Bob Dylan – Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks (2 Nov 2018)*

We need to have the Blood On The Tracks as a separate release. Behemoth it will be or not but similarly to the 1965-66 box. That's too important to treat it as a mediocre thing in his canon.

 

I think the difference is that, with 1965-66, that whole period is considered classic. Maybe Blonde On Blonde is the crown jewel, but all three albums are truly iconic and legendary. To lump them all together while simultaneously replicating the entirety of the sessions seemed very appropriate. Blood On The Tracks, meanwhile, sits alone upon its throne. As much as I love Desire and enjoy Planet Waves, they are not of the same stature. As long as Blood On The Tracks can deliver on interesting and unique material (which we have at least one confirmation of), there is no reason to dilute such a release with other sessions.

If and ONLY IF the tapes were to reveal simply multiple takes done in the same arrangements as what we have now, then if would have been appropriate to bolster them with something else.

I'd love to see a Desire box, btw. Perhaps for volume 15

 

It's probably been detailed somewhere in a related thread...but can someone elaborate on the missing tapes which have probably delayed the release of the blood on the tracks sessions?

 

I will Elaborate: there was a story many years ago that was reprinted by Clinton Heylin in his 'Bootleg: Secret History...' book that there were plans for a remastered (or remixed?) 20th anniversary cd of 'Blood On The Tracks' but some of the masters were missing and/or damaged. More specifically, the Sound 80 masters from Minnesotta. I'm not sure if they were ever found - the Blood On The Tracks remaster that is out now came from the composite reel used for the album rather than the multi tracks.

This story came about more recently from a Sony source, but my understanding was that they were either looking for a particular tape (I don't think the album masters but I'm not sure) or there were some technical issue with what they have. I don't know to which point this was resolved.

Interestingly, has anyone noticed that the take of 'If You See Her, Say Hello' on the Bootleg Series 1-3 is a splice of two different takes? The splice is right at the start on the first line, just before the words 'see her'. The take that makes up the bulk of the song was presumably an incomplete take, with Dylan starting the song before the tape was rolling.

 

Thanks for the info. I remember you were spot on regarding the 1966 set. I take it you mean it will be more than 2 disks ?

 

Preach brother, preach. You can lump me in the crowd that simply was thinking alternate versions but what you wrote has me pretty intrigued. Still want the Gospel set a little bit more than Blood right now but at this point I'll take whatever Dylan Inc. wants to put out. The last few BS series are still on constant rotation in my home. Actually... as I type I'm playing Devil Dolls and earlier played LP5 of BS1-3 & Basement Tape LP.

 

From what I understand - and please consider that plans change - when this does come out there will be some kind of multi-disc box, though obviously not a big as the Cutting Edge as I don't think they have that volume of material.

I think people need to think less of this as being 'a bunch of alternate takes' (which it would be in some ways...but not in the way it's suggested) and more of 'a bunch of alternate visions of a final concept' before you get to the finished album that we know. But those are just my own words. As ever, let's wait and see what they come up with.

Blood On The Tracks has 'progression' the way Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 etc...did, but it was a 'narrower' concept. Remember, Dylan was playing THE ENTIRE ALBUM in sequence to friends before recording it...

 

Going simply by the recordings that we have available (released or bootlegged) it is easy to assume that it would be, in a not-so-exciting way, a "bunch of alternate takes," but then The Bootleg Series has managed to truly surprise us more than once!

 

I always say don't take my word for 'gospel' on this stuff - plans change, etc...but that's my own impression of what they will (eventually) try to do with this stuff based on the little bit of information that I know - yes it's a bunch of alternate takes and outtakes in one sense, but it will be surprising, I hope, in the way it's structured showing a 'flow' from one place to another. And the 'outtakes' or alternates aren't necessarily 'rejected' versions based on quality of performance, they're just takes from a different perspective that didn't fit the final album.

People assume because they've heard the New York acetate and the Bootleg Series outtakes that they know all the angles on this record.

We will see.

 

I always wondered what the hell was up with that. I figured it was a digital error of some sort, like a mastering blunder. If that's an edit, it's one of the most graceless I've ever heard.

 

I'm taking this to mean that the set starts with recordings with Eric Weissberg and his band, after which Bob pares it down to just him and the bass player (insert test pressing takes here); the set would end with outtakes from the Minneapolis sessions. Is that reasonable?

 

Something like that.

 

Count me in as someone who assumes I've heard all the parts of the Blood On the Tracks sessions that are ever going to really matter to me in terms of what makes it a great album — based on the original album, the NYC acetate bootleg, and the released outtakes. The idea that some revelatory alternative BOTT experience awaits us seems like bunk to me.

I love reading and learning about how this album was made, but looking at the recording sessions logs I fail to get excited about 11 takes of "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and 12 takes of "Idiot Wind," etc.

Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions - Part Three

 

Love the fact that Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts was dispatched in one take at both sessions. Wonderful song to (apparently) get right first time twice!!!

 

It's too soon for this, Mbd77. You've stoked everybody's enthusiasm for BS 14 Blood On the Tracks so many years in advance of its possible release that we'll all have gone clinically insane from the anticipation by the time it comes out, if it comes out.

