Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes - where we're currently at (Part 4)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by hodgo, Oct 17, 2014.

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  1. Thelonious_Cube

    Thelonious_Cube Epistrophe of Light

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Right - in a sense, I think the existence of the Complete set is great advertising/marketing for the Raw set.

    Actually issuing the complete tapes with unreleased material has already brought them an enormous amount of press and word-of-mouth...even if they only break even (and I doubt that would be the case), the increase in sales of the Raw set and other Dylan stuff is probably well worth it.
     
  2. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Am I the only one who feels that if I buy the 2CD set, I will surely feel like I am missing out, but if I buy the 6CD set, I will feel like I have way more than I want?
     
  3. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    When we were discussing here about whether the 6-CD set will turn a profit (and it definitely will), I just threw out a number of 10,000 copies being sold over the course of 1 year. BUT does anyone know how many of the BIG deluxe sets were sold for say Tell-Tale Signs and/or Another Self-Portrait? Maybe those sold 20,000 or maybe they only sold 5000.

    Just wondering then if we could get a better estimate.

    Arnie
     
  4. hollowhorn

    hollowhorn In Memoriam In Memoriam

    Location:
    Isle of Asda
  5. DmitriKaramazov

    DmitriKaramazov Senior Member

    There might be one more of you LOL!
     
  6. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I think the 2-CD would be the best $15-$20 you ever spent, and you can always get the big box later to fill in the blanks and flesh out the picture.
     
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  7. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    2008....006....none....Bootleg Series, Vol 8: Telltale Signs...............................................185,000.....163k-SScanAug10, 2-disc multiplier
    2008....-----....none....Bootleg Series, Vol 8: Telltale Signs Sampler...................................55,000.....1-disc condensed edition

    2013....021....none....Bootleg Series, Vol 10: Another Self Portrait.....................................85,000.....34k-SScanSep13w-4, 2-disc multiplier
    2013....060....none....Bootleg Series, Vol 10: Deluxe Edition..............................................40,000.....7k-SScanAug13w-1, 4-disc multiplier

    Last platinum album: Modern Times (2007)

    INFO LINK:
    http://www.greasylake.org/the-circu...ael-jackson-and-the-jackson-5usa-album-sales/

    EDIT: You guys do the math, re: The Basement Tapes -- numbers make my head hurt.
     
  8. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Well, judging by the Another Self-Portrait DELUXE set, that one sold 40,000 copies. Wow!!! (The Tell-Tales Sign Deluxe set doesn't seem to be listed separately; maybe it's part of the total 185,000 copies sold.) So that's at least $100 x 40,000 = $4 million. So these things are definitely making a good amount of dough.

    Arnie
     
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  9. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    Yes, they are! And I still think that Sony had no idea how successful ASP was going to be last year, and had to make a whole bunch more copies in a hurry, causing the shipping delays we saw. I'm sure they'll be better prepared this year, especially if it's gonna bring in that kind of coin.
     
  10. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    Early on in this thread (in the immediate aftermath of the CBT announcement, I think before the threads where combined), there was a post that suggested that Sony was caught off-guard by how well ASP sold, and (as I recall) that directly led them working with Jan Haust and making the current set a reality. It wasn't clear from the post how the poster knew this (but hey, if people contribute who are in a position to know these thing, I wouldn't think they are often at liberty to tell), but these sales figures would seem to justify that claim.
     
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  11. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    Elvis Presley's own Basement Tape:

     
  12. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    That's a great way to look at it. Thanks!
     
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  13. Thelonious_Cube

    Thelonious_Cube Epistrophe of Light

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    I'm taking that "4-disc-multiplier" to mean it sold 10,000 copies (which counts as 40,000 "units" towards gold/platinum status)
     
  14. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    On point! Even after I read Sid's book, this never occurred to me, even though I've listened to the track an absurd amount of times in the years that followed.

    I don't think it's totally relevant, but I just now recalled that "Worried Blues" also repeatedly evokes that same phrase ("I'm going where chilly winds don't blow").
     
