Dylan- Blood on the Tracks - "Test Pressing" version - RSD 2019*

I have all of the previous Dylan Record Store Day titles. They are all available in the secondary market for the original price or less. I would expect the same will be true of this item as well. They are pressing a lot (8000, I believe?). Just don’t buy at inflated prices - based on all past Dylan items, the price should come back down.

 

Wasn't the story of More Blood on the Tracks that some tapes were lost? "duplicated from the original disc" (from: Record Store Day 2019: Ten of the best releases ). That sounds like a needle drop to me.
from Analog Planet: "... only the Minneapolis songs used on the original album were in the vault on multi-track tape. The whereabouts of the others is not currently known—if they still exist."

 

I'll bet they still exist. They're in someone's private collection --someone who really shouldn't have them, perhaps--or they are just misfiled, misplaced or in a box that's mislabeled. We're talking Dylan here--someone who'd already had his trash rummaged through by that point in his career. I doubt the record company would be so careless in handling Dylan tapes. Maybe Dylan himself has them---or his brother.

If they weren't intentionally destroyed, they'll surface eventually--and there will be a thread here devoted to it's anticipated release.

 

The minneapolis tapes were lost, the new york ones were all available. That’s why more blood only has new york tracks on it

 

Thanks for clearing that up! So the reason for not putting all the "test pressing" mixes on More Blood on the Tracks , is that they probably had the RSD 2019 release in mind?

 

I agree. Someone has them though they might be mislabelled having been spooled onto another reel, in an attic or basement somewhere. It was highly suspected that Don DeVito had them, but his daughter works for Columbia so I’d imagine they talked to her.

I don’t think any of the musicians had dubs.

The masters could be with the family of Phil Ramone. Could be with the family of John Hammond. Could be with the family of Bob Dylan.

By the way, it’s been known that these have been missing since the early 1990s, so likely that they never made it either out of the studio or out of the hands of individuals involved in the production.

 

I’m no expert, but haven’t some those New York mixes (we’re talking finished mixes here, not multitracks) appeared on Biograph (1985) and the first Bootleg instalment (1991)?

 

Nope.

 

Are you sure? To my understanding, You’re a Big Girl Now from Biograph and Tangled Up in Blue from Bootleg Series vol 1-3 are the same versions, that feature on the test pressing. Several other New York sessions takes are on BS vol 1-3 as well, IIRC.

 

Unless they release this after RSD they can kiss my .........

 

Wow.

 

Calling @lukpac — he usually knows about these things...

 

I inferred this as well from reading about it. But maybe they were remixed for Biograph and BS I-III ?Incidentally, I love the version of "You're a Big Girl Now" on Biograph.

 

Yes. ‘You’re A Big Girl Now’ on Biograph is a mix done in the early 1980s (and inferior imo) and ‘Tangled’ is not the same take as on BS1-3.

 

Thx, I stand corrected.
I managed to find the entry on the test pressing on searchingforagem. The Tangled Up in Blue on the test pressing is take 3, remake 2 from September 19th, 1974. The take on BS vol 1-3 is take 1 from September 16th.

 

Probably a stupid question, but does anyone think that this will get a wider release or--gasp--be issued on CD?

 

No.

 

Well I for one hope it does and would buy it in a heartbeat, regardless of the fact I’ll also be buying the RSD version...

 

It should have been included on the previous bootleg series in both large and small format CD releases to begin with!

 

Bob Dylan - The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert! (Vinyl, US, 2016) For Sale | Discogs

2016 2LP, Dylan, Black Friday RSD can now be purchased sealed starting at $16.50 - 38 for sale. Released by Columbia / Legacy

Bob Dylan - In Concert - Brandeis University 1963

2011 Dylan, RSD can now be purchased sealed starting at $15 - 46 for sale. Released by Columbia / Legacy

If you are buying the new release as an investment, you had better sell it within the first few days.

 

It certainly should have been in the bigger collection, irrespective of the overlapping of takes.

(I mean, if you're going to Frankenstein some tracks...wtf?)

 

Those releases are available on CD, and this likely won't be, so what's the comparison?

 

That is true - they were released on CD also. Are we sure that this won't also follow with a CD release, as this too is being released by Columbia / Legacy? Their previous pattern is a RSD vinyl release followed by a CD. The Brandeis University concert was reissued again on vinyl six years later in 2017 - and there are 30 of those for sale starting at $14. I am only saying that I wouldn't let the fear of missing out force you to pay unrealistic prices. I will also admit that I have succumbed to said fear many times in past RSD campaigns. RSD turns normally selective buyers into opportunists. I often see collectors go into RSD with two things on their list and they will leave a store with six - only because they were afraid that they would miss the opportunity if they didn't buy it 'now'. More often than not, the two they wanted weren't even in the six they bought. The RSD campaign is brilliant.

 

I hope so.It is the only way I’ll be buying one.
The RSD releases by Bowie and The National in the last 2 years have come out on CD around June/July.
This year there are RSD releases by Jeff Tweedy,Peter Gabriel,Elton John,REM as well as this I would buy in a heartbeat on CD.

 

The ONLY reason I think this might come out on CD is that More Blood, More Tracks --unlike all the rest of the Bootleg Series --didn't come out in a 2CD version. There was only the Deluxe and a single CD version--which while excellent, does little more than whet the appetite for more. Perhaps this "test pressing" was originally going to be the second CD of the 2CD set (that never was) until someone said. "Hey RSD is coming up. We need to put something out. Let's hold this back ."
Also unusual is why the Test Pressing is coming out after More Blood, More Tracks. You would think it would have come before --in order to promote the box set.
Weird.