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

No, I don't think it has. I've never even heard of this and would love to hear it.

 

True, there's still the rest of the world but its more of a global marketplace now. A person from anywhere in the world can buy a PD CD cheaply from say Amazon UK, taking money out of Sony's pocket, unless they start to ban sales of PD region CDs to regions for which the contents are not considered PD.

However they could do an early years collection comprising things already protected by previous CECs along with some super rare things released back in the day (Broadside recordings) and sprinkle some unreleased 1961 (or earlier) stuff in among the collection.

If they released say a 2.5 hour long double CD of mostly protected unreleased/rare stuff with maybe as much as a half hour's worth of stuff that would immediately fall into the public domain, it really shouldn't hurt sales of the official product too much, since obviously the whole thing couldnt be cloned legally in the EU. The best the PD labels could get away with is making a very short (half hour or whatever) comp CD out of the PD material contained within the whole.

I doubt very many fans would opt for the PD version over the official in that case, even if the PD version was dirt cheap.

 

Time for a live show/compilation

 

I don't buy PD releases. To me, they are no different from b00tlegs. And I download those for free. But if there's a choice between a PD release and a legitimate, approved release (in Dylan's case, a Sony release) I would gladly buy the Sony version. I don't think Sony would be opposed to releasing some '61 and earlier material. After all, they've otherwise cut off the public domain labels with the copyright extension set.

I think we might be "surprised" by the next Bootleg Series. Unless they are gonna do a live 1966 tour series, there will be no connection to an anniversary. All the studio material from 66 is now protected. The Basement Tapes from '67 are protected. The JWH stuff probably isn't even worthy of a major release. So I think they have free reign to issue whatever they want to, or whatever is ready. Perhaps it's time for the twice postponed BOTT release. But who knows. Maybe Sony doesn't even know for sure yet. And it'll probably be a few months before any credible info starts leaking out. Maybe someone can remind me when the "rumors" of the Cutting Edge set started circulating?

 

Looking at the previous BS cover spines it leapt out to me the main title of Vol 4 is just "Live 1966", which may cause a minor issue with another volume covering that period. It might actually make more sense to do an expanded Vol 4 release and repackage it similar to the 6 cd sets (and/or a collector's set). I wouldn't even mind if they use the same cover (one of my favorites) and just modify the title and books. Might be an easier solution for making some money off the impending copyright issue.

Same could be done for Live 1975 too.

 

Well, I think the only thing we can be sure of is there'll definitely be at least a "Copyright Extention Collection" of most if not all of the 1966 live tapes they have - which may or may not be accompanied by a companion normal Bootleg Series release of some sort.

Its true that (if we dont see a BS13 of live 66 material) they could go for an off-anniversary release (if all the 1966 live stuff is confined to a CEC and nothing else is in need of immediate protection).

However, its equally true that they could take a year (or two) off from releasing any BS releases at all since the 1966 live tapes could be covered in total by a CEC. Apparently (AFAIK) there's not supposed to be much unreleased JWH session stuff, but whatever there is can (and probably will) be included on a 1967 CEC.

They may reason that since they have just put out (something like) three BS releases in just over two years, they need to take a break (to catch up in preparing new volumes) and to prevent possible fan-burnout which could lead to diminishing returns sales-wise. Some fans may have had the attitude when the BS releases were few and far between of: "Any BS is a good BS - I'll buy any and everything they put out just to support the continuing of the releases even if its not from a favorite era since we only see a release two or three times a decade anyway."

If they continue to keep the releases at the same pace as recently (which in part EU copyright law is forcing them to do) they may fear fan reaction might devolve instead into: "Oh - another release - Ok what is it? Oh something from THAT era. Meh....I think I'll save my money and see what the next one is that's I'm sure will be out sometime in the next few months".

Who knows?

As far as whether Sony yet knows what's next - I'd assume not. I'd imagine the only people who come anywhere close to knowing which is next are the people (I'd assume Bob's people, rather than Sony's people) who are actually putting the BS releases together - and they've been known to change their minds on what to release next at the 11th hour, at least a couple of times.

 

There's no way they'll take a break. If anything they are going to ramp up to take advantage of the dying CD industry.

 

Absolutely. One a year, at least.

 

The last key release left in the series is BOTT.
They had to get The Basement Tapes out eventually and they've finally done that now. It didn't disappoint. Another Self-Portrait was a most pleasant surprise and The Cutting Edge was another no-brainer - as the period it covered is widely acknowledged to be Dylan's most inspired as a recording artist. I strongly suspect BOTT will be next. The last three volumes have all been brilliant, as if they are now on a mission to clear the vaults of the really good stuff.

 

I'd love to see a Bootleg Series devoted to collecting all the one-off "odds and sods" tracks that Bob has contributed to soundtracks, tribute albums or other assorted various artist projects over the years.

I know we got "Cross The Green Mountain" on Tell Tale Signs, but there are still more than enough left over for a nice two disc set and, if digging really deep, probably enough for a three-to-six-disc deluxe treatment as well.

