2007 RELEASES
The Other Side Of The Mirror - Bob Dylan Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965
On Tuesday, October 30, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will release on DVD, for the first time in any format, The Other Side Of The Mirror - Bob Dylan Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963 - 1965, on Tuesday, October 30. A long-awaited holy grail for Bob Dylan aficionados, The Other Side Of The Mirror brings together more than 80 minutes of exquisitely filmed performances, 70% available here for the first time, drawn from three seminal years in the artist's ever-evolving career.
Produced and directed by Academy Award winner Murray Lerner (From Mao To Mozart: Isaac Stern In China), The Other Side Of The Mirror - Bob Dylan Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963 - 1965 opens a window into a critical epoch in American cultural history as reflected in the musical transformations of Bob Dylan's galvanizing watershed performances at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, 1964, and 1965.
"This is a different kind of film, in a sense, from what I usually make," said Murray Lerner. "We decided on no narration, no pundit interviews, no interviews with Dylan. Nothing except the experience of seeing him... . That to me is exciting. Just the clear experience gives you everything you need."
The DVD includes liner notes from Grammy-winning author Tom Piazza.
I'm Not There
Also being released on October 30 is the soundtrack to director Todd Haynes' unconventional Dylan biopic I'm Not There. This two-disc, 34 song collection includes newly-recorded cover versions of Bob Dylan songs from and inspired by one of the year's most wildly-anticipated films performed by an eclectic cavalcade of acclaimed and celebrated contemporary musicians including Eddie Vedder, Sonic Youth, Jim James, Stephen Malkmus, Cat Power, Jack Johnson, Sufjan Stevens, John Doe, Karen O, Iron & Wine, Mason Jennings, Jeff Tweedy, Willie Nelson, Antony, Los Lobos, Yo La Tengo, Mark Lanegan, Rambin' Jack Elliot, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova and more. I'm Not There includes the original Bob Dylan recording of the song, a rare oft-bootlegged outtake from 1967 which has never been available on any official release.
One of the year's most highly-anticipated cinema releases, I'm Not There re-images the life of Bob Dylan as portrayed by six different actors -- Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger and Ben Whishaw -- showing Dylan in a series of shifting personae - from the public to the private to the purely fantastical - woven together in a rich, complex and colorful portrait of an American icon.
The film I'm Not There will be released by Weinstein Films on November 21 in New York and Los Angeles, with additional cities to be added in subsequent weeks.
A NEW DYLAN BOX IS RELEASED BY SONY.
Songs on the 3CD Deluxe set:
DISC ONE:
Song To Woody /
Blowin' In The Wind /
Masters Of War /
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right /
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall /
The Times They Are A-Changin' /
All I Really Want To Do /
My Back Pages /
It Ain't Me Babe /
Subterranean Homesick Blues /
Mr. Tambourine Man /
Maggie's Farm /
Like A Rolling Stone /
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue /
Positively 4th Street /
Rainy Day #12 &35 /
Just Like A Woman /
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) /
All Along The Watchtower
DISC TWO:
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere /
Lay, Lady, Lay /
If Not For You /
I Shall Be Released /
Knockin' On Heaven's Door /
On A Night Like This /
Forever Young /
Tangled Up In Blue /
Simple Twist Of Fate /
Hurricane /
Changing Of The Guards /
Gotta Serve Somebody /
Precious Angel /
The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar /
Jokerman /
Dark Eyes /
DISC THREE:
Blind Willie McTell /
Brownsville Girl /
Silvio /
Ring Them Bells /
Dignity /
Everything Is Broken /
Under The Red Sky /
You're Gonna Quit Me /
Blood In My Eyes /
Not Dark Yet /
Things Have Changed /
Make You Feel My Love /
High Water /
Po' Boy /
Someday Baby /
When The Deal Goes Down
Wilburys are back!
Read more about it using the two links below...
Link 1: Wilburys UK no.1 in 2007!
