Category Archives: Bob Dylan recording sessions

Jan 6: Bob Dylan – First recording session for “Under The Red Sky” in 1990





bob dylan under the red sky

I made this record, Under the Red Sky, with Don Was, but at the same time I was also doing the Wilburys record. I don’t know how it happened that I got into both albums at the same time.
~Bob Dylan (to Jonathan Lethem, Aug 2006)

It’s a magnificent album, really, and I love every performance on it.
~Paul Williams (from Bob Dylan: Mind Out of Time – Performing Artist 1986-1990 and Beyond)

Oceanway Studios
Los Angeles, California
6 January 1990
Produced by Don Was, David Was and Jack Frost

Continue reading Jan 6: Bob Dylan – First recording session for “Under The Red Sky” in 1990

November 22: Bob Dylan 2nd session for Bob Dylan (album) 1961

bob dylan album 1962

CBS is proud to introduce a major new figure in American folk music—Bob Dylan.
Excitement has been running high since the young man with a guitar ambled into a
recording studio for two sessions in November, 1961. For at only 20, Dylan is the most unusual
new talent in American folk music.
His talent takes many forms. He is one of the most compelling white blues singers ever
recorded. He is a songwriter of exceptional facility and cleverness. He is an uncommonly
skillful guitar player and harmonica player.
~Stacey Williams (“Bob Dylan” LP. liner notes – March 1962)

Dylan comes across as obsessed with the romance of dying, but the speed, energy and attack
in his guitar, harmonica and voice show how fresh and excellently ‘unprofessional’ he was.
…..
Yet what comes through from the album as a whole is a remarkable skill and more than a hint
of a highly distinctive vision.
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)

Continue reading November 22: Bob Dylan 2nd session for Bob Dylan (album) 1961

November 20: Bob Dylan 1st recording session for “Bob Dylan” in 1961

bob dylan album 1962

CBS is proud to introduce a major new figure in American folk music—Bob Dylan.
Excitement has been running high since the young man with a guitar ambled into a
recording studio for two sessions in November, 1961. For at only 20, Dylan is the most unusual
new talent in American folk music.
His talent takes many forms. He is one of the most compelling white blues singers ever
recorded. He is a songwriter of exceptional facility and cleverness. He is an uncommonly
skillful guitar player and harmonica player.
~Stacey Williams (“Bob Dylan” LP. liner notes – March 1962)

Dylan comes across as obsessed with the romance of dying, but the speed, energy and attack
in his guitar, harmonica and voice show how fresh and excellently ‘unprofessional’ he was.
…..
Yet what comes through from the album as a whole is a remarkable skill and more than a hint
of a highly distinctive vision.
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)

Wikipedia:

Released March 19, 1962
Recorded November 20 and 22, 1961,Columbia Recording Studio, New York City, New York, United States
Genre Folk
Length 36:54
Label Columbia
Producer John H. Hammond

Bob Dylan is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in March 1962 by Columbia Records. Produced by Columbia’s legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who signed Dylan to the label, the album features folk standards, plus two original compositions, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song to Woody”.

bob dylan 1961 recording sessions

 

Continue reading November 20: Bob Dylan 1st recording session for “Bob Dylan” in 1961

August 7: Bob Dylan: The 2nd The Times They Are A-Changin’ recording session, 1963





Dylan_The_Times_They_Are_A_Changin_front

“Another thing about Times They Are A-Changin’ – I wanted to say in it that if you have something that you don’t want to lose, and people threaten you, you are not really free.”
~Bob Dylan (to Ray Coleman, May 1965)

“The message isn’t in the words, …. I don’t do anything with a sort of message.
I’m just transferring my thoughts into music. Nobody can give you a message like that.”
~Bob Dylan (to Ray Coleman, May 1965)

Dylan’s third album reflects his mood in August-October 1963. It is also a product for his need to live up to and expand on the role he found himself in, topical poet, the restless young man with something to say, singing to and for a new generation.
~Paul Williams (BD performing artist 1960-73)

Studio A
Columbia Recording Studios
New York City, New York
7 August 1963
The 2nd The Times They Are A-Changin’ session, produced by Tom Wilson

Another session at Studio A was held the following day, this time yielding master takes for four songs: “Ballad of Hollis Brown”, “With God on Our Side”, “Only a Pawn in Their Game”, and “Boots of Spanish Leather”, all of which were later included on the final album sequence.
~Wikipedia

Continue reading August 7: Bob Dylan: The 2nd The Times They Are A-Changin’ recording session, 1963

August 2: Bob Dylan – 5th recording session for Highway