Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series

To build on the discussion above – looks like Sony just bought all his recordings: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/24/bob-dylan-sells-recorded-music-catalog-to-sony-music-entertainment.html

More relevant details from Variety:

Bob Dylan and SME will continue to collaborate on a range of future catalog reissues in the artist’s renowned and top-selling Bootleg Series, which began in 1991 and includes 14 releases through last year’s lauded “Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985).” The agreement also provides the opportunity for SME to partner with Dylan on additional projects.

Track list floating around Twitter, goes w some recent talk of next in series:

disc 1

1. "Love Sick" (acoustic demo, 1997)
2. "Not Dark Yet" (alternate take, Time Out Of Mind, 1997)
3. "Shake Sugaree" (studio rehearsal, 1994)
4. "Polly Vaughan" (unreleased, 1992)
5. "Long Time Man" (rehearsal at Shrine Auditorium, 1995)
6. "Million Miles" (studio rehearsal, 1997)
7. "Mississippi" (acoustic demo, 1996)
8. "Cold lrons Bound" (alternate take, Time Out Of Mind, 1997)
9. "Ring Of Fire" (Feeling Minnesota soundtrack, 1996)
10. "lnterfere" (studio rehearsal, 1996)
11 . "Red River Shore" (acoustic demo, 1996)
12. "Cocaine Blues" (rehearsal, George Mason University,1998)
13. "Standing ln The Doorway" (alternate take,Time Out Of Mind,1997)

disc 2

1. "All I Ever Loved ls You" (acoustic demo,1996)
2. "Dreamin' Of You" (acoustic demo,1996)
3. "Hello Stranger" (unreleased, World Gone Wrong,1993)
4. "Sugar Girl" (studio rehearsal,1997)
5. "Doin' Alright" (acoustic demo,1994)
6. "Can't Wait" (studio rehearsal,1996)
7. "Not Dark Yet" (acoustic demo,1996)
8. "You Belong To Me" (Natural Born Killers soundtrack, 1992)
9. "Million Miles" (alternate take,Time Out Of Mind,1997)
10. "Make You Feel My Love" (alternate take Time Out Of Mind 1997
11. "Red River Shore" (unreleased, Time Out Of Mind,1997)
12."That Was Right" (studio rehearsal,1998)
13. "Marchin' To The City" (studio rehearsal,1996)
14. "Tryin' To Get To Heaven" (studio rehearsal,1996)

disc 3

1.“Love Sick” (Live at Grammys 1998)
2.“Shake Sugaree” (studio rehearsal, 1997)
3.“The Lady Came From Baltimore” (unreleased, 1992)
4.“99 Silly Hats” (rehearsal at Sony Music Studios, 16 Nov 1994)
5.“Til I Fell In Love With You” (alternate take,Time Out Of Mind, 1997)
6.“Can’t Wait” (Acoustic Demo, 1996)
7.“Catskills Serenade” (unreleased, 1992)
8.“Make You Feel My Love” (Live at Pauley Pavilion UCLA, Los Angeles CA, 21 May 1998)
9.“Standing In The Doorway” (studio rehearsal, 1997)
10.“Not Dark Yet” (studio rehearsal, 1997)
11.“Tryin’ To Get To Heaven” (alternate take, Time Out Of Mind, 1997)
12.“Sugar Girl” (demo, 1995)
13.“All I Ever Loved Is You” (unreleased, Time Out Of Mind, 1997)

If you paste this, will prob revert to errors in orig. "translation" from Twitter image (Not Dork Yet, alternate toke etc.)

Unconfirmed, as far as I know

Not Dork Yet, alternate toke

omg/lmao, these are both A+

think this is a clever fake, but who knows? Would be weird for the Bootleg Series to suddenly go completely out of chronological order (though i guess the Springtime in NY played around a little with that).

“Love Sick” (Live at Grammys 1998)

SOY BOMB!

Soy Bomb guy is way more dated than Dylan these days

I’m imagining 99 Silly Hats is Dylan mining The 10,000 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and won’t be told otherwise.

completely out of chronological order Well, mostly around TOOM time, with little bit of filler fack back as '92---think Series of Dream jumped around more.
So I finally realized: tour-box-wise, we've had '66, Rolling Thunder, Trouble No More---but no '74 comeback tour box; fuckin why? Must have more like Before The Flood.

anyone know what's up with these The Joker vol. 1-5 Early Years? released throug... "Wet Music"? Is it official? Are they releasing everything from 1962 because of some copyright thing?
https://open.spotify.com/album/1oPGtbWK7xGK8vArq2SaRH?si=45D-hD8HQTKdA5A5ntFp1g

Guess this is most appropriate BD thread for some shows mentioned herel which curator says you're never gonna be able to just go to the Center, and pull up in whole...
from Flagging Down The Double E's e-newsletter (which usually has show downloads):

An In-Depth Look at the Bob Dylan Center's Unheard Live Recordings
Talking Supper Club, Salt Lake '76, and more with co-curator Parker Fishel
Ray Padgett
I was lucky enough to spend the past weekend at the grand opening of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Center is terrific, a museum that, even while it would be accessible to the casual fan, offers plenty for the superfan to salivate over. One example among many: Even after I’d probably spent five or six hours there over two days, I suddenly stumbled upon a never-heard World Gone Wrong outtake, “I’ve Always Been a Rambler,” tucked away on a wall. It sounded amazing (time for an early ‘90s Bootleg Series?), and that sort of revelation is everywhere you look.

