If they had chosen a Fox Warfield show or the Albuquerque Kiva show or a Santa Monica show my position would be the same. Allow one complete and uncensored concert on the bonus disc, and the box-set remains as is.
wait....do we know that bob himself has anything to do with the editing? I always thought (assumed) that bob would have very little to do with that aspect. but I don't really know what bob does with his days....maybe he is huddled down in the editing bay listening to tapes from 30 years ago but I cant imagine it. I think he gets a tape of the finished product, listens to five minutes and says "sounds good, make sure the check clears" ps agree with op. give us everything. sermons and all
I'm still waiting for this to arrive and have not heard this particular show so can't yet comment. I can understand and appreciate discussing the merits of including or not including the raps. But at some point it would be great to hear some discussion of what is there as opposed to what is not there on this release.
How much appeal would a standalone disc or download of sermonising hold, out of interest? I'm still thinking of the Tom's Tales disc that came with Glitter & Doom, which is a fun thing, if infrequently played. Maybe that's the Christmas gift that purchasers of The Big Red Box will be getting?
I can agree with ya on this. I thought the bonus SD was a perfect place for a complete picture. After 8 discs, you can get to the business. Although I won't be losing any sleep about it (this set isn't my favorite cup of tea), I would STILL be complaining if the 1966 box was missing some onstage raps. On the other hand, if Bob himself requested the raps be excluded - there is no dishonor in losing a battle of wills with Dylan.
Be sure to post your thoughts on San Diego when you've had a chance to absorb it. These are definitive performances of the Slow Train Coming and Saved songs. At first listen the thought occurred to me that the first half of the concert is the strongest. The emotional depth and conviction as well as the vocal range Dylan displays on the two ballads "When He Returns" and "I Believe In You" defies description. Wait til you hear. He achieves the height of eloquence on "Covenant Woman" as much for his writing as for his singing. There is nothing else like it in recorded music. More later when I have time to listen, I'm on my way out the door for the day. I invite everyone to post their thoughts on this performance.
Love this cd such a powerful set. Now I’m off back to the main thread. Hate to ping pong back and forth.
Well, Dylan doesn't give the sense of micromanaging these releases, that's true. But it's easy to imagine someone sitting down with him to say, "here are three concerts that we would propose to form the core of the release; give them a listen and tell us what you think." And then (I speculate) Dylan listens and says (a) these two concerts seem stronger, (b) this song here has a fatal flub, and (c) lordy what a jackass I used to be, is there any way to edit out those awful sermons? And the suit says, "Yes sir!," either feeling relieved or else feeling Dylan has just betrayed The Cause.
Just starting on it (I've been going thru the new set in order). Loving it so far. Not regretting paying the premium.
I wish that people - especially people who praise Dylan's gospel back-up singers so highly - would refer to them as "women". Since that is what they were (and are).
If "Judas" and "Play f'ing loud" was left in '66, then I dont see why the sermonizing wasnt. I think its a chicken **** move myself. Amen.
Eventually, an interesting conversation will be held about the "In The Garden" substitution. (I suspect few of us will care too much about the band introduction.)
I am also a little disappointed that the sermons were removed. Once the decision was made not to include them on the main deluxe set, by releasing a standalone concert as an exclusive through his website to a limited number of fans was an ideal opportunity to release a complete concert and provide a different experience to the main box. Nevertheless, I still love the SD release and glad that as part of this release they have given us concerts for every year that the set represents.
lol, maybe....i don't know. i don't think bob gives that much thought to editing his current releases, much less an old concert recording. especially when his financial state doesnt really rely on these releases these days. i think its more the "producers" trying to appeal to the more causal buyers who might get turned off after 3 minutes of bob lecturing, knowing the diehards will buy regardless
The completist and historian in me wants the sermons and audience reactions, too. The difference between these and '66 is that nearly everyone has come to accept the electric Dylan of 1966 as quintessential fare. Nobody is sitting at home when Dylan plugs in his guitar, and thinks that Bob is "Judas!" anymore. OTOH, there's still a huge number of Dylan fans who won't even give a listen to the gospel recordings, even nearly 40 years after the fact, because they object to the Christian message. Someone...be it Dylan himself or other top people in his organization...decided to edit out the controversy and serve up just the music, to let it stand on its own accord. I understand and accept that decision. Read the threads and posts here at SHMF if you doubt how hostile the fan reaction still is to that material.
There was really no reason to not include the sermons as seperately indexed tracks. This is a bonus, “complete”, concert separate from the curated main set. It should have been truly complete. As already mentioned, it’s easy to program them out if you don’t want to hear them.
The 8CD deluxe. I just call it that as the Cutting Edge deluxe was nicknamed the big blue box, and this box has some prominent red on it.
