bob dylan and the band - the basement tapes / the complete basement tapes

One interesting note about all the complete basement sessions ... when I finally heard them all on the various releases (first the Complete Basement Tapes 1-5 series and then the great, much better Tree With Roots) was that I missed the pacing and well, the very *presence* of those Band songs that were on the original Columbia 2-LP set.

I mean .. you grow up with the Columbia set, and now you're supposed to sit through 4 CDs *without* ever hearing "Bessie Smith" or "Orange Juice Breakfast" ??

the complete sessions are amazing, essential, but there really was something to that snappy, adulterated set that came out in the 70s

i've heard that some tampering--overdubbing etc.--was performed on the basement tracks that made it to 1975 double lp. haven't checked to see. certainly the officially released tracks sound a lot fuller than the stuff on "a tree w/roots"--i supposed they are just closer to the 1st generation masters.

as for that 2lp set... they made wise choices, but notably only chose to include dylan/band originals. when some of the highlights of the full sessions are the covers.

interesting that dylan seems most ok w/releasing archival stuff when he's on a winning streak with his new material (e.g., 1975, and the last 5 years). probably just doesn't want the old stuff to overshadow the new.

i doubt the whole basement tapes thing will be released in full any time soon. unless columbia starts some kind of miles davis-esque trainspotting dylan reissue program. which i don't expect we'll see before dylan passes.

I've heard some of the other tracks, and "I'm Not There (1956)" really is incredibly beautiful. I like the Ian and Sylvia covers, too.

Santa Fe's cool, too...

P.S. -- I love the 1975 2 LP version, even though it's historically inaccurate (Band songs were studio demos purposefully muddied-up). Of course, what could be more American than a distorted version of historic fact? Weird, indeed.

i figgin love "teenage prayer" they sound like a bunch of loaded fraternity brothers...

as for "i'm not there"...its been said..and its right...mostly...i do think marcus overstates the glory and power of things quite regularly. and i, too, have felt let down when i get to finally hear things after the fact...but there are points in the o,w a where he does nail things so very very well.

well, there's no been no official release of the 1969 dylan/cash sessions or of anything from 70–71. then again, "self portrait" hasn't even received a remaster yet...

http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/1401/5h/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/19900000/19908277.jpg
Just ordered this. Anyone read it yet?

I'd very much like to read this - going to amazon to order it now. I just pulled down Tree With Roots from dimeadozen.org and damn if it isn't the best Dylan I've ever heard.

just saw this in the record store yesterday -- had never heard of it before, but it looked pretty good. not that i don't have enough books about bob dylan ... or do i?
anyway, hell yeah, the basement tapes! that tree with roots set is truly mindblowing in about ten different ways. a whole world to get lost in. amazing it hasn't been officially released (except for the 2LP set and a handful of stray tracks on biograph and the bootleg series), but i get the feeling Dylan )or dylan's people) are holding on to it for a big moment, since it's so legendary ... i guess "i'm not there" will be on the "i'm not there" soundtrack ...

I'm not There is the final track on the soundtrack...

Finally got to hear "A Tree With Roots." It's a HUGE improvement, sound wise, over the 1975 release. There's lots more stereo separation (Richard Manuel's harmonizing on "Million Dollar Bash" is on a separate channel and sounds gorgeous). The official release was inexplicably mixed down to near mono, and doesn't sound nearly as warm. A good portion of Griffin's book focuses on the fine engineering job Garth Hudson did, considering the limited equipment he had.
Of course, you get all the extras too, minus The Band stuff (some songs, like "Bessie Smith" and "Ain't No More Cain," weren't recorded at those sessions, anyway.)
Couple sites where you can find it (not sure if downloads still work):

http://poundforpound.blogspot.com/2006/12/dylan-monday-tree-with-roots-volume-1.html
http://doctormooney.blogspot.com/

"Million Dollar Bash" (the book) wasn't bad, but I'm still looking for the definitive account of the woodstock/basement tapes period. Given the amount of speculation that griffin resorts to, it doesn't seem like we're going to get it. (You know, where did they record what, where did Dylan crash his bike, how hurt was he, so on). The chapter on hudson's engineering was really interesting. the book is printed on very heavy stock, and it's more than a little bit distracting. Wait for a cheaper paperback.

