Bob Dylan: "Trouble No More 1979 - 1981" - The Bootleg Series Vol. 13

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by DeeThomaz, Sep 24, 2015.

  1. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    Thank goodness the DVD is divided into chapters so that I don't ever have to experience the sermons again.

    I was mildly amused when Bob sang, "Don't want to judge nobody....." immediately after the "Gluttony" sermon ended. Only mildly, though. I mean, I don't go near junk food myself but I'm not going to sermonise to those who do.

    Unless you drop the litter from your KFCs and Double Cheeseburgers, Large Fries and Diet Cokes in the street..............!!!!

    :rant::rant::rant:
     
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  2. Crush87

    Crush87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Only listened to the first two discs so far. Watered-Down Love and In The Summertime are the standouts for me. Looking forward to getting into the studio stuff.
     
    rstamberg likes this.
  3. Mark Payne

    Mark Payne Forum Resident

    Dylan wanted Saved to be remixed, Jim Keltner thought the mix was too studio dull sounding, I agree, it should be remixed
     
  4. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Yeah, I don't see myself revisiting the sermons - ever.

    Now Bob's sermons on the other hand ... Something in me really enjoys the illogic of the "Three Ways God Moves Against a Nation" rap. There are three ways (attacking their economy, attacking their ecology, causing another nation to rise against them), in case the first two "don't work". Well, nobody's perfect.
     
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  5. Brian Doherty

    Brian Doherty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    I will never cease being annoyed that the compilers of this set censored all "gospel raps" and had I been savvy enough to check on that point before my day-one bd.com purchase, I might have seriously considered a cheaper means to hear this music.
     
  6. hyde park

    hyde park Forum Resident

    Location:
    IL, USA

    Finally gotten around to listen to this show in full - indeed it does sound great - loud. Great playing around. Yeah - a full complete show would have been great - but happy to have this.

    When the price on other sites (w/o this show) started to drop, I started to kick myself. Glad I did grab the set with this show, though.

    I would be fine if they issue San Francisco or Santa Monica at some point as a stand alone, though.
     
  7. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun

    For a while I felt this set was the best archive-release this yeat. Now I v just recieved my copy ofBear Familys new mammoth-release the 20 cd Louisiana Hayride aa it really happened. that really is the top of the cream.
    Featuring among others Hank Williams,Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, George Jones and many,many others this release might be one of the most important archivereleases ever. It s like a timecapsule to the fifties and this groundbreakin radioshow. One that Bob Dylan obviously listened to. There is a thread here dealing with this extraordinary release. I can t recomend it enough for anyone interested in american roots music. It s one expensive item but worth it s weight in gold. And it is one heavy box including a 250 page hardcover box filled with facts and unique pictures.
    A bit of thread I know but be sure to check this one out
    Various At The Louisiana Hayride Tonight | Bear Family Records
     
  8. Dwight Fry

    Dwight Fry Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gulfport, Florida
    Has anybody yet managed to come up with a definitive list of dates for the material on the BS13 DVD?

    Conversely, are any of these performances proving lto be hybrids, spliced from multiplle shows?
     
    Hep Alien likes this.
  9. Tom Schreck

    Tom Schreck Forum Resident

    Not that I know of; I'm interested in those questions myself!
     
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  10. subtr

    subtr Forum Resident

    Me three, and if the dates listed for the Toronto shows on discs 5 and 6 are actually correct, as I spotted an anomaly a few pages ago on this thread. Or, I'm totally wrong, which wouldn't be the first time.
     
    Dwight Fry likes this.
  11. soundQman

    soundQman Senior Member

    Location:
    Arlington, VA, USA
    Yes but as the king of brilliant lyrics, we've come to expect more every time, perhaps unfairly. He is a mere mortal after all, and sometimes inconsistent in his greatness.
     
  12. soundQman

    soundQman Senior Member

    Location:
    Arlington, VA, USA
    I thought the sermon performances by Michael Shannon were pretty good, as moralistic fare goes. I didn't much care for the "demon drink" one on temperance, though. That was too clichéd, IMO.
     
  13. jpmosu

    jpmosu a.k.a. Mr. Jones

    Location:
    Ohio, USA
    Re: the film...

    Initially, I assumed the actor would merely recite Dylan's own sermons-from-the-stage. Which, for me, would have made the end product a lot more interesting.
     
  14. lschwart

    lschwart Senior Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    I thought the sermons in the film were very well-composed as genre exercises, and I think Shannon's performance of them is pretty spectacular (if only there were some narrative context to put them in). What they're really doing here is a bit of a mystery to me, however. I don't really see what they have to do with the music and performances on the box--and Dylan's own stage sermonizing really has nothing to do with the classic form that the film sermons imitate.

