Bob Dylan: THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 17: "Fragments - Time Out of Mind Sessions" [1/27/23]*

We saw him at the Met in Philly and there were surprisingly plenty of empty seats.

 

The Rolling Stone article struck me as odd in tone. Firstly, 'The Source' mentions how the series may be winding down, but then goes on to basically summarise all the usual projects that they have mentioned before. What was new, was the downbeat nature of the replies. Does Bob selling his music catlogue now mean it's no longer worth their while putting effort into continuing the series? I mean, just off the top of my head, there are boxes that I would like to see cover 1976; even if the sbds aren't salvageable, they have multitracks of the final shows, right? Then there's the Hard to Handle footage, audio and video. I'd personally like to see the concerts with the Grateful Dead collected, and released, perhaps with some Temples in Flames stuff, but that may be a little too niche, given the erratic nature of Dylan's performances during that period. The Carnergie Hall concert from 1963 should be a no brainer though. So, yes, on the one hand I can see how the series is ever diminishing in a way, I mean there's some lovely stuff on Fragments, and I'm glad to have it, but it isn't revelatory in the way that even the first officially released ouutakes of 'Mississippi' on Tell Tale Signs were. You could also argue, that at least three of the discs are superfluous too, and that it's a double cd of outtakes masquerading as a 5cd boxset. Mistakes have crept in along the way, both Springtime...and Travellin' Thru were not as carefully thought out as they could have been, at the same time, there's still a lot of potential. Mentiong going to see Dylan live was strange, as the people who go to see him, will almost certainly collect every Bootleg Series release.

 

I don't know -- this seems to be the same tone as last year's piece, as I recall it. We all had these same discussions 15 months ago after that piece spelled doom and gloom. I didn't entirely buy it then, and I don't entirely buy it now. But if Rosen is serious about winding the series down, he should instead hand the reins to someone who cares.

 

I agree to an extent, but I personally felt the tone was more downbeat this time around. I mean, 'The Source' claimed the decline in demand for physical media as a main reason, when in fact, at least among Dylan fans, the demand for physical media is still high. Yeah, take a break, hand the reins over, there' still a lot left to mine. Even if it did end, who would have thought back in 1991 with the release of Vol 1-3 we would have ever gotten this much?

 

Exactly. Reading the article, I just started feeling very grateful that it exists at all. When you put it in perspective, much of the complaining (including my own) about what’s in and what’s out seems a bit inconsequential. Even if it ends at #20, it will have been pretty incredible. Just make it #18 Oh Mercy, #19 Street Legal and #20 an NET overview.

 

The more I think about it, the more I see this narrative on future bootleg series volumes looking very similar to Springsteen’s comments that denied any interest in releasing a Born In the USA box. It looks like the same PR trick, both are statements said to Rolling Stone days after the release of a different product.

I’m sure the BITU box is coming and more Bootleg Series volumes will be coming. Sony has invested heavily in Dylan’s catalog, so there must be plenty of stuff in the pipeline.

 

New Dylan.FM Podcast with FRAGMENTS Liner Notes writer Steven Hyden

In this conversation we talk about how Steven got the gig, what he was asked to do, his thoughts about summing up 60 years of Bob Dylan, what it meant at the time for a 55 year old to make an album, the role Daniel Lanois played, what the new mix and outtakes say about the album, his thoughts on the live tracks that are included, the future of the Bootleg Series, and much more.

A YouTube clip from the above:


Public version is ~20 min of talk, Premium is ~60 min.

 

Listening to this set on repeat, I'm just really grateful to be experiencing another revelatory Bootleg Series in real time.

 

My guess for a while has been that The Bootleg Series will stop at #20.
-1978
-Oh Mercy
-Some kind of grand finale

Then I think they'll switch marketing strategy and start something else.
It's been an amazing run, but it will end.

 

Fragments - Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996 – 1997)
Detailed song list. Sorry if this has already been posted.

 

“Songs From Behind The Curtain” – Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996 – 1997), Bootleg Series Vol 17, Bob Dylan, 2023

 

Fragments has debuted at number 26 on the Australian album chart. I don't know how these things are measured these days.

 

I've had a funny sense for a few years that Rosen sounds tired, like he really wants to retire but can't until Bob does.

 

the villager to bring it all back home

 

I've just listened to sides three and four. I especially love the "Dreamin' of You". These alternate songs and versions are not throwaways. They are keepers.

 

For some reason, I get a Cutting Edge vibe listening to the outtakes.