But the public-facing Center is only the tip of the iceberg (speaking of icebergs, you can also see handwritten early lyrics for “Tempest”). Everything that’s on display still only represents a tiny fraction of the full Dylan archives in Tulsa. So I wanted to learn what else they have.

Not the untold lyric sheets and studio sessions and photos and ephemera, though I’m curious about that too. Since this newsletter focuses on Dylan in concert, I wanted to get more information about their stash of rare and never-heard audio and video recordings of shows, and how fans can hear it.

So I sat down with Parker Fishel, Archivist and Co-Curator of the Bob Dylan Center, to dive deep. No matter how esoteric and specific my questions — and, fair warning, some of them are pretty esoteric and specific — he was a wealth of knowledge.

Again, I am only focusing on live material here, so if you’re looking for more of a broad overview of the Center and archives, I’d check out recent articles in the New York Times and Vanity Fair.

Okay, here’s my conversation with Parker, slightly edited and condensed.

Great article. Thanks. That 1981 Blowin’ in the Wind footage is incredible.

Nice! Thanks dow!

But most of that (1974) tour was recorded

This is especially great news. Except for certain numbers, I never liked Dylan's singing on the later shows, and for the most part that's where all the circulating soundboards have come from. (They're also the source for the official live album.) The earlier show had better performances from him and some better, more interesting songs too - the highlight would be Dylan's solo "Nobody 'Cept You," and if they have at least a soundboard recording of one of the best takes, that would be incredible.

*earlier shows

Also that's nuts about Supper Club and other "restricted" material - so we can't see the film/video re-issued until Dylan is dead?

Somewhere in the coverage of this opening was a discussion of the "little red books" of early, revealing Blood On The Tracks lyrics: only a rumor at best for most followers, but the Center's got'em.

New Bootleg Series Vol. 17, "Fragments: The "Time Out Of Mind" Sessions (1996-1997)" will be out in January, 2023. The compilation will include outtakes and live material, as well as a completely remixed version of the album. pic.twitter.com/FC2RmNvYO2

— Definitely Dylan (@DefDylan) October 31, 2022

Speculation on another forum is that the format for the 5CDs will be:

Disc 1 - Remix
Disc 2 - Outtakes and Alternates
Disc 3 - Outtakes and Alternates
Disc 4 - Live (1998-2001)
Disc 5 - Bonus Disc: Previously Released (assumption that this will be stuff from Vol. 8 and other places)

Nice. Get that Lanois sound out of the mix! (just kidding... sort of)

I love the Lanois sound but on reflection, I would like to hear the LP without it.

I'm not 100% sure if the content of that tweet above is genuine. Are others?

Well, the H0ffmanites (lol) are running with it and they've generally been otm with these when the early rumors start to leak. If not the exact details, they've generally always been correct about the focus and general content.

I think Jim Dickinson might have sparked interest in a remix decades ago and it snowballed from there. He openly discussed how he didn't like the released mix and how it could've been a whole lot better, and given that it's Lanois producing, quite a few people have speculated what a remix would sound like. The earlier mixdowns of Oh Mercy songs on Tell Tale Signs definitely benefitted from less tinkering by Lanois, so I can see the same thing happening here.

think it was Auggie Meyers who heard time out of mind and said "that's not the record I played on!"

i like the lanois murk, but yeah, i also like the more open sound of the tell tale signs stuff, so I can see a remix being good. not a replacement for the original but good.

I love the album, can’t stand Lanois, but don’t necessarily dislike his production here. There are moments when it feels extremely self-conscious and overbearing — if he’d dialed back the swampy slapback just a little it would be a major improvement. It’s telling that 30+ years after the launch of the Bootleg Series, this is the only time where Dylan’s all, “oh shit, we gotta remix that.”

I actually substituted three tracks from Time Out of Mind on iTunes, but in those cases, it was either a better song ("Red River Shore" over "Make You Feel My Love") or simply a much better performance and arrangement rather than just a remix ("Can't Wait"'s 'studio demo' on Disc 1 of Tell Tale Signs and "Cold Irons Bounds" from the later recording with Charlie Sexton et al on Masked & Anonymous).

