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Bob Dylan: The Rundown Rehearsal Tapes (audio)





bob dylan rundown rehearsal tapes

Stunning!! This eagerly anticipated 4 CD release truly delivers. Excellent soundboard tapes of most recordings.
~bobsboots.com

During the winter months of 1978, Bob Dylan conducted rehearsals for his upcoming 115-date world tour in downtown Santa Monica’s aptly named Rundown Studios. Captured for posterity by engineers Arthur Rosato and Joel Bernstein, the Rundown tapes represent a remarkably panoramic window into Dylan’s creative process as he reinvents his classic songs via improvised lyrics and arrangements that gradually transform the raw, fiery melodies into larger-than-life pop fantasias seemingly earmarked for the casino ballrooms of Las Vegas. The four-CD bootleg box set The Rundown Rehearsal Tapes is an embarrassment of riches for the serious Dylan enthusiast, encompassing virtually every landmark in his storied songbook as well as some new compositions and a handful of traditional blues standards that never made it past the rehearsal stage.
~Jason Ankeny (read more over @ allmusic.com)

The info about the different disc’s is from the Sleeve info (edited by bobsboots.com)

Tracks

Disc one

The first CD opens with an arrangement of Like A Rolling Stone that’s quite different from the one utilized on the tour itself, before introducing a first ever CD transfer of the complete December 30th 1977 tape. This particular rehearsal comes at a time when the touring band was still in a state of flux, with Denny Siewell on drums, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar and Katie Segal and Debbie Dye Gibson on backing vocals. It also features Dylan figuring out a piano arrangement of It’s all over now baby blue, as well as versions of three songs that failed to appear on the tour; Most likely you go your way, Leopard skin pill box hat and If not for you. Though this is a first generation digital transfer of the cassette master, this is one recording not from the mixing console, but recorded by one of the musicians with a boom box. (hence the slightly recessed vocals). However, it remains a fascinating insight into the embryonic stage of rehearsals at this point.
Tracks 15-17 on the first CD gain come from a first-gen digital transfer of a tape that has generally only circulated in mediocre quality, from high generational recordings. This session featured a different drummer, (Bruce Gary), as well as a unique 1978 arrangement of the Blood On The Tracks classic You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. Finally, the CD concludes with a teaser of the goodies to be found on CD2… a previously uncirculated take of the old blues standard My Babe.

Continue reading Bob Dylan: The Rundown Rehearsal Tapes (audio)

Bob Dylan: Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power), Valencia, Spain – 15 April 1999 (video)

bob dylan valencia 1999

Señor, señor, do you know where we’re headin’?
Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?
Seems like I been down this way before
Is there any truth in that, señor?

Absolutely brilliant version!

Velódromo Luis Puig
Valencia, Spain
15 April 1999

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • David Kemper (drums & percussion)

Continue reading Bob Dylan: Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power), Valencia, Spain – 15 April 1999 (video)

Bob Dylan performing “Masters Of War” @ Brixton Academy, London – 30 March 1995 (Video)

bob dylan brixton 1995

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

Brixton Academy
London, England
30 March 1995

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • John Jackson (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • Winston Watson (drums & percussion)

Continue reading Bob Dylan performing “Masters Of War” @ Brixton Academy, London – 30 March 1995 (Video)

September 28: Bob Dylan Frankfurt West Germany 1987 (video)

Redirecting to a newer version of this post….

bob dylan_1987_Frankfurt_3
Bob Dylan @ Festhalle, Frankfurt 1987

Festhalle
Frankfurt, West Germany
28 September 1987

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)

    with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:
  • Tom Petty (guitar)
  • Mike Campbell (guitar)
  • Benmont Tench (keyboards)
  • Howie Epstein (bass)
  • Stan Lynch (drums)
    and with The Queens Of Rhythm:
  • Carolyn Dennis, Queen Esther Marrow, Madelyn Quebec (backing vocals).

bob dylan_1987_Frankfurt Continue reading September 28: Bob Dylan Frankfurt West Germany 1987 (video)