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

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.