    I miss having the stage sermons as a matter of history (I would have liked at least a selection or at least one show completely intact--including the opening gospel set), but I can't say I miss them as a matter of art. I have to say that I just don't think they were very good as verbal performances, fascinating as they sometimes are as a window into Dylan's thoughts and feelings at the time--or as a weapon in his struggles with the audience at some shows. They are part of the picture, but they are not in any way equivalent to the songs as works of art/performance art. Not even in the same ballpark as a matter of artistic mastery and achievement.

    L.
     
  15. redsock

    redsock Writer, reader, grouch.

    If Sony was cool with including that radio ad blasting Dylan's show as no better (for some fans) than going to church, I don't think some of his raps telling those college kids which end is up or him battling with the Tempe audience and telling them to go see Kiss (on their way to eternal hellfire) would have seemed out of place. At the very least, they could have given us some evidence of the tension between Dylan and the critical members of the audiences. They didn't have to include only his talk of the End Times. But the more I think about it, the final decision on omitting the raps must have come from Dylan himself. His preaching to the crowds is mentioned several times in the essays/notes, so it's not like they want us to believe they never existed.

    Also: While I understand why they included the 1981 show, I think I would have been happier if they had stuck with the gospel-only tours and sessions (and late 1980!). Those two discs could have included more session outtakes or live cuts, with the box being a strict "gospel-only" time capsule. There are some true gems in the Earl's Court show - his higher and somewhat pinched vocals on I Believe In You, an extremely tender Girl From The North Country, and some wild phrasing on Mr. Tambourine Man - but I don't think I like it enough to throw the whole thing on very often.
     
  16. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Sony might have worried about people complaining that they wanted more unheard music from the era on the deluxe box CDs rather than hear the sermons and losing potential sales. Including the sermons on the CDs would have made less room for music. Using an actor to retell the sermons strikes me as weird, but that they included them at all shows that Sony is, at least in part, including and bringing some attention to that aspect of the live performances and not avoiding them altogether. It might have been that Dylan didn't want to associate himself directly with certain theological issues that he may have gravitated from in the 30 years since the concerts.
     
    Hep Alien likes this.
  17. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    I may be misunderstanding your post here, but the point is that the actor is not retelling the sermons. It would be more understandable (but probably even more frustrating) if he were. As Louis says, above:-

    We are led to believe that the inclusion of the DVD sermons was Bob's idea which, for me, only proves that none of us, genius or otherwise, are infallible.
     
  18. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    Including complete transcriptions of some of the more interesting/less offensive sermons/raps would have been a much better alternative...
     
  19. subtr

    subtr Forum Resident

    @RayS , I can't find the post now, but a while ago you put up a youtube link to the Sensational Nightingales performing 'It's Gonna Rain' that, of course, the backing singers et al performed extensively on the 1979 tours onwards. That particular recording has not left my head, and has been constantly played by me since you posted it.

    I never knew about this group despite knowing of and enjoying a few others that seem to be mentioned in the same kinds of places. It appears that their early stuff is not easy to find (if anyone knows different, please send info my way), but they are excellent and I could definitely do with hearing more from their output up to the 1980s or so, but ideally the earlier stuff.

    Here it is again, for anyone who didn't hear it first time round. Why they didn't redo the take without that weird first drum beat, who knows, but it really has got to me otherwise!

     
    RayS likes this.
  20. rstamberg

    rstamberg Senior Member

    Location:
    Riverside, CT
    Sony’s exclusive LIVE IN SAN DIEGO 2-CD set is essential if you’re into TROUBLE NO MORE.
     
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  21. The whole thing with the sermons reminded me a bit of watching Renaldo and Clara, in the sense that you have these vignettes that elicit a WTH? reaction interspersed with live performances. Not saying they’re structured the same way or related at all, but the experience watching was similar for me. And, no, I’m not actually sure what to make of that experience, in either case.
     
  22. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    The whole sermons part of the DVD was bizarre enough to where it had to be Bob’s idea haha.
     
    bobcat likes this.
  23. Crush87

    Crush87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I obviously am not up to date on the information, forgive me - are the Toronto discs multi tracked? They sound way better to me than the misc live Discs 1 and 2. I'm really enjoying this.
     
    poolie likes this.
  24. lschwart

    lschwart Senior Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    Yes.

    L.
     
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  25. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    Bear Family always makes the best archival box sets, but they virtually never get mentioned in top ten lists for box sets of the year in print or on-line media. That is because Bear Family does not give free copies to the writers so the writers refuse to mention them.
     

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