Bob Dylan "The Bootleg Series" – overview and possible future projects

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by My Echo My Shadow And Me, Jun 24, 2017.

  1. Mbd77

    Mbd77 Collect ‘Em All!

    Location:
    London
    Thanks. That matches with my information, though I got it from a different source. :shh:
     
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  2. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    Thanks for that -- so I wasn't completely crazy, but it seems they really didn't finish prepping it until 1985. Maybe they had "frozen" the track selection earlier -- otherwise why leave out a couple of Infidels tracks? Love the vintage ad page too -- or was that the actual page from The Telegraph? The only artifact I have from the era is the Rolling Stone article touting Biograph's illicit cousin, Ten Of Swords, and Columbia's none-too-pleased response to it. And to think I saw one of those boxes, right there at my local purveyor of European import LPs, and balked at the price. Granted, a couple hundred dollars WAS outrageous to a 17-year-old in 1986 ... but if I had only known ...
     
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  3. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    Not quite - If You Gotta Go was dropped and the Forever Young demo added.
     
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  4. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    Well, I scanned it from The Telegraph article. It seems to be a contemporaneous advertising flyer which at some point has been folded. I can't say I remember it even though I should. The "Details overleaf... ------>" may never be revealed! It's probably unlikely, but given that there are no catalogue numbers or record company details or logos or release dates on it I wonder if it was actually an in-house flyer with this memo on the other side:-

    [​IMG]



    "Medicine Sunday" was also on the original track list, I think.
     
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  5. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    There was this promotional poster, too:-

    [​IMG]


    Bob himself went into overdrive to promote it:-

    "I probably would've put different things on it that haven't been heard before, but I didn't pick the material. I didn't put it together and I haven't been very excited about this thing. All it is, really, is repackaging, and it'll just cost a lot of money."

    :laugh::laugh::laugh:
    #
     
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  6. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    No one promotes Dylan like Dylan.
     
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  7. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    Interesting again, because according to Heylin, the "Forever Young" demo was the only one of the 18 bonus tracks that hadn't been booted at the time.
     
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  8. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    Well, CBS should know that their goal as laid out in the Memorandum was spot on -- I used Biograph as a template for what albums to get next for a couple of years...
     
  9. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    They could have included, "Also, if we re-release it in different sized boxes over the next 30 years some idiot with more money than sense called @Percy Song will buy every iteration of it. Then we'll delete it but put the rarities on a compilation called "Sidetracks". Which he'll also buy." o_O
     
  10. slane

    slane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Merrie England
    Didn't all the rare tracks get booted before the release courtesy of the 'advance tape' anyway? Obviously, Forever Young wasn't on that tape, but If You Gotta Go was.

    Or did the 'advance tape' only get booted after the official release?
     
  11. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    "Heart of Mine" had circulated on an audience tape, but the New Orleans '81 soundboard didn't circulate until after the release of "Dead Man, Dead Man" in 1989. "Isis" was on the "4 songs" EP, but "Romance in Durango" was unbooted (apart from appearing in the R&C film - assuming those versions are the same - I can't recall off the top of my head). I don't believe that the Belfast "I Don't Believe You" was booted (although obviously the Manchester one had been). I also don't remember whether the "VOJ" on "Biograph" was part of the Gelston Acetates or not.
     
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  12. TeddyB

    TeddyB Senior Member

    Location:
    Hollywoodland
    Was the studio version of Abandoned Love bootlegged beforehand?
     
  13. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    Working strictly from memory here, but was it on the same vinyl EP that had "Up To Me"?
     
  14. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    i love the bootleg series.
    what i want to see is some decent dvd/bluray concerts. at the very least hard rain could get an expanded version released, no matter what anyone says, i think it was great.
     
  15. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    also dvd/bluray footage of a complete 66 show
     
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  16. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Outstanding and useful and helpful and downright handy post, thank you.

    I've started collecting the vinyl editions of the Bootleg Series and find I may have waited too long on a couple of them. If anyone has shopping tips you are invited to PM me.
     
