9 thoughts on “Bob Dylan: Infidels outtakes (Rough cuts)”

1. I love the jukebox rock on “Clean Cut Kid.” It’s way more effective than the synth pop on Empire Burlesque.

2. Foot of Pride is extraordinary. Would have fit perfectly on Infidels.

3. I found this last week and have not been able to stop listening:

   http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/06/bob-dylan-infidels-original-mix.html

4. As far as I’m concerned, this album has the definitive version of Blind Willie McTell, not Bootleg 1-3.

   1. Agree. The acoustic version is fantastic as well, but I’m an “Electric BWMcT” man 🙂

5. Still looking for a good vinyl edition of the whole infidels sessions, for me just as important as those for blood on the tracks, there we at least have a good album of the best songs, here we have a hlaf hearted edition of what could have been a double masterpiece… One for the bootleg series perheaps, though I don’t see it happening soon, discontent as Dylan seems to be with the sound of his eighties recordings (rightly so in many occasions, but not wholly here (with some remixing, taking away the robotic sheen it could be pretty naked music 😉

   1. Well, reading this flawed message of mine of two years ago, I can react now with saying I found what I was looking for, though it does not contain all outtakes, luckily so I have to admit in retrospect. It’s called Outfidels, a vinyl edition dating back to 1984, so from first generation tapes of the rough mixes Knopfler made, and in the sequence of the original concept of the album, The cover shows a stunning picture with a sad Dylan, at a concert in 78, complete with his high black magicians hat. But most importantly, the sound is much more lively, with the original vocals, not overdubbed, the guitars really rock, and even the drums are with more nuance. At last we hear the record in all its glory and with a build up that’s breathtaking: a rougherJokerman knocks you out at the start (though it misses the first word ‘standing’, it begins too late), License to Kill, not half as distant as on the official take, gets the emotions flowing, then Preacherman picks up the rocking vibe again, continued in Neighborhood Bully, that keeps bugging me, but is not as robotic, so that the rythmic beauty of the quite black and white lyrics shines. On side two Don’t fall apart on me tonight pulls you into a voyage of deep feelings, the guitars get much more space here, and the song showes its strength at last. The electric Blind Willie McTell after that takes you by the throat. Sweetheart continues the emotional spirit, though it makes you ease out for a moment, which is fine, and also this take has more grit than on the official one. A superb version of I & I, with beautifully delayed guitar at the beginning, and luckily without the trick of the dubbed piano, that became tiresome in the original take, sends you back to the top of the mountain, ready for the fall into the majestic gorge of Foot of Pride. That one misses the two last verses, alas, yet it almost seems stronger for that, the speeding up is left off that way and the fourth verse has such a good ending (singing Amazing Grace all the way to the Swiss Bank”), that I am more than content after all… Would this have been released, it might have deserved a place in the top ten, somewhere , maybe even the sixth, despite NB ( I would have preffered Union Sundown there, so prophetic about our time)

      1. I meant man of Peace instead of Preacherman of course, always too hasty…

6. Still difficult to listen to Infidels without thinking ‘what might have been …’
   He had all the material to create an absolute classic, right up there with his best.

Comments are closed.