Link 2: Wilburys album review
DISC 1
1. Handle With Care
2. Dirty World
3. Rattled
4. Last Night
5. Not Alone Any More
6. Congratulations
7. Heading For the Light
8. Margarita
9. Tweeter And the Monkey Man
10. End Of the Line
11. Maxine - (previously unreleased, Bonus Track)
12. Like A Ship - (alternate take, Bonus Track)
DISC 2
1. She's My Baby
2. Inside Out
3. If You Belonged To Me
4. The Devil's Been Busy
5. 7 Deadly Sins
6. Poor House
7. Where Were You Last Night?
8. Cool Dry Place
9. New Blue Moon
10. You Took My Breath Away
11. Wilbury Twist
12. Nobody's Child - (Bonus Track)
13. Runaway - (Bonus Track)
2006 RELEASES
| January, 2006 |
Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid 2DVD. 2006. RELEASED! |
| August 28,2006 (UK) |
Bob Dylan: Modern Times CD+DVD. Sony 2006. RELEASED! |
| August 29,2006 (US) |
Bob Dylan: Modern Times CD+DVD. Sony 2006. RELEASED! |
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M O D E R N T I M E S
Thunder On The Mountain (5:57)
Spirit On The Water (7:44)
Rollin' and Tumblin' (6:03)
When the Deal Goes Down (5:06)
Someday Baby (4:57)
Workingman's Blues (6:09)
Beyond the Horizon (5:38)
Nettie Moore(6:54)
The Levee's Gonna Break (5:45)
Ain't Talking (8:48)
Dylan made it! After 30 years he got a big hit album. One month after the release of Modern Times over 500.000 copies has been sold in US alone! In Europe the record has also been a great success.
Best chart positions of Modern Times during september 2006, black text includes a direct link to chart.:
No.1 USA,
Australia, Canada, Denmark, Irland, Norway, New Zealand,
& Switzerland
No.2 Austria,Belgium,
Germany, Netherlands & Sweden
No.3 UK
No.4 Italy, Finland & Czech
No.5 Spain
No.17 France
No.30 Poland
Modern Times spent 10 weeks on Global Chart. The last chart position (aftere 10 weeks) for MT was No.35. On 11th week MT dropped from the Top 40 chart. Below are some useful links:
1.UNITED GLOBAL ALBUM CHART
2. OVER 1000 CHARTS HERE
3. OVER 400 REVIEWS OF MODERN TIMES CD!
APPLE's major Dylan collection available soon!
Apple has created the mammoth Dylan digital boxed set The Collection, featuring every song from his studio albums as well as 42 rarities and an exclusive digital booklet. The box will sell for $199 and will also be available August 29.
Perustamani suomalainen Dylan-foorumi WINTERLUDE t�ytti 30.8.06 vuoden! Sen kunniaksi suomalaisiin kauppoihin toimitettiin tuhansia kappaleita UUSIA Dylan-levyj�! Hakekaapa omanne pois! Nyt niit� siis lopultakin saa ja formaattien suhteen on my�s paljon valinnan varaa. Voi ostaa tavallisen CD:n tai CD+DVD -kombilevyn tai vaikkapa komean tuplavinyylin!
Below I try to gather the "history" of this new record so far. As information grows and changes, I will correct and update this calendar.
November 28, 2005
Ian Woodward tells that whilst Dylan was in Dublin, he went to Westland Studios to do some recording and according rumour he and the band recorded four songs on Monday 28.November 2005. It is possible that they were recording on other days too.
January 31 - February 3, 2006
Dylan spent four days in Poughkeepsie at Bardavon rehearsing the songs of his upcoming album with his current tour band.
February, 2006
According ROLLING STONE magazine Bob recorded his new album in New York at CLINTON STUDIOS.
June 6, 2006
Playback session of the new record for selected journalists in New York. Those Journalists, who heard the new record had to sign legal documents forbidding them writing about the new songs before the release date.
June 12, 2006
NME website, Rolling Stone, CNN etc. tell about the new record.
July 2, 2006
Caspar Smith writes in The Observer that "the first verse of 'Modern Times', the opening song on his new record" goes as follows: 'Thunder on the mountain, fires on the moon, There's a ruckus in the alley and the sun will be here soon,' and little later comes lines 'I was thinking about Alicia Keys, couldn't help from crying/When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line/I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be/I been looking for her even clean through Tennessee.'
July 18, 2006
Special edition of Modern Times will include also a DVD with songs: 1) Blood In My Eyes, 2) Love Sick, 3) Things Have Changed, 4) Cold Irons Bound
August 12, 2006
Bob Dylan com announces special prehearings of the NEW Dylan album for Dylan fans in major cities of USA.
August 28, 2006
MODERN TIMES released in the UK.
August 29, 2006
MODERN TIMES released in the USA.
August 30, 2006
MODERN TIMES released in FINLAND.
Modern Times - Complete review from a long time fan.
Posted by: SUNSET
Date: August 15, 2006 03:11PM
MODERN TIMES review � First impressions from a long time fan.
