Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes - where we're currently at (Part 4)

Maybe it just IS "Chilly Winds", but it's totally distorted? Interesting that this version not only has the line from "Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad", it also has a line from another Grateful Dead concert staple - "I Know You Rider".

 

Hey, did you work for Alan Lomax or something? Nice work.

 

Interesting - IIRC the other versions I've heard of "I Know You Rider" don't have the "headlight" verse - I'd always wondered where Jerry got it - thanks!

Interesting banter at the end there - at about 3:40, does someone say, "...you wanna violate our contract? Just do a fag bit and get off!" ? Or am I mis-hearing that?

 

I gotta say, that doesn't look too bad to me AT ALL. It's not brickwalled or anything.

Keep in mind, these are different mixes. Tree with Roots has a super wide stereo "non-mix" which means there are moments in the visually-bottom (right) channel with very little audio information, other than mic bleed (this is when the band stops on "Lost time is not found again"). The new version is panned in a bit, rather tastefully, so those quiet spots are filled with some information from the other track.

 

Yes, "Rider" is not the same song without the "headlight" verse!

And yes, I was equally surprised by that weird banter after the song. I didn't realize The Kingston Trio, of all people, performed "blue" by early 60's standards.

 

It sounds like off-mic stuff that they didn't expect would get picked up. The album wasn't released until 1994 (recorded in 1962.) I hear it as "A little toilet humor!" "Oh my god!" "You gimme a caca joke, wanna do a fag bit and get off?"

 

Yahoo Music is excited to offer a first listen to the song "Don't Tell Ya Henry," which is included in the 138-track (!) set.


https://music.yahoo.com/blogs/music...rack-from--basement-tapes--set-141409647.html

 

Thanks for finding this. (Had to grit my teeth through the ad at the start.) I knew they would be doling out some preview tracks in the weeks leading up to release day.

Gee, I wonder why they left this off the album in 1975? (kidding) It does have that particular sound and feeling that most people associate with the Basement Tapes, sloppy, sometimes off-key, but high-spirited and a lot of fun.

Very good audio quality, with maybe some added reverb? The trombone (or is it a tuba?) is still a major annoyance, but you can hear the other instruments in greater detail.

 

I'm guessing that the ads are keyed to one's IP address, because I got the same mud-slinging ad I see everywhere else where I live. Anyway, that was pretty cool (if not pretty good ). It's rollicking and fun and quintessential basementness, but that trombone seems to jump over the vocal, come through the speakers, and head directly for the center of my brain.

 

Thanks!

For clarity, that song is on both sets.

 

Listening to "Don't Ya Tell Henry" and knowing "Bourbon Street," gotta wish they would have
played "Rainy Day Women" too (which was a spiritual studio ancestor to the Basement vibe).

Yeah, that song would have been over-stating the obvious, but still....
At least I get them playing it on Isle Of Wight.

Speaking of Isle of Wight - that was another #1 wish and holy grail.
Still happy to have that.

 

Has there been any confirmation yet as to whether all (or at least most) of the chatter between tracks will remain in this first complete official set? I'd be gutted if that improvised bass "do-do-do-do-do-do-doooo... BASH!" vocal directly after Million Dollar Bash has been left on the cutting room floor, as such examples are key to helping listeners establish a feel for the overall vibe during these historic sessions.

 

Do you guys think that someone who is a semi-fan of Dylan would appreciate this album? In other words, will this stand alone as a set that someone familiar with his "greatest hits" and a few albums from the 60s/70s could get into? And I'm talking mostly about the 2cd set I guess (I assume the more casual fans might be daunted by the larger set).

I ask this because I put it on a while ago while my wife was in the room and she "requested" that I turn it off. Now, she appreciates a lot of his work, really loves Blood on the Tracks and most of the classic run of albums. She also really enjoyed a lot of Another Self Portrait. When asked why she didn't like the Basement Tapes she indicated that she felt it lacked the lyrical poetry and musicianship of the stuff she was more familiar with. She also felt it was a bit too sloppy. Also, it just sounded bad.

I share these feelings a bit with her. The original release has never been a favourite. I find its sloppyness and "just having fun" sound, things people seem to gravitate towards, as a bit of an impediment to my really getting into the songs. That being said, I'm really looking forward to the 3lp set to arrive so I can hear them as they were originally recorded and see if my opinion changes.