Good comments on this and other Dylan eras in Luc Sante's new collection, Kill All Your Darlings. "I Is Someone Else": basically a review of Chronicles, but you know how that goes (the Dylan virus takes the train of thought for another ride).

x-post

speculation is all we have for a lot of this stuff. griffin interviewed robertson, john simon, peter yarrow, and several others who were either there or were close to the source. (dylan didn't want to talk, helm wasn't there for most of it, danko is dead, manual is dead, grossman is dead...) there's simply no concrete documentation about thse recordings. it's not like they kept studio logs or anything. i don't know what's up with hudson. he comes off as a bit distant. i mean, the at one point sold all his basement tapes, which were sitting unmarked inside a chest!

pre-coffee

...at one point HUDSON sold...

"I Is Someone Else"

Is that not a lolcats caption?

xpost

Yes I didn't mean to sound unfair with that comment. It's completely about my expectations being a little unrealistic, I think. In a way i'm just relating griffin's own frustration at not being able to write a more 'definitive' book, such frustration being explicit and palpable at different places in the book...

lolcats or no, it's deadpan use of a quoted quote/translation, from Chronicles: "I came across one of (Rimbaud's) letters called 'Je est un autre,' which translates as 'I is somebody else.' When I read those words the bells went off. It made perfect sense. I wished someone would have mentioned that to me earlier."

minus The Band stuff (some songs, like "Bessie Smith" and "Ain't No More Cain," weren't recorded at those sessions, anyway.)

oh is that why some of that stuff isn't on there? I've been listening to Tree w/ Roots for the first time too and I was scratching my head over why some of the best stuff on the '75 version isn't on there (mainly Yazoo Street Scandal, probably my favorite basement tapes track)

I think that's because Yazoo Street Scandal was recorded in the city at columbia's studios. can't reach the book from here though...

Yeah, I thought I read that "Ain't No More Cain" was recorded shortly before the 1975 release. I always had my suspicions about that recording — it sounded too flawless, although they obviously mixed it so it would have a grungy, bootleg-quality sound.

according to griffin that's right. he also says that, inter alia,

orange juice blues has 1975 overdubs

yazoo street scandal is probably from the big pink basement in 1967. (don't know why it's not on tree with roots)

katies been gone has 1975 drums

bessie smith was recorded in 1975 (or possibly before stage fright)

tears of rage might have 1975 vocal overdubs

too much of nothing has overdubbed drums, backing vox, and keys

ain't no more cane was recorded in 1975

you aint going nowhere has guitar overdubs from 1975

don't ya tell henry was recorded in 1975

long distance operator was cut either in nyc or l.a.

this wheel's on fire has an acoustic overdub

HMMMM -- anyone tracked this down?
A new CD release from the Hollow Horn Encore Label that features the first ever release of the legendary Basement Tapes Safety Master. This was a tape reportedly made by Garth Hudson in early 1968, under full studio conditions, of the best available original master tapes made in the summer of 1967 and it features the bulk of the original songs that were recorded. This safety tape features truly breathtaking sound quality and also, in the majority of cases, features the material in its original glorious stereo (virtually none of this material has ever been heard in it’s original true stereo… including on the ridiculous official release!) The first time I got to listen this material my jaw nearly hit the floor! It really is a whole new listening experience!!

Four bonus tracks from other sources have also been included as bonus tracks, which also means that this set also stands as a close to perfect one disc compilation of the Basement Tapes Dylan compositions. The packaging is the usual high quality fold out mini album design complete with an eight page booklet of notes, pictures and some lovely reproductions of the cartoons from the classic vinyl album Little White Wonder. An early contender for the best, and most important release of 2009!

The track listing of this set is as follows:

The Basement Tapes Safety Master Tape
1. Million Dollar Bash
2. Yea Heavy and a Bottle of Bread
3. I’m Not There (1956)
4. Please Mrs Henry
5. Down in the Flood
6. Lo and Behold
7. This Wheel’s On Fire
8. You Ain’t Going Nowhere
9. I Shall Be Released
10. Too Much Of Nothing
11. Nothing Was Delivered
12. Odds and Ends
13. Get Your Rocks Off
14. Clothesline Saga
15. Apple Suckling Tree
16. Open the Door Homer
17. Nothing Was Delivered
18. Tears Of Rage
19. Quinn The Eskimo
BONUS TRACKS
20. Tiny Montgomery
21. Sign On The Cross
22. Going To Acapulco
23. All You Have To Do Is Dream

hadn't heard of it, but would definitely be interested if the hyperbole is true

haha, yeah. "GLORIOUS. BREATHTAKING." Funny that this is popping up right at the same time as the official Basement Tapes remaster, which I haven't heard yet.