Do tell us more, now that the damage is done.

It will like be a #1 hit for months and win all the awards, regardless of what it contains.

By the way, do check out my fascinating and totally unrelated thread on The Orphanage:
The Orphanage -- anyone know about this band?
Unrelated. Totally.

 

The Asbury Park Music & Film Festival will be presenting "Dylan Archives II", what is being referred to as a followup to the Tulsa Archives opening from last fall. There seems to be a whole new slate of material available. Jeff Rosen is on the board of the film festival, so it's possible he'll be there. Archives director Michael Chaiken lives in New York City, so it's highly likely he'll be there, probably leading the presentation like he did in Tulsa.

Anyway, if you're into this kind of stuff and are in the neighborhood on the weekend of April 22, check it out:

Festival Tickets | Asbury Park Music & Film Festival

 

At some point I think a "lost years" set is in order covering 1985 to 1988 or so, basically the stuff between Infidels and Oh Mercy, which include a lot of cool stuff that he forgot to include on his albums. The recent leaks of the 1985 rehearsals and the Halloween session may be a teaser to get us interested in the period again, and that stuff was probably not up to par to actually sell, but the other stuff is. Or, they could just go all out on the entire 1980s and include any other unreleased stuff from Infidels and Oh Mercy, which may be more commercially viable.

They also need to release more live stuff from the NET, of which there really hasn't been much officially released at all, considering it spans around 30 years. They could even start up a whole new franchise just of live NET shows released online like Bruce and others are doing.

They also need so gather all the obscure b-sides, soundtracks, and tribute songs that can be hard to find.

 

None of this is planned at all at the moment.

I believe if we're talking about the 1980s, it's at least been talked about that there might be an 'Infidels' and 'Oh Mercy' studio sessions set at some point sooner rather than later. The rest...no plans for the foreseeable.

 

Mbd77, I am locked out of the Bootleg Series 13 thread, so I will answer your question here. How do I know the 1979 tour was videotaped? Because I saw the cameras. Each concert I attended had the cameras positioned on portable tripods with an operator at the rear of the auditorium. I was familiar with ENG cameras, having worked with them professionally myself, and tend to take notice of such things. They could fit on your shoulder or be locked down on a tripod. I made a point of looking for them at each show I attended. Further, I was in touch by telephone -- that's how it was done before the internet, telephone and surface-mail -- with the concert-taping fraternity, and I asked everybody I knew to look for the cameras. It took no great expense or logistics to videotape the 32 shows. It was not a production set-up like MTV Unplugged. I would speculate that, under the high-conflict circumstances of the shows, the videotaping was done for insurance purposes in case anything happened, or for archival purposes.

Regarding Buffalo NY March 30-April 1 1980, these are particularly hot concerts, very good sound (on the analog scale) on the audience tapes, but it was a very different tour with a different energy in 1980. It's a good choice for BS 13. But I'm still hoping for a Live 1979 box-set just like the Live 1966 box-set because the 1979 tour was a profound experience unlike any other in Dylan's career.

You should have been there.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

God knows what happened to these tapes in that case - based on this is sounds like Dylan might've asked for this type of set up rather than the record company but who knows.

I've done a bit of semi-official research in the past into 'official' live recordings and never come across any reference to 1979 tapes.

 

Nice info on the videotaping. I remember reading (and can't find it now - could it be in one of the Rolling Stone articles?) that Buffalo was filmed, rather than videotaped. That might explain why there is a preference over 1979 shows or Toronto, regardless of the performance or nature of the mid-1980 shows, as there's a chance that it might look absolutely amazing, rather than have the telltale signs of video that probably don't come over too well these days.

*Edited to add: though where ever I read it, the source may have been using 'filmed' just to indicate it was captured, rather than it was captured on film. Either way, fingers crossed for a blu-ray.

 

I'll reveal a bit of 'private' information here...

With regard to the cameras at the 1979 show:

Contrary to belief, Bob Dylan does (or did) listen to recordings of his own shows, or bits of them, up to the very late 1980s at least.
He was especially interested in his own 'raps' and asked sound engineers to make line recordings so he could listen back, presumably for his own amusement. I also understand that he would listen back so he could 'get the speech right' and make changes the next night. None of these tapes have ever come into circulation. As far as I know, Dylan still has them. As he was doing plenty of 'raps' in 1979, I wonder if the recording/videoing of these was part of Dylan's own interest in his own dialogue?

 

Since 1975 Dylan also recorded his shows so that he could study how the band was playing and his own performances and whether or not he needed to tweek this or that. This is standard practice and should not come as a surprise to anyone.

... also I was in the habit of scanning the auditorium with my eyes occasionally looking for microphones and cameras in the audience so as to hook up and possibly swap with whomever was taping. I quit after the 1986 tour with Petty.

 

Since 1966 in fact, I believe!

 

I know that Howie Wyeth was given cassettes, recorded off the soundboard, of RTR shows so that he could work on his playing and place in the band. Nothing unusual about that. Some of these leaked out. Nothing unusual about that, either.

So was Scarlet Rivera but her tapes haven't leaked, that I know of.