Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes - where we're at currently...

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GetRhythm, Apr 11, 2014.

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  1. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I don't "know" for sure, but I would imagine that they have, at minimum, the original reels used as sources for the "Robertson-Fraboni" compilation, as well as whatever Neil Young now has in his own archive. Not to mention the isolated tracks like Minstrel Boy that crop up every once in awhile.
     
  2. GetRhythm

    GetRhythm Senior Member Thread Starter

    Seems to me those reels would have been given back to Garth after they were transferred over, insofar as Columbia had no claim to ownership of them. Moreover, they actually didn't have all the original reels available at that time, as Robbie has stated and as was made clear during the course of this thread.

    And I see no reason to assume they would have the Basement Safety either - that again was created not at the behest of the record label, but rather at Albert Grossman's direction. No part of the Basement Safety was in fact sourced for the original LP.
     
  3. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Columbia didn't own the master tapes, that's true, but since all of Dylan's master recordings in the company's vault reverted back to Bob after his new contract with them in 1974 (following the Asylum/Geffen fiasco) it seems to me that Bob would have allowed the "Basements" (which he must have had, at the least, co-ownership of, with Garth or the other Band members) to be archived with the rest of his recordings in the CBS tape vaults.

    Do you think they had to ask Garth's permission to put Mighty Quinn on Biograph? Or did they already have it in their tape library?

    EDIT: I realize you're talking about the original stereo reels, whereas the Robertson-Fraboni reels, of which Quinn was a part, are folds.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2014
  4. GetRhythm

    GetRhythm Senior Member Thread Starter

    I don't see how you could define the original basement reels as being Dylan "master recordings" as they were originally just work tapes that had nothing whatsoever to do with the recording of a formal album. And after they got done producing the 1975 LP, I don't think anyone would have cared enough about the bulk of what remained on the original reels to ensure they were preserved in any kind of formal fashion. Dylan himself certainly hardly gave a crap about them.

    From the sound of the Biograph and first Bootleg Series release basement track appearances, it seems like they just scrounged up whatever second-hand source for them they could find at the time. They certainly weren't sourced from the original reels - as the later boots proved.
     
  5. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Originally they were "just work tapes" but once Columbia issued the album in '75, they became "masters," IMO. Isn't it also possible that the stereo tapes used for the Genuine Basement Tapes series came into circulation after being scrounged up in the aftermath of the wildly successful Biograph set? Perhaps they did escape from the CBS vaults.

    EDIT: And then the "roadie" cassettes appeared just before Bootleg Series 1-3?

    RE-EDIT: Oops, the "roadie reels" were '86, and the cassettes were '91, sorry.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2014
  6. GetRhythm

    GetRhythm Senior Member Thread Starter

    The 1986 "Band Roadie Reels" were actually reels of 1/4" tape that may have been a portion of the original basement reels. Since they were given to and/or pilfered by a roadie during the 1974 Dylan/Band tour, one would assume that individual might have gained access to Garth's trunk somehow. In any case, I don't think they had anything to do with what may or may not have been in Columbia's possession at the time.

    The appearance of the 1991 cassettes did seem to time out concurrent with the first Bootleg Series release. But if Columbia did have the original reels, then why don't "I Shall Be Released" and "Santa Fe" sound better on that set? Anyways, I sure wish someone with actual insider knowledge on this would set the record straight once and for all.
     
  7. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Yes, Mighty Quinn, I Shall Be Released, and Santa Fe did appear on those in poor quality mono, but look what did with Mixed Up Confusion on Biograph -- either many of the tapes were misfiled or mislabeled, or else they put some unqualified people in charge of the reissue process.
     
  8. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Dylan's people have always been cagey about what they do and do not have. Look what happened with Another Self Portrait -- how long were they sitting on all those unreleased tapes, none of which were ever used for Biograph or the earlier Bootleg Series releases?

    We'd all like to know how many of the original, stereo basement reels they have on tap for us, but everyone "in the know" seems to have sworn an oath of silence.
     
  9. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Here are a few examples of Basement tracks that I wouldn't mind Sony releasing as downloads only -- unless they have tapes that sound a lot better than the ones now in circulation:

    Lock Your Door
    Baby Won't You Be My Baby
    Try Me Little Girl
    I Can't Make It Alone
    Down On Me
    I'm Alright
    Gonna Get You Now
    The Spanish Song
    Nine Hundred Miles
     
  10. hollowhorn

    hollowhorn In Memoriam In Memoriam

    Location:
    Isle of Asda
    Is it not the case that only the recent 'discovery' of this material prompted the release of ASP?
     
  11. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Although they claimed to have "discovered" the tapes recently, I personally believe that Sony recovered the tapes from that Nashville storage locker years ago, and have been sitting on them ever since.
     
  12. Toby

    Toby Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Texas
    Any inside information suggesting this, or is it just conjecture?
     
