Full Pg. In Usa Today On Dylan Remasters

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2003-10-09-dylan-master_x.htm

I've only scanned this article in the print edition, but it looks like an all-out rave.
Also mentions plans for more Dylan remasters next year, though no firm dates or titles.('')

doug

 

I admit I've sorta looked down my nose at USA Today (without ever really reading it much), but that was about as dead-on perfect as any such article could be.

Also, the next Dylan SACD release will be in November, and it's the first in the bootleg series to get SACD treatment: Halloween 1964, New York. I presume this is one of those "single inventory hybrids" like the other 15 Dylan SACDs. I presume further (or hope, hope, hope!) that every subsequent Dylan release will be on single-inventory hybrid SACD.

Goddam, it's great being a Dylan fan these days!

 

Thanks for the link. I just read the article and didn't see anything mentioned about more Dylan remasters for next year. Is that mention only in the print edition?

 

I guess you haven't heard the news. The next Dylan SACD - from the live bootleg series, has been pushed back into early 2004.

 

In an interview in Guitar World Acoustic magazine, Sony/Legacy Sr. VP Steve Berkowitz (director of the SACD reissue series) stated:

"I work with the Dylan office, which has final approval over everything we do -- and yes, there have been discussions about doing more. There certainly are more great ones -- The Times They Are A-Changin', Time Out Of Mind, Self Portrait, New Morning -- to chose from."

 

A side-bar in the print ed. said these rep. about 1/3 of his output and "highlighted" what's missing, such as base. tapes, biograph, live 66, before the flood, good as i been to you, time out of mind, etc.

Quotes Tom Cording of Sony's Legacy: "We definitely plan to do more in 2004." Says nothing chosen, or dates set, "ultimately their (Dylan's) decision."

doug

 

They've come a long way from the "McPaper" days. It's still pretty broadstroke on most things, but it's surprising the depth they're willing to give some things--and it's still hard to beat (in print) for guaging the pulse of the country as a whole (not just the coasts).

doug

 

I wish they would have used that reasoning with Desire. I'll bet a million bucks the studio didn't sound like the current remaster does. Now, the multi-channel Blood on the Tracks does. Too bad Desire didn't get the same treatment.

 

To bad HW61 Revisited did not get the full respect that Blond on Blond got. We have SH's great DCC version, they could have gone back a generation to the multi-channel tapes; but noooooo.

Richard.

 

This may be the first time I've ever seen "Self Portrait" described as "great."

 

Yeah -- that's loyalty.

 

That has to be the first time!

Pulled out my 360 of that one a few weeks ago....still a total mess, and even what I try to like, after 30+ years, it's tough....maybe "Wigwam" in its utter mindlessness, but even then....

There are a handful of reasonably decent tracks, but as a whole, none of it works....amazing it was a Top Ten album, but Dylan was still hot back then.


ED

 

Yeah, don't understand that....talk about a potentially dynamite 5.1 mix!

That can also be said for any of the later albums...why not go all the way? Any album from 1975 onward would have seemed a natural for the format....


ED

 

Even Mr. Zimmerman himself didn't think too much of "Portrait"; some critics said it was a kind of portrait of "Americana," but Bob said he "didn't know what they were talking about." For an artist who has usually been, shall we say, less than humble, Bob's assessment of his own work in this case speaks volumes.

 

I assume you're referring to the SACD layer. The redbook is terrific--the best I've heard, in fact.

 

There's a full page in Entertainment Weekly too.

 

Maybe the Highway 61 multitracks are missing, or damaged. We are talking about nearly-forty-year-old tapes, after all.

 

What are the characteristics that make this a "potentially dynamite" surround presentation?

With all respect, you may want everything in multichannel, and I understand that. Somehow, of all the albums under the sun, I would have not thought that Highway 61 would be a prime choice for multichannel.

Regards,
Geoff