Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol.16: Springtime In New York (1980–1985) (Content & Sound Quality)

Do the tapes still exist for the abandoned album Dylan recorded in 1991 (?) prior to Good As I Been To You? We got one track on BS8, so I assume/hope the others exist.

 

David Bromberg Sessions, June 1992

This was the album that Dylan started to record in 1992, that was later scrapped in favour of the solo acoustic performances which became the 'Good As I Been To You' album. A 4-track 'sampler' from these sessions emerged in 2002. Sadly, it now seems that no more of a complete tape will be forthcoming, despite it's existence being known.

JUNE 2006 UPDATE: Here's some new information, coming from 'The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia' by Michael Gray. Under the entry for David Bromberg (page 89), he give a more detailed list of songs recorded by Bob Dylan at these 1992 sessions than has ever been reported before:


1. Hey Joe (maybe a warm up/fragment, or not recorded at all?)
2. Mobile Line
3. Just Because
4. Field Of Stone (Would You Lay With Me)
5. Annie's Song
6. Jugband Song
7. Rock Me Baby
8. Send Me To The 'lectric Chair
9. Gotta Do My Time
10. Su Su's Got A Mohawk
11. Northeast Texas Woman
12. Sail On
13. Can't Lose What You Never Had
14. World Of Fools
15. Everybody's Crying Mercy
16. Tennessee Blues
17. Summer Wages
18. Casey Jones
19. Morning Blues
20. Young Westley
21. The Lady Came From Baltimore
22. New Lee Highway Blues
23. Rise Again
24. Duncan & Brady
25. The Main Street Moan
26. Nobody's Fault But Mine
27. Miss The Mississippi & You (currently circulating)
28. Sloppy Drunk (currently circulating)
29. Kaatskill Serenade (currently circulating)
30. Polly Vaughn (currently circulating)


Looks like we'd have 2 discs worth of material if these came into circulation.
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Here's some session information which I compiled a while back, taken from ISIS magazine:

ISIS #85 TWM 1462: 4248 9th May 1999 Page 9

4248: THE ACME STUDIOS, CHICAGO, JUNE 1992 SESSIONS

These sessions with Dave Bromberg, have not been mentioned in this column for some time, so here are the various references: 2359, 2362, 2366, 2378 and 2445.

The musicians on these sessions included a horn section of: Peter Ecklund (trumpet), Curtis Linberg (trombone) and John Firmin (tenor saxophone and claranet). The rhythm section consisted of: Butch Amiot (bass), Chris Cameron (keyboards) and Richard Crooks (drums), who also played on 'Blood On the Tracks'. Other musicians were: Jeff Wisor (fiddle and mandolin), Dick Fegy (mandolin) and Glenn Lowe (guitar). These are in addition to Dave Bromberg, of course. There was a choir, as previously reported, but this was only for one of the sessions. Also, a zydeco accordian player came in for one song; this was NORTH EAST TEXAN WOMAN. This title adds to previous information, as do a few others below.
A number of chicago blues songs were done, mainly Muddy waters material, as well as some Jimmie Rogers material, such as MISS THE MISSISSIPPI AND YOU, and some Dave Bromberg songs, such as KAATSKILL SERENADE and SLOPPY DRUNK. HEY JOE was a warm-up song and, as previously reported, POLLY VAUGHN was recorded. Dylan, who drove out from Los Angeles in a "truck" (perhaps a camper van?), is quoted as saying, at one session, 'I've made too many records". Dylan was looking for a "live" sound, that is, all the musicians playing together at one time in the same room. For at least some of the recordings, the musicians sat in a circle in the studio to record, including Dylan. Though not too talkative, Dylan did hang out a bit with the session musicians and the crew.