Since the release of Planet Waves I have heard (bought) the new Dylan-album the first day of release, or with the help of my good international contacts heard it up to a couple of months before release date. Today I have heard "Modern Times". I have learned through out the years to try to forget about my favourite Dylan-albums of all time, and instead relate it to his present concerts, and maybe the last (two) records, that is what I have done this time too.
Well, before I start I have to state that I have only heard it once yet, and that sometimes my interest turned to the lyrics, sometimes to the tune, sometimes to Bob`s singing, sometimes to the musicians playing, sometimes to the arrangements and sometimes to a lot of other things � but it is really hard to concentrate on more than one or two aspects in one listen, and well, his lyrics has allways been my main concern.
Thunder On The Mountain.
Most of you have already heard it by now I guess, but to the once who have not heard it; it`s an up-tempo Rock&Roll song, very similar in the melody-line to Chuck Berry`s �Johnny Be Good.� The lyric is of course not as simple as the old R&R-songs. I have not catched what he wants to say here, yet, but it seem like a kind of �off the top of my head�-song like he used to call them back in the sixties. As normal, woman, religious thoughts and a crazy world is the main ingredients, and maybe he is specifically worried about mans harder and harder race to get rich (even if it is a game as old as mankind). His singing is distinct, as on all the songs, and this is only one of two of the songs, in my ear, where you can hear a bit of his upsinging. I like the song (and this one I have heard more than once). (5.55)
Spirit On The Water.
The melody and arrangement is in my ears very similar to �Moonlight� from Love & Theft, with a �dash of� �Floater� (also from L&T). It`s a slow �swing-jazz�-ballad driven by the piano (Bob`s playing � I don`t know, but it sounds like him). There is a long ending where he plays (nice) harmonica. The lyrics is mostly a plain love-song, to someone he still loves, and presumely she loves him too. But (as in most relationships) something might be wrong. A couple of the verses are a bit strange to me � most of the time he speaks of his love like the love of his lifetime � but what about this; �Sometimes I wonder why you can`t treat me right � You do good all day, then you do wrong all night�. What is it she is doing or not doing during night-time?
He ends the song in a positive way, that also makes me wonder if this song is not only to this real/or imagined love of his; �You think I`m over the hill, you think I`m past my prime � Let me see what you got, we can have a whopping`good time. (7.42)
Rollin`and Tumblin`.
Up-tempo blues-rock, a bit like �Lonesome Day Blues� (L&T), but a bit lighter both in the melody and the lyrics. From the very start of the song my foot was going. A simple blues lyric; Two repeated lines and then a kind of explanation for his state of being in the third line.
Well, nothing really new, but I like this song. Much better than his too many too standard blues-rock songs throughout the years. (6.00)
When The Deal Goes Down.
This is a slow ballad. Reminds me someway of �Waiting for you�. The song is about moving towards the end of life or maybe end of the world, but doing it hand in hand with the one you love. I like both the melody and the lyrics. I have a feeling that this is a song that don`t seems too important at first hearing but that it will grow on you for each playing and stay. (5.03)
Someday Baby.
A standard up-tempo blues-rock song, good but not as good as �Rollin`And Thumblin`�. It`s about the bad side of a relationship � two lines from the last verse sums it up: �Living this way ain`t a natural thing to do � Why was I born to love you?� My foot is going on this one as well and sometimes it reminds me of an Elvis-song from the fifties (can`t remember which one) both in the arrangement and Bob`s way of singing. (4.55)
Workingman`s Blues # 2.
The melody here is a bit more of what I call a �Bob Dylan melody�. I have heard something very similar before, most likely one of Bob`s own songs, but I can`t tell which one or which ones maybe, right now. Great lyrics about the difference about being poor or being rich. Bob almost takes a �political� stand here and I like what I hear; �Now the place is ringed with countless foes � Some of them may be deaf and dumb � No man, no woman knows � The hour that sorrow will come.� Probably a harsh critic of the world we live in today, but this is old stylish blues and could have been written before Dylan was born. The main instrument in my ears is Bob`s piano. First off I thought that here is the first real great song of the album � and his singing is great � but someway after a while I felt a bit bored. Maybe it was my too high expectations about this song (I knew the lyrics and had heard the 20 seconds snippets before). Anyway it is a beautiful and a bit sad song. �Sad� is not negative critic � there are some fantastic �sad� songs. �Not Dark Yet� is maybe the best example, but I`m sorry to say � that �WB #2� is far away from the quality of �NDY�. (6.00)
Beyond The Horizon.
