Bob Dylan Bootleg Series Poll

Was just looking at the tracklist for 1-3 myself, and I might have to vote for that! "Moonshiner", "She's Your Lover Now", "Except You", "Angelina", "Blind Willie", "Series of Dreams" ... those six songs are some of my favorite recordings ever.

I just hauled out Vol4 and 6 for a car journey, played 6.

Heck, voted for it, just so's it's not lonely. It's got the pure essence of
what got him discovered in the first place, whereas 6 is him moving on.

This sequence from disc two of Bootleg 1-3 is the greatest thing ever

4. Mama, You Been On My Mind
5. Farewell, Angelina
6. Subterranean Homesick Blues
7. If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got To Stay All Night)
8. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence
9. Like A Rolling Stone
10. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
11. I'll Keep It With Mine
12. She's Your Lover Now
13. I Shall Be Released
14. Santa-Fe
15. If Not For You
16. Wallflower
17. Nobody 'Cept You
18. Tangled Up In Blue
19. Call Letter Blues
20. Idiot Wind

Those voting for Vol 8..

Which version? The 1CD, 2CD or 3CD edition?

There was a 1 CD version?

I really love all of these; if this was the only Dylan I had I'd be ok with that (it's my standard Dylan iPod cache).

I voted for Live 1966 because it's probably my favorite recording ever; and what more must I say about its narcotic glory? After that, probably Vols 1 - 3 for all the reasons given so far + "Seven Curses". Then prob. Vol 7 which makes for a pretty great compact greatest hits of the 60s, mostly eschewing the "protest songs" of 1963-4. Then I'm not sure, prob. Tell Tale Signs (I own the 2 disc edition but I've heard the third cd too) over 1964 over 1975. I love 1964 a lot because Dylan sounds so stately and confident, without the harsh vocal tone of the released albums of 1963 and 1964 that often bugs me. The "Hard Rain" is sung like a logical argument, with the exaggerated pauses between lines separating its premises before each conclusion in the choruses. And the three songs from Bringing It All Back Home are standouts, both for their excellence and for their failing to have the lovable goofiness Dylan plays out in other songs here; maybe that's why he talks about the Bob Dylan mask.

I just voted for Live 1966 as well -- it really is the best live album ever. I've been listening to it (on bootleg at first) since I was a kid and it still never fails to blow my mind whenever I play it.

Love them all (haven't heard Rolling Thunder yet) but 1-3 will be hard to beat; it was what got me REALLY REALLY into Dylan when I was 19 or so (had been a fan but this kicked it over the fence). Tons of humour, especially on Vol. 1. But really, all of this. His outtakes are miles ahead of everyone else's best stuff. "delight" OTM.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

for ye olde dylan nerds, the full soundboard show from whence that amazing live "High Water" came from on Tell Tale Signs is floating around. A really great latter day Dylan show ...

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Ouch for No Direction Home!

Cheers for Rolling Thunder

That's the only one I don't got.

No Direction Home is great, but how can you stack it up against the heavy competition?

I'd take it over Rolling Thunder, & the 1964 show

First 2 tracks on Rolling Thunder justify the whole thing for me.. I just really, really like the feel on those.

the "Romance in Durango" from Rolling Thunder is incredible, godlike.

"Water is Wide" is sweet too. Epic release, even if i was forced to vote for Royal Albert Hall (Not Royal Albert Hall)

I just listened to the Town Hall 1963 show for the first time. It's really great! It's more downcast than the playful Bootleg Series 1964 show. In particular "Boots of Spanish Leather" is a standout, with a tender reading that outshines the album take.

tyler, what's "the name" of that high water recording?

it's Niagara Falls 2003 -- not sure of the date ... would I get in trouble for posting a download link here?

It was on bobdylan.com recently, so if you search for the Niagara show you find it pretty quickly on other sites now too. It's a terrific show.

yeah, it's a cool era -- i think Freddie Koella (?) is the guitarist, (along w/ Larry Campbell) who is a little more interesting than some of Dylan guitarists these days, or at least not totally just a straight-up bluesy kinda player.

That "High Water" melts my face.

it really would be worth it for Dylan to put together a 4-CD Neverending Tour Bootleg Series or something. i mean, i'll admit to there being plenty of low points (i've been in attendance for some of them!), but the high points can be as high as any Dylan period.

