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

Agreed. They should have put one on.

 

Yes, it seems strange to include the live shows but then to edit them.

 

If we don't get the JWH outtakes by the end of the year I'm planning to return my "Live In San Diego 1979" in protest. I imagine "Cold Turkey" is still slipping down the charts too, so there'll be even more justification for my proposed action...

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OK, please don't ask me to provide a citation in the next five minutes, but the "Hard To Handle" has been mentioned by that "anonymous Dylan source" as an item on a shortlist fur future DVD release. Other high-quality livve 1986 material has circulated from radio station discs that never seem to be offered for sale. (Discogs.com flat-out refuses to sell them.) For what it's worth, "Hard To Handle" was released on laser disc back in the day.

Along with the ten "Hard To Handle" tracks, the only other unique Dylan performances form a commercial VHS title yet to be released on DVD are "Hard Times" and "Pancho And Lefty" from a 1993 Willie Nelson concert video, "The Big Six-O".

Has anybody made any progress as far as determing the dates of the performances on the "Trouble No More" documentary DVD?

 

Received the 2cd set for Xmas.
Initial thoughts are how well recorded this set is, and how excellent the backing musicians are.
The clarity and dynamism of the performances are amazing.
Begs the question... How could these have been set aside and vaulted from official release for so long????
No matter. They are here now, and this set breathes additional life and enormous vitality into the recorded versions of these songs.
Like the 1975 Rolling Thunder set exceeding the versions on "Desire" these live trax do so on the albums released in that period.
An exceptional, rewarding set.
Keep them coming if you can Columbia Legacy,

 

Several songs on Slow Train Coming have always loosely reminded me of previous, more secular Dylan compositions—in terms of lyrical content, their structure, or their motifs. Out of interest, I’ve tried to think of potential pre-Gospel pairings for each song on the album. None of this is meant to demonstrate intent in any way--it’s just interesting to uncover potential conversations between songs and the different light these connections can throw on the respective compositions. Here’s what I’ve come up:

1. “Gotta Serve Somebody”: “Rainy Day Women.” On the surface, the songs resist comparison, yet . . .

Both serve as album openers.

Structurally, both are list songs.

Thematically, both speak to the human condition in terms of absolutes that are universal and inevitable—to suffer or to serve, respectively, expressed in terms of obligation (modal verbs “must” and “have to”).

In this light, a song that on the surface might seem to be about hedonism (“Rainy Day Women") might be read as a lament for the human condition, a paean to universal suffering (“stoning”)--everyone is fated to “pay a price.”

2. “Precious Angel”: “You Angel You.”

3. “I Believe in You”: “I Don’t Believe You”

4. “Slow Train”: “When the Ship Comes In” (and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”).

5. “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking”: “The Times They Are a Changing” or “Changing of the Guards.”

6. “Do Right to Me Baby”: “All I Wanna Do.”

7. “When You Gonna Wake Up”: “To Ramona” (it’s all just a dream . . .”). This one’s a stretch.

8. “Man Gave Names to All the Animals”” “Maggie's Farm”. To name is to (seemingly) gain control, but the unnamed at the end of the song cannot be so easily identified or mastered.

“Maggie's Farm” might also be seen as a song about control (or lack of it), but secular (rather than spiritual) enslavement.

Each song follows a similar structure, introducing a new character or animal in each verse. I wonder if the “tree by a lake” conjures the Garden of Eden into which the snake slips unseen and unnamed?

9. “When He Returns”: “Restless Farewell.” Dylan has composed countless “moving on” songs, frequently as album closers such as “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Where Are You Tonight?” During the “country” period, the emphasis was on (temporarily) staying put rather than moving on: “Tonight I’ll be Staying With You” and “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.” The Christian variant—again an album closer—shifts the end-focus for once from farewell to au-revoir, a returning rather than a going, but a return that is, I suppose, also the ultimate ending.

 

Something to think about...I know that people tend to think of "Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" as either a gospel song or Dylan's statement about the "gospel era", but it sounds as close to the "Blonde On Blonde" material as anything in Dylan's post-1960's catalog. However, I think I need to listen to BOB again to decide about the best pairing.

