Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings - Sony 36-CD box-set - November 11th 2016

Gotta say, I do like the most recent stereo remix.

 

Aaaah yes, I have looked at this site previously.

 

I think the original vinyl mono mixes are better than the original vinyl stereo mix. And the Canada mono Sad Eyed Lady still remains unique, despite The Cutting Edge release, for the vocal stumble. (I hear it as, "...how could they ever have invaded you?").

 

Yes, sorry, I didn't catch the subtlety of your Robbie reference...

The 2004 stereo CD is the standard stereo issue now, I think and is jolly good. Perhaps the recent MFSL release is a half-notch above that for sound quality. The mono CD version is as close as you need to be to the original U.S. mono vinyl. I haven't heard the more recent vinyl releases - Sundazed or MOV. I assumed they replicated the mono version from The Original Mono Recordings, so haven't checked them out.

 

Yes, I'm re-reading the Roger Ford article as we speak and also playing the stereo CD for the first time in ages. It is a superb reproduction. Amazingly chequered history this album has. My first introduction to it was via the original late 80s CD. How bad did that sound? Yet I still loved the music it contained. Anyhow yes, the MOV version is the same mix as The Original Mono Recordings - not so sure about the Sundazed version, I'm sure Roger Ford (or someone on here) will clarify

 

My introduction to the album was the original CD too.

As it turns out, Roger is a member here. Haven't seen him post for quite a while.

 

Now that I've heard a few of the electric sets from the tour, it strikes me that the Manchester electric set might be one of the most sedate, least passionate of the tour. Dylan sounds weary compared to other nights - 'Rolling Stone,' for instance, instead of raging against the hecklers, is rather lacking in energy.

On the other hand, the acoustic set still seems like one of the most focused and detailed. Maybe he was thinking of the Columbia tapes rolling for the live album, and gave a more controlled performance?

 

I love most of this post, but I do think the Manchester LARS is transcendent. Seems like a rare instance of Dylan responding directly to the audience.

 

Not to be argumentative, but I'm aware of the purpose of MP3 collection. Again, the concerts could have been treated with more respect, even as an MP3 dump. Previous releases had already demonstrated there was money to be made.

 

In a word -- wow! That is a serious Blonde On Blonde collection.

What does the title mean? Any theories?

 

Somewhat sheepishly I have to say that the photograph does not include rather more than several other vinyl and CD copies that I store eleswhere. It might actually be an illness I have; did someone say previously that sanity is overrated?

Many theories on the title. Influenced by "Brecht on Brecht" was a favourite theory for a while, but who really knows...

 

Something to do with Edie Sedgwick? And I have no idea whether she was blonde.

 

I have no idea, either.

Percy's Song, can you show us a scan of the inside gatefold with the photo changes?

 

Blonde on Blonde = BoB

 

I've posted this story before, but whenever I come across a copy of Blonde on Blonde in the used bins, I'd check the gatefold to see it it was the early cover with the different photos. A few years ago, I casually checked a copy in a record store and there it was! It was on sale and I had store credit, so I got it for practically nothing. The clerk admitted that he hadn't noticed the different cover. Not particularly valuable, but I always wanted one. Supposedly it has a different mix too, but so far I haven't heard anything that stands out.

 

No worries, I had actually assumed you knew the purpose behind the dump. My point (which I clearly didn't make clear) is that with a secured copyright, they can actually release the set in the future in a more thoughtful manner. I think it would have been a bit much to try to release multiple archival sets and new LPs in 2015 and 2016 imo. I agree with your point that there were already examples that expansive sets would sell. However, I think it was more about over saturating the market with archival releases.

I'm not an MP3 guy at all and I would have gladly bought the 1965 Live Recordings box set (along with my BS 12 Collectors Edition) but I think Sony is shooting for one archival box set a year.

 

Did Robbie have something to do with naming it?

 

Congratulations on your latest BoB acquisition.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that I aspire to match your collection of Blondes, since I share your perfectly normal and understandable semi-obsession with that particular album. This past year I've acquired four of the Claudia Cardinale/"girls photos" early U.S. pressings, two of them mono, and two of them stereo (are we gonna call the 1st stereo version "The Robbie Mix" now? Gee, I hope not) all in reasonably good to very good condition, for around $100 total. Since I grew up with the "revised stereo" mix (still have my early 1970s copy, and a late '70s repress), that's the natural sound of the album to me, with all the players spread out around the vocals. But I can see why some people prefer the mono, since Dylan seems to be coming right at you, with a more unified instrumental backing. And I will say that the mono singles taken from the album sound very nice indeed. (I also have most of the CD editions, although not the mono.) Hopefully, someday I'll come across one of those Canadian mono pressings at a reasonable price, too.

Apart from Roger Ford's essential online essays, this site -- Blonde On Blonde 1966 » -- is where the trouble really began for me, flashing and flaunting all those "360" label photos...I mean, just how much can a reasonable man take?