I'd love that; fortunately these tours are heavily booted.

oh yeah, you can probably get any show from the last 20 years on bootleg. but hearing the Niagara Falls show reminds me how nice a professionally mixed set can sound.

The mp3s I found of the Niagara show are a little quieter than "High Water" on Tell Tale Signs, but yeah, I agree with you.

Niagara Falls 2003

I saw him play an outdoor show in Louisville that year on the Wednesday of Kentucky Derby Week, it was great

the latest rumor:
The next Bootleg Series release, Volume 9, will indeed be “a set of non-live recordings, well-known to collectors”, as stated. Although based on “The Witmark Demos”, sources say it will include some Leeds demo recordings as well. There are said to be 47 tracks. There is no information as to the packaging for this release.

I guess that's cool. I listened through the Witmark Demos earlier this year. They're nice for the songs better known from other artists' takes but not Bob's, e.g. "Tomorrow Is A Long Time", "Only A Hobo", "Percy's Song". I'm not too stoked about more "Blowin' In The Wind", though maybe they'll swap those out for other songs. I've only heard bits & pieces of the Leeds demos. I suppose cleaning up the sound on these would be nice. Obviously I'll buy this in any case.

Live gospel stuff would still be a dope official release

yeah, it's not a thrilling release, if this is actually true, but it's still an important part of the early Dylan puzzle. there's one unreleased song I really enjoy that I think is from the witmark demos "guess I'm doing fine."

there are also rumors of an 8-CD mono box set coming out this year too. all the albums through john wesely harding ... in mono! oooh.

go Bob go but...yeah, that's not gonna be on my shopping list.

The Witmark Demos features 47 Bob Dylan songs recorded by the artist – accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano – for his first music publisher, Leeds Music, in January 1962, and for his second publisher, M. Witmark & Sons, between 1962 and 1964. Listening to these recordings, one can trace Dylan’s dramatic growth as a songwriter from early traditionally-styled songs like “Man On The Street” and “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie” through the social commentary of “Blowin’ In The Wind, “The Times They Are A Changin’” and “Masters Of War”, and the groundbreaking lyrical genius of “Mr. Tambourine Man.” All of these songs, and all the others on The Witmark Demos, were written – and their subsequent demos recorded – before Bob Dylan turned 24 years old.

Among the many gems found on The Witmark Demos are 15 Bob Dylan songs that were recorded by the artist only for these sessions, and which have never been officially released to the public until now. These include the plaintive“Ballad For A Friend,” the civil rights era-inspired “Long Ago, Far Away” and “The Death Of Emmett Till,” and the poignant “Guess I’m Doing Fine.”

The Witmark Demos also features a deluxe booklet featuring in-depth liner notes by noted music historian Colin Escott, as well as rare photographs of Bob Dylan captured during the same period as these early recordings.
http://www.amazon.com/Witmark-Demos-1962-1964-Bootleg-Vol/dp/B0040GJ312/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1282601558&sr=1-5

were some of those witmark demos on the no direction home soundtrack?

yeah, as I said before that's a good release; for me nothing to get too excited about since the bootleg version sounds great already, though I guess people felt the same about Live 1966.

yeah, there's one witmark track on no direction home, and then a couple others on the original 3-disc bootleg series. it's good (if not earthshattering) stuff. i've had the bootleg for years, and it's not something i listen to all that much.

it's worthy of release though!

Dylan should go crazy re. releases now, while the boomers are still alive & wealthy & while (some) people still buy music. Clear out the archive, Bob! Do it Miles Davis style: give us a Cellar Door-like version of the Warfield shows from 1979, for instance.

I share the mild disappointment with this release. I have these on CDr somewhere and have never really felt the urge to play them that much. That could change if I bought the official release, mind you. But I'd much rather have seen a different era get the Bootleg series treatment.

xpost

I see, as predicted by tyler above, the mono-box is also scheduled

http://www.sonymusicdigital.com/bobdylan/details/5625829

The Original Mono Recordings are comprised of these albums painstakingly reproduced from their first generation monaural mixes as the artist intended them to be heard: One channel of powerful sound, both direct and immediate. While stereo recordings had been available as early as the mid-1950s, mono was still the predominant – and often preferred – mode of recording and mixing by the top artists of the 1960s. As a result, artists like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan devoted their attention to the mono mixes, leaving the stereo mixing process to studio engineers.