Another �swing-jazz� ballad. This one reminds me of �Floater� but is maybe a bit more �catchy� at first hearing, but as �Floater� for me turned better and better after more hearings, I guess I can soon be tired of this one. A nice and simple love-song about his true-ness to his lifetime (?) love, and maybe a statement that love can be strong and have a future also in a couples older days. The best review of this song may be found in the lyrics; �The theme of a melody form many moons ago�.
(For those of you who think things like this is important: If you read (and maybe copied) the lyrics that was up on �expectingrain� for a few hours � verse #2 in the song (the way he sings it) comes as #5 and verse # 5 comes as #2.) (Does not change the meaning of the song as far as I can see). (5.35)
Nettie Moore.
Luckily another �Bob Dylan-melody�. Reminds me of �Sugar Baby�, but more bluesy and not as great as �SB� in my opinion. There is a very pointed �drum-beat� in this song, it put my thoughts back to the fantastic drums on �Angles flying too close to the ground�. Another praise-song to his loved one I believe. Starts like this: �Lost John sitting on the railroad track�. Later on John, or maybe someone else, is travelling round the world before coming back to �you� (his loved one) �I loved you then and ever shall�, even if the world is near the end (have you heard it before?). Some fine phrases �The woman of my love, she rules my heart�, and yes, his phrasing is good too (as always). (6.52)
The Levee`s Gonna Break.
The third blues-rock song on the album � and yes, all of them, this one included, is in my opinion good songs � not �irritating� like a �few� blues-rock songs on most of his albums has been before. If he can develop on those songs in concert I will probably love to hear them again and again. �If it keep on rainin` levee gonna break � If it keep on rainin` levee gonna break � Some of these people gonna strip you of all they can take�. New Orleans? Missisippi? � you have heard it before! Other snippets from the lyric: �Some people on the road carry everything they own�. �I`m trying to get you to love me, but wan`t repeat my faults.� Well, not only flood-disaster, but mixed up with a few cups of love as well.
�I look in your eyes and see no other than me � I look in your eyes and see all I wanna be�.
(5.44)
Ain`t Talkin`.
�As I walked out to night in the mystic garden�. This is a new �Desolation Row� set to a melody in the same vein as �Highlands�. A great song, but not a real contender to �Desolation� and the �Highlands�-melody is better. As in �Desolation Row� he is walking out in the hopeless �garden� (the world) He says he �Ain`t talkin` , just walkin`�, but of course he is talking too in the way he describes all the evil things he sees in the �garden�. And close to the end he states that �The gardener is gone�. He is also talking about what he is doing; �I`m trying to love my neighbour and do good to others� and he repeats �I`m burnin`, still yearnin`� - and then says things like: �some day you`ll be glad to have me around�. If you don`t have heard this many times before � I have, but as much as before I`m still glad to have Bob around. (8.48)
Because even if I have got the message before it is always interesting to hear it said in another way � especially by a real poet. Yes, he definitely still is. His voice is getting older, but he still knows how to use it (most of the time). Maybe his melody-maker side is not as strong as it once was, but to compensate he knows how to pick the good fruits from the past (both by his own and others hand). And he has a great band to back him! Yes, indeed! Even if Bob is right in thinking we`re in the �end-times� �t`s nice to have him around because in his poetic, sad and sometimes funny way, he cheers me up.
I miss a really great song (�Cross the Green Mountain� could have made it for me), but as a whole �Modern Times� is better than �Love and Theft�, I`m pretty sure about that. But it is not as great as �Time out of mind�, I`m even more sure about that. The best thing is that I think many of the songs are suited for his present voice, can be improved upon live and have interesting lyrics enough for (some of) us to have something to discuss the next five years.
And as I said, I really liked those three foot-tapping blues-rock songs.