"Nonbreakable"...missing "Nonbreakable"..."2A", "2B" and on and on...I never pictured myself scrutinizing the fine print on record labels, or squinting through a magnifying glass at dead wax inscriptions, but it did finally happen, and I can't stop now.


(images from Searching for a Gem)

 

This thread is now a Medusa.
Blonde On Blonde, 1965 Recordings, Charity Shops and Mp3 v Lossless!

Not complaining. I just can't keep track

What a time to be a Bob Dylan fan!

 

I haven't even got a copy of The 1966 Live Recordings, but due to recent diversions within this thread it's now becoming increasingly clear that I MUST score a stereo copy of Blonde On Blonde on vinyl as soon as humanly possible - yes, the 'Robertson mix.' It's only right and proper that I own it. And to further display my ignorance - just who the hell is that guy on the right of the inside sleeve?

 

It's Jerry Schatzberg, the photographer who did the cover shot and many other Dylan '66 photos.

 

I really agree with you. The word I might choose though is "sober". So many of the other performances in this box are drug-fueled - you can feel how fast his mind is working as he plays around with vocal syncopation and pronunciation, and especially fast and furious harmonica solos.

But not in Bristol. Everything is slowed down, winsome and delicate. I think this version of Tambourine Man could be my reference version forever more.

What a pity we only have 2 from the board - sigh.

 

PREVIOUSLY...Bristol, England, May 10th

Cardiff, Wales - May 11, 1966
Capitol Theatre, Queen Street
(soundboard recordings, 45 min., CD#11 + CD#25)

(venue info, courtesy of the awesome @notesfrom)
Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings - Sony 36-CD box-set - November 11 »

Tell Me Momma
I Don't Believe You
Baby Let Me Follow You Down
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
One Too Many Mornings
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Like A Rolling Stone [Cardiff version included on "Newcastle" CD #25, and vice versa]


The tale of this tape (Dylan's solo acoustic set isn't included) has been tangled by the substitution of the Newcastle version of Like A Rolling Stone with the version actually performed in Cardiff on the new box set. If not for the efforts of a crack team of SHF investigators, this heinous *switcheroo* (as the cool kids are calling it) may have gone undetected, and could have resulted in Clinton Heylin grossly mischaracterizing the audience reaction to this show...Oh, wait! He didn't know they were switched! He wrote it up thinking that the crowd seemed polite and attentive for the first seven numbers, and then inexplicably began a big hullaballoo leading into LARS...I gotta say, I've been reading Judas! as I listen to these CDs, and I find myself proceeding with more caution as I go. He seems more interested in playing tabloid journalist, searching for a dramatic build-up to the confrontational audience reactions in Manchester, Paris, and London, than in carefully assessing Dylan's performances, or enlightening us about the surviving tape reels from the tour. I've put him on triple-secret-probation for the remainder of his book.

Judging by this recording of the Cardiff show, Dylan was fairly relaxed and affable that night, with the same slight touch of wear and tear to his voice that we've all come to know from the Manchester performance, and in some places, this tape sounds very similar to that show. The opening number, Tell Me Momma, features Richard Manuel's piano mixed jarringly loud for a change (and as @Archtop mentioned earlier, the bass also comes through nicely), but at the expense of Mickey J.'s drums, which can barely be heard. Once more though, Richard Alderson seems to have adjusted the mix as the set progressed, and after a few songs, he has it sounding pretty sweet, IMO.

After apparently dropping the bit for a week or two, Dylan once again offers the amused crowd some colorful background information about Tom Thumb, the painter, before launching into yet another wonderful rendition of JLTT's Blues; Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat, typically a real barnburner, gets more of laid-back swing arrangement here, like something Big Joe Turner would have done, and I like it; the crowd seems very attentive and polite, and there's even a smattering of applause when Dylan walks over to the piano for Thin Man, and he seems quite at ease as he jokes about the Steinway he's playing. As usual, he kicks his vocals up a notch as he gets farther into the twisted world of Mr. Jones, and his voice gets rawer still for all the "How does it feel?" refrains in Like A Rolling Stone.

The Cardiff audience gives him a warm round of applause at the very end, and he seems genuinely moved, thanking them quite sincerely. As least that's what it sounds like to me, although poor Clinton H. and many, many other people who hear this CD, with the wrong version of LARS at the end, may come away with an entirely different take on this concert.
Once again, I'd really like to thank everyone here who straightened that out for me before I ever listened to it. Sometimes it pays to take your time, I guess.

 

The box is down to 77 euro on Amazon.it on a deal at the moment. Non EU customers get 20% deduction on this. Doubt the deal will last for too long.

 

Mw too. I remember being particularly intrigued by the rumour of there being a take of Bob Dylan singing 'Farewell Angelina' which he wrote of with some scepticism if I recall correctly.