My Dylan SACD order of preference

Here is the order of the remastered Dylan that I want - what about you?

1st Tier

"Nashville Skyline" (1969 LP),
"John Wesley Harding" (1967 LP),
"Planet Waves" (1974 LP),
(these three I haven't killed like BOTT or Desire, and I have a feeling they will achieve Street Legal like status of more appreciation when we hear them remastered)

2nd Tier

"Blood on the Tracks" (1975 LP),
"Desire" (1976 LP),
"Bringing It All Back Home" (1965),
(three classics, of course, Desire may benefit most)

"Slow Train Coming" (1979 LP),
"Infidels" (1983 LP),
"Oh Mercy" (1989 LP),
(can't move these above Blood, Desire, and BIABH, but these three will also be more revered by people when they here these remastered)

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" (1963 LP),
"Another Side of Bob Dylan" (1964 LP),
(these early albums had such minimal prodcution, can't imagine they will be THAT much better)

Won't be buying these, at least not right away:

"Highway 61 Revisited" (1965 LP), (have remastered gold cd, sounds great)
"Blonde on Blonde" (1966 LP), (same deal as Hwy 61 - have gold)
"Street-Legal" (1978 LP), (remastered one sounds great)
"Love and Theft" (2001 LP; all SACD Hybrid) (sound was fine on regular cd)

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a decent Blonde On Blonde and Blood On The Tracks in particular. I would be intrigued to hear Love And Theft, and I think the Sundazed mono has accounted for the albums up to BIABH pretty well.
A couple cry out for expanded packages particularly Infidels and Oh Mercy.
And where's New Morning?

 

I'm definitely skipping "Slow Train Coming," "Highway 61 Revisited," and "Street Legal." I already have "Blonde on Blonde," so I'm not sure if the new version can be that much better (not enthusiastic about a surround sound BoB), and I have the DCC H61.

I'm very interested in seeing how "Love and Theft" turns out. It would be a revelation if the SACD layer was quieter and much more dynamic, assuming the CD was compressed in the mastering stage. I hope not, though.

I've never been a big fan of his religious albums. They have some great songs, but I already have them on various comps. I'm still not a huge fan of Street Legal. I like the remix more, it's good, but it's still not a favorite of mine.

 

I remember reading in the mid '90's that Sony was going to release Gold Mastersound CDs of several Dylan CDs. All the releases were cancelled because the two-track master tapes couldn't be found.

Of course, Blonde On Blonde was released as a gold disc, but that was a modern re-mix. The other titles that were discussed for release were "Highway 61 Revisited" (cancelled possibly because Sony didn't want comparisons to Hoffman's version), "Blood On The Tracks", "Nashville Skyline", and "Desire".

So I am guessing (hoping) that someone smart like Bob Irwin was able to track down all the two-track master tapes from the Sony vaults. I bet Dylan's management had possession of a few of them too...

As for the multi-channel remixes of a few of the albums, these mixes should be interesting since for the majority of his career Dylan has recorded "live" in the studio. I have read he didn't try his first vocal over-dub until 1973.

With most of Dylan's bands recording live all in one room, it should be interesting to hear the sound that the multi-channel mixes will reveal. I'm sure it will vary a lot from album to album...

 

Unless, that is, they went back to the multitracks and created new stereo mixes. There was no mention of remixing (except of course for the 5.1 versions) in the Sony release, but who knows?

 

What a wacky reissue program

Personally, I think the most logical way of presenting the Dylan catalog on SACD would have been to include both the mono and stereo mixes on the SACD layer for all of the albums up through Blonde on Blonde, and then include stereo mixes and (whenever possible) multichannel mixes of all the albums released after Blonde on Blonde.

So what does Sony give us? For one thing, no mono mixes. It looks like the product of Bob Irwin's hard work in tracking down all the mono masters will be forever consigned to vinyl. The omission of a mono mix is particularly egregious for Freewheelin, since we don't even get a surround mix as compensation (but then again, does anybody really WANT a surround mix of Freewheelin?). The omission of a mono mix from the Blonde on Blonde reissue is doubly insulting, since this is the second time that album has been reissued on SACD, and we still don't get the definitive mono mix (and the only mix personally supervised by Dylan himself). And what is the point of doing multichannel mixes of Another Side of Bob Dylan, Bringing it All Back Home and Blonde on Blonde anyway? I'd rather have decent mono than gimmicky surround.

Speaking of surround, wouldn't it have made sense to include the quad mixes of Nashville Skyline, Planet Waves and Desire on the SACD reissues? After all, these are the ONLY Dylan albums previously released in a surround format. But of course, this is SONY we're talking about, so naturally these SACDs will NOT contain a surround mix.

 

Re: What a wacky reissue program

Amen to that.

 

Not to put down Bob or anything (I'm a fan!), but it looks like he can't give a **** about proper releases of his back-catalog. He hasn't in years, as far as I've been able to read.

I'm sure he must've heard one and a thousand times 'hey Bob, when do we get xxxx in mono?' from fans, but methinks he's on autopilot with regards to the issue.. y'know, just letting the suits do as they please.

Not meaning to offend anyone with the above, just a couple early morning thoughts.

Damián

 

Spot on! In 2001 in the "Rolling Stone" interview Bob said:

"Columbia Records were going to release three of my old albums, and
they were going to include outtakes and other songs I'd written at the
same time that had never been on the albums. Seeing that I'm never
really sure of when I'm going to record a new record, I wasn't too
excited about it, because I wouldn't have wanted them to compete with
my new work."

He doesn't have any affection for his back catalogue at all.

As for the mono issue, I've been told by a reliable source that Sony do not see any market for mono mixes and SACD technology. The primary aim of these releases is to attract new listeners rather than get the older fans to lay out more more for yet a new version. Younger fans have no attraction to or affection for mono. Columbia has licenced the mono releases to Sundazed on vinyl. considering that that will satisfy that market.

I'm trying to document all international releases of Bob's regular albums here:

http://www.searchingforagem.com/International.htm

This project is very incomplete at the moment, so if you have any album releases that I don't yet list, please let me know. I have quite a few albums in the pipeline to add, like "Saved" from Turkey, "Before The Flood" from Brazil and Japan (both Asylum and Columbia), "The Times They Are A-Changin'" from Taiwan, etc.

Mono album releases are here:

http://www.searchingforagem.com/MonoHeader.htm

Bob-rare

 

You're behind searchingforagem.com? Really nice site, been there several times already, .. too bad I'm too young to have ever bought any Bob on vinyl (Argentinian pressings from back in the day, that is.. I've bought Sundazed's), or I could send a few images your way.

Keep it up, best regards

Damián

 

Yes thanks for 'searchin' Alan, a very valuable resource.

 

In approximate order:

Blonde on Blonde (I only have the original stereo mix, the regular CD, and a tape copy of the Sundazed mono).

Highway 61 Revisited I don't have the DCC, only the stereo LP with the ''wrong" take of From a Buick 6", and the Sundazed mono (which is very good)

Bringing It All Back Home (only stereo LP at present)

Another Side of Bob Dylan ( I bought my LP and it's fairly noisy)

Freewheelin' (have an old mono and a defective stereo with a f*****-up end to Hard Rain)

John Wesley Harding (same as Another Side)

Blood On The Tracks - (only the LP with the infamous liner notes)

Bob Dylan (only have the stereo LP)

Times They Are A Changin'- (just stereo LP)

After that, I'm not sure. It'll probably take me a couple of years just to get the above list.




I can't see myself buying something like Love and Theft again after getting the CD not that long ago.

I don't have a SACD player, otherwise, I'd have bought Blonde on blonde on that format.