Here you go, the Safety Tape, download the zip file, unzip, and voila:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DDT8WSLO

thanks!

holy shit this is amazing!

you ain't lyin

Thanks for sharing thirdalternative - I'll Pepsi challenge with Tree with roots at first opportunity. The Sid Griffin book 'Million Dollar Bash' makes for a nice listening companion. Highly recommended book if you 'all are fans of this era.

oh man early xmas, gonna have a Dylan party today

Wow!!

thanks, thirdalternative! i'd been hunting around in my usual spots, but hadn't turned up anything yet. is this the "speed-corrected" version? seems that there's some chatter about one of them being too fast/too slow/too something.

thirdalternative, you will always be first in my heart. Thanks man!

thirdalternative u r redeeming urself with that post, cheers

already kinda drunk at 2 PM, worked my way thru that glorious set and am now on a serious Dylan kick as I paint the upstairs of the house. I'll probably play it again after I get done with these 3 discs of 1966 live stuff.

One of the things I really noticed was that at least three of these songs are arguably better known as Grateful Dead songs due to them playing 'em live for years while the originals languished in bootleg collector obscurity.

thirdalternative you rule. These definitely sound better than Tree With Roots. I noticed a couple of "flaws" in a few spots however - a couple beeps and one part with the bottom seems to fall out momentarily. Anyone else? Maybe these were in the original tapes and corrected for TWR. Also, a different take is used for "Apple Sucklin' Tree" than the one on the 1975 release. Whatever - this is the best I've heard the Basement Tapes yet. There are details here that I'd never heard before.

har. sleeve, i'm painting too ... good painting music.

i kind of like when the bottom falls out on 'odds and ends'! it's a different version of 'too much of nothing' too.

yeah that 'too much of nothing' is weird! And the mix on the chorus of 'lo and behold' surely wasn't anybody's idea of 'done'. But for the most part it's definitely amazing.

"Nothing Was Delivered" is diff than the official version also, i think. great great stuff. great sound; noticed the bass for the first time ever on a couple of these tracks. 3rd alt. rules!

i liked the carolina chocolate drops but they took a kind of crowd-pleasing route that I can hardly blame them for and I sort of lost interest. there were always warning signs, as when the crowd got real excited when they'd do string-band covers of "hit 'em up style."

they are amazing musicians though.

and i'm just a jerk, basically.

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/bob_bootleg.jpg
Someone mentioned this in another thread, but worth repeating here. Is this real? Can't find many articles on it so far. Coming in November, apparently. Hope it sounds at least as good as the Mixin' Up the Medicine/A Tree with Roots bootlegs.
http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/bob-dylan-the-bootleg-series-vol-11-the-basement-tapes-complete/

It's real and available for pre-order on Amazon. Trimmed-down, 2-CD version will also be available.

!?!! I had no idea. So basically, when this comes out, the circle will be closed and no label will ever release recorded music again, right?

whoa, really?

dang, even looks like there is some un-bootlegged material in there.

daaaaaamn

as I said on the other thread, I will buy this

one question i have is: i wonder if there are full length versions of stuff that gets cut off early on a tree w/roots like "lock your door" etc

That might just be where the original tape cuts off. But who knows? They obviously have access to some other sources for these things.

i'm probably just wishful thinking but that would be amazing some of those snippets are kind of heartbreaking when they cut off

Haha, this is scheduled for release exactly one week before T-Bone Burnett's Look What I Found In The Basement or whatever it's called.

holy fucking shit, it's happening.

http://theseconddisc.com/2014/08/26/they-shall-be-released-bob-dylan-and-the-bands-the-basement-tapes-complete-arrives-in-november/

is aug. 26 the new april fool's day or something?

one question i have is: i wonder if there are full length versions of stuff that gets cut off early on a tree w/roots like "lock your door" etc

― ruffalo soldier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, August 26, 2014 9:46 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i hope so! some of the best songs on the boots are cut off midway.

Six discs would expand on my "Tree with Roots" version; getting the best available source material is nice; the 120 page booklet may be cool....