  13. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Over the past several years, without any real explanation, Sony has released some outtakes from Nashville Skyline as individual tracks, in addition to the motherlode of unreleased 1969-70 tracks on Another Self Portrait. None of these ever appeared on Biograph or Bootleg Series 1-3, so my theory is that all this material was part of the Nashville storage locker of tapes that were up for auction in 2007, and may have been reclaimed by Dylan or Sony.

    Some of the details here:
    http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f90/bob-dylan-excerpts-from-nashville-skyline-tape-79415.html
     
  14. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    The tapes actually surfaced in the early 1990s - more info here:
    http://books.google.com/books?id=kO...epage&q=nashville sony tapes goldmine&f=false
     
  15. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
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  16. wdp33

    wdp33 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NH
    Does anyone know what this is?

    If I can read the fine print, it's latest bootleg series -- 138 songs. Samples sound good to me.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2014
  17. OhNotHimAgain

    OhNotHimAgain Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
  18. Moth

    Moth fluttering by

    Location:
    UCI
    I am weeping tears of joy.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2014
  19. OhNotHimAgain

    OhNotHimAgain Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    This is No.2 only to The Beatles in Mono for me in terms of an archival release. And out of nowhere. WOW.
     
  20. fallbreaks

    fallbreaks Forum Resident

    Holy Moly! Six discs! Stereo! Lots of new songs, including some audio samples! They say the track listing is mostly chronological based on Garth Hudson's numbering system.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2014
  21. wdp33

    wdp33 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NH
    From Amazon:

    The definitive chronicle of Dylan's legendary 1967 sessions with The Band
    Historic 6-disc set includes 138 tracks
    Compiled from meticulously restored original tapes
    Exclusive 120 page deluxe-bound book containing rare and unseen photographs and memorabilia
    Extensive liner notes

    Compiled from meticulously restored original tapes many found only recently this historic six-disc set is the definitive chronicle of the artist's legendary 1967 recording sessions with members of his touring ensemble who would later achieve their own fame as The Band.

    Among Bob Dylan's many cultural milestones, the legendary Basement Tapes have long fascinated and enticed successive generations of musicians, fans and cultural critics alike. Having transformed music and culture during the early 1960s, Dylan reached unparalleled heights across 1965 and 1966 through the release of three historic albums, the groundbreaking watershed single "Like A Rolling Stone," a controversial and legendary 'electric' performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and wildly polarizing tours of the United States, Europe and the UK. Dylan's mercurial rise and prodigious outpouring of work during that decade came to an abrupt halt in July 1966 when he was reported to have been in a serious motorcycle accident.

    Recovering from his injuries and away from the public eye for the first time in years, Dylan ensconced himself, along with Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson and, later, Levon Helm, in the basement of a small house, dubbed "Big Pink" by the group, in West Saugerties, New York. This collective recorded more than a hundred songs over the next several months including traditional covers, wry and humorous ditties, off-the cuff performances and, most important, dozens of newly-written Bob Dylan songs, including future classics "I Shall Be Released," "The Mighty Quinn," "This Wheel's On Fire" and "You Ain't Going Nowhere."

    When rumors and rare acetates of some of these recordings began surfacing, it created a curiosity strong enough to fuel an entirely new segment of the music business: the bootleg record. In 1969, an album mysteriously titled Great White Wonder began showing up in record shops around the country, and Dylan's music from the summer of 1967 began seeping into the fabric of popular culture, penetrating the souls of music lovers everywhere. With each passing year, more and more fans sought out this rare contraband, desperate to hear this new music from the legendary Bob Dylan.

    The actual recordings, however, remained commercially unavailable until 1975, when Columbia Records released a scant 16 of them on The Basement Tapes album (that album also included eight new songs by The Band, without Dylan).

    A critical and popular success, The Basement Tapes went Top 10 in the US and UK.

    Over the years, the songs on The Basement Tapes have haunted and perplexed fans, with the recordings themselves representing a Holy Grail for Dylanologists. What's on the rest of those reels?

    The Basement Tapes Complete brings together, for the first time ever, every salvageable recording from the tapes including recently discovered early gems recorded in the "Red Room" of Dylan's home in upstate New York. Garth Hudson worked closely with Canadian music archivist and producer Jan Haust to restore the deteriorating tapes to pristine sound, with much of this music preserved digitally for the first time.

    The decision was made to present The Basement Tapes Complete as intact as possible. Also, unlike the official 1975 release, these performances are presented as close as possible to the way they were originally recorded and sounded back in the summer of 1967. The tracks on The Basement Tapes Complete run in mostly chronological order based on Garth Hudson's numbering system.
     
  22. dee

    dee Senior Member

    Location:
    ft. lauderdale, fl
    Lo and Behold!!!!
     
    Ender, linclink, Natural E and 18 others like this.
  23. TeddyB

    TeddyB Senior Member

    Location:
    Hollywoodland
    Wonderful.
     
  24. Buddhahat

    Buddhahat Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Wow! Presumably the complete version won't be available on vinyl?
     
  25. crimpies

    crimpies Forum Resident

    Just amazing
     
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