Sony to release 15 Bob Dylan hybrid SACDs!

I guess I've listened to too many Beatles records. I like hard panning.

 

Please, Sony, include bonus tracks, where applicable, on these discs. There was enough material recorded for Freewheelin' alone to almost fill a double album.

Sony's history of including bonus tracks and well-written liner notes on the Byrds and Miles Davis catalogs makes me cautiously optimistic that they will get it right with Bob as well.

We shall see.

 

Yep, I gotta quit saying it and get an SACD player! I never heard "Blood On The Tracks", so I guess I'll start there.

 

"Blood On The Tracks" and "Desire" are works of art I've known all my life to be the most personal, reflective and optimistic Dylan.

BOTT is a close, personal favorite of mine. I can't get enough of that record.

 

The *problem* [so to speak] regarding the addition of bonus tracks is the hybrid nature of the discs. Sony may feel like ABKCO--a dual layer issue gives fans enough bang for their buck, no need to give them any more. And guess what, ABKCO was right. And judging from the posts so far on this thread, I have no reason to believe that Sony will do it any differently. So far, all but three members seem delighted simply that the titles will be available on SACD as straight reissues.

 

Ron,
it is not up to Sony to decide if the Dylan SACDs have bonus tracks. Bob and his people control that.

 

I would bet if it was just up to Sony, they would do bonus tracks. But (unlike with the Byrds, for example) the decision in this case is entirely Dylan's, not Sony's, to make, isn't it? He pretty much gets absolute say as far as what comes out, when it comes out, or whether it comes out or not as far as I've heard. And as we've seen, he's only slightly less capricious than Neil Young.

 

Hey ya just hit 500! Congrats! Hope this thread doesn't get jacked.

 

Freewheelin'

Yes, absolutely! I have a boot called "The Complete Freewheelin' Sessions" and there's enough material on it for two whole CD's *in addition* to the album as originally released. Dylan was on fire during these sessions, a burst-feed of a big chunk of hi repertoire of the time, amazing performances. ALL of it is astonishing and deserves release! I'd even be happy with a two disk set on the model of the current Elvis Costello reissues. Hell, I'd even be happy with five or six prime bonus cuts on a single disk with the original album--as long as it sounded good.

lschwart

 

Thanks to both Mick and Jason for setting me straight. So I guess the question comes down to whether Bob prefers The Bootleg Series approach to releasing unreleased material or the Bonus Track approach. I prefer the latter, but at this point I suppose we should be grateful for anything. [Which accounts for the universal glee here that met the news from Sony that SOMETHING is going to be issued fairly soon.]

 

Me too!

 

As long as no one hacks the SACD encryption algorithms, single layer SACDs are *the* way for the industry to prevent the contents from being easily pirated via MP3 ripping and CD-R burning. With Sony and others now incorporating SACD capability in their low cost players, it's probably what they are after on the long run.

Arne

 

I doubt Greg Calbi's remastering of Highway 61 Revisited will be better as Steve's fabulous remastering. The same goes for the latest Elvis remaster/remixes... Steve Hoffman's 24 Karat Hits compilation is still "State-Of-The-Art"...

 

GREAT NEWS, but this will make my third copy of Street Legal. No complaints. It's the much overlooked Dylan album, I believe.

 

I've listened to too many MONO Beatles records. The last time I sent stuff to mastering, the engineer replied, "Are you SURE you want that much center information?"

 

Grant, you never heard Blood On the Tracks? Where've you been livin' man?

Run out and get it now dude, don't even wait for the SACD. It's brilliant. One of Bob's greatest, if not the greatest he's done.

 

I can't imagine life without Blood on the Tracks. I hope the remaster is done well.

Ryan

 

Think I'll pass on "Freewheelin'" and "Another Side" IF, indeed, they will be the stereo mixes. The current stereo mix of guitar, voice and (maybe) harmonica is distracting from the music (yes, I know that one track on "Freewheelin'" has a band, but you get my drift).

That said, many of the other Dylan titles for SACD intrigue me.

Bonus tracks would be nice, but as Mick Jones pointed out, Dylan determines that. That said, I believe I read that Dylan was working on a remastering of "Freewheelin'," "Blood" and another album ("Oh Mercy"?) that was to come out at the same time as a book he was writing. So maybe bonus tracks (for some SACD's, anyway) aren't totally out of the question. Then again, maybe Dylan isn't hip to SACD....or CD, for that matter.

