Dylan- Blood on the Tracks - "Test Pressing" version - RSD 2019*

I keep getting confused, so I'll just make a statement, and if I'm wrong, I know I'll be corrected.

Everything on the test pressing is on the More Blood, More Tracks box, just some are different mixes.

 

Technically correct, but they're significant, historic mixes, and include a key overdub that is nowhere to be found in the box set.

The Basement Tapes acetate reproduction a few years back also only offered different mixes, technically, but it's nevertheless the best compilation ever released from those sessions, and the best those tracks have ever sounded.

 

Okay, plus I have the advantage of two different setups too, thanks !!!!

 

Aye! it got to you.. eh ?
Take it easy, rest some.. you'll be okay.
Tis like a siren, or a mirage in a relentless sea of sand..
a lovely cool drink of water.

 

Guess I'll be placing a WTB for this, as my guy isn't participating until Black Friday.

 

how is this made? They ripped the vinyl and then cut the LPs? If so, quality can't be astonishing, can it?

 

I held off on the recent LP of this, in hopes that this “test pressing” would be released and it looks like that was a good call.

Really hoping to grab one of these.

 

It really is a beautiful thing.

 

I'm trying to figure out if I need this official RSD release if I have heard a copy of a previous boot and I already have the 6 cd set of More Blood? I'm also trying to figure out if I need a copy of BOTT on vinyl? I only have had the Sony sacd. Also if I need the 2LP More Blood vinyl set since I have the 6cd set. Asking out loud.

 

The vinyl has less than the 6 CDs, so no.

 

You may have heard it, but do you want to own it ?
If it's the MFSL vinyl, then yes, I did, and it's gorgeous. MFSL SACD is great also.

 

Thanks Myke, something to think more about

 

You're welcome. I became obsessed with this album a few weeks ago. Already had the 2 SACDs, but felt I had to check out More Blood, More Tracks, so I researched only to find the 6 CD box gave me the most bang for my buck. After that, it was a chance meeting with a fellow forum member, who sold me his NM MFSL vinyl for a flat $50. I finally became satisfied, finished every last note, only to have this damn test pressing come into my life.

 

For me, it's not just the music or the mixes per se, but the fact that as a collector from way back, it's one of those holy grail items that you always dreamed you would find in the racks of your local used record store (perhaps inadvertently slipped into a stock jacket of Blood on the Tracks). Like a copy of The Freewheelin Bob Dylan with the original tracks, or a promo copy of the mono Ram. Of course, you'll never find any of them, because there's only a handful of each known to exist, but it's part of the fun of collecting. I did find a couple of Beatles butcher covers . . . . .

 

And for those of us who just went to Google/Translate...

Description
Months before the release of Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks at the beginning of 1975, a small number of "test pressing" circulations were circulating, entirely made up of recordings from A & R Recording Studios in New York. Dylan finally re-recorded five of his titles in Minneapolis to include them in the final version of the album. These original recordings soon found themselves on bootleg versions, and the "alternative" story of Dylan's most acclaimed work began this way. This LP is an exact reproduction of the Test Pressing, containing for the first time, specific mixes from the studio session in New York.

 

Any word on who mastered the album? I assume it’s Ryan K Smith who cut the 2 record set.

 

I hope it's RKS... he usually does a great job.

 

Hi Hi @Maranatha5585, that's very generous of you, I live in the U.K., so if I'm lucky enough to be drawn out I'll happily pay for the shipping. Every time I've ordered the John Wesley Harding Mono LP I've been sent the Stereo version. Six times it's happened!

 

I admire your tenacity.
(I would have given up after three...)

 

There is no stereo Sundazed pressing. Are you referring to an original UK CBS pressing?

 

What is your equipment profile?

 

Correctly answered by others but I’ll add to it.

The mix of ‘Idiot Wind’ is significant enough in my opinion to be considered a completely different ‘version’ and is not on the box set.

Overall you need to consider that the mix on the Test Pressing creates a completely different feel to the album, again in my opinion, but that isn’t replicated on either the released album or thebox set.

 

OK, so I've stopped lying down. Now I'm just feeling sick with anticipation dread .....

Speaking as a self-appointed expert, I really don't think anyone in the UK should make any effort to buy this....

....until after I have my copy in my sweating hands.