Heads up on the revised "That Thin Wild Mercury Sound" book by @Daryl Sanders. The paperback is published tomorrow, 05 May. There is a bargain to be had on this at present, here at The Book Depository, with free worldwide delivery. That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound : Daryl Sanders : 9781641602730 This book and Big Blue are all you need for a stress-free lock down....
Hey! I always order from Book Depository when I'm in Estonia! And thanks for the heads-up on the Sanders book... Always have good service and good prices with you guys, RH
Ah, apologies: my post made it sound like I have something to do with The Book Depository. I don't, but it's good to know that you get good service from them. I also have good things to say about their service and often buy my books from there.
Thanks, I've ordered the book - been meaning to get a copy for ages. No Big Blue Box here unfortunately, but I have the LP set and a Big Shady File for if I want to cross reference outtakes not on the LP set .
Ditto on their good service, from my experience. Very good. And also very helpful if things go wrong I've found. Daryl has another customer in me thanks to your recommendation. File set also at the ready for those not on the six disc box
You may or may not be aware that our good buddy @HominyRhodes started a thread when the hardback was published in 2018 to which @Daryl Sanders contributed a good deal of background information on his research. It slowed down a bit but is still active.
When you think that you’ve learned everything, you find out you can always learn a little more: https://www.lbsbind.com/news/bob-dylan-the-cutting-edge-19651966/
Cool info. I may have to order a sample of that royal blue Kennett material. That's as close to a Big Blue as I'll likely ever get!
It is such a minor fact, but one that I don’t believe has been noted before. Who is going to be first to have a suit made out of this material?
Hmmm... I hadn’t thought about it until you posted this, but: I do love my “big blue box”, my son’s middle name is Dylan, and his Bar Mitzvah is in October 2021. Wouldn’t he look good and make his old man proud for the blessed event in such material? (Though perhaps I’d get too distracted during his Torah reading and start thinking of a “Visions” outtake or some such. ;-). ).
Sometimes these mixes can sound *too* clinical for me. I know that was sort of the point — to present these recordings uncolored. But listening to the advance Biograph mix for I Wanna Be Your Lover...it's sloppy but loaded with energy that I don't hear on the box set.
I actually didn't notice this until I got to the master takes, which I knew were remixed, but "clinical" is right. I guess it's not an issue when they're still clearly working out the arrangements, in which case I wasn't expecting a finished-mixe sound, just a "you-are-there" type of presentation anyway.
I think that they made the correct decision with the mixing. They are recording sessions, and should sound as such. Once you start "producing" the material, where do you stop?
Yes, you want to hear the sessions just as they were recorded in the studio on to the multitracks. As if you were there listening on the monitor speakers. Nothing added, nothing removed.
And there's still some intentional mixing going on, like turning down the out-of-tune guitars in favor of the piano on the master take of Queen Jane Approximately. On take 7 they are damn near buried compared to the previous takes (and the original album mix).
Or decision to fading takes at the end and cutting out all take numbers chat. Take 4 of Like Rolling Stone was faded out but 4 tracks with stems from same take is running up to full ending. Very weird.
Or editing out any foul language. I tried to collect the best I could every scrap and bit that was edited out but available elsewhere. If you google "Crawling On The Cutting Room Floor" you'll find it.
I thought they tried to replicate the original master take's fades so as to give us alternate mixes/masterings of the original recordings. But with the stems there was no need to do that.
Late 2015/early 2016 I had two very expensive box sets on my radar: Bob Dylan's The Cutting Edge Collector's Edition, and Ian Hunter's Stranded In Reality. Two of my Mt. Rushmore of Rock performers. And I couldn't afford both. After much internal debate, I ultimately decided to choose Ian over Bob. One of the deciding criteria was that I knew I could, if so inclined, find... uh... unofficial sources for Bob. Ian, much less likely. So here I am nearly 5 years later. And I love the Ian set, and don't regret having it for a second, but it still hasn't sold out of its 2500 print run. And I'd missed out on Big Blue. I've been watching prices, but there's no way I could justify ~$1000+ for it. Then last week I decided to randomly check discogs and there was a copy that had just been listed for less than half that! Under list price! Yes, it was missing the singles (which I'd likely never have played anyway) and the CoA (it's just a piece of paper), but otherwise in great shape! I'm over the moon! It's like I got a gift of a do-over.