Bob Dylan – Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks (2 Nov 2018)*

I just picked up the Test Pressing and it sounds SO good. This version of the album may be my favorite.

So now, if I have the MoFi LP, More Blood 2LP, Test Pressing LP, Side Tracks and Bootleg Series 1-3, where is the overlap?

 

Simply put, there is no overlap - the mixes are different.

 

Yeah. I’m getting that.

 

That's exactly what my understanding is in this matter. It's only on some of the many different vinyl pressings of Blonde On Blonde.

 

I hope no one minds this question.

I am considering getting the vinyl of this, and see both a US and Europe version listed at Discogs. Is there a discussion of any differences between the two in the 451 pages of this thread?

Thanks for any help.

Cheers
Brian

 

Was the vinyl was mastered for vinyl? Or AAA?

I have the CD box set but I'm curious about the vinyl. If it's got great sound then I'll pick it up.

Any votes?

 

Here's a slightly adapted answer I wrote for someone on ER asking about the different versions of Idiot Wind.

Test pressing, 1974 (and identical RSD release, 2019): produced versions of all tracks from New York. Some reverb - nothing like the flat recordings that would be issued on MBMT. Idiot Wind is the "spooky organ" NY cut. Unofficially released until April 2019 - widely bootlegged until then (Blood On The Tapes, NY Sessions, etc: sometimes with a skip on the first note). Includes vocal punch-in from the take that would be later released on BS 1-3 ("You didn't trust me....autumn"). To my ears, the vinyl release is exactly the same as the bootleg I've been listening to all these years.

Album, 1975: half New York and half Minnesota takes. Even the NY recordings now sound less raw, and the speed is different.

Biograph, 1985: test pressing version of You're A Big Girl Now, but nothing like as pleasing in terms of the mix - check out the organ break.

Biograph: Up To Me. Never heard before. I think it's the best take by miles; and with that lovely reverb that MBMT took off.

BS 1-3, 1991: Non-test pressing versions (the beginning of a long road: the Bootleg Series wilfully moving away from the recordings that have already seen the light of day) of Tangled Up In Blue, Idiot Wind and If You See Her, Say Hello. For what it's worth, I think that all of these takes are superior to the test pressing versions; especially IYSHSH. The take of Idiot Wind is incorrectly described as the "spooky organ" cut in liner notes - they probably changed it after the notes were written. This is, in fact, the complete NY take 6 with a bit of reverb and NO organ. A much more direct vocal approach than even the test pressing version. Compare the lack of vocal swaying around the notes in the words "idiot wind".

BS1-3: Call Letter Blues. Previously unreleased. Ditto lovely reverb. Weirdly, this take on MBMT still has a bit of a delay on it, unlike almost everything else on that box set.

Jerry Maguire soundtrack/The Best of Bob Dylan: early take of Shelter From The Storm; but, as we now know from MBMT, the piano was simply mixed out.

MBMT, 2018: every version, without reverb - "you're in the room!" - but new organ overdub on famed test pressing cut of Idiot Wind (still unavailable at this point); more bafflingly, someone read up on this vocal punch-in business, misunderstood it and managed to insert the lines taken out of the test pressing version and put them into the BS 1-3 take. So these two takes now have each other's "you didn't trust me for a minute babe/I'd never known the spring to turn so quickly into autumn" lines. No one noticed, apart from every angry Dylan fan in the world, after it was released. Notebooks, yeah: but this really grated. This box is the best thing to own if you want to be a fly on the wall for the entire album sessions. If you want a NY version of BOTT that actually sounds like an album, head straight for the test pressing/RSD release.

RSD, 2019: test pressing duplicate. Back to where we came in.

What I think they should have done was to release the test pressing instead of the single disc version of MBMT. Then we'd have everything, we all would have spent more money back in November and some of us wouldn't feel conned now. The Idiot Wind mess is, frankly, unforgivable.

So, strictly speaking, there is still one version of IW unreleased: until someone with the time, editing skills and software (anyone? Please be my guest. Someone surely has to) takes the test pressing take from MBMT, snips the vocal punch-in and replaces it with the lines mistakenly issued on the MBMT version of the BS 1-3 version (Take 6: the punch-in is at 4:40). But then you've still got the organ problem...oh, I give up.

 

Great summary - thank you ... and this sentence really nails it for me.!

 

"Test pressing, 1974 (and identical RSD release, 2019): produced versions of all tracks from New York" - sorry, that should read "produced versions of tracks, all from New York". There are ten songs on the test pressing.

 

One more...

The MBMT versions of Tangled Up In Blue are similar to the Idiot Wind(s), in that the edit piece taken from the BS 1-3 take (for use on the test pressing version) remains in the 'test pressing' take, while the BS 1-3 take now has a 'repair' from one of the other takes (in fact, the 'organ' take but with the organ mixed out, and the line digitally 'stretched' to fit).

And they had already released the BS 1-3 versions of Idiot and Tangled (BS 1-3 is now the only place to hear the true unedited versions of these takes), so these mistakes are unforgivable.

 

And don't forget that little piece of tape that sits appended to the start of a reel in the vault with the "roadside place" line from the test pressing version of "TUIB" ... forever unreleased.

 

I just received this set in the mail from a lovely forum member, and I'm really liking it! This is my 2nd favorite Dylan album, and hearing the stripped versions of the tracks is a real treat. It is my opinion that the test pressing takes are superior to the main album versions. I'm glad we finally have them all. I'm looking forward to digging in to the books included.

 

I'm still in mourning......

 

In the book 'A simple twist of fate' by Gill and Odegard (p 172) one critic from 1975, Noe Goldwasser is quoted:
'' I'm glad he coaxed this vision into shape (Refering to the released BOTT). I only hope those excised New York Sessions don't end up on some future repackaging scheme or another out-takes collection''. I wonder if he ever got to review MBMT or even Bootleg Series 1-3?

 

I’m heading out shortly to tour the old Sound 80 studio. I’ll keep an eye out for the missing outtakes when I’m there.

 

Great - let us know if you find ‘em!

 

Old control room, second drawer down in the filing cabinet on the left hand side. The box inside is labelled, "Outtakes - Do Not Use".

 

Because people keep asking how to recreate the RSD Test Pressing LP using the MBMT Deluxe box, and other people keep saying you can’t, I made a playlist with each Test Pressing track followed by the corresponding original “source” track from MBMT, and have been listening to it on and off for a couple of weeks.

Your summary of the difference is absolutely dead on. The mixes are a radical contrast in tone, vibe, clarity, use of reverb, wet vs. dry, and swirling unity vs. pinpoint spotlighting. Sometimes the MBMT versions seem to be winning but on balance the Test Pressing is a work of art while the MBMT is a somewhat overexposed forensic document. The Test Pressing is kinda stoned at 3 a.m. and the MBMT is sober as a judge under bright fluorescent lights at high noon.

 

...and there is no spooky organ on the MBMT "Idiot Wind"

 

There they are, under the vintage couch in the control room!

Oh, wait. It’s just some Suicide Commandos tapes.

 

Right next to the long-lost top-secret Prince/Replacements collaboration tapes Bob produced during an 80’s blackout.

 

Stranger things have happened. If dogs run free, why can't we...

 

Session reels: Did you look in the janitor's closet?

So...what did you see/hear, my blue-eyed son? (Wrong era, I know.) Give us a Rundown! (Wrong studio, I know.) Did they play any music while you were there?

 

Just picked up a brand new, still-sealed copy of the box set for $63, from a *used* CD shop no less! I don't know what the set has been selling for normally, but I assume I got a pretty good deal.

 

$103 on Amazon right now.
Nicely done.