sunset
HEART OF MINE, A NEW DYLAN COVER ALBUM BY MARIA MULDAUR
1. Buckets Of Rain
2. Lay Baby Lay (Lay Lady Lay)
3. To Be Alone With You
4. Heart Of Mine
5. Make You Feel My Love
6. Moonlight
7. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
8. Golden Loom
9. On A Night Like This
10. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
11. Wedding Song
12. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
The incomparable Maria Muldaur has always traversed a wide expanse of American music--in 2003, she recorded A Woman Alone with the Blues, a tribute to jazz icon Peggy Lee--and so perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that she has now applied her interpretive gifts to the love songs of Bob Dylan. Choosing from among his classics ("I'll Be Your Baby Tonight") and lesser-known works ("Golden Loom"), Muldaur bravely recasts several songs in disparate grooves (reggae, Cajun, swing), and even allows keyboardist David Torkanowsky to sneak a few bars of the jazz standard "Ain't Misbehavin'" into the end of "Moonlight." As expected, Muldaur is most at home with lazy, country-blues treatments ("Buckets of Rain"). But she can also effectively pull off the intense drama of total sublimation, especially on "Wedding Song" and "Make You Feel My Love," which she renders so tenderly as to elicit a tear. The title track finds her trying to talk herself out of an unsuitable lover, yet one suspects she won't be able to outsmart her heart. On both "Lay Baby Lay" (the gender-switching version of "Lay Lady Lay") and "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go," she eschews Dylan's urgent and poignant sexuality for sensuality, making both songs a study in how the sexes approach the chemistry of love. --Alanna Nash
ROLLING THUNDER AND THE GOSPEL YEARS, 1975-1981
Due March 1, 2006 this four-hour DVD from Highway 61 Entertainment contains previously unseen concert footage, a rare Dylan interview done at Pittsburgh television station KDKA, plus testimony and music from Ramblin� Jack Elliott, Scarlett Rivera, Bruce Langhorne, Rob Stoner and documentary director Joel Gilbert (who also helms the tribute band Highway 61 Revisited). Also interviewed: keyboardist Spooner Oldham, producer Jerry Wexler, background singer Regina McCrary and critic Joel Selvin. (Full disclosure: ICE publisher Pete Howard was a project consultant.) More info at highway61ent.com.
PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID DVD RELEASED!
1973's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, was rushed through the editing process in order to meet a Memorial Day release date and quickly flopped at the box office. Various versions of the movie have existed over the years, but the two-disc Special Edition provides two versions:
1) a newly recut 2005 version, the closest incarnation yet of Peckinpah's original vision,
2) and the 1988 preview cut that was assembled by Turner Broadcasting and previously issued on laserdisc.
2005 RELEASES
| August 30, 2005 (USA) |
Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, The Bootleg Series vol. 7. Sony 2005. 2CD. RELEASED! |
| August 30, 2005 |
Bob Dylan: Live At Gaslight Cafe 1962. Sony 2005. CD. RELEASED! |
| September 5, 2005 (Europe) |
Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, The Bootleg Series vol. 7. Sony 2005. 2CD. RELEASED! |
| September 20, 2005 (USA) |
Martin Scorcese: Bob Dylan - No Direction Home. DVD (region 1).RELEASED! |
| October 3, 2005 (UK) |
Martin Scorcese: Bob Dylan - No Direction Home. DVD(region 2). RELEASED! |
| October 25, 2005 |
Various: The Concert For Bangladesh. DVD (region 1). RELEASED! |
BOOTLEG SERIES VOL.7
Here is some general information about this 2CD:
- CD1 72:11, CD2 72:20, TOTAL playing time 2:24:31
- Catalog number: Columbia/Legacy col 520358 2.
- The box is blue-white-gray. Very beautiful layout, indeed.
- The booklet has 58 pages, 27 Dylan photos, some of them color photos.
- Many of the photos are previously unseen ones.
- Andrew Loog Oldham has written the text on pages 6-16.
- Eddie Gorodetsky has written the text on pages 19-32.
- Al Kooper has written the text on pages 35-48.
- Tract and disc information are given on pages 50-58.
And here are the songs:
Disc 1:
When I Got Troubles (1959)
Rambler Gambler (1960)
This Land Is Your Land (1961,Carnegie Chapter Hall)
Song To Woody (1961)
Dink`s Song (1961)
I Was Young When I Left Home (1961)
Sally Gal (1962, Freewheelin`Outtake)
Don`t Think Twice (1963, Demo)
Man Of Constant Sorrow (1963)
Blowin�In The Wind (Town Hall 1963)
Masters Of War (Town Hall 1963)
Hard Rain (Carnegie Hall 1963)
When The Ship Comes In (Carnegie Hall 1963)
Mr Tambourine Man (Bringing It All Back Home sessions 1964)
Chimes Of Freedom (Newport 1964)
It`s All Over Now Baby Blue (Bringing It All Back Home sessions 1965)
Disc 2:
She Belongs To Me (Bringing It All Back Home sessions 1965)
Maggie`s Farm (Newport 1965)
It Takes A Lot To Laugh (Highway 61 sessions 1965)
Tombstone Blues (Highway 61 sessions 1965)
Just Like Tom Thumb`s Blues (Highway 61 sessions 1965)
Desolation Row (Highway 61 sessions 1965)
Highway 61 Rev. ( Highway 61 sessions 1965)
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (Blonde On Blonde sessions 1966)
Stuck Inside Of Mobile (Blonde On Blonde sessions 1966)
Visions Of Johanna (Blonde On Blonde sessions 1966)
Ballad Of A Thin Man (Live Edinburgh, 1966)
Like A Rolling Stone (Live Manchester, 1966)
Below is my UK contacts review of Bootleg Series Vol. 7. He kindly gave me permission to use this on my Web site. We all Slow Train friends thank him for that!
