Bob Dylan - 50th anniversary collection - 1964

I know this may be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it anyway: Does anyone know the provenance of the sources for this collection?

I'm just wondering if it's possible that some of the masters used (the audience recordings on discs 8 & 9, for example) were actually the same bootlegged tapes that have been circulating for years.

 

Philly, San Francisco and San Jose are all copies of the audience tapes that have long circulated. Low generation copies from the sound of them.

 

Sony has cut the banter from the Royal Festival Hall show because they are only interested in protecting their copyright in the actual musical performances. They did the exact same thing with the live recordings, as well as the Studs Terkel radio broadcast, included in the 1963 set.

Also, the article in The Telegraph does not state that the Eric von Schmidt tape is in the hands of a Russian collector; it actually says, "... a farmhouse close to the Russian border." That could be anywhere from Finland to Poland.

 

Yep, I agree. Just came across some old FLACs from the San Francisco show, and the Anniversary tracks sound somewhat better.

Also agree with stepeanut. They should have kept the banter.

 

They're likely to put the banter back in if and when it gets an official release.

 

I'm not holding my breath. The overall sound quality is still really rough.

I don't think they can improve on it much more. Also, don't think it would have been asking a hell of a lot to keep the performances in tact, tbh...

OTOH, I am looking forward to all the soon-to-be-legal collections of Dylan's onstage banter!

 

"Having Fun With Bob On Stage" - "A Talking Album Only"

 

I think I would buy that!

 

"Hey guys, we can make this music 5% less enjoyable to listen to if we go in and cut out the stage banter."
"Sounds like a great idea Fred, let's get someone on that right away."

I hate to make a suggestion that someone might hear, but why not put a high-pitched buzz through the Festival Hall tracks? Or why not copy them through 10 analog generations on cassette before putting them on the master for the album? It's not like they need a low generation copy to protect the copyright.

 

They could purposefully degrade the tapes, if they so wished. But, I don't think Sony is going out of their way to piss-off Dylan fans. Nor are they going out of their way to accommodate us. These sets are a content dump, no more, no less.

Personally, I enjoy these sets for what they are. If we ever get a pristine, uncut version of Royal Festival Hall, I will be ecstatic. Right now, I'm thrilled to be able to soak in and enjoy these performances that I've waited so long to hear.

 

Good catch, Ray, thank-you.

 

For me, personally, this choice slides into the area of disrespecting the fans who buy the box. I can understand not presenting the Studs Terkel interview portion (not even sure that they could make a decent case that they have the right to that material). But going in and spending studio time to edit out stage banter is a bit much. It doesn't seem to serve any purpose, other than to degrade the listening experience and to save a little space (that they hardly needed to save on a 9 LP set).

 

To play devil's advocate for a moment, there is the possibility that including all the banter and tuning would have extended the running time to the point that an additional LP would have been necessary. I'm not sure about the RFH discs, but some of the LPs in the set run for over 50 minutes.

Regardless, I maintain that this release is not about, or for, us, the (for want of a better word) super-fans. And the box set isn't even a blip on the radar of the vast majority of casual Dylan fans, which is exactly as Sony would have it. The box is simply a legal obligation in order for Sony to maintain their copyright in the musical performances contained therein. If they choose to present this material, in a more pleasing manner, to the general public at a later date, they have the time and opportunity to do so.

 

A Blu-ray disc could easily store all this music and more, but Sony Records doesn't support the Blu-Ray technology. ..

 

Hi,
I hear some distortion on both sides of disc 1 of this set. Is this just distortion on the original recordings ?

 

Some info via Bob Stacy:

Should be (according to Ian Woodward) The grounds of St. Michael's School.
(Not far down the road from the Freebody Park location)

Should be July 26th. (Evening) 1964.

 

I'd say that's a good bet. Check out Forest Hills or Philadelphia for distortion on the original recording.

 

Has anyone burned the files to CD yet? If so, are you burning 9 CDs? If not, how are you organizing your discs?

I reached my limit of three questions in one post.....

 

I burned to nine CD-Rs. The material was better organised this year, across the various LPs, so it made sense, to me, to preserve that structure.

 

Continued availability north of the border ... Love Music (formerly Avalanche) in Glasgow have a set for £109 ...

 

Just about had a heart attack. Got an email from my bank noting "unusual activity" on my credit card. Signed into my account to see my bank - in their infinite wisdom - had DECLINED the charge from Badlands for this set, despite the fact that I've ordered from Badlands before (like last year's Dylan box set). I was afraid they would sell the set to some other customer, since my card wasn't approved. Called the bank - FURIOUS - and told them they could call up the merchant and straighten it out. They said they couldn't, because it was an international number. I told them they better escalate it to a supervisor who could make the call, or they'd lose a customer of 25 years - TODAY.

That changed things in a hurry, and presto - Badlands was on the line. The guy at the store was quite nice, and he mentioned that charges were declined for virtually all of his American customers - so if you were lucky enough to get a copy, make sure your charge went through.

Think I'd better switch to decaf for the remainder of the morning...

 

Sorry, I am a bit late to this party. Can you point me to a full track listing of this 9LP set?

 

I posted photos of the back of the box on page six of this thread.

 

The ever reliable Discogs site can help you here:-

http://www.discogs.com/Bob-Dylan-50th-Anniversary-Collection-1964/release/6398330

 

Also, wikipedia works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_50th_Anniversary_Collection_1964