Category Archives: Bob Dylan recording sessions

September 16: Bob Dylan “Blood On The Tracks” first recording session 1974

blood-on-the-tracks-album-cover

Bob Dylan started recording Blood On The Tracks September 16, 1974.

Here are some quotes, facts & music….

When Dylan began work at A&R one Monday afternoon in September he seemed unusually keen to get on with the recording process. The songs themselves were no more than 2 months old, and he was still excited by the new approach to language he had uncovered.
Even behind closed studio doors he was determined to get the songs out of his system as quickly, and with as much impact, as possible
~Clinton Heylin (The Recording Sessions)

From Wikipedia:

Dylan arrived at Columbia Records’ A&R Recording Studios in New York City on September 16, 1974, where it was soon realized that he was taking a “spontaneous” approach to recording. The session engineer at the time, Phil Ramone, later said that he would “go from one song to another like a medley. Sometimes he will have several bars, and in the next version, he will change his mind about how many bars there should be in between a verse. Or eliminate a verse. Or add a chorus when you don’t expect”. Eric Weissberg and his band, Deliverance, originally recruited as session men, were rejected after two days of recording because they could not keep up with Dylan’s pace. Dylan retained bassist Tony Brown from the band, and soon added organist Paul Griffin (who had also worked on Highway 61 Revisited) and steel guitarist Buddy Cage. After ten days and four sessions with the current lineup, Dylan had finished recording and mixing, and, by November, had cut a test pressing on the album. Columbia soon began to prepare for the album’s imminent release, but, three months later, just before the scheduled launch, Dylan re-recorded several songs at the last minute, in Minneapolis’ Sound 80 Studios, utilizing local musicians organized by his brother, David Zimmerman. Even with this setback, Columbia managed to release Blood on the Tracks by January 17, 1975.

Continue reading September 16: Bob Dylan “Blood On The Tracks” first recording session 1974

May 24: Happy Birthday Bob Dylan

bob dylan

Happy Birthday to the GREATEST Artist of Our Time.

Here @ alldylan.com we got about 1500 Bob Dylan posts alive. In this tribute I’ll try to give an overview & hopefully lead you [the reader] to material you might find interesting.

My favorite quote of all time is off course:

 That he not busy being born is busy dying
~From – It’s Alright, Ma (I’m only bleeding)

Dylan has always been busy being born. At the age of 74 he’s still [never ending] touring the world, performing at peak level, bringing awe & joy to those lucky enough to understand & participate. If you’re a true “performing artist”, you can’t retire. You gotta be yourself to the end. And we all know that Zimmy will not back down.

Enough with the chit chat, let’s get down to it.

Here is how we have organized our Bob Dylan material & some essential links:

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March 7: Bob Dylan’s second recording session for Oh Mercy in 1989

bob dylan Oh-Mercy

 

“Bono had heard a few of those songs and suggested that Daniel [Lanois] could really record them right, Daniel came to see me when we were playing in New, Orleans last year and… we hit it off. He had an understanding of what my music was all about.”
~Bob Dylan (to Edna Gundersen Sept 1989)

On the first recording session for “Oh Mercy” he only tried “Born In Time”, and two versions from this session was released on “Tell Tale Signs”. The second sessions focused on “What Good Am I?” & Ring Them Bells.

The Studio
New Orleans, Louisiana
7 March 1989
Second Oh Mercy recording session, produced by Daniel Lanois

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Feb 12: Bob Dylan 2nd Saved recording session 1980

Bob_Dylan_-_Saved

 A far more productive session at Muscle Shoals yields three [four] cuts on Saved, including the seemingly improvised opener, “Satisfied Mind,” which is cut in a single rake, as is “Saved” (although according to Wexler this was one of two songs recur on the 15th). “Solid Rock” is cut in three takes, “What Can I Do for You!” in one, although that Muscle Shoals groove is sadly lacking on both.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)

bob dylan and session musicians 1980
Dick Cooper, Bob Dylan, Terry Young, Regina Havis, Mona Lisa Young and Clydie King

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50 years ago: Bob Dylan – The first recording session for “Bringing It All Back Home”

Bob Dylan - bringing it all back home

I never wanted to write topical songs,…. Have you heard my last two records, Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61? It’s all there. That’s the real Dylan.
~Bob Dylan (Frances Taylor Interview, Aug. 1965)

50 years ago – 13 January 1965 – Bob Dylan entered Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, NYC for the first of three seminal days in the studio… It was time to show the “real” Dylan on record.

Wikipedia:

Bringing It All Back Home is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band—a move that further alienated him from some of his former peers in the folk song community. Likewise, on the acoustic second side of the album, he distanced himself from the protest songs with which he had become closely identified (such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”), as his lyrics continued their trend towards the abstract and personal.

The album reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Pop Albums chart, the first of Dylan’s LPs to break into the US top 10. It also topped the UK charts later that Spring. The lead-off track, “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, became Dylan’s first single to chart in the US, peaking at #39.

bd-65-studio
Photo by Columbia Records photgrapher Don Hunstein

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