Also, Rob Stoner posted something about Dylan on social media recently - apparently he heard an early version of "Make You Feel My Love" way back in 1978! It was one of Dylan's "B songs" - stuff he didn't want to record himself but tried to give to other artists, and what Stoner heard was Dylan playing it on a piano for Robert Gordon, who passed on it and everything else Dylan offered him because they didn't really fit him.

xp - Also that "graphic design is my passion" looking ass box is totally in line with recent sets.

xp Ha yeah, I saw that. If it's true, that'd be pretty unique for Bob — a few exceptions aside ("Mississippi" for one) he usually leaves old songs behind. It'd be like if he decided to record "Farewell Angelina" for Empire Burlesque.

I think Lanois productions can be pretty misleading. They're often a lot more "natural" and less tinkered with than people think they are. He's not as much of an Eno as his partnership with Eno would have you believe.

As I understand it, on "Time" Dylan (and/or band) would often record in a room with a relatively clean amp sound, or at least with few effects. But then Lanois would also send the signal to a different room, or through a different amp, with different sounds and effects. And then he could pick and choose and mix between the different setups in the final mix. Something like that, which I imagine means a remix could be pretty fruitful.

So, like, Dylan would hear it one way when he played, but it would sound a different way in a different room. Unless I'm confusing it with a different session.

I'm not a Dylan fan, but I've really been enjoying listening to selected Jokermen episodes. And I was struck by how remarkably terrible Lanois' production was on some of those records.

Also I'm looking forward to the book, even though I don't write songs or listen to Bob Dylan.

TOOM was the first one I bought in the store when it came out, so I'm not sure I can be objective. But do think Dylan's own production post-TOOM is far better.

think it was Auggie Meyers who heard time out of mind and said "that's not the record I played on!"

Duke Robillard said something to the effect that he played guitar on most of the songs, but the only parts that made the record were bits that bled in from other people's mics. He later got Dylan's permission to record a cover of "Love Sick" using the arrangement they'd started with before Lanois started exercising his influence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGc0iAcnJlA

Got the Dylan book today. I like it, but it’s not something I can power through. I think i’ll do a song a day, listening to it first. It’s written in his Theme Time Radio Hour voice, which I appreciate.

apparently he heard an early version of "Make You Feel My Love" way back in 1978! It was one of Dylan's "B songs" -

ha it's def. one of his B (I would even say C) songs

I don't care for the song or most of its covers, but the one Adele album I really like is 19 and "Make You Feel My Love" actually fits pretty well in there. Adele makes something of it and it's probably the only time I really enjoy that song from anyone.

the Uncut pieces on TooM some of the most hilarious and fascinating reads, hope more stories surface, could read a book on these recordings:

I mean, by that point, Jim Keltner is there playing drums, Brian Blade is there playing drums, and Tony Mangurian is there playing drums – three drummers going on at the same time, five guitar players, pedal steel, organ, piano, all these people. Dan had put together a band, and then Dylan had put out the call for these guys like Jim Dickinson, Augie Meyers, Duke Robillard, Cindy Cashdollar. Dylan brought in all these Nashvile people, and I think that made Dan a little mental having all these Nashville strummers strumming, it was a bit too much. As I’m sure Jim Dickinson has said, there were a lot of ingredients in there that you don’t actually hear on the record, because things were filtered down so we could take a cleaner path on some of them.

https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/bob-dylan-tell-tale-signs-special-mark-howard-37964/

Time Out of Mind set officially confirmed for release on January 27th.

Impressive set:

https://www.bobdylan.com/news/fragments-time-out-of-mind-sessions-1996-1997-to-be-released-on-january-27/

Am I correct that a lot of the outtakes already appeared on Vol 8? Or is the version numbering off - for instance on Red River Shore?

Go through the link I posted - all of the Vol. 8 stuff is included, but it's all isolated on Disc Five. Except for one live cut that was used as a B-side, everything else is newly released content.

I did, I just misread the dates of some of the versions and thought they were the same version on the same date. Not sure why they are using version instead of take here (maybe because it's not really a live take with all the protools being used).

Yeah, the "version" tracking is really nebulous. It becomes really confusing with these follow-up releases that cover the same ground.

Turns out that tweet and the speculation about the contents was pretty much dead on.

Jesus, $140 for the 5CD version!

I think that's pretty standard? That's what the 5CD Infidels set cost, which I bought (*checks old email*) around a year ago... tho I had Amoeba credit, and only paid $23.50 out of pocket.

Maybe it is, but I thought I paid just around $100 for it, could be wrong. I usually tried to time these Dylan boxes with coupons at like Barnes & Noble or whatever. $140 even on Amazon just seemed high at first blush, particularly when one of the five is all previously released.

Unless you want vinyl, I would wait. All of his super deluxe sets eventually come down quite a bit on the secondary market, usually as much as half.

I'm not familiar with the Australian "Highlands" performance that they included. The live version in general beats the album version.

Here's one that name-checks Annie Lennox instead of Neil Young:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm4ItXeKRvA

I’m pretty excited for the remix; Lanois’ mix is definitive but I’ve often wanted to push aside the murk. Such a pillar of his catalogue.