Bob Dylan: "Trouble No More 1979 - 1981" - The Bootleg Series Vol. 13

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1978 would seem an ideal candidate for that sort of approach. Mid-80's, perhaps.

 

Agree. Plus I miss the dog!

 

The seats at Earls Court were far from comfortable.

Dylan and his band were wonderful, unfortunately I forgot to shout "Judas", and we enjoyed the gig but would have preferred better lumbar support.

 

What I meant was that many people at those concerts were seriously interested in the gospel music he was playing. At any Dylan concert, the old-time fans are in a small minority. At those 1979-1980 concerts there were many people attending because word had been circulating about his new material.

But the seats at many of the small theaters that he played were old and broken. Since that time, many of those same theaters have been renovated

 

I really like it. Better than the original Bootleg Series release. Interesting that it was rehearsed and recorded the same day as "Making a Liar Out of Me" which has a very different, more full-throated vocal.

 

Obviously, Dylan should offer luxury seating -- such as recliners with cupholders -- at all his concerts at no extra charge.

It would be a mistake for fans born too late to assume that Dylan shoved the gospel music down people's throats. He had released Slow Train Coming and gave a preview of the music on Saturday Night Live before opening night at the Fox Warfield in San Francisco so people had a good idea what to expect. He then shocked the sold-out crowd not only with the fervor and intensity of the new songs but with the complete absence of his earlier songs. Half the songs were from Slow Train Coming, but played more aggressively, the other half were even more biblical, and would not be released until the next year on Saved. That first night's performance became international news the next day, but not before Dylan fans burned up the telephone lines to describe what they had just seen. I got my call from journalist Paul Williams within minutes of the concert's end and couldn't believe what he was telling me. I heard an audience tape before I went to my first show. During Dylan's residency at the Fox Warfield people went specifically to hear the new music. They were interested, and for every angry and disappointed protestor, there was someone cheering Dylan on. There was more praise than ridicule on the ground, but more ridicule than praise in the press. There was a lot of hostility from hurt fans. I loved the parts on the 1979 tour where Dylan and band would silence catcallers in the audience with the thunder of drums and the slamming of guitars. It was the loudest music he's ever made. Dylan fans and rock fans alike wanted to experience the new material and did so throughout 1979, 1980 and 1981. The gospel tour was an attendance and financial success because Dylan was a brilliant courageous performer up there on the stage and the music he was making was an experience to be had and a story to be told and debated afterward.

Wait til you hear San Diego '79.

 

'78 would be GREAT.

oh if this was '78 I wouldn't be questioning.....how badly I need to raise the money!
here I figure I'll have to pass though that was a really nice version of Every Grain of Sand....

 

Looks good, wonder if it's sleeves or digipacks? Where did you find the picture?

 

My guess would be pictorial sleeves. The cover art was on bobdylan.com when the set was first announced. I saved it. I don't know if it's still up.

The Japan residency in Jan-Feb with Dylan experimenting and testing his boundaries, the Australia concerts with setlist and arrangement changes and a couple of particularly good performances in Adelaide and Sydney, the Universal Ampitheater residency in June, the Earls' Court residency later in June, the Paris residency in July, the Zeppelinfeld and Blackbushe continental picnic concerts would all make superb box-sets. The Paris concerts were particularly impressive, but the all the Far East and European shows document Dylan in fine voice and at his most creative in terms of sound, style and arrangements. In Japan and Australia he was back in touch with the New Morning-Planet Waves songs and making them relevant again. He was reaching out above and beyond folk music, trying new things and achieving them easily.

Then there's the Fall tour of the USA which is whole a 'nuther ball game.

His 1978 touring band were NOT a folk combo and remain vastly under-rated.

 

Fantastic post!

I saw the tour in June of 1981 (the Poplar Creek show) my second Dylan show (Chicago Stadium 1978 my first) as an 18 year old, and now, well over a hundred and thirty some shows later, it remains one of the most memorable for so many reasons. Certainly, as you write and as we've long heard, it's amazing musicality was a major reason. And as you said in your post, even though I knew what to expect (I still heard a few debut "new" songs at that show) nothing quite prepared me for the whole of the experience. As "a nice Jewish boy" beginning to explore my own artistic identity, it was a powerful statement from my absolute favorite artist, for me to grapple with. Thats an experience that has stayed with me, as I have often and with tremendous regard (and, yes, also no small amount of complications and questions), gone back to this period of Dylan's music. STC and SOL and their attendant outtakes and live shows have long remained Dylan favorites of mine. And I'm really looking forward to this release!

Again, really appreciated this excellent post.

 

Dylan played Chicago Stadium October 17 and October 18, 1978.
Which one were you at?

130+ Dylan concerts?
Jeez, am I ever envious.

Poplar Creek was June 10, the start of the 1981 tour. It's been written up often and must have been a memorable show.

 

Funny. Hadn't thought about it today until you asked, but today is the anniversary of my first Dylan show! I was at the 18th. I was playing today some of the Cutting Edge big blue box and a pretty cool compilation Ive made and love of assorted Shot of Love outtakes (that's only going to get cooler when Trouble comes out), but I guess I need to bust out some Street-Legal before the stroke of midnight.

