Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Volume 15 (Travelin’ Thru 1967-1969 (1st November 2019) *

Listening to the old boot of the Dylan/Cash sessions now. This is first time I’ve listened to them in years, and I can’t help but think they’re generally better than I remembered. Properly mixed, this tape could be more enjoyable than we’re expecting. Some of the takes have rough edges, sure, but they’re decent.

The session feels a lot more like a continuation of the Basement Tapes than I remember, and Dylan sounds, at times, like the same guy from the basement of Big Pink. Neat to compare the two versions of “Big River” too.

JWH outtakes are the main event for me though. But I’m prepared to be pleasantly surprised by the Dylan/Cash session.

 

There's a Vol 11 for sale on ebay for $6,900 if you're interested. Obviously a typo, I hope.

 

Trying to find a way to “like” this post 20 times............

 

Not going to happen, but he has played a number of JWH tracks in electric configurations live since.

 

This is what I'm thinking... the Dylan/Cash sessions will sound much better than we are used to... and while they won't be all we could image from some a legendary pairing.. will obviously work in the context of the other material... And I love this period of Dylan's career.

 

Prediction: people hear the Dylan/Cash stuff properly mixed and mastered and realize, hey it’s actually pretty good!
That’s the trouble with having a pre bias based on poorly mixed bootlegs.

 

I hate that simplified argument. Of course the music is top priority and the main point by a long way, but the packaging matters. The booklets give a lot of information and context through intelligent essays and session details. If the artwork doesn't matter for music, why did Bob Dylan make an effort making sure his classic albums look so cool and many had extensive sleeve notes?

 

I agree. The concept of aesthetics is largely lost in music in modern times, where everything, even the idea of music existing in physical form, is seen as irrelevant or somehow an indication of weakness or a fetish if you like to have something visually pleasing or physically tangible.
You lose something by following the modern collective train of thought, unfortunately. As uncomfortable as it may be for some, the experience of enjoying music isn’t just about the music. The truth is the music is just part of it and the sum of the whole is greater than the parts.

 

I am in agreement. Dylan seemed to understand that the physical media was an important part of how his music was viewed or absorbed. IMO it’s a change in the generations and education.
In 60’s Marshal McLuhan wrote The Media is the Message.
He said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself.

 

I bought albums decades ago based on the album cover alone. Pure Prairie League's first album is one example. I'd never heard of the group but I liked the cover when i saw it in a record store in 1972 and read the back of the cover and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because I still play that album. It's a Beautiful Day is another example of an album cover that caught my eye in 1969 that I bought knowing nothing about the band.

 

Sorry - came in a bit late there. This particular release was a complete surprise to me until the press announcement!

 

i have yet to read any of the essays in any of the boxes or BS releases.
covers can be cool but in the case of bob dylan largely irrelevant.

 

"You can learn from books." - Ringo Starr, 1964

 

“A book! A bloomin’ book!”

 

Then there's this:
Johny Cash and Bob Dylan - Recording

 

Been 'travelin' thru' the new track listings and comparing them to Krogsgaard's/Olaf's sessionographies. After eliminating the incomplete/false starts from the JWH recordings, it seems that BS V.15 will be missing six completed takes that are known to exist from the first two sessions; by all indications, the session reels with alternate takes from the final JWH date, Nov. 29th, seem to have been lost, leaving only the finished takes that were pulled to the master reel.



There's been some complaining around here that they're not releasing all of the JWH tracks, and I would have dearly loved to have seen them all included on the new set, but I've now moved through the denial, anger, bargaining and depression phases to acceptance. Maybe Bob listened to those six tracks again recently and didn't like the way they sounded, or they were very similar to the tracks that have been, or soon will be, released, and he and his team decided to just offer up one alternate take of each song from the session reels they still have.

Or (wildly speculating here) maybe they're saving the remaining alternate takes for a Record Store Day limited edition E.P.??

I'm moving on to the 1969 session recordings next, and they seem to be even more confusing, due to the number of session reels that somehow escaped from the record company vaults and into storage lockers and private collections over the last 50 years.

 

What's the story with those "less drums" mixes of Down Along The Cover and Dear Landlord? Have they been released or booted?

I had a thought that perhaps at the end of the year, there would be a copyright set mainly featuring all the breakdown takes from the Cash/Dylan session (or Nashville Skyline sessions in general.) I think the chances are slim to none, but that's my attempt at some wild speculation!

 

I'm not sure if ANY of the unreleased JWH tracks have leaked, although there have been rumors (over at ER) that some private collectors have copies of a few unheard tracks. I could have sworn that I heard a club/dance remix of "Down Along the Cove" using the original Dylan track several years ago, but maybe I was confusing it with that Mark Ronson re-do of "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way" or something else.

Maybe it was this?
Bob Dylan - Down Along The Cove (Pushin Wood Bossa Rework)

 

I believe that if they culled the best 10 or so tracks from the Dylan/Cash sessions and released a stand alone disc, it would easily go Top 5, maybe even # 1 if they gave it a little marketing push.

 

Great work as always, Hominy. Whenever there's a new Bootleg Series, we can always count on your invaluable posts.

 

Thanks, that's the weirdest thing I've heard this week!

 

This track is a treasure. I just wish it was a buried treasure.

 

Well, it’s worth pointing out that the the Bootleg Series itself only exists because His Bobness decided that stuff he had thought should stay in the can should be made available, regardless. But that’s for another thread.

 

Wow, someone changed their mind, stop the presses.