's amazing." (August 2014) "We'd also love to revisit Blood on the Tracks, Infidels, Oh Mercy and the gospel albums." (September 2015) ROLLING THUNDER: We asked our source about the documentary of Dylan's 1975/76 Rolling Thunder Revue, which has been in development for years. "We’re still working on it," says the source. "I hope it comes out in the next couple of years." (August 2010) Another project that's been in the works for years is a documentary about The Rolling Thunder Revue … "We're going to keep mum on that for the time being," says the source. "We have no clue when it's going to come out. Maybe this year, but we're just hoping it happens sometime in our lifetimes." (January 2014) BOOTLEG SERIES DVDs: After [a Rolling Thunder documentary] does finally come out, the Dylan camp plans on releasing a series of Bootleg Series DVDs. "We'll put out the [1976] Hard Rain TV special," the source says. "We have other TV special we'll put out after that." [NOTE: I assume they meant "specials" (plural) rather than "special."] (August 2010) 1978 TOUR: Dylan's 1978 world tour has also been much-maligned, largely because the Live At Budokan album captured a very early show before the band really gelled. "There was so much going on with that big band that Bob didn't always need to give off that much energy," says the source. "But they kept doing the show and it got better and better. Unfortunately, somebody erased most of the tapes. It's very frustrating. We had soundboards of all of them. We do have a couple now, though." (January 2014) BORN-AGAIN YEARS: The Toronto stop on Bob Dylan's 1980 gospel tour was also professionally filmed. "That was shot on two-inch tape," says the source. "The band is really great though. You can see some of it on YouTube. Many shows on that tour were just incredible, but I'm not sure that particular night, unfortunately, captures the incredibleness of those shows." (January 2014) Other shows on the gospel tour were professionally recorded. "It'll make a cool Bootleg Series and we will do it one day," says the source. "The only issue is that we fear nobody will be interested. It's not a period people are clamoring for, so it's kind of a square peg for a round hole. That said, exploring the born again period would be very interesting. He played a lot of songs live that weren't recorded and a deluxe box would be fun to do. It's a period that been much-maligned, but with the benefit of hindsight it's clear that Bob was doing some great things." (January 2014) "We'd also love to revisit [...] the gospel albums." (September 2015) 1986 TOUR: Another professionally filmed concert in the vault is a 1986 Sydney, Australia stop on Dylan's tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It was broadcast on HBO and released on VHS, but it's been out of print for decades. "That's a good shows," says the source. "Though it's really 1980s Bob, with the black leather vest and whatnot. He plays 'In the Garden,' which is a very unusual song and Bob puts a lot of passion into it. Maybe we'll release that someday too." (January 2014) INFIDELS / OH MERCY: "We'd also love to revisit Blood on the Tracks, Infidels, Oh Mercy and the gospel albums." (September 2015) SUPPER CLUB: A CD/DVD set of Dylan's famous 1993 stand at New York's Supper Club was nearly released (in 2010) instead of the Witmark Demos. "I decided I liked the story of the Witmark Demos better than the Supper Club," says the source. "That will definitely come out on CD and DVD sometime soon, though." (August 2010) BOB'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE BOOTLEG SERIES: "Bob really doesn't take his time going through the vaults," says the source. "He leaves this up to his record company. His focus is on touring, making new music and writing his memoirs." (July 2005) GENERAL PHILOSOPHY & DIRECTION OF THE BOOTLEG SERIES: "We're trying to put this stuff out in an intelligent way," says the source. (July 2013) CHRONICLES VOL. 2: Simon & Schuster also plans to publish Chronicles: Volume Two, but don't expect Dylan to deliver a manuscript anytime soon. "It'd be wonderful to have it in the next few years," says Rosenthal. "But we'll get it when we get it." (March 2005) Less likely to see the light of day: a sequel to Dylan's acclaimed 2004 book Chronicles Vol. 1. "I hope there's another one," the source says. "That's all I can say. If it was planned I'd tell you." (August 2010) A question about a possible follow-up to Bob Dylan's 2004 book, Chronicles: Volume One, elicits a laugh and two words: "No comment." (August 2014)