The Original Mono Recordings are accompanied by a deluxe booklet, featuring vintage photographs of Bob Dylan and an expansive essay from renowned author and critic – and longtime Dylan aficionado – Greil Marcus. Each disc in the set comes in its own individual jacket which faithfully replicates the original album artwork, complete with labels and stickers that were found on the original 1960s releases.

Also includes a limited edition 18" x 24" Bob Dylan poster.

The eight albums in The Original Mono Recordings are as follows:

* Bob Dylan – 1962
* The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – 1963
* The Times They Are A-Changin’ – 1964
* Another Side Of Bob Dylan – 1964
* Bringing It All Back Home – 1965
* Highway 61 Revisited – 1965
* Blonde on Blonde – 1966
* John Wesley Harding – 1967

I suppose the mono set might possibly be interesting for nerds with no record player, who can now pick up the CDs. But Sundazed has been doing fantastic mono LPs for ages now. Which has thus far been my justification for owning some Dylan in 2 formats....

Sundazed does a 10-LP package w/ the first 8 mono LPs, JWH in stereo and greatest hits -- all for $150. The Dylan store is selling the first 8 LPs for $250.

yeah, hmmm. the only mono version of those records i've heard is Blonde On Blonde, and it's good, but not essential or anything. can't imagine that the solo records would benefit from being in mono?

I wouldn't want to make any great claims for the mono versions against the new(ish) remastered CDs. I just think Sundazed do a wonderful LP and love owning/playing some of them.

Funnily, my CD of BoB is of the older variety, so the comparison with the mono vinyl is starker than with my other Dylan CDs

here's the complete tracklisting:
Disc 1:
1. "Man On The Street (Fragment)"
2. "Hard Times In New York Town"
3. "Poor Boy Blues"
4. "Ballad For A Friend"
5. "Rambling, Gambling Willie"
6. "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues"
7. "Standing On The Highway"
8. "Man On The Street"
9. "Blowin' In The Wind"
10. "Long Ago, Far Away"
11. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"
12. "Tomorrow Is A Long Time"
13. "The Death of Emmett Till"
14. "Let Me Die In My Footsteps"
15. "Ballad Of Hollis Brown"
16. "Quit Your Low Down Ways"
17. "Baby, I'm In The Mood For You"
18. "Bound To Lose, Bound To Win"
19. "All Over You"
20. "I'd Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day"
21. "Long Time Gone"
22. "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues"
23. "Masters Of War"
24. "Oxford Town"
25. "Farewell"

Disc 2
1. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
2. "Walkin' Down The Line"
3. "I Shall Be Free"
4. "Bob Dylan's Blues"
5. "Bob Dylan's Dream"
6. "Boots Of Spanish Leather"
7. "Walls of Red Wing"
8. "Girl From The North Country"
9. "Seven Curses"
10. "Hero Blues"
11. "Whatcha Gonna Do?"
12. "Gypsy Lou"
13. "Ain't Gonna Grieve"
14. "John Brown"
15. "Only A Hobo"
16. "When The Ship Comes In"
17. "The Times They Are A-Changin'"
18. "Paths Of Victory"
19. "Guess I'm Doing Fine"
20. "Baby Let Me Follow You Down"
21. "Mama, You Been On My Mind"
22. "Mr. Tambourine Man"
23. "I'll Keep It With Mine"

too bad they haven't unearthed anything unknown here, like a Dylan demo of "Love Is Just a 4-Letter Word" or something.

So when will they get round to the big version of the Basement tapes, or is that kinda unnecessary?

i'm sure it'll happen sooner or later -- i mean, it's no more unnecessary than this witmark demos thing, which has been floating around bootleg for decades now.

Well, it's one of those they're going to make one of those 'superdeluxe' album sets of, once again.

Blame Radiohead.

I don't think I ever really, really listened to "Royal Albert Hall" before tonight...this is incredibly intense, I want to change my vote.

where can i hear electric blind willie mctell?

"Moonshiner" is my single favorite Dylan performance, so I'd vote Vol. 1-3 for that alone.

yeah that moonshiner is something else, otherworldly -- one of the ultimate "how did they not release this?" performances of the guy's career.
mordy, here is the electric blind willie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIwau5u5Rt4

Tangled up in booze: Bob Dylan launches his own brand of whiskey

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/29/bob-dylan-whiskey-heavens-door

Classic or Dud: Heaven’s Door Bob Dylan Whiskey...

Ahhh. Searching Dylan is impossible