Bob Dylan - 50th anniversary collection - 1964

Just received this email from Sony regarding the imminent release . no tracklisting was available, so let's speculate.

Once again we have the opportunity to bring in a very limited edition Bob Dylan release as per previous years.

Bob Dylan Public Domain, 50th anniversary recordings (1964) will be a one off pressing limited to 1000 across Europe. The format will be a 9 piece LP Vinyl in a slipcase.
Release date 8th Dec (this is likely to move back one week)
Should note it was listed for bricks and mortar stores only. Be wary of those advertising the item beyond the usual suspects of Discogs and Ebay.

 

Nine pieces of vinyl?! Wow.

 

Interesting that it's 9 LPs because he spent only one day in the studio in 1964 and almost all of that session was released as Another Side of Bob Dylan. (As far as anyone knows...) The Halloween concert has been released as a Bootleg Series, and so have his '64 Witmark Demos. So what could possibly fill NINE LPs? Maybe they mean it's a 9-song vinyl LP?

 

Can't wait (yawn). That's nearly more LP's than he made in the entire 60's put together, and all from 1964. How ridiculous?

Maybe there are nine out-takes of every song on "Another Side"? The 1963 set was seriously scraping the bottom of the barrel but as "fallbreaks" has said, 1964 was not exactly his most prolific recording year

 

I did request a track list from Sony but that is all the information, little in the way of detail. One day in the studio nine pieces of vinyl? There just has to be be some previously unheard material otherwise it's a fairly pointless release.

 

30 years ago I had a "Dylan tape library" with over 1000 tapes of live concerts / studio out-takes etc. There was nothing in it from 1964 apart from the Hallows Eve show and Witmark Demos. I'm slightly intrigued by this release to say the least but on the flip-side, definitely not interested enough to purchase it. I've got enough 60's Dylan to last me out. Too much of anything can make a man ill at ease.........

 

Well the dealer price excluding VAT is just shy of £50 , which means that it's either a hugely expensive single album, although the way prices are heading...Or it will appear quite reasonable for a boxed edition retailing for around £100. Dylan on vinyl generally ain't cheap.

 

Perhaps the "studio" stuff from various radio and TV shows will be included ? This is from www.bjorner.com , I guess you could put all this on 9 vinyls :





Witmark Studio,
New York City, New York
January 1964

1.Guess I'm Doing Fine
2.Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Eric von Schmidt)


CBC TV Studios
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1 February 1964

1.The Times They Are A-Changin'
2.Talking World War III Blues
3.The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
4.Girl From The North Country
5.A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
6.Restless Farewell

NBC Studios
Los Angeles, California
25 February 1964
Steve Allen Show.


1.The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll

Elektra Studios
New York City, New York
Early 1964
Blues Project recording session produced by Paul A. Rotchild & Jac Hilzman.


1.Downtown Blues (Geoff Muldaur)


Eric Von Schmidt's Home
532 Beach Road
Siesta Key
Sarasota, Florida
May 1964


1.Blues Improvisation (?)
2.Black Betty (?)
3.Come All You Fair And Tender Ladies (trad).
4.Long Johnny Coo-Coo (?)
5.Long Johnny Coo-Coo (?)
6.Joshua Gone Barbados (Eric von Schmidt)
7.Money Honey (Jesse Stone)
8.More And More (Webb Pierce/Merie Kilgore)
9.Mr. Tambourine Man
10.Suzie Q (Hawkins/Lewis/Broadwater)
11.Glory Glory (trad).
12.Movies Improvisation (?)
13.Stoned On The Mountain (?)
14.Stoned On The Mountain (?)
15.Stoned On The Mountain (?)
16.I Want To Hold Your Hand (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
17.I Got A Hold On You (?)
18.Walkin' Down The Line
19.Joshua Gone Barbados (Eric von Schmidt)


BBC Studios
London, England
Early May 1964


1.With God On Our Side


Didsbury Studios
Manchester, England
14 May 1964


1.Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
2.Blowin’ In The Wind
3.Chimes Of Freedom



Columbia Studios
New York City, New York
9 June 1964
The Another Side Of Bob Dylan session, produced by Tom Wilson.