Text by the legendary JIM BRESCOE
Listening to this collection is like walking around the Mona Lisa and looking at the back of her head: the familiar in reverse, the accepted up-ended.
Despite being a seemingly random selection of performances and outtakes from the 1960s the discs work as a coherent whole presenting an overwhelming portrait of a genius at work.
Take the work-in-progress version of Stuck Inside of Mobile � here treated as a sort of chemically-enhanced square dance � for example, it astounds. The sense that this song (and any other in this collection) could be rendered in any number of ways is palpable, and truly mind-boggling. Rather than stumbling towards a finished version Dylan appears to have a dozen alternatives at his disposal and only settles on a �final� take because he must. This is not so if you listen to Beatles outtakes, for example. The sense there is of a group of people trying to focus a single idea. Here Dylan has to select between as many possibilities as he cares to perform. This is not normal.
My personal highlight of the collection is the Hard Rain from Carnegie Hall 1963. The guitar and vocal seem to slip the shackles of conventional time to offer something beyond. One can only imagine the effect it must have had upon the audience. It inspires awe today in this listener some 40 years later. Just think of it. Forty years. All the way across the swamps of time this music has been cradled in the vaults of Columbia records � until now.
So here it is: a Bobfest, a chance to hear anew these hallowed gems in states of undress and to marvel. So does the Bootleg Series Volume 7 � No Direction Home justify the expectation? How could it not?
The packaging is superb, in keeping with the rest of the series. Many of the photos in the accompanying booklet are new to my eyes and, coming from a time when Bob looked so alien and young, they still retain their power to steal your attention. The semi-coherent liner notes by Andrew Loog Oldham I could have lived without, though. Surely there must have been someone closer to Bob: someone with a tiny bit of insight?
The music itself will have been chronicled in detail elsewhere. Each take and variation in lyric or nuance will be pored over and yet the mystery remains. Bob Dylan is a living artist. He continues to develop many of these famous songs today. It is hard, therefore, to look at this package as it demands we do, as a historical artefact like, say, a box set of Nick Drake outtakes. In this case the writer and performer is not a ghost but flesh and blood and the songs not merely historical but works in progress.
My mind goes to all of the other material Columbia must possess. Maybe in time we shall see it revealed and come to realise the sheer scale of what the �Picasso of Song� has done (and continues to do). The thought is mind-bending.
My heart beats faster at the alternate take of Visions of Johanna here. My toe taps at Tom Thumbs Blues and to hear the first take of Mr Tambourine Man in such clarity is like being present at the birth of a nation.
The significance of this music is undisputed. It has raged into the conciousness of just about anyone who has stood and sung since. The music here is not so much ahead of the game as they are the game itself. The awesome thing is that there is another 40 years of this stuff buried. The Love and Theft piano demos, the Street Legal sessions, the Bromberg album, the alternative Time Out Of Mind � on and on and on.
Roll on Bootleg Series 10289!
And then my first "review"...
MY PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS ABOUT BOOTLEG SERIES VOL.7
Usually I wait one month before I say anything about a new Bob Dylan record. Usually I'm wise, but not this time. People just can't wait one month nowadays. They want to get information and opinions very quickly. I thought about this problem many days after getting the brand new Bootleg Series Vol.7. Now, I think I have solved this problem. I write here my preliminary thoughts after each listening and finally and hopefully it evolves to a real REVIEW. You can separate the different texts by checking the version number.
And here we go...
Text 1.0
When I listened to the CD1 my first thought was: here you have a good reason, why to buy OFFICIAL CD's instead of bootlegs! During the last 20 years I have heard so many inferior (bootleg) versions of these songs. These NEW, "cleaned" versions sound so fresh, so up to date. And one thing that made me very glad was that the Sony sound engineers have understood the simple fact (but not for everyone so simple and clear) that if you clean an old analogue recording, you CANNOT remove ALL tape hiss, because if you do that, it causes loss of some important music signal as well. They have left some tape hiss there and that's why they have got so pure music signal out of these very old analogue recordings that it's just amazing! Just listen to I WAS YOUNG WHEN I LEFT HOME. I have heard many versions of it before, but this one beats them all! This really is a MASTERPIECE! I wonder if it was this good in 1961 or is it only a technical "fake". But no, I think this simply sounds so good, because Tony Glover has the master TAPE and the bootleggers don't. That's the difference!