 

I’ve only listened to the two CD set in the car. Much of it sounds mono to me. Is that the case?

 

Yes, I think some or most of the cassette sources were mono board transfers. Still sound great, though, in my opinion.

 

Good connection.

Also thought I heard a connection between "Ain't Gonna Go To Hell For Anybody" and "Maggie's Farm."

Lyric similarities:

"I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm no more
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more.."

"I ain't gonna go to hell for anybody.
Not for father, not for mother, not for sister, not for brother, no way!"

In one song he rejects working for someone else, in the other he rejects taking responsibility for anyone else's choices or actions.

 

The Gospel According to Zimmerman: "Trouble No More" The Bootleg Series Vol. 13/1979-1981

Michael Fremer | Dec 28, 2017

The Gospel According to Zimmerman: "Trouble No More" The Bootleg Series Vol. 13/1979-1981

 

Paul Williams once pointed out that Bob liked to end albums with “Tonight” songs.

 

I'm late arriving to this party - it's what I do. I thought this release might be under the tree this year, but alas, the wife and I decided to take the year off from presents. Anyhoo, I picked up the two disc set today and I think it's surpassed my expectations. I got over feeling put off by the proselytizing a few years back (I wasn't at a double-digit age when Slow Train came out), and now I even embrace it, not necessarily from a religious standpoint but from the view that it's Bob being brutally honest about where he was at that time with no apologies. The essays in the booklet say it much better than I can. Anyway, I love Harrison's sermonizing so why not Bob? The The songs themselves come alive and are much more powerful than the studio releases, much like the Desire tracks are much meatier on Live 1975. And my strongest testament to how much I like this release: The female backing vocalists sound good to me. Amen.

 

Too hopeful to expect just the Toronto show on vinyl down the road? I suppose there's no precedent with this looking at the other bootleg series, I just don't have much of a desire to have the first two discs across 6 pieces of vinyl, but would spring for Toronto on its own being that it sounds so good

 

I am VERY late to the party. Santa was late this year and I finally got the deluxe version some five days ago.
I am enjoying the whole thing in little pieces. Tonight I've been playing record number 3. I am so excited about how many good songs there are. Can't wait to go forward?

That final Pressing On version is gorgeus indeed!

J

 

So I guess you have shipped this back now then....? .

 

Did you not get the email from Jeff Rosen on New Year's Eve?

 

I took another listen to the Toronto 1980 discs, and I wish the mix wasn't so top-heavy. Some of it is the EQ choices - it's a bright mix - but they also raised the guitars further up and pushed the bass down.

 

Just got the two-disc CD edition and man, this is my favourite Bootleg Series release since Vol. 5 (Rolling Thunder Revue). Really rollicking band. The groove on "When You Gonna Wake Up?" is just terrific.

 

My deluxe box is still in a B & N bag, unopened. I dunno, maybe it's a "waiting til the time is right" thing. I feel kinda strange about it. Years ago a forum friend made me a VHS copy of Toronto including the girls opening performance so I know goodness waits within. I'm like a groom still waiting at the altar. What can I say about Claudette? Sure was a great Everly Brothers track. Thanks Big O.

 

I just noticed that a free update of Heylin's book is available for Kindle users. I downloaded it, but I can't say that I have the time to do a lengthy A/B session. Anyone else get version 1.2 and notice anything of importance?

 

A stab in the dark: has he by any chance corrected the chronology, I wonder? He never did respond to my email regarding the 1978 soundchecks.

 

The "Slow Train" soundcheck is Nashville (12-2-78) in both the text and the chronology. "Help Me Understand" and "Do Right To Me Baby" are both credited to Greensboro (12-7-78). Still no love for Largo.

 

Sounds like "Box set syndrome"

As an aside, the highlight of both Pittsburgh shows I attended was the opening story about the old woman without the ticket. I must have been in a sentimental mood.......

 

She musta been waiting for the wrong train. Curtis rode the one that didn't need no ticket.

You were blessed by 2 shows