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

Hot take: they both suck. The Guitars Kissing boot has a much better (and less ear-bleeding) mastering.

 

Although it runs at the wrong speed and has a major drop-out on one track, does it not?

 

I tend to agree, and it's relatively easy to fix the speed issue. Can't say the same for the drop-out, but that's manageable.

 

This might be old news, but I watched the first half hour or so of the "Once Were Brothers" film the other day. I'm pretty sure there is some previously unseen 1966 Tour film footage in there, including Robbie and Bob in a hotel room. Worth checking out, anyway.

 

I wasn’t aware of the speed issue. Is there a specific percentage to change to fix it? I could probably figure out how to do it.
Pretty sure the dropout is in the acoustic set,Mr Tambourine Man. Wasn’t that bad as far as I remember. I don’t think I have the skills to insert the missing moment from another source.

 

The electric set on Guitars Kissing runs at the same speed as BS4 within a gnat's crotchet. The acoustic set on Guitars Kissing runs slower than BS4 by about 1.8%. These are my calculations. A very smart contributor, probably way back on this very thread (and I'm sorry, I forget who it was, but thanks a lot!), confirmed that BS4 was running at the correct speed by doing some pitch/tuning comparisons.

Speed correction can be done easily with Audacity, for example. I can't remember for sure whether the drop-out is a missing piece of audio or just a silent gap that needs removing. Could just be the latter.

No matter what - I'll always keep BS4 for the booklet. Paperwork!

 

Thanks for the info. I think I’ll leave it all as-is.

 

Actually, the acoustic set sounds alright at the slower speed. Maybe that was the original intention before BS4 took its place. There was precedence of Bob manipulating speeds of recordings.

 

I always wondered whether the dropout was a kind of watermark to be able to identify that version of the show. GK was an alternate version that was not chosen for BS4. Maybe that dropout identifies whose copy it was that eventually got leaked?

 

For Manchester, I gave all the waveforms a look. The Box set and BSV4 are exactly the same.

I have silver discs for Guitars Kissing, as well as some unknown version from CDR. These two sound alike, with Guitars Kissing being preferable; brighter and clearer.

The official versions have more intro music (or tuning) before "Tell Me Mama."

I prefer the mastering on the unofficials. I can't determine if speeds are correct. Neither versions sound too slow/fast to my pedestrian ears.

There is also a short tape, either from Alderson's reel or from a 2nd Nagra (forgot the details), of the acoustic set. Ending on an incomplete "Desolation Row."

 

Pretty sure that's exactly why Dylan didn't want the Guitars Kissing mix released.

 

I have two or three different editions of Guitars Kissing and I remember
thinking one of them sounded better than the other two, but I no longer
remember which. Also have the concert in the Genuine Live 1966 box-set,
the Hollow Horn 1966 set, the Jewels & Binoculars CD-R collection, and
in a couple of other sets. Also have the Jacques von Son reels of the acetates
which I haven't played in about 35 years. Out of all these editions the only
one I've been listening to is the official Live 1966 box. This discussion has
made want to hear the alternate source tape of the acoustic set in the
Genuine Live 1966 box -- which I think is from the von Son acetate --
which Guitars Kissing doesn't have, so I'll do that.

 

I did a bit comparison between the old Vol4 discs and the discs from the box set. They are definitely the same mix and mastering. Many of the tracks are bit-for-bit identical. There are some samples different here and there; these are the kind of differences that typically show up among different pressings of the same disc over time.

The only reason I can see to keep the old discs are if you are really obsessive about variations that can't be heard.

 

Or if you have a full run of the BS and would mind the gap.

 

That was the same conclusion I reached. It's been almost four years, but I believe the only difference was an ever so slight change in the index points. And, obviously, the addition of the soundcheck at the end of the electric set.

 

Yes, there is something more intimate in those recordings, an analogue warmth maybe? However the Sheffield set from the Genuine Live 66 box remains a favourite.

 

And like the packaging/sleevenotes. I’m certainly keeping mine. You can’t have too many copies of this show.

 

Since you mention analog warmth, I suppose so, but no one has
actually defined that special something analog holds over digital.
I don't know what the right word is to describe analog. I find old
analog albums therapeutic to my ears. Dylan's acoustic recordings
1962-66 in particular do something to my brain that nothing else
can match. His analog electric recordings are like the seminal of
creation. To digitize them is to make an exact replica, a clone, but
it's missing the soul, if that makes any sense. There's something
special, something substantial in analog that isn't in digital.

 

Listening to 4/20 Melbourne today. Electric's set tape speed sounds way fast to me. Anyone else? I'm sure it's been mentioned but what's with the audience freak-out while Bob introduces Tom Thumb!

Favorite Ballad of a Thin Man on the box? I haven't listened to them successively

 

your ears and brain are analog...

 

That reminds me, I forgot - this year's Tour Anniversary has officially begun! Last night would have been Stockholm. I'll see you all in Copenhagen tomorrow.

 

Three years ago, I listened to this whole box set chronologically and published my thoughts about them on the 51st anniversary of each show, on Expecting Rain. @Percy Song persuaded me to replicate them here, so I did. They start on this thread at Page 260.

 

I can feel my urge to re-listen to this set picking up speed!