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  17. My Echo My Shadow And Me

    My Echo My Shadow And Me Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Germany
    UPDATE:

    "The Bootleg Series" and additional official retrospective releases - overview and possible future projects

    I. Already released

    Bootleg Series:

    1991 - The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
    1998 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (Manchester 1966)
    2002 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
    2004 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
    2005 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home - The Soundtrack
    2008 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs - Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006
    2010 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos - 1962–1964
    2013 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait 1969–1971 (including Isle Of Wight 1969)
    2014 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes
    2015 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965-1966
    2017 - The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979-1981

    Additional retrospective releases:
    2005 - Live At The Gaslight 1962
    2005 - Live At Carnegie Hall 1963
    2010 - In Concert: Brandeis University 1963
    2012 - The 50th Anniversary Collection 1962 (4 CD-Rs)
    2013 - The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963 (6 LPs)
    2014 - The 50th Anniversary Collection 1964 (9 LPs)
    2015 - The Basement Tape (original mono mix of 1968 publishing demo) (LP)
    2015 - The 50th Anniversary Collection 1965 (download of 14 CDs worth of material)
    2016 - The 1966 Live Recordings (+ separate releases of London May 26 and Sydney)

    Films:
    2005 - No Direction Home (covering 1941-1966)
    2007 - The Other Side Of The Mirror - Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965
    2007 - Don’t Look Back (covering UK Tour 1965)
    2017 - Trouble No More (Live 1980 + bonus material)

    II. Possible future projects

    Planned for 2018 (according to "a source" – Jeff Rosen? – speaking to "Rolling Stone" magazine):

    - Rolling Thunder Review documentary
    - Blood On The Tracks sessions (hopefully including the unknown and uncirculating solo version of the album as previously mentioned by "the source")
    - Desire sessions

    Mentioned by "a source" in interviews with "Rolling Stone" magazine:
    - pre-Columbia coffeehouse tapes
    - Hard Rain and other TV specials
    - 1978 tour
    - Infidels sessions
    - Sydney 1986 ("Hard To Handle" concerts)
    - Oh Mercy sessions [note: This could include the very early "Emlah Court" demo sessions, e.g. the piano demo of God Knows.]
    - Supper Club CD/DVD [note: I think that this should stay in the vaults. Excellent quality soundboard tapes of all four shows are already circulating and are nice to have but the preceding electric shows in the US in Sep./Oct. 1993 were much, much better concerts: Jones Beach first night, Holmdel, Hollywood Bowl – some of Dylan’s best shows.]
    - "some sort of examination of the Never Ending Tour [1988-present]"*

    ---

    *Here are some shows that I consider the best of the best from that era:

    - Berkeley 1988
    - Brussels 1989
    - New York City October 10, 1989
    - Paris January 30, 1990
    - Dunkerque 1992
    - Holmdel 1993
    - Dresden 1994
    - Dayton 1999
    - Cologne 2000
    - Berlin 2003
    - Kalamazoo 2008
    - Tampa 2010
    - Beijing 2011
    - Brussels 2013
    - Mainz 2015
    - Frankfurt 2017

    ---

    III. My personal suggestions

    Studio/demo tapes:

    1982–1987 Infidels/Empire Burlesque/Knocked Out Loaded/Hearts Of Fire/Down In The Groove sessions
    1982 Bob Dylan/Clyde King duets album ("Trouble No More" shows just how beautiful their voices sound together.)
    1990 Under The Red Sky (rough mix version: live in the studio, no "superstar" overdubs, diff. vocals/lyrics, fantastic album, needs to be made available to the public)
    1992 unreleased album (recorded in Chicago, produced by David Bromberg)
    2008 My Own Love Song soundtrack (18 instrumentals)

    also:
    Shake Sugaree (TOOM outtake, Teatro, Oxnard 1996 or Criteria, Miami 1997) [planned for BS 8: TTS, not released]
    God Knows (piano demo, presumably from 1989 Emlah Court sessions) [planned for BS 8: TTS, not released]
    Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (NYC 2004, United We Swing outtake)

