There is a tender heartache in that voice never heard again. Man I love that stuff. Like a willow wisp.
Oh heck yeah, that sounded great! Would love to have a complete concert of the gospel years in that quality. And I wouldnt cry if they decided to throw in a few of the classics he started doing again in that style.
I love everything about the gospel years. The music was special, highly emotional and riveting. Plus I first saw Bob live in 1980.
I didn't see Bob live until 1986, but my first big dive into his catalog was with the Biograph box set -- and "I Believe In You" and "Precious Angel" and "Every Grain Of Sand" were just as fascinating to me as the more "classic" stuff from the 1960s and 1970s. You don't have to be a Born Again Christian to appreciate the passion and conviction of Bob's gospel era. One of my favorite songs from the first Bootleg Series box is "You Changed My Life," and the single track still in the vaults that I yearn for the most is "Yonder Comes Sin." I would buy a gospel-themed Bootleg Series set in a heartbeat.
I've always liked that one too, and I don't see it shouted out too often. I actually heard it before I heard any of the gospel albums, i.e., it was the first "Christian" tune of his I knew, and it was a good intro to that period -- sounds like there was a great feeling in the studio during the tracking.
If I had my druthers, Dylan would have recorded a whole album of that type of material with just him and Robbie. Yet, I think it was the exhaustion of touring that brought out the certain qualities in those hotel room performances; a rested Dylan wouldn't sound that weary and laid back and hinging it mostly on melody. On top of that, in the Spitz book, Pennebaker says that he witnessed Dylan play/make-up all kinds of heartbreaking/beautiful songs on pianos and so forth in hotels, but that he'd ask Dylan about them the next day, and Dylan couldn't remember how they went anymore.
Good point, the beauty of the performances came naturally out of the situation, afterwards, it may have sounded forced, impossible to recapture the magic. I'm thinking about the two Abandoned Love performances in this context, the live version head and shoulders above the studio. Don't say that, it's too upsetting! I wonder if he filmed any more of it...
I actually like the studio version a lot and don't think it is inferior to the live one although it must have been amazing to be there when he performed it in a club setting
It's a fascinating concept to imagine. I bet an entire album along these lines (BTW, "The Painting By Van Gogh/ Don't Tell Him/If You Want My Love" recordings shouldn't get overlooked, even if they're far less impressive sonically) would have been truly spectacular. Love the "I'm into melody now" quote. But personally, I can't really complain how things worked out-- not that I'd ever wish a near-death experience on him (or anymore, for that matter). The immediate post-accident period produced both my favorite Dylan sessions (The Basement Tapes, in their entirety) and my favorite Dylan album ("John Wesley Harding")-- and it's STAGGERING to realize they don't overlap lyrically or musically in any substantial way. And now we've learned he ALSO discarded a couple dozen "Lost On The River" lyrics on top of all that, seemingly without a second thought?!? If that's not genius (a word I don't throw around casually), what is?
Seems like a logical time to announce BS12 too. Though I sort of got the sense that BS11 was changed at the last minute once Dylan's folks got access to Jan Haust's reels. So MAYBE we'll see an announcement about the upcoming set slightly sooner. ASP was announced 8/14. So I'd say a general "August" (BS9 was 8/24) is probably the best we can speculate at this point.
I suspect the multiple "Caribbean Wind" versions that circulate (let alone the ones we haven't heard) make a Gospel set pretty much inevitable, let alone the amazing live shows that are out there (at least a few of which were professionally recorded by Columbia). The real question is if it expands the commonly-accepted definition of the "Gospel Years" to include the INFIDELS sessions (which seem like unlikely to be explored by the BOOTLEG SERIES otherwise).
Three live box sets (1979, 1980, 1981) would do the job, I think. As far as studio tracks, I would probably be most interested in the material from 1981. The Slow Train and Saved albums (and the outtakes) don't move me at all, I'm sorry to say, but Shot of Love is one of my favorite Dylan records, and the outtakes we've heard from those sessions are more in my wheelhouse. The Grooms Still Waiting At The Altar (live 1980) "...Featuring the last public performance of the late great Mike Bloomfield..."
Yeah, y'know, I agree. I gave that album a listen (despite all the less-than-wonderful reviews) and actually discovered that I like it quite a bit. I definitely got more enjoyment out of it than the more well-regarded Slow Train Coming. Of course it has "Every Grain of Sand", but it also has "Heart of Mine", which is a song that I love and think is one of Bob's great lesser-known songs.
With the rate at which they release archive performances I wouldn't hold my breath for 3 separate shows from this unpopular period ever being released during any of our lifetimes. Unless they take a turn towards the Springsteen download model.