Of course, more likely we'll get the long-delayed Blood On The Tracks set (with the Gospel Years as a dark horse candidate) for Vol. 13.

 

If they gathered all the stray tracks I'd love it as well.

 

By commercial logic, they should release the sessions for Blood On The Tracks (and that would be my choice if I were the one in charge). But, then again, who was expecting something like Another Self Portrait to happen? (and, luckily, it did happen!).
So, we'll have to wait.

 

Another Self Portrait takes second prize as most surprisingly rewarding after Tell Tale Signs.

 

Yep, love that one, its my favourite, the triple vinyl is currently cheap on both amazon Germany and spain, around £30/31 mark, got my one from Germany currently being shipped.

I think vol.13 will be Blood on the Tracks and Desire, surely between the two albums and the various sessions there's plenty to enjoy. Possibly include Planet Waves and make it a 1974-76 set?? Not that I'm expert enough to know what outtakes there are, just a wild guess if the BOTT sessions don't cover enough to make the expected 6 cd set that is now becoming the norm.

 

Sounds good to me. Would love to hear more of the shows featured on the live songs on Tell Tale Signs.

 

Agreed. Played it recently and was reminded of how fantastic Another Self Portrait is, both in terms of content and sequencing.

 

Once you expand the concept beyond just Blood on the Tracks, doesn't its make sense to begin with 1973 (which would add the possibility of Pat Garrett outtakes, including "Rock me Mama" which has weirdly become a huge hit for other artists) thru 1978 (which, at the very least, would add the possibility of including some/all of the long-coveted Street Legal piano demos)? Doing it that way would neatly compliment Another Self Portrait, which covered 1969-71 (I'm sadly not aware of any likely '72 recordings to make this an even more tidy fit).

Of course, even Another Self Portrait's date range was a little suspect, as the "Minstrel Boy" demo clearly dated from 1967.

 

To be honest I'm not that familiar with some of the other albums around BOTT, but wouldn't broadening it out dilute the power of the story that the album tells? It seems to be a pretty complete release on its own. I'd like to see like a 2-3 lp set of the two recording sessions with extra tracks. Compact and sweet.

 

That's the danger. But as wonderful as Blood on the Tracks is, it's not clear there's a vast archive of compelling outtake material (there might be-- I'm hoping). If there is, I'm happy for an all BOTT set but if not, I'd prefer if the compilers expanded the range of material the set covers. There is a broad range of wonderful material available.

 

I think they could get to 6 cds just for BOTT. 2 of those discs could be the original release and the pulled "NY" release. The other 4 could be alternate versions and possibly rumored home demos too. If I'm reading the session logs right, there are over 90+ takes for the BOTT sessions. I realize they might not be compelling, but releasing all of them would fullfill the copyright issue, just like the recent BS 12 release. PLUS as a download bonus they could release all of the live 1974 concerts with The Band (Similar to the upcoming bonus download for BS12 that is rumored).

 

There's enough for a multi-disc set of just "Blood On The Tracks" stuff - I really hope they don't mix in stuff from 1973 or 1976 or whenever. As pointed out, it wouldn't serve the material well to dilute it. Yes, "alternate takes"/versions rather than unknown songs, but are people really disappointed with that? I know there were complaints before "The Cutting Edge" was released but alternate takes can obviously be very compelling - for me at least - and often more so than a 'new' song. This is especially true of Bob Dylan, who never really records the same song the same way twice.

There will certainly be a 1966 Copyright Extension next year - I can't understand why people think these will stop: the law won't change & it's not in the interest of the record label to let things slip out of copyright, sabotage tapes, only copyright one or two tapes, downgrade audio or any of the other bizarre lengths that people have suggested might occur in order to stop people hearing the material (as if for some reason the ultimate aim of a record label is to ensure you can't hear a 50+ year old recording that has been sitting in an archive since the day it was recorded)
What will be interesting is how they distribute a large quantity of audio. Surely they will follow the pattern established by the 1965 set (hint, hint) which is similar in quantity.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if selling a large download attached to BS12 is testing the waters for using this strategy with upcoming releases. I think it could be a winning one, too, particularly with BOTT. I mean, who knows if he really revised each song with each take to the extent that he did with the albums covered by BS12. If he didn't I don't think the listening would be nearly as compelling as BS12. I mean I love BOTT, but I don't need to hear 7 similar takes of Tangled.

So a 3LP set of outakes/alt versions along with the ability to purchase live shows and more outtakes digitally would be ideal.

 

They've been hitting the major periods pretty hard with these last releases, so I wouldn't be surprised if they jumped into the 80s for the next release.

 

Did BOTT get auto-corrected to BOOT?

 

By "rumored home demos" are you referring to the "I'm Cold" songs? If they exist, they would certainly justify an entire set in their own right. But I'm not sure they're even rumored, so much as "hoped for." But I REALLY hope my skepticism isn't warrented in this instance.