But $150 seems a bit steep, no?

it sure does. kind of think it'll come down, but who knows...
the smile deluxe box set was 6 CDs + double LP + a couple seven inches + a pretty lavish book and I think it was $125 or thereabouts?

Unless the book is really REALLY cool, this set appears to be priced about double what is reasonable. I can see a complete vinyl set for $150; i might even pay more.

Well, the deluxy versions do come down thanks to fopp etc.

"Tell tale signs" was silly, another cd plus a book of ep covers, got it for £25 in the end.

I don't recall how much "Another selfie" was, but it wasn't full price. That was mail order though.

either i'm going to get this used or i'm just going to dl it illegally b/c bob dylan does not need my $150 for 45 yr old stuff

btw i'm sure this will sound 10x better than existing boots (except for mixin up the medicine)

Agreed on the sound; i'll absolutely dl some flacs just to hear how they sound before i make any purchase decision.

http://www.bobdylan.com/us/news/basement-tapes-track-track

iTunes was offering it for $58, but I couldn't get the listing again; Amazon's got the CDs (and book, I guess) for $120, last time I looked. Marcus on the mostly unbootlegged tracks/alts (says 33 in all; 2 are unlisted, in Disc 6): http://rol.st/1z01jPC

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-basement-tapes-complete-gives-you-all-the-bob-dylan-1654918549/+robharvilla

Good to spotlight the humor, but not to leave the serious tracks offstage: they're mostly just as good, which is saying a lot.

That Matos thing is good!

Matos piece is awesome! But why does it say "+harvilla" in the url?

There's some sublime stuff on the complete Basement Tapes, but it's also several hours of Rick Danko trying to find the root of the chord and succeeding about half the time, which makes it a stressful listen for me. I wanted it to be the great lost grail it's sometimes purported to be, but on a basic level it's really just demos. I'm really loving The Auld Triangle today though

I think of a demo as a formalist run-through, usually bare-bones, although Prince was known for resplendent demos, which were apparently like the finished product of almost anyone else, and Dylan's solo demos could be very intense---these are largely one-offs, first time heard and played by The Band, it seems (though one day we may get The Completest, with every take, every false start, every fart etc., as with Charlie Parker): fresh and speculative call and response, kicking it back and forth---maybe tennis without a net, but that can be a discipline. (Good discussions can also be found on threads for The Bootleg Series and The Band.) Yeah, up this thread, I should have referred to the '75 version as "overdubbed," rather than "re-recorded," in terms of basic tracks being replaced, apparently (anyway, that's good too, and some prefer it: incl. most of his originals from these sessions, and you get all those Band tracks, maybe the only place for that entire grouping?)

I love the Basement Tapes, and I actually do enjoy throwing them all on and letting them play, but like any informal sessions, it's often very casual and I think downplaying really oversells the box set to new listeners. The two-CD set was a great idea, it's probably the best way for most people to hear this music, but they messed that up a bit - for starters, it made no good sense to choose inferior alternates for some of those songs.

*downplaying that

I've found my favorite way to listen to the Complete Tapes at this point is to just have a playlist of the all six discs and toss it on shuffle, then dip in for a bit. It's helped to highlight some stuff I blew past before and definitely doesn't feel as overwhelming.

That "One Too Many Mornings" with vocals from Danko and Dylan is so fragile and so good.

I've read that the 2009 re-reissue (on CD) of the 1975 double-LP has good audio, and I think a nice-price used copy might be worth getting for the sake of those Band tracks Robertson stuck on there, otherwise sprinkled across various collections. They added a bit of compatible variety, perky enough that they may have helped the album get to the Top Ten. But I didn't realize 'til I read this that some critics found their inclusion a pisser: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Basement_Tapes#Criticism_of_1975_album Lots of other stuff in there I didn't know!

i'm fully in favor of those Band tracks on the original Basement Tapes 2LP, even if they aren't actually from the "basement" — some of my favorites in their entire catalog.

Fuckin’ bummer of an intro, Wikipedia:

This article is about the 1975 album. For the 2014 box set, see The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete. For a full list of 1967 Basement Tapes recordings, see List of Basement Tapes songs. For the videotapes made by the Columbine shooters, see Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold § Journals and investigation.

I have the 3LP from the Bootleg Series and the sound is really great. There is nothing else quite like it.

I'm Not There can stand with any of his 1965-66 songs.