As the enormity of the Cutting Edge juggernaut continues to sink in, I'm being drawn to some of the minor details and minutiae. Although I already have vintage copies of the nine "replica" mono singles included in the 18-CD box (I presume they're the ones listed below, although I've seen no official list), I'm curious to know if the set will contain the EDITED 45 versions, intended to meet the normal 3 minute mark for Top 40 radio play in the mid''60s. It would be more historically accurate if the replicas used the edits, although some of those truncated recordings can be frustrating to actually listen to. The Rainy Day Women/Pledging My Time edits seem especially harsh, even though they'd put out the full-length, six minute version of Like A Rolling Stone the previous year. If anyone has more details about the replica singles, please let me know. DYLAN SINGLES 1965-1967 ------------------------------------------------------------ March 1965 SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES (2:17) SHE BELONGS TO ME (2:48) ------------------------------------------------------------ June 1965 LIKE A ROLLING STONE (6:00) GATES OF EDEN (5:48) ------------------------------------------------------------ September 1965 POSITIVELY 4TH STREET (3:50) FROM A BUICK 6 (3:06 edit / 3:19 LP) ------------------------------------------------------------ December 1965 CAN YOU PLEASE CRAWL OUT YOUR WINDOW? (3:27) HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (3:20) ------------------------------------------------------------ February 1966 ONE OF US MUST KNOW (SOONER OR LATER) (4:49 unfaded at end / 4:52 LP ) QUEEN JANE APPROXIMATELY (4:55 edit / 5:32 LP) ------------------------------------------------------------ March 1966 RAINY DAY WOMEN #12 & 35 (2:26 edit / 4:34 LP) PLEDGING MY TIME (2:06 edit / 3:47 LP) ------------------------------------------------------------ June 1966 I WANT YOU (2:56 edit / 3:05 LP) w/ vocal "fix" last verse JUST LIKE TOM THUMB'S BLUES "Recorded Live in Liverpool, England" (5:36) ------------------------------------------------------------ August 1966 JUST LIKE A WOMAN (2:56 edit / 4:50 LP) OBVIOUSLY 5 BELIEVERS (3:31 / 3:33 LP) ------------------------------------------------------------ March 1967 LEOPARD-SKIN PILLBOX HAT (2:20 edit / 3:56 LP) MOST LIKELY YOU'LL GO YOUR WAY [ALT. mix] (3:27) ------------------------------------------------------------ Another question I have is about the U.K. version of Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits. Did they really use the single version "edits" of Rainy Day Women and I Want You on the LP? All the other tracks seem to be full-length. Anyone know? (Courtesy of Jeff Gold's Recordmecca site, this is a detail from Jimi Hendrix's personal copy of BDGH, with Jimi's doodles and all.) http://recordmecca.com/news/jimi-hendrixs-record-collection-2/
Have several glasses of wine (or whatever you like), have a hot bath (or spend some time with whomever soothes your body), and put those albums on...and see if you can reassess. They are worthwhile, and worthy of discovery.
"Dylan 73" was like a "bonus tracks" album. I'll take bonus tracks any day. When that came out, I was deeply immersed in Charlie Parker, so I did not buy it. But I have at least 6 copies now.
I'm very curious about the "replica" singles also. I don't own any of the vintage 45s, so for me these are actually a valuable part of the 18-disc set, and not a price-jacking scheme.
I wish they had welcomed the best of the Dylan 1973 tracks into the Another Self Portrait family. Some of those tracks deserve a better fate. At least they got remastered for the Complete Albums box...
Ah, I had a copy of the German or Dutch Greatest Hits in my hands (which contained the same non-standard track listing) but don't remember if those tracks were indeed the edited versions. One thing that does pop out is the STEREOness of it all, which means: those two are either fake stereo if they are indeed edits, or they are just the regular album versions with incorrect timings . EDIT: It was the Dutch pressing, but I was wrong — it has even another set of different tracks, no Rainy Day and I Want You on it. EDIT no. 2 & 35: Perusing Discogs, it seems later pressings of the UK Greatest Hits had the longer timings. I don't suppose new tapes were compiled, so I assume timing error.
I like Tom Waits, and have everything plus all bootlegs by him. But back when he started, I thought he was mocking black music and it made me very angry. He is great, but I think of him as more of an actor than a musician.
So, will these be the same singles as appeared in the Special Limited Edition RSD box set with the same sleeves?
Checked some more. Most Discogs listings probably just copy the timings off the cover. But there is an early Italian pressing with the short timings on the back cover and the actual “LP version” timings on the label: http://www.discogs.com/Bob-Dylan-Greatest-Hits/release/5059680