Would love an Oh Mercy / URS set like this, presuming there is sufficient stuff in the vaults to complement the already released outtakes.

 

I'm starting to get freaked out by the amount of new mixes and extra takes, of the TOOM core songs.

Me and a close friend are pretty heavy into Dylan's music, I mean relative to some of the posts and members in these Dylan forum threads .

I suppose the two of us have had such negative experiences, separately, going to his concerts, I always have to remind myself there are many good live recordings that have been released through this Bootleg Series, so far. Quite a lot. I wasn't pleased with the sound for most of the live ones on this disc 4. For an official release, for $, unacceptable in terms of sound quality imo. It brings me back to all those bad or just forgettable memories, due simply to this source fidelity.

I'd prefer these deep-dive albums be sequenced by song and take, together. I always find it confusing, jumbled, and it gives the impression there is more variety than there is more there, when the 'same' songs are mixed up together with others. It's a bit deceptive, to my mind. If it's chronological I understand that for the sake of historical accuracy and how the process of the songwriting and sesssions evolve. I know I can shuffle the sequence how it works best for me for sussing out what I like. It just takes a bit longer organizing.

Well I thought I had sonething else to add lol. A revisit of TTS eventually.

Oh I know what it was fwiw. Man, I don't know how they can ignore Planet Waves and a little more from the tour with The Band. I mean BOTT is the comeback to greatness album, but it starts imo with his return to making an album with and touring with The Band. Then Blood follows.

And another yes for more Desire, or more Hard Rain '76.
That is like the end of another, different era, than PW/Band. There are like two or maybe three Dylan periods in the span of something like 4 years.

The other thing with TOOM for me is a few of the songs are similar to me. So I've got multiple takes of similar type songs I'm trying to distnguish between! A few of these Boot Series releases always seem to be a lot of work! Listening to, and finding the sweet spot in the set. Never enough time...

Agreed Travelin' Thru and Springtime, for me, left a lot or close to it, to be Desired! Still some essentials and gems though.

This TOOM set is more tightly focused and that's a good thing imo.

 

Fair play to Lanois, the vocals are pretty rough on a few outtakes and yet the final production of the wise-old man voice works so much better on Oh Mercy and, years later, TOOM, in comparison with URRS (an album I happen to like a lot but wish Bob’s voice had some of the Lanois finesse). He was able to make the voice as it was at the time an asset.

 

Agreed! Suggesting that perhaps part of the Lanois production strategy was to build the atmosphere around the tone of Dylan's voice, not even just the feelings it evoked. The pure sound of it.

 

I know there has never been any indication that they would do it, but a collection of blu rays with career spanning archive footage would be a good grand finale.

 

Reasonably interesting article from Magnim Photos on the Not Dark Yet promo and their wider relationship with Dylan.

Magnum provides visual gravitas to Dylan's dark soundscape | Magnum Photos Magnum Photos

 

The 1965 shows. A nice brick, they have the tapes. Took the time to edit those down to mp3s for a bonus download for The Cutting Edge. Not much effort to box those up.

 

Thanks for the heads up, with my $30 Amazon bonus points, net cost $44. And I see today it's back up to $109. I'm glad Import CDs canceled my order $98 order for no reason. They said card authorization failure, but when I checked my order the card info was correct. I didn't bother to investigate. I just figured they over sold, and used "authorization failure" as excuse, and now I'm glad they did!

 

Very much agree that the article's tone was odd. Quite unpleasant. A whiff of 'go f'k yourself' to the fans.

Fragments is still a solid BS entry, though, on balance. I have yet to sample either the live disc or the TTS disc but the 2 CDs jam packed with great alt takes are enough on their own. And then there's the remix, which pretty much does everything I always wanted: it lets the album breathe, and lets us hear Bob's voice. That some have tried to explain the remix away as anything but a deLanois-ing, well, I think they are kidding themselves, or trying to kid us. Whatever the motivation, the remix is wonderful, so important. It *is* the album now. I exult in it. My only agony is that I'd like to have it on vinyl but am not about to pay £100 for the privilege right now.

That Rolling Stone article, I don't buy it at all. They have every intention of milking the Dylan cow for as long as they can. They stuck with the BS, albeit slightly erratically, when Dylan was still in the doldrums, commercially and critically speaking, and now that he's an unimpeachable genius who can do no wrong, is that the time they're going to walk away from selling wildly overpriced sets of music they have lying around in the vault? Not likely. And isn't the whole 'the Source' schtick getting very wearisome indeed?