  15. Thelonious_Cube

    Thelonious_Cube Epistrophe of Light

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
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  16. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    4 so far! :wave:
     
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  17. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    hollowhorn posted that over here a little earlier:
    http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...2-cd-or-boxed-set.387295/page-6#post-11260796

    I tried to play the 5+ minute sample clip but nothing happened -- were you able to listen to it? I sure wish they would STREAM the whole thing, or at least make it a podcast.
     
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  18. Thelonious_Cube

    Thelonious_Cube Epistrophe of Light

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Yes, I was able to listen to it - it's not that interesting, since it's just a promo for the series - mostly snippets from the pundits saying how important this all is - some music in the background
     
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  19. Thelonious_Cube

    Thelonious_Cube Epistrophe of Light

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Am I the only one that feels like 6 CDs is not enough?

    I want those 9 "missing reels" or a 30 Days sized box with all of the fragments expanded out to full-length tracks and extra chatter and false starts and...and...and all The Band stuff, too.

    No offense intended, George - I can fully understand why someone would not want all of the sloppy material but still feel like the 2CD set isn't quite enough either.
     
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  20. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    Hmm. Very interesting. BTW, this is the track that had most tempted me to abandon my "no previews" stance.

    Your description makes me further lean to the idea that these will be unlisted bonus tracks on the physical box, oddball alternates to presumably more complete and compelling versions heard on earlier discs.

    Never made much sense to me how a fuller version of the circulating "scratchy fiddle" version of "900 Miles" could possibly earn a place on the 2CD set.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2014
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  21. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    Do we know there are 9 missing reels? I feel like we've gotten very muddled and contradictory info as to how many (if any) reels are missing.

    The Rolling Stone article made me think that most/all of the songs they couldn't access from reels they got from alternate sources, aside from those handful that were "all distortion." Not sure what to believe, really.
     
  22. Thelonious_Cube

    Thelonious_Cube Epistrophe of Light

    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    That was 90% tongue-in-cheek wishful thinking.

    I'm mostly assuming the "9 missing reels" is just a mistake (i.e. it includes the Bauls of Bengal reels, the Band-only stuff or what-have-you), but given that they admitted that there were tracks they couldn't access from reels, there is always the possibility that along with those "known" missing reels there are some "unknown" ones...we may never know.

    Mystery is a fact, as the man once said.
     
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  23. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I think these older posts by mbd77 started the "9 reels" chatter:
    http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...were-at-currently.349311/page-9#post-10688001
     
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  24. asdf35

    asdf35 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin TX
    Well, I streamed all the "new" Basement preview tracks into Audacity,
    and did a tidy job with trackmarkers and fade-outs. Put "Dress It Up"
    and "Aint' No More Cane" full songs at the beginning, and burned a CD.

    Really a nice experience (if you have time to waste).
    I feel about an inch closer to the new songs....

    The odd thing is, the mythical "Wild Wolf" is the least interesting track on the CD!!

    Not to downgrade it (or my perception from 30 seconds), but I mean to reinforce
    how fascinating all these new tracks are. Every single one is notable, but I gotta say
    "Mary Lou, I Love You Too" is really sticking to me...currently.
     
  25. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    That was one of the more intriguing pre-announcement posts on the thread. I hope @mbd99 will chime in again!

    It can be tough sometimes to know how much credibility to assign people you encounter on message boards, but his posts rang true to me. And in hindsight comments like "I've also heard there are additional tapes from both before and after what you would consider to be these 'basement' recordings" seem to have been borne out (though we will probably never establish a definitive chronology, many of the "new" songs seem to belong to the earlier or later parts of the sessions). However, I get the sense that his information was a little out of date and came from before the deal was worked out with Jan Haust. If so, the "9 missing reels" comment may no longer be accurate.

    After all, it seems Sony had a dub of "Minstrel Boy" before they had the chance to access the original reels.
     
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