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

Would someone who collects Vinyl please clarify for me if The Real Royal Albert Hall Concert is in 1) different editions, at a) different weights 140 gram, 180 gram, 200 gram; and b) in a gatefold or not a gatefold or a sleeve in slipcover? which one should I buy?

 

I thought the first Albert Hall was just as great, along with its sound. But perhaps I'm swayed by the performance of the Hawks, who were absolutely ferocious that night.

 

It could be that he felt the recording and the tour didn't reflect where he was at anymore. Since he didn't tour again for eight years, it wasn't like he was playing next week and the album would be competition, though. Releasing the record at the time would have presented him with a lot to live up to the next time around, though, so I guess there's that.

And of course, Dylan's own quote on the subject, back in '98 or so, was, ''If I'd thought this record was any good, it would have been released a long time ago...''!

Like many things Dylan, I guess we can chalk this one down to inscrutability.

 

Did anything ever come of this idea? There is a great book hidden within this thread. Would be wonderful to see it given some form of publication.

 

Anyone?!

 

I don’t even have an E harmonica.

 

a crazy £22.99 at amazon UK

Out of stock, but can be ordered, for when stock is in...

www.heidoc.net/amazon/amazon_global_check.php?asin=B01LXC8X05

 

Having spent the last couple of years saying I don't need this boxset and thinking that Manchester and Albert Hall would be enough for me, I asked for this for my recent birthday as my parents were keen to buy me something substantial. I am so glad I did.

I found this set really challenged my assumptions. Firstly, Manchester and Albert Hall were certainly not enough. It is incredible listening to how each show differs from the last.

Another assumption I had was that I would only listen to this over an extended period of time and that I would find it boring to listen to in a short space of time. However I was wrong.

If I am being honest, I doubt I will return to the audience recordings very often but I am happy they are there.

I am really hoping they will follow this up with a similar set for the live recordings from the beginning to '65.

 

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Bingo!
Great idea!
Lucid thinking!
Why didn't Sony / Dylan organization think of that?

 

Err...didn't they kind of do this with the 1965 Copyright collection?

 

Well am I right in thinking that those 1965 recordings were only available to people who bought the Big Blue set? Additionally I think some people would like these on cd.

But I was also suggesting a little more - all known live recordings from the start of his career up until 65. This could include Gaslight, Finjan, Gerdes, Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, etc. Am I right in thinking that even though the earlier copyright extension sets featured many live recordings these often excluded dialogue between songs? So a 1961- 65 Live Recordings set could include these.

 

Ahh OK. But there is a 1965 Copyright set that has all the live 65 recordings. You can also pick some of those vintage recordings on those Italian releases. Check out Amazon.

 

It didn't include 75% of The Ginsberg Tapes....

 

Ahh. OK.. Clearly I'm not as well informed as I thought I was. Can you give a bit more info about "The Ginsberg Tapes"?

 

Yes, the copyright extension sets EXCLUDED audience ambience and dialogue between the songs. Additionally, many were time-compressed as in slightly speeded up to fit on the disc.

The live 1965 download was restricted to those who purchased The Cutting Edge box. The sound quality was generally poor, there were speed issues, glaring omissions, and many cuts. It was amateurishly done. For some inexplicable reason a right and proper CD release like Live 1966 Recordings was denied to us. This gap in The Cutting Edge / Live 1966 Recordings continues to be painfully conspicuous.

 

It also left out hotel performances released in Don't Look Back (and the other film made from Pennebaker's footage, 65 Revisited) and most of Newport (which was previously featured in documentaries).

 

It's those 1965 sets that miraculously circulated last year (or year before? losing track of time), San Jose and San Francisco. (SF mistakenly labeled for years as Berkeley). They were sitting in a giant Ginsberg archive at a US university.

 

They "got out" in the middle of last summer.

 

Ok, thanks. I tried to recall when that happened and realized I am totally adrift in a timeless orbit of my own...

 

I double-checked my files to see when I added them to iTunes just to make sure.

 

San Francisco 11 December 1965 & San Jose 12 December 1965, taped by Allen Ginsberg. Includes backstage conversations with Bob and conversations with fans outside the San Jose venue:-

San Francisco contains the earliest known live recording of "Visions of Johanna", introduced by the artist as "Alcatraz To The 9th Power Revisited", and the San Jose electric set is the one we all thought was Berkeley. (Whisper it quietly, but the SJ electric set is of better sonic quality than the official release contained on the '65 Copyright Collection download.)

Although I sometimes think that history is overrated (after all history is just one thing happening after another, and it's happening all the time), these recordings are Historic. Performance quality and the place in history can occasionally be more important than sonic quality.


Bob Dylan Live 1965 (USA tour)

 

I've been working my way through the box again, and I'm reminded of how much I love the audience tapes, rough and primitive as they may be. It's incredibly entertaining to hear audience reaction on the acoustic tunes, the giggles and snickers and asides, people naming tunes for their unfamiliar seatmates... It's a delightful picture into the concert experience.

 

At the most basic, simplest level, History is fact reconstructed from primary evidence into a chronological narrative of circumstances, events and motive. Where facts cannot be established the most likely probability is put first, followed by the other possibilities. Evidence nearest to the event, or from the event itself, is given priority of later materials. History is a science that incorporates other disciplines such as geology, psychology, physics, culture, etc. That may sound pompous, but that's what I was taught. That having been said, I agree wholeheartedly that these recordings are of historic importance and relevance.

 

Professional line recordings are generally missing that audience interaction with the performer unless it's distant applause at the beginning and end of each song. With Dylan, I think the audience interaction can be important. I was at San Diego '79. The hostility, threats, catcalls can't be heard, or felt on the officially released recording. You get some of it from the audience tape, but not all of it, because audience tapes are sectional. Nor do you feel the discomfort and unease of audience members who are alarmed by the angrier, threatening members in front of or behind them. Dylan must have thought he was facing down an angry mob sometimes. Likewise, according to friends of mine who attended, people cried when Dylan sang the protest songs at the Concert For Bangla Desh in 1972. His legend had grown immensely since he withdrew in the spring of 1966, and many people in Madison Square Garden were seeing him for the first time. They only knew him from the 10 records that had been released."Grown men with tears streaming down their face" my friends told me. You don't get that from professional recordings, either. That's why you have to go to concerts, for experience.

 

Just curious, do they give credit to the people who made those recordings in the liner notes?