I have no doubt the reviews will be glowing and the story around its release will no doubt make it a good seller.

 

Speaking strictly for myself, I think your wife raises a series of valid points. I don't think of the Basements as particularly accessible material for a casual Dylan fan, and I would never suggest them as an entry point for a new fan. I think the 6 discs would be absolute overkill for most people, but Heaven for the fanatics.

 

I would think that if a casual Dylan fan didn't like the sloppiness of the official BT release they will be unable to tolerate the raw Basement Tapes.

 

I wonder how much of the success of these Bootleg Series sets requires a crossover to casual Dylan fans? What I mean to say is, if only Dylan fanatics buy it will that result in enough sales to turn a profit?

 

Even if the 6-CD set only sells 10,000 copies over 1 year, that is 10,000 x $100-150 (cost per set) = $1-1.5 million. Yes, that's not all profit, but you get the idea.


Arnie

 

i would think you have to be into the dylan thing to like this. some of these things are very rough.
and the songs, outside of a few, are just dummy lyrics put down for later analysis.

 

Depends what you mean by casual. Some people only like certain Dylan years or even certain albums. What the Bootleg Series has going for it lately is that Dylan's voice never sounded better than on, for instance, the 1969 and 1967 stuff; so compared to how his voice sounds today, it's like it's another guy singing altogether; casual people will hear that as a good thing.

Another Self Portrait had the added well-recordedness of it to offer, along with a lot of unheard stuff - plus had a backstory of seeking to straighten-out/supplement the Self Portrait debacle forty odd years on. It remains to be seen whether the Basement Tapes set gets good reviews that spur the 'casual' fan on to a purchase or not. The danger with this release is that it might get slammed for the very 'casual-ness' of the basement sessions themselves, not to mention the primitive recording apparatus. This release (historiocity aside) is really for the hardcore fans who are fools for this stuff, and fools for good reason.

 

I'm sure many people will react similarly to way your wife did. On the other hand, I recently shared some (carefully curated) "Get Back" material with friends and family and while many reacted with "why don't they just play it right?" there were a few people who immediately understood the "workshop" spirit of the material and found it captivating.

I imagine that many casual fans will be disappointed and even a little weirded out, but I also suspect that some people will see a new side to Dylan and become bigger fans as a result.

 

Yes, I think you got it. How weird.

 

As far as I know, we're still uncertain.

Personally, I'm holding to that "uncurated" remark (quoted in the RS piece, I think) and thinking that they just don't want to put the chatter on the preview tracks. It seems plausible to me that the 2-CD set might be more tightly edited and that those might be the versions they're releasing, but that's all speculation on my part.

I think everyone here agrees that leaving the chatter and false-starts out would be a major disappointment (and I felt that the source quoted in RS was acknowledging exactly that, which is why I'm hopeful).

 

It would be and it also makes no sense when you consider the roughness of the recordings themselves. I can see if the performances were polished and they therefore wanted to clean it all up, but that is simply not the case here.

 

I'm hoping the previews and 2CD set are intended as introductions for newcomers to The Basement Tapes or more casual Dylan fans, meaning that it's unlikely such valuable space will be used for chatter and material considered of a lesser standard. However, my guess is that nothing will be left out of the full box - after waiting for so long, I can't imagine the average die hard enthusiast being too happy if these historical recordings are significantly compromised, especially as some are of a fragmentary nature with false starts, a few affected by the start of takes being missing and many even being sourced from less than ideal generational tape copies. This whole package ideally needs to be perfect first time around, though based on previous archival releases I've no doubt that Bob's camp will deliver... we've come a long way since the original officially approved release, especially now the bootleggers have been doing such a good job for years (for all its flaws, A Tree With Roots still remains my definitive collection of material from these sessions, but with every passing second I just know it will soon be getting replaced)!

 

I just noticed (from the pono previews) that "900 Miles / Confidential" appears to be the same scratchy fiddle snippet we've always known plus a wholly separate rendition of "Confidential" - no segue and some significant dead air between - it's not clear to me why this is one track rather than two.