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Text 2.1
CD2 is soundwise even better than CD1! It is so FRESH. I repeat my words here, but I have to do it, because the sound on some of these recordings is so amazingly good! Just listen to the NEWPORT 1965 recording of MAGGIE'S FARM: how can it sound SO GOOD?! It is a live recording from 40, yes 40 years ago...and it sounds better than many official live recordings from 2005!
I love many songs on this CD. Drumless SHE BELONGS TO ME opens CD2 and this outtake version is extremely well performed and recorded / produced. You can hear all the intruments nicely separated, as you were listening to the master tape! Dylan's vocal & guitar, Bruce Langhorne's guitar and William E.Lee's bass all sound so fresh and "soft". It definitely has an analogue feeling WITHOUT the tape noise. TEN points for sound engineers! This is a pleasure for my ears. Maybe I stop here. Just listen to the opening song and I'm sure you will be satisfied and it's only ONE song, there are many more jewels on this CD. But more about those later...
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LIVE AT GASLIGHT 1962
My friend Aki is just now in US and he has promised to buy me two copies of this disc. So, I'm still waiting the real thing, but meanwhile here is a list of the songs on that CD:
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Rocks And Gravel
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
The Cuckoo
Moonshiner
Handsome Molly
Cocaine
John Brown
Barbara Allen
West Texas
SOME NEW UNRELEASED RECORDINGS
Bob Dylan is making three previously unreleased recordings available.The new versions will now be released via legal download services from November 14.2005. The three tracks are:
Baby Please Don't Go - 25th April, 1962
A Big Joe Turner cover, recorded during the sessions for 'The Freewheelin Bob Dylan'.
Mr. Tambourine Man - 26th July, 1964
From the 1964 Newport Folk Festival.
Outlaw Blues - 16th January 1965
From the 'Bringing It All Back Home' sessions and features an extra verse.
CARNEGIE HALL 1963
IN FUTURE DYLAN WILL RELEASE MORE RECTROSPECTIVE DVD'S?
Bob Dylan is reportedly in talks over a sequel to Martin Scorsese's No Direction Home documentary. Susan Lacy, executive producer of the two part film, says "preliminary discussions" are already taking place.
JERRY GARCIA COVERS DYLAN!
A two-disc set, "Ladder to the Stars: Garcia Plays Dylan" due Oct. 11 via Rhino (the release day is now moved to 25.10.05 and finally we have a picture also).
You can get more information about this album using link here: Jerry Garcia Link
Here is the "Ladder to the Stars: Garcia Plays Dylan" track list:
Disc one:
"It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry / Tough Mama," Jerry Garcia
"Positively 4th Street," Jerry Garcia Band
"The Wicked Messenger," Legion Of Mary
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door," Jerry Garcia Band
"Simple Twist of Fate," Jerry Garcia Band
"I Shall Be Released," Jerry Garcia Band
Disc two:
"When I Paint My Masterpiece," Jerry Garcia Band
"She Belongs to Me," Grateful Dead
"Forever Young," Jerry Garcia Band
"Tangled Up in Blue," Jerry Garcia Band
"Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)," Jerry Garcia Band
"Visions of Johanna," Grateful Dead
"Mighty Quinn (Quinn, the Eskimo)," Grateful Dead
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," Grateful Dead
TELL OL'BILL
"There's been a lot of speculation recently that the Dylan recording of Tell Ol' Bill, coming out in two weeks on the soundtrack for the film North Country, will be the long-reported outtake of the song from the Self Portrait sessions. That's not the case. Dylan recorded a new version of the song in the studio recently, with backing musicians including Elana Fremerman (late of Dylan's own touring band and the Hot Club of Cowtown). My source is Elana Fremerman, so it's probably reliable."
Here are the words of TELL OL' BILL (Thanks for this link Pasi!)
NORTH COUNTRY
Amazon.com is already selling this soundtrack, inc. 4 Dylan performances.
Track Listings
1. North Country - Gustavo Santaolalla
2. Girl of the North Country [Live] - Leo Kottke
3. Tell Ol' Bill - Bob Dylan
4. Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
5. Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
6. If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body - The Bellamy Brothers
7. Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
8. Saturday in My Classrom - Gustavo Santaolalla
9. Sweetheart Like You - Bob Dylan
10. Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me - Mac Davis
11. Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others) - Bob Dylan
12. Standing Up - Gustavo Santaolalla
13. Paths of Victory
BANGLADESH DVD
And here's a short news text about the upcoming Bangladesh DVD...