Expecting Rain forum member My Echo, My Shadow And Me passed along the following rumor from ISIS: "ISIS (the Dylan magazine) reports a rumour that in addition to the Bootleg Series there will be a 9 CD Anniversary Collection box in December." http://www.expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=81684&start=275 Since I can't find that on the ISIS website, I assume it's from their most recent print issue. As a result, it raises a couple obvious questions (if anyone has access to this issues, please chime in!): 1. Does it also mention the 65/66 rumor? Or the supposed 2CD/5CD/18CD sets? Getting another source (assuming it is indeed not the same person) would lend a lot of credence to this rumor, particularly since ISIS has a pretty good track record in cases like this. 2. By "Anniversary Collection" I'm assuming they mean another Copyright Extension set. But there are surely many other "Anniversaries" that could potentially be celebrated by Sony if they chose to. At the very least, if what we have heard to date proves true, this could be the first indication that the 18CD set is NOT a Copyright Extension box and instead will available through conventional retail channels (though supposedly with a small print run). Probably also means the dodgy audience records will be confined to the 9CD box (I suspect they're going with the CD format as that sort of running time would require an enormous amount of vinyl LPs).
Just thinking about what audience material there is out there from 1966, plus the press conference snippets, you could probably fill nine discs. Which means the 18 disc set, if we just pretend for a moment this is all true) could have a lot of live material on it. This is all very exciting still.
Agreed! But of course they don't HAVE to include the '66 stuff on a copyright extension set, just the '65. There can always be another set next year. Of course whatever '66 material they chose to officially release now will serve the same purpose.
I just came back to write that I'd got ahead of myself, and of time itself, in presuming this would be '66. Back to the drawing board.
That's right. Hypothetically, the next bootleg series will be a curated set with the "best" outtakes from '65 and '66. Then, at the end of this year, the rest of the '65 material will be dumped (9 CDs is a lot, possibly more than the '64 set?) But the '66 stuff will still be in copyright, and won't need to be extended until 2016. Things are getting exciting now!
I'm still holding out hope for a "Tell Tale Signs"-type BS set that covers 1983-1988 -- Bob's return to "secular" music and a period mostly neglected by the Bootleg Series and ripe for re-evaluation. With the Infidels sessions to anchor the set (and make it slightly more commercially viable), I think it could be another one of those "who knew Bob did good stuff during this time?!" collections. And before you say, "Why on earth would they release a Bootleg Series of one of Bob's worst, most critically-savaged periods?" ... I present you with "Another Self Portrait." You'd have some original Knopfler versions/mixes, the electric "Blind Willie" of course, "Angel Flying Too Close...," "New Danville Girl," some pre-Bakerized Empire Burlesque tracks, the summer 1986 R&B sessions that Rolling Stone was drooling over in their Summer '86 issue, "Band Of The Hand," etc. Maybe throw in some live stuff from the True Confessions tour with Tom Petty. It would be good, I tells ya!! Of course, this would be followed up by another set covering 1990-1996, filling in the conspicuous gaps left by the original TTS, including the UTRS sessions (original "TV Talkin' Song"!), the two acoustic albums ("You Belong To Me" without the movie dialogue!), the full Bromberg sessions, and all the one-off sessions from the early '90s. I am not in any way joking when I say I would choose either of these sets before I'd ask for another mining of the 1965/66 period. (I'd take a Gospel set over all of them, though.)
I suspect you know from our long-running interactions that I would also love to see your ideas become reality, I'm just not confident about how plausible they are at this point. Keep in mind, my perspective (which I very much hope is WRONG) is strongly influenced by my extreme pessimism about how long the CD format has left to survive (though it's not unreasonable to think the Bootleg Series might outlive the CD, moving to a download model). Since I *really* want stuff like The Infidels Sessions to get represented, I'm willing to expand the definition of things like the "Gospel Years" to allow it to happen. Intellectually I'd like to see your approach prevail, but my heart tells me The Bootleg Series, as we know it, is living on borrowed time. These mega-sets we've seen in recent years seem to be the last viable means of issuing catalog material, but I don't see them enduring for too many more years either. The next two years of the Bootleg Series seem pretty much locked up. A 65/66 set this year I suspect is basically inevitable, due to the copyright situation. And after being repeatedly bumped from the schedule (let alone the obvious commercial prospects) , I have to imagine a Blood on The Tracks-centered box is almost certain to follow it. After that, on the plus side, it seems like can look forward to far less predicable entries (with, I think a "Gospel Box" being perhaps the most likely possibility) but, sadly, each additional set at this point could very well also be the last. When it comes to a 1990-1996 set, would they really issue a collection that would essentially be a more narrowly cast exploration of the era already explored by Tell Tale Signs set? I can only see that likely happening if it's laser-focused on very specific concepts, like The Bromberg Sessions or The Supper Club. Which makes me sad, because I REALLY DON'T want to see stuff like the "TV Talkin' Song" you mentioned orphaned (still a sore subject that it wasn't included on TTS). But hey, I'm always delighted to be proven wrong on matters like this.
One other possibility (albeit very slim): once the compilers suspect they've reached the end of the road (which I hope is many years from now), how about one final box that collects all the best remaining tracks that somehow fell thru the cracks? Sweep up the likes of "TV Talkin Song" and the electric "Blind Willie McTell" into another 3CD (or more! I won't complain about the lack of symmetry!) box? Seems like a good way to bookend the series if there isn't another obvious route to release these essential tracks.
