And as someone pointed out earlier, there's likely to be another big media push or two. When the other two versions hit stores and people can see and hear them, there will be another run on the big box. It will go on people's wish lists and spouses/children will buy them
IIRC there is some disagreement on the pot smoke. Dylan was more likely speedy than tripping, though (as I understand it).
Source? Bob Johnston said he was up for hours in the studio writing alone, but wasn't on anything. Grossman too...
I've forgotten who it was now, but at least one of the musicians had a story about smoking pot (at Bob's insistence, I think) in order to get into the spirit of Rainy Day Women #12 & #35 And not to get all "conspiracy theory" on this, but Grossman and Johnston might have various reasons to want to downplay any illicit drug use in the studio. As for Dylan - how would Johnston know whether Dylan was on speed or not? I thought it was commonly accepted that Bob was doing a fair amount of speed during this period (and in any case my point was that if he was on anything, it was more likely speed than acid, not that I knew for sure he was on speed).
I did not tell my wife I bought the big box. If she gives me one for Christmas, I will (of course) feign surprise and immense pleasure, being a polite guy. But I dare not tell her not to get me one, cause I already got it.
Demos are just about my favorite form of recording. The simplest possible arrangements and nearly all are intimate first takes
Yea, I was here full time for the first week or so, but it's going from the sublime to the ridiculous. Rinse and repeat. I'm ready for shipping notification posts already.
Having heard Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, and the "Royal Albert Hall" Concert all before getting Bringing It All Back Home, I was surprised by how poor I thought it was in comparison. Outlaw Blues is an alright song but On The Road Again is totally forgettable. Maggie's Farm is pretty limp too. Maybe they should've gone for more than one take! Dylan was working at a breakneck speed, but I think he was lacking some discipline, at least as far as working with other musicians. Maybe recording his last album in one night got to his head. Side 2 is indeed brilliant. Two songs of just Dylan, and 2 where he has only one accompanist. And the lyrics are top-notch. Highway 61 is a whole different beast. Dylan got much better arrangements. I think he sings with the band much better. We can see just by looking at the tracklisting for this monster box that more time and effort was put into it. I do think From A Buick 6 is pretty weak, but it's also the shortest track on the album I think even reviews from people who get the big box will inspire others to go for it.
Apropos of nothing, I thought I'd post this track here Blind Faith (Clapton, Winwood, Baker) doing a pretty heavy instrumental working of One Of Us Must Know.
The live Newport version on BS7 is SO MUCH better! While On The Road Again (and From a Buick) seem as less stark, unique or 'important', I feel they are essential, in that they add a fun, silly feel to each album that helps to balance out some of the more serious songs.
To put things easier, BIABH is an electrified folk album, H61 is a rock album...also the songwriting and song structure is very different, it's easy to imagine all songs from Side A of BIABH played only voice and guitar, but you can't do it with songs like "Rolling Stone", "Thin Man" or "Queen Jane"...
I think BIABH is a hell of album, because of its 2 outrageous songs: SHB and MF, plus folk's good-bye note IAONBB. I think rock musicians back in the day would give an arm and a leg to have these tunes on their albums.
You recognize the brilliance of Side 2, but seem to really knock Side 1...any LP side that has She Belongs to Me and Love Minus Zero (in addition to Subterranean and Maggie) is certainly brilliant too. And I do disagree with your statement on Maggie's Farm. Though not my personal favorite, hardly "limp"... That album had 8 "all-time career masterpieces" out of 11 tracks, played by Dylan throughout his career and covered thousands of times by many artists. That ratio and impact alone is rarely, if ever, matched by anyone...hardly "poor by comparison. If you were running for President of the USA, and you said something like that about a Bob Dylan album, I am afraid your poll ratings would suffer and you might have to withdraw from the race. You might recover by asking Bob to appear with you on the campaign trail.
It's an unfair comparison. You didn't just hear the albums in the wrong order: you heard Bringing It All Back Home with full knowledge of what was going to happen next. For those of us who heard it at the time, before Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, Bringing It All Back Home was a revelation. For Dylan, it was a necessary step in the creative process that, as we now know, happened to produce Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde. This progression may seem inevitable to us now with the benefit of hindsight, but, at the time, Dylan himself couldn't have known what was coming. He was on uncharted waters.
Interesting topics being discussed here. I'd like to take a poll on the question of who heard these albums as they appeared back in 65 and 66. So hands up all those of you who are old enough to be able to claim that.
Old enough. Bought them all when they came out from Freewheelin' onward. Few can honestly say they bought the first album when first released, as it was not much of a seller. Virtually all copies were sold after the release of Freewheelin, even most of what people consider a first pressing ("Guaranteed High Fidelity"). But I do own a copy of the advanced promo of his first album that Dylan himself gave to one of my old friends (now deceased) who hosted him for several weeks at that time. Too bad he did not sign it!
Far from directionless, Another Side established the direction the rest of his songwriting career was to take.
wasn't around at the time of original release, but i remember getting both BIABH and H61R around the same time (waited on BOB), and feeling like they were both sides of the same coin--rough-hewn kid discovering a whole new way to write-songs (i hadn't heard any of the earlier records yet). BIABH sounds like the youthful exuberance of "wow, i LOVE playing with a BAND" for the first time, while H61R sounds more like "okay, i've got this new vehicle, let's put together something different to present with it". and for me, they both hold up remarkably well regardless of context--heck, they could have come out at any time, really. i'll say one thing about this bootleg series release--it's got me digging back again into this era, which is always a pleasure. 2-disc, 6-disc, 18-disc, whatever... smitquest
Although, the thing about Dylan is there was never one direction. And the word "direction", when considering Dylan, has nothing to do with up or down, forward or backward, or right or left. That is, his direction has never been framed within a three dimensional world. It has always been a mysterious direction. Virtually all of his songs, even those some do not like at all, ring with a mystery that no other artist even approximates. Always different, from the beginning right through to today.
I hadn't heard anything by Bob Dylan before 1985. How many fans today can say the same or possibly that they came to his music even later?