Ian Woodward.
------------------------------------

13265 Acme Recording
Chicago, Illinois
Early/Mid June 1992
Produced by David Bromberg.

1. I'll Rise Again (trad.)
2. Nobody's Fault But Mine (Blind Willie Johnson)
3. Lady Came From Baltimore (trad.)
4. Polly Vaughan (trad.)
5. Casey Jones (trad.)
6. Duncan And Brady (trad.)
7. Kaatskill Serenade (David Bromberg)
8. World Of Fools (David Bromberg)

1-2, 4-8 Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar) backed by David Bromberg (guitar) and his band.
2 Bob Dylan (vocal) and David Bromberg (acoustic guitar).
1-2 Chicago South Side Gospel Choir
Note. No known recording in general circulation from this session.
References.
Mix, November 1992.
Clinton Heylin: The Recording Sessions 1960-1994. St. Martins Press 1995, pp. 189– 91.
Clinton Heylin: Bob Dylan: Behind The Shades. Take Two. Viking 2000, pp. 672–673.
Session info updated 26 February 1993.

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Therefore, these are the tracks known to have been recorded -

1. North East Texas Woman
2. Miss The Mississippi & You
3. Kaatskill Serenade
4. Sloppy Drunk
5. Polly Vaughn
6. I'll Rise Again
7. Nobody's Fault But Mine
8. Lady Came From Baltimore
9. Casey Jones
10. Duncan & Brady
11. World Of Fools


I've omitted 'Hey Joe' from the list since it was described as a 'warm up' and may or may not have been recorded.
Thanks to Emily for correcting some of the band member's names, and my spelling of 'Kaatskill Serenade'! ;-)

August 11th 2004 Update:

In 'The Recording Sessions', Clinton Heylin suggests that it could be very likely that 'Little Maggie' was also recorded, so I suppose it's worth mentioning here.

There was also mutterings of a video (!) from these sessions turning up. As of October 2005, nothing more has surfaced, sadly.

I think it's worth pointing out the following about the first list: Track 3, which is currently listed as Just Because, is actually titled Just Because You Didn't Answer, written by Thom Bishop; and Track 10, which is currently listed as Su Su's Got a Mohawk, is actually titled Susu Got a Mohawk, written by Thom Bishop and David Bromberg. Both incredible singer-songwriters.
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This tape is known to be in the hands of a collector. The whole thing, which unfortunately he has sat on. My friend (now deceased) worked on this tape when it was ‘received’ from the original source. Interestingly, I was told there was some kind of issue with the tape as acquired, and it needed some degree of work to make it ‘listenable’.

 

There was this conversation in 2019 between Raymond Foye and CH discussing the material in the Archive on the Brooklyn Rail website:-

Raymond Foye: And then a propos Street-Legal, after you read the manuscripts, you go and listen to all the piano demos, and you get to see the writing develop in all sorts of extraordinary ways. And at every stage, something vital, something important is lost. And that's part of the act of creating a work of art. There's a gambler's instinct, where he's always pushing it a little further, but then there's that ruthless side where he has to throw so much away. Isn't it interesting what a fine editor of his writing he is in the studio?

CLINTON HEYLIN with Raymond Foye

 

Not to go on a tangent but all big labels should start pressing plants to solve this DISASTER that is 2021 pressing times.

 

I don’t share the need for more M&A, or post-L&T, unless it’s a Rough & Rowdy Ways deep dive. Sony could do a lot worse commercially than a box of R&RW sessions, it’s his best reviewed new album in 19 years or more. But I definitely agree that something covering 1986-87 is in order. Sidewalks, Fences & Walls is one of the remaining bootlegged tracks I have that I’d love to have in decent quality and there are enough outtakes to recast DITG as a great covers album.

 

The Complete Masked & Anonymous Unmasked is a nice wish because like the Bromberg recordings, it’s almost a lost album in its own right, a complete session that only a small handful of which is available with an eclectic song selection. Not quite Kaatskills Seranade eclectic, but everything from I’ll Remember You to Amazing Grace to Dirt Road Blues, all performed by the best band in the land at their peak. That’s a whole filmed Shadow Kingdom.