C'mon Bobby, the times they are a-changin'!!!!!!

 

Dylan has been great about putting out unreleased stuff first with his bootleg series (next is the famous '64 Halloween Concert) and his web site in which he puts up interesting stuff. It would be great to have bonus materiel but those albums are great works in themselves and I could understand if he didnt want to tack stuff on the ends even as much as Id like to hear it.

 

Ok folks -- I have the OBVIOUS solution to the issue of mono/stereo and bonus tracks.

The first four Dylan albums (up through Another Side Of . . .) should have the mono mix on the CD layer and both the mono AND the stereo mix on the SACD layer (providing even more incentive for people to upgrade to SACD).

Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde (I realize that Blonde on Blonde wasn't one of the 15 titles mentioned, but they've got to do a hybride eventually) should have the stereo mix on the CD layer and both the mono AND the stereo mix on the SACD layer.

Nashville Skyline, Planet Waves and Desire should have the stereo mix on the CD layer and both the stereo AND the quad mix on the SACD layer.

All other titles should have the stereo mix on both the CD and SACD layer, although perhaps Sony could get Daniel Lanois to create new 5.1 mixes for Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind.

As for bonus material -- the intial pressing of each title should include a bonus disk chock full of outtakes.

There -- is everybody happy?

 

Re: Freewheelin'

What most people don't realize is that there were two different track lineups for Freewheelin'. Several years ago, Classic tentatively announced that it was going to do a 2-LP reissue of the album, with the rare original lineup on one record and the well-known second lineup on the other, but it fell through.

The original planned running order of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was as follows:

Side 1
Blowin' in the Wind
Rocks and Gravel
Let Me Die in My Footsteps
Down the Highway
Bob Dylan's Blues
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

Side 2
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Gamblin' Willie's Dead Man's Hand
Oxford Town
Corrina Corrina
Talkin' John Birch Blues
Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance
I Shall Be Free

On the original pressings, adding to the fun is that the third and sixth songs on Side 1 were in the wrong order compared to what the label said.

Forty years later, three of the four removed tracks remain unavailable in their original form (as they appeared above):
-- "Rocks and Gravel" (listed in the U.S. Copyright Office as "Solid Road") is unreleased
-- "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" was on The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3, but with one fewer verse than on the original Freewheelin'
-- "Gamblin' Willie's Dead Man's Hand" is on The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 in its original form, but with the title "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie"
-- "Talkin' John Birch Blues" is unreleased in Freewheelin' form, but a live version is on The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 entitled "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues"

 

Last year Bob's management asked SUNDAZED to reissue Bob's Freewheeln' in mono on vinyl. Steve Irwin thought it would be a great idea to go with the promo version with the alternative songs since he already had his hands on the tapes. Bob's manager informed Mr. Irwin that Bob liked the final song selection, and in the end that is what SUNDAZED was asked to reissue. Bob can be frustrating at times.

Richard.

 

The thing about Dylan is that with some recordings (BOTT, Freewheelin', Infidels, Oh Mercy) there are tons of outtakes and for other ones (John Wesley Harding and Time Out of Mine, Nasville Skyline) nothing is known. Bob might have to go with live recordings to provide bonus tracks for some of these. I think with the Bootleg Series well established, it would be unlikely there would be bonus tracks. Bobdylan.com is, as one poster wrote, a very good source for unreleased material until these SACDs are released and we all find out for sure what's in those vaults.

 

For John Wesley Harding, they could include Dylan's performances from the Woody Guthrie Tribute concert -- I think it was at Carnegie Hall in 1968. He was backed by the Band and played a few songs. That concert was professionally recorded and I believe that an album was released. One of the tracks appears on a Dylan rarities CD that was released in Japan.

For Nashville Skyline, they could include quad mixes, tracks from the Johnny Cash sessions (yikes!) or live material from Dylan on the Johnny Cash show or performing with the Band at the Isle of Wight.

For Time Out of Mind, they could include the outtake version of Missippi (re-recorded for Love and Theft) as well as live versions of songs from the album.

 

I wonder which mix they will use. Or will they remix it again?