 

Boy that sounds a lot like the scene at the famous Newport Folk Festival gig when he went electric in the mid-60s. History repeated itself!

 

Yes.
1965-6 history repeated itself in 1979-80 but especially in 1979 (26 concerts) and particularly the opening night at the Fox Warfield.
Except for the gospel content audience reaction (and provocation) was exactly the same as Newport 1965.

 

I agree that taken completely unto itself, this is an interesting but inferior (to the 2 released versions) alternative. But it also serves a second purpose in helping to reveal the "process" that got the song from "A" to "B". If the tape were allowed to run 15 more seconds, you might very well get to hear Bob say "Sounds too much like a kids' show theme".

 

It's very interesting. I think I prefer the less halting vocal on the BS1-3 take, but the music on this outtake (tinny keyboard and all). Neither reach the full heights of the ultimate studio take (apparently a one-take performance). One thing that stands out to me now is how important the harmonica is to the LP recording. But I'm very glad we're getting this version.

 

Well said. After a couple of more listens I would suggest that this version has a fragility to it (I can't think of a better word) that lends it a certain charm that the SOL version doesn't have (although it has PLENTY going for it, including that terrific harmonica).

 

I’ve liked everything I’ve heard at this point, even though this ain’t necessarily my favorite Dylan period. For want of a better term—some will be more musically aware than I—some of the rehearsal stuff sounds more “black,” more soulful than anything Dylan had experimented with at the point, particularly the use of horn section and general funkiness of the Slow Train stuff.

The live stuff will really make this album, I hope. Like I said before, I think this will be a really rewarding holistic experience since the landscapes on this release will be far more varied, musically and lyrically, than the official three albums were at the time.

Every Grain of Sand—I’ve tended to find this song perhaps a tad overrated, and rarely transferable to live settings, but I think this new rehearsal release makes for a wonderful addition, hugely enjoyable in it own right. I don’t get the gripes about the music or arrangement at all. The vocal’s kind of strained, but far less than the original Bootleg Series release, and, ultimately, works effectively.

P.S. If the live version is a average as those who have heard it say it is, then I would have preferred they left it off. It's not a song that travels very well in my experience, and one version might have sufficed. Time will tell.

 

Have you heard the Earls Court concert, perchance?

It's the shortest of the residency (I was there for the final show), and I wonder why they chose it (perhaps because it was the shortest, or perhaps because it just happens to be good, I hope?)

Dipping into this right now:



Have to say, the lore seems to go that the American leg of '81 somehow depreciated in comparison with the European leg, but I don't hear that at all, not from any of the concerts I've heard. This particular concert (NJ) seems to have a particularly lively audience (not always the case in American concerts) and seems to be easily the equal of any European show. It's interesting . . . is this '78 redux? As the tour moves to the States it seems to gain some and lose some, apparently, if nothing else, gaining in some kind of ferociousness?

Love the slowed down start to "Rolling Stone." The prologue to "Man Gave Names" is briefly reminiscent of '78 "Senor." "Maggies" is off the rails. Anyway, great concert.

 

I think Every Grain of Sand is a terrific song. That vocal sounds like it has character, soulfulness, Experience, but I have a hard time enjoying the sound of it, even though the delivery is heartfelt. I really like the the tasteful arrangement and sensitive playing in the performance, very nicely done, like 'that's a take'...

After a few more listens, the lyric and melody or 'something' about that "grain of sand" makes me think of Times/Another Side-era Dylan. I'm not sure why. Maybe the poetry. Maybe part of the delivery. Not sure. Just wish I could love the vocal like I love the song and the band playing it.

I think the thing I will have to remember about this set of over 100 tracks? is it is meant to represent an overview of only about three years of a very curious and dramatic, but relatively lesser embraced body of work from Dylan, so that if there's even only a single or double LP worth of tracks I enjoy from it, it will be well worthwhile to this listener.

When You Gonna Wake Up 7/9/81 (it just 'feels like Infidels' ) is my favorite track so far. A pressing and urgent performance. That slowly moving and foreboding three minute version of Slow Train Coming from 10/5/78 has grown on me. I'm wondering if the cumulative effect of all this material may give me greater enjoyment than any individual songs themselves. "Liar" seems to me to have a little something in common with "Every Grain" - perhaps it's in its poetic nature, I don't know. These performance by the band are really first- rate. I feel like there's a subtle undercurrent of Reggae that mysteriously moves through some of the performances. Enjoying the vocal and horns on the 10/2/79 Slow Train.

 

Ain't Gonna Hell and Cover Down Break/Pray Through are powerhouses, equal to anything on the released albums; don't know which of the two I prefer (well, perhaps the latter by a cigarette paper). I hope the released versions of both live up to the Toronto versions I have heard.

Now, I can't help wonder how Trouble in Mind will compare with the circulated version, which I wish was on there . . .

 

Trouble In Mind always seems to get overlooked. Personally, I love it. Bob at his most nakedly confessional and vulnerable.

 

I love the initial version of "Ain't Gonna Go To Hell" but have never been a fan of the rewrite. Hopefully this release opens my eyes to it. I agree that this box would have been a nice home for the released version of "Trouble in Mind", and that its inclusion would have made more sense than another appearance for "Ye Shall Be Changed" (which is much more widely available).