 

I get that it's a great prospect for some but the performances in that film left me cold. Same with the Supper Club. I can appreciate how hard it is to oversee this stuff as even obsessives like me have stuff they're not excited about. Having said that, my Bootleg Series want list is hardly dwindling as the years go by. I'd love to see:

The Blood On The Tracks test pressing on CD
A Desire box
Live 1986 and 1987 collections
A 1988 set, including all the covers and rarely performed songs
A 1991-92 live set, with a focus on acoustic covers
A 1995 set, centred around Prague
A 2003 set, centred around the final UK shows
Some sort of huge NET collection seems like asking for trouble but I would undoubtedly welcome it
A Street Legal sessions and tour box (definitely including piano demos if they exist)
A 1986-88 outtakes set
An Oh Mercy box
A TOOM box
Rough & Rowdy Ways outtakes (including multiple takes of MMF)
More Infidels

 

Tangentially related question: are the contents of the third CD from BS8 available legitimately anywhere, streaming, download, or otherwise?

 

Yes! iTunes, streaming sites, etc.

Edit: Just looked at Tidal and many tracks are now missing. Weird.

Anyway, they’re for sale on iTunes.

Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (Deluxe Edition) by Bob Dylan
Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (Deluxe Edition) by Bob Dylan

 

1) is the test press stuff on the cd box?

2) is there enough desire stuff for a 2-3 cd?

 

1. The same basic takes are all there on the box, but there are mixes, edits, and overdubs unique to the test pressing.

2. The Desire sessions were fairly extensive, and surely there would be enough interesting material to support at least a smaller set like you describe (particularly if it was supplemented by, say, material from the 1976 tour). However, there have been no indications that this is a concept they’re considering.

 

I thought at some stage “The Source” was quoted as saying that the session tapes for Desire had been lost/destroyed.

 

Thank you!

 

I could be mistaken, but my memory is the only time “The Source” has commented on lost/destroyed tapes was in regards to the bulk of their 1978 Tour board tapes (damn).

 

I hope you’re right and I’m wrong but am pretty sure this was additional to the quote about the 78 tour tapes.

 

Now that you mention it, I’ve got a hazy memory that perhaps there was a quote along those lines from someone at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa (the archivist, perhaps?). I’ve done a couple quick searches though, and can’t find the quote yet.

 

Mine’s hazy as well and I can’t find the quote either.The thing that stood out for me and why I remember it was that the quote said the tapes were lost/destroyed in the years after they were used for Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3.Now that seemed both remarkable and inexcusable.

 

I’m pretty sure now that it was a quote from Heylin during one of his Q&A sessions for his recent book.

 

Hello everyone. Can you tell me about this Box what doesn't appear of the one released on the bootlegs?

 

I'd love to hear more Clydie King duets.
Loved Abraham, Martin and John from TNM.

 

Virtually nothing.

4 takes have already been released :

-Let It Be Me (but only on 7'' single, it has never been released on CD to this day)
-Don’t Ever Take Yourself Away (released on a soundtrack CD some years ago)
-Death is Not the End (an edited version has been released on Down in the Groove, this will be the unedited version)
-Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love) (an alternate mix is included, we don't know how different it is compared to the released version on Empire Burlesque)

Everything esle is brand new

 

Except Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground which was a B side.

Tim

 

There is a doubt concerning Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground, the way they present it it may well be an alternate version compared to the one released as a B-side. They actually did the same with "Trouble in Mind" on the "Trouble no More" set : they did not released the known version.

 

The running time for the version released as a B-side is 4:45. According to Quobuz, the running time for the version on the new set is 3:31.

Album Springtime in New York: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 16 / 1980-1985 (Deluxe Edition), Bob Dylan | Qobuz: download and streaming in high quality

 

Thanks Racingman11 but I meant the songs released on bootleg. If they have been included in this collection or are still available only on bootlegs.