    In concert:
    1974 A re-examination of the board tapes from New York/Seattle/Oakland/Los Angeles, mixed to better match the sound as heard in the arenas.
    1976-05-16 Fort Worth
    1976-05-23 Fort Collins
    1978-07-15 Blackbushe (or one of the Paris shows or one of the late 1978 US shows)
    1984-07-07 London [or Brussels 06/07 (incl. Tangled Up In Blue – "forbidden zone"-version), Rome 06/21, Barcelona 06/28]
    1987 entire tour with the Grateful Dead (12 CDs) [Mixed to match the sound as heard in the stadiums. The circulating, unmixed soundboard tapes (most of which also run too fast) are a gross misrepresentation of the shows.]
    1987 entire "Temples In Flames" tour (33 CDs)

    note:
    "The source" mentioned that in some cases the audience tapes sound better than the board tapes captured by Dylan's crew (esp. "up until the mid-2000's"), so I think they should merge the board tapes with the best audience tapes, to create a fuller, more realistic soundscape. A fan-made example of this practice would be the Rothbury 2009 soundboard/audience "matrix" (LosslessBob LB-7971) or the fan-made 3-source-merge of Jimi Hendrix's last regular show at Fehmarn/Germany 1970, which merges the official release of the show (on Dagger Records) with two audience tapes for a much better overall sound.

    Reconstruction of "lost" albums that were due for release, but got cancelled or were replaced by reworked versions (These could be released as vinyl-only limited editions for Record Store Day.):
    1963 The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (original version, mono mix, including the tracks that were deleted from the regular version)
    1964 In Concert (cancelled album, mono mix)
    1974 Blood On The Tracks (original version from December 1974 test pressing)
    1987 Down In The Groove (original version from August 1987 master)

    Juvenilia [hopefully held by the Tulsa Archive]:
    1940s "Dictaphone" recordings of young Bobby Zimmerman singing songs like "Accentuate The Positive" (recorded by Dylan’s father) [probably lost]
    1956 The Jokers acetate (early Dylan band) [Bought by the Dylan organization from the estate of Larry Kegan, now probably in the Tulsa archive.]
    1950s rehearsal tapes of Dylan’s early bands recorded at the garage of the Zimmerman home at 2425 Seventh Avenue East, Hibbing, MN
    1958 John Bucklen tape
    1959 Dick Kangas tape
    1960 Karen Wallace tape (This should be released officially. The original tape has very good sound and over twenty songs, incl. early Dylan original "One-Eyed Jacks".) [Still owned by Karen Wallace?]

    Rumors:
    1977 "I'm Cold" demos (10–12 songs were written in 1977, one song supposedly called "I'm Cold", probably not recorded)
    1978 Street Legal piano demos
    1978 Spanish language versions of some Dylan originals

    Video:
    1956 The Jokers (early Dylan band) live on a talent show on KEYD-TV – Channel 9 – Minneapolis-St. Paul (broadcast live, probably not recorded) [Info comes from Howard Rutman.]
    1958 The Golden Chords (early Dylan band) live on WDSM-TV – Channel 6 – Superior/Duluth (broadcast live, probably not recorded) [Info comes from Monte Edwardson.]
    1958 The Satin Tones (early Dylan band) live on WDSM-TV – Channel 6 – Superior/Duluth (broadcast live, probably not recorded) [Info about this comes from Shelton. It is unclear if this might actually be The Golden Chords TV appearance.]
    1959 Elston Gunn & The Rock Boppers (another of Dylan’s Hibbing era bands) live on WTCN-TV – Channel 11 – Minneapolis-St. Paul (broadcast live, probably not recorded) [Info comes from John Bucklen.]
    1965–present – official promo films
    1962–present – TV/Internet broadcasts
    1966 Eat The Document (+ alternative D.A. Pennebaker cut)
    1974 (It seems no shows were filmed professionally.)
    1976 Hard Rain (Clearwater and Fort Collins versions)
    1978 Renaldo And Clara (filmed in 1975) [Note: They should include a documentary that outlines how this movie was based on 1945 French movie "The Children Of Paradise“.]
    1994-08-14 Saugerties, NY ("Woodstock '94")
    2002-07-18 concert for the film Masked & Anonymous, Stage 6, Ray-Art Studios, Canoga Park, CA
    2009 Vigilante Man (The People Speak outtake)
     
  18. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Terrific post, My Echo.
    Appreciate the research and effort you put it.

