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

Well I would say that you're gonna enjoy it. It is fantastic. Every darn second of it. I started with the DVD and cried. I still have not listened to everything. I like repeated listens of everything before moving on. But wait til you get to "Rise Again" and "Caribbean Wind" on disc 4. As moving as any music he ever made.

 

I would gladly have sacrificed (more than) a few photos for more information on the actual music or another essay. A few pics is fine, but in the second book, I certainly wish there were more pages of handwritten lyrics.

 

Re. "Pressing On": until tonight, I'd always heard the line, "Adam given the devil reign" as, "I've been giving the devil rein" (which never quite made sense to me, so that's why I looked it up!).

One thing that has always struck me with the "Gospel" albums is, despite the fact that Dylan's lyrics are articulated, and vocals produced, to be unambiguously heard (in contrast to, say, Street-Legal, the immediate predecessor), I often hear what is not (officially) there, producing a number of "aural puns." Some quick examples:

"Precious Angel": "You're the queen of my flush."
"Gonna Change My Way of Thinking: "Straps on your shoulders, straps on your back and on your hands."
"Covenant Woman": "in-the-middle little girl" (which makes sense if the woman is seen as an angel or messenger).

On the subject of lyric delivery, one of my favorites from Trouble No More comes in "Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" (live and studio):

"There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it."

This line had always passed me by, most probably because of the very deliberate awkwardness of the lyrics. The pregnant pause that lies between "you" and the rest of the line deftly imitates the obstacle--the wall--that lies between the subject and her desires. Very Dylanesque!!

 

Listening to "Slow Train (rehearsal with horns)." Good stuff. I'm really happy with this set. Initially because I knew Bob and his people would do a great job recasting this era, as they did with the Self-Portrait set. But what I like about this set, is that beyond the lyrical content, or saving for the lyrical content, this is the emergence of 80s Dylan. And the 80s were when I actually "met" Dylan, even if I knew of him prior. When I was becoming musically sentient, if you will, the first Dylan I encountered was Infidels. So, this set is obviously a bit before that, but in listening to it I never expected to think, "Wow, this is the Dylan I first knew."

So, as obviously great the Rolling Thunder era is, and as awesome it is to now have the complete Basement Tapes, I feel closer to this box. Even Tell Tale Signs, as good as that is, I only paid half-attention to that era of albums as they came out. And I really tried with Love And Theft when it debuted, but I didn't really dig it at the time.

Edit: Wow, the radio spot for the Portland show is awesome--kind of sums the whole effort up! It's crazy how they're advertising the show as "come and see if you like it." Few would dare do that today. Of course he had the statute to get away with confounding a good portion of the audience.

 

I suppose now is as good a time as any to confess that, in Shot Of Love, I'd always heard him sing "There's a man that hates me/And he sweats through the mirror". Listening now, it doesn't sound even remotely like that; but there you go.

 

I'm right there with you on 2 out of 4.

I had the line in "Pressing On" for years as "I've been giving The Devil rein". Even after I read the official lyric I thought it was a mistake, but sure enough it's what he says. Surprising that Bob didn't choose to lay the blame on Eve!

"Stripes" vs. "Straps" ... I thought it was "straps" since 1979 until 5 minutes ago. I guess I never had the need for the official lyrics, but I surely must have read them at least once (owning the Lyrics book and all) and chose to ignore them. "Straps" just makes so much more sense. Society is figuratively whipping your back and shoulders while it is tethering you at the hands. So much more evocative than stripes!

 

At times, Dylan is concise and direct: "Truth is an arrow - and the gate is narrow, that it passes through".

And at other times, he lards up a song with redundancy that gets in the way of my enjoyment. Yes, you just said that. Oh, get to the point already!

"And I just got to tell you I do intend, to stay closer than any friend
I just got to thank you once again, for making your prayers known unto heaven for me
And to you, always, so grateful I will forever be"

So many extra words. He uses "just" twice, the "do" is unnecessary, and right after "always", he uses "forever". There is artful simplicity ... and then there is this.

 

The second half of "He unleashed his power at an unknown hour, that no one knew" would definitely get a slash from my virtual teacher's red pen. But then there's "Surrender your crown, on this blood-stained ground, take off your mask" which never fails to send shivers through my Atheistic spine.

 

Especially when he sings "Take off your mask" like he's delivering an eleventh commandment straight from the boss.

 

Tbh I'd never really paid attention to this song before. Until this set that is. But I visualise the stripes as being the end outcome of the straps.

 

For me, the dynamics of the music during the passage in question outweigh any potential infelicities in the lyrics.

 

Agreed. Also, one of the draws of Dylan's writing is that he's never allowed grammatical rules and literary expectations to encumber him.

 

As a songwriter it seems clear to me that the extra words are just there as placeholders to carry the melody (eg. I'm Not There). If he wasn't writing at a such a feverish pace he probably would have refined it more - but it doesn't really take away from my enjoyment of the song. The seeming haste in which it was written works for me.

 

If one were being kind, one might interpret the redundancies as evoking a fumbling, "aw shucks" modesty.

 

^^^ yes that's a better answer

 

Packaging notes # 12 & 35:-

The photo featured on the page/slot containing Disc 5 has been cropped on the left hand side, thus editing out Fred Tackett. On the rear of the jewel case card (not the slip case) on the 2 CD set the same photo appears behind the track listing but with Fred restored (or, more accurately, not cropped out). Another example of Bootleg Series artwork that features on the 2CD sets but not on the deluxe set.

Rob Bowman's track notes are much easier to read in the 2CD booklet because the background is white and the text is black. Musician credits are a brown/gold colour, but easily readable with the white background.

#

 

Don't tempt me with forking out for the 2CD version as well. Although I imagine the booklet would be handy for easy access. Daft question; but I presume the song notes for Discs 3 & 4 aren't included in a "Here's what you could have won" manner?

 

Jeez, tempted too. That would be the third CD set of disc 1 and 2! I got problems.

 

No, they are not included. The Ben Rollins intro and the two essays ("Fire In My Bones" and "In The Time of My Confession") are included.

I think I'm right in saying that the photo of Bob underneath the swing-out CD holder of the 2CD set (the inside of the rear tray card, so to speak) is not featured anywhere in the Deluxe set.

 

Finally getting around to the San Diego discs.

I'm just going to say it: This show is pretty average. I just don't get the hype. I'll take San Francisco or Santa Monica over this any time.

 

Pretty average for Fall ‘79 or pretty average overall?

 

Glad to have it, even though the price was steep, but yeah. I unfollowed the San Diego thread because I kept scratching my head at the hyperbole. Pretty common around here but sometimes I have to leave the party.

 

Everyone else may have figured this out, but due to actual quality and mix of recording I found I more than doubled my enjoyment of the San Diego discs by turning my stereo from the 2-3 volume setting fine for most modern cds to around 4-5. I thought I didn't like it at all played at "normal" volume but did at double that. (Even so, with the enormous extra cost and shipping tsuris, I'd probably just skip trying to get it had I known then what I know now.)

 

Agreed on the last bit. Only trouble is, Sony/Bob didn't offer us San Francisco or Santa Monica officially so we got what we got. I like San Diego well enough and it's good to have an (almost) complete 1979 show officially released. Playing it loud does help...

 

You mean #%*&!! loud.