The Concert for Bangladesh, considered to be the forerunner of such musical benefits as Live Aid and SARS-stock, is being released as a DVD. Organized by George Harrison in 1971, the event � two concerts staged on the same August day in New York's Madison Square Garden � has secured a place in history as the granddaddy of all charity shows. The DVD will be released Oct. 25, 2005. It features performances by the likes of Bob Dylan, who at the time had become known as a recluse following his legendary motorcycle accident, and Eric Clapton, then in the grips of heroin addiction. Also pitching in are Ringo Starr, Leon Russell and Billy Preston.
Unseen footage of George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton rehearsing for the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, has been uncovered. The film clips show Harrison, the Beatle who died in 2001, and Dylan, the singer-songwriter, experimenting with songs for the concert - the first ever superstar benefit. One of these was Dylan's If Not For You. Although the song never made it to the stage on August 1, 1971, it is included in a reissue of the Concert for Bangladesh - as a film and album.
You can read the whole story from here: Bangladesh Concert Link.
Amazon com is already pre-selling the Bangladesh DVD. Here are some facts about this upcoming DVD:Rhino's DVD restores the original 99-minute movie in 5.1 sound and tacks on a wealth of extras, including a rehearsal performance of "If Not for You" with Harrison and Dylan and a soundcheck take on "Come on in My Kitchen" with Harrison, Clapton and Russell, plus Dylan performing "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", an outtake from the theatrical film release.
The tracklisting:
Bangla Dhun/Wah-Wah/My Sweet Lord/Awaiting on You All/That's the Way God Planned It/It Don't Come Easy/Beware of Darkness/Band Introduction/While My Guitar Gently Weeps/Jumpin' Jack Flash/Youngblood/Here Comes the Sun/A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall/It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry/Blowin' in the Wind/Just Like a Woman/Something/Bangla Desh
AFTER THE CRASH DVD
The 2nd Dylan DVD that Chrome Dreams and ISIS have produced is HIGHLY recommended! I enjoyed watching this extremely well produced film. The story-telling, the shooting, the music, everything have a feeling of perfection. You can get this wonderful DVD from ISIS Internet shop:
And below you can read their text about this DVD:
"This truly superb two-hour documentary film features amongst its 15 contributors Ron Cornelius Self Portrait;
Bruce Langhorne Pat Garrett;
New York and Minnesota Blood On The Tracks session guitarists Eric Weissberg and Kevin Odegard;Desire and Rolling Thunder musicians Scarlet Rivera and Rob Stoner and the albums co-author the late Jacques Levy in his last ever interview.
Plus a supporting cast of Dylan confidante Al Aronowitz, IOW promoter Ray Foulk, the infamous A.J. Weberman and many more.
This DVD continues the Bob Dylan story - began on the DVD "Tales From A Golden Age, 1941-1966" - from the infamous 1966 motorcycle accident up to discovering Jesus in 1978. An exploration of the creative genius of the man who changed the face of popular music.Almost two hours of in-depth interviews from more than 15 contributors.Multi Region DVD. An Independent production unauthorised by the Artist."
TALES FROM A GOLDEN AGE, BOB DYLAN 1941-1966 DVD
Also the 1st Dylan DVD that Chrome Dreams and ISIS have produced is recommended! You can get this DVD from ISIS Internet shop:
And below you can read their text about this DVD:
"This historical documentary film takes you behind the music to discover one of the defining artists of the 20th Century. From Bob Dylan�s schooldays we talk to amongst others his English teacher, school friend Mick Dwyer and the guitarist from his first schoolboy band, Larry Fabbro. We follow his progress through his rebel days in college in Minneapolis through interviews with "Spider" John Koerner and Dave Whitaker. His phenomenal development in the burgeoning folk clubs of New York�s Greenwich Village is discussed with club owners Paul Colby and Art D'Lugoff.We continue this in-depth journey through Bob Dylan�s golden age to the iconic status he gained in the mid-1960s through classic albums like Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. We talk to amongst others British folk legend Martin Carthy, 1966 world tour drummer Mickey Jones, biographer Clinton Heylin, author C.P Lee and ISIS editor-in-chief Derek Barker.This story of unparalleled musical achievements culminates with Bob Dylan�s infamous 1966 motorcycle accident. This is a Multi Region DVD."
2DVD set of Masked And Anonymous
will be released by Shochiku Video in Japan on 22 Dec 2005
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