    Regarding III My Personal Suggestions, I can't agree with your choice of 1974 concerts. The 1974 tour is of interest from January 3 Chicago to January 12 Montreal before the Band settled into a bombastic routine with Levon Helm just pounding the hell out of Dylan's ballads as if they were rockers. After that all concerts are alike, except for Dylan's acoustic sets. The acoustic sets are consistently intense and arresting throughout the tour.

    Regarding 1978, there are residencies that would make interesting box-sets. The creative arc of the tour can be followed in collections of the residencies -- the wonderfully experimental arrangements and instrumentations of Osaka and Budokan, the reorganized setlists and refined arrangements in Australia, the in-the-groove "greatest hits" concerts from Los Angeles and London with all the crowd-pleasers, and the evolved concerts from Paris and Europe including Rotterdam and Goteborg leading up to the spectacular picnic at Blackbushe. Dylan was calm and in fine voice during these months. I can't fault a single show that I've heard.

    Fall 1978 tour of the USA is a different ball of fire. San Diego 1978 is where he had a born-again experience; that concert and the preceding night in Los Angeles are particularly interesting performances from the perspective of Dylan's singing. So is his appearance. The package should be heavily illustrated with photographs from the concert if it should ever be released.
     
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2018
  19. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client


    I still have unrealistic hope that "the source" will have a change of heart and give us the John Wesley Harding outtakes sooner or later (preferably sooner, while I can still remember who I am and what I had for breakfast). It's the elephant in the room which surely deserves wider exposure than being reserved for accredited academics who can travel to Tulsa. The outtakes may legally be public domain in Europe now but an official package, with accompanying copyrighted essays for example, would still be a bestseller.
     
  20. bobcat

    bobcat Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Although they may be public domain in Europe have they actually been accessed by anyone in order to make an unofficial CD?
     
  21. boe

    boe Forum Resident

    Location:
    western New York
    Totally agree that the early 1974 shows had a much different vibe than the tour as it progressed. I saw the tour early in Toronto and loved it. When the live album came out it was a different animal. You could practically hear the coke. Everything rushed and without much nuance. Even though I was relatively young and was thrilled to have seen Bob (he's still my favorite artist ever), I traded in the live set within a few months.
     
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  22. RockRoom

    RockRoom I Love My Dog

    Location:
    Upstate
    Just my .02. I have been hoping for the 74 tour to be put under the microscope for a while. I agree that the vibe changed dramatically in addition to the set lists becoming more static as the tour progressed into February.

    I think a retrospective of the tour would perhaps be the best way to go as far as a release to do away with repetition and to distill the tour to its most successful elements. There was/is a 3cd boot that circulates that does this pretty successfully. 1 disc first electric, 2nd disc acoustic, 3rd second electric...etc.

    I do think that the blame for the shift in energy cannot lay strictly at Levon's feet. Robertson also increased the aggressiveness of his playing and sometimes lacked dynamics. Dylan started to strain vocally and even in the acoustic sets he started to go 'over the top' and began to elasticize the melodies. I feel the sizes of the venues, the cocaine and the pressure of recording a live album all contributed to the change in musical attitude on the tour.

    I love the opening shows of the tour in Chicago, the Toronto performance and the Boston shows and listen to them the most. It's only a matter of time until the BS explores this period.

    What does everyone thing about including the Planet Waves sessions in a prospective 74 tour box? The album is kind of an anomaly as it really wouldn't fit anywhere else except with the tour era.
     
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  23. Toddarino

    Toddarino Total Hunk

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I know this is beating a dead horse but if we actually get BotT and Desire, this will be a great ****ing year. I hate to get excited but it’s hard not to.
     
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  24. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    Not yet...
     
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  25. bobcat

    bobcat Forum Resident

    Location:
    London, UK
    Sounds....ominous?...promising?...inevitable?...:)
     
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