1.Denise
2.Denise
3.Denise
4.Denise
5.It Ain't Me, Babe
6.It Ain't Me, Babe
7.To Ramona
8.Spanish Harlem Incident
9.Spanish Harlem Incident
10.Spanish Harlem Incident
11.Spanish Harlem Incident
12.Spanish Harlem Incident
13.Ballad In Plain D
14.Ballad In Plain D
15.Ballad In Plain D
16.Ballad In Plain D
17.Ballad In Plain D
18.I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
19.I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
20.I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
21.I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
22.I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
23.Chimes Of Freedom
24.Chimes Of Freedom
25.Chimes Of Freedom
26.Chimes Of Freedom
27.Chimes Of Freedom
28.Chimes Of Freedom
29.Chimes Of Freedom
30.Motorpsycho Nitemare
31.Motorpsycho Nitemare
32.Motorpsycho Nitemare
33.Motorpsycho Nitemare
34.Mr. Tambourine Man
35.Mr. Tambourine Man
36.All I Really Want To Do
37.Black Crow Blues
38.Black Crow Blues
39.Black Crow Blues
40.I Shall Be Free No 10
41.I Shall Be Free No 10
42.I Shall Be Free No 10
43.I Shall Be Free No 10
44.I Shall Be Free No 10
45.Mama, You Been On My Mind
46.My Back Pages
47.My Back Pages


Unidentified Recording Studio
New York City, New York
Mid to late June 1964


1.Mr. Tambourine Man
2.Mama, You Been On My Mind
3.I'll Keep It With Mine

 

Now we're talking! Put most of this on vinyl with RAH, Newport, and a few other live bits, and 18 vinyl sides starts to not seem too ridiculous.

 

I get why these physical releases are limited, but why not have a download available.
I don't even have a turntable and will be forced to seek out alternate sources. I'd happily pay for it in a usable format.

 

those TV show performances will definitely be a part of it. they were on the past couple of releases for sure.

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but someone would have to pay me to listen to five outtakes of "Ballad In Plain D"...

 

Oof. Excellent point.

 

As we thought, nothing of any interest there.............

 

Unless the Dylan folks reverse course, the set will contain barely a snippet of the "Another Side" sessions. The "1962" set contained all the unreleased complete takes in the vault (apparently they didn't feel the need to protect false starts and breakdowns). The "1963" set only contained material that had previously circulated. I don't see why they would go back to giving "everything". But without the studio material, I don't see how you get to 9 discs.

 

Would it not have made far more sense to simply release well ahead of the looming 50 year public domain fiasco, an official Bootleg Series album / set for each of the years affected and maybe consecutively ie. from say 2010 onwards release a Bootleg Series album every year for each year of the 1960's: 1962, 1963, 1964...etc. They'd sell far more records, less people would be put out by the wreckless policy of Sony and there would be some pattern and logic for cleaning out the vaults instead of the haphazard release schedule we get otherwise.

 

That's right, he did play Newport that year. Some of it was on the Other Side of the Mirror DVD, and it might add an hour or so.

But 9 LPs x max 50 min. each = 450 min, or 7 1/2 hours. Could there be more Basement/Tenement/Apartment/Hotel/Bedroom/Living Room tapes?

 

Yes, he played at my house in June '64. I still have the "Dylan Garden Shed Tapes" that no one other than my family has ever heard!

 

But the 1963 set didn't have a scrap of fresh material. Why would the '64 set deviate and give us something fresh?

For the '62 set a) they either didn't quite "get" the parameters of the law, b) they were afraid someone (or knew someone) HAD uncirculated copies of the session tapes, or c) they couldn't figure out (or didn't want to be bothered figuring out) which "Freewheelin'" outtakes were already circulating and which were not.

 

Just one reason is 99.9% of the population doesn't WANT the poor quality Philadelphia 1964 audience tape. But if Dylan's people don't include it on a limited edition "copyright protection" set, then someone will be selling said show all over the EU as a public domain set, and there won't be a thing they can do about it. Selling records has next to nothing to do with this process.

 

i am pretty sure there was at least one or two new tracks that did not previously circulate on the 1963 set.

-justin

 

You're right. Either they're digging deep into the vaults and unearthing stuff we've never heard (which doesn't make sense), or the 9-LP thing is a mistake or misunderstanding. The circulating material simply doesn't add up to 6-7+ hours.

 

That's right, IMO. It's all about staking a claim to the recordings, for future releases that we aren't yet privy to.

 

They don't really want these sets as part of the "canon" -- they just want to extend the copyrights. Frankly, they don't care about fans who can't get them, and they're probably OK with people downloading them illegally. There may only be a handful of these "Copyright Extension" tracks that ever end up on "official" Bob Dylan releases -- and when they do, they'll be covered by copyright. That's all these sets are for.

 

I used to agree with you on the "future releases" aspect, but I've recently changed my mind and figure that it's just as simple as preventing bootlegs from popping up in the record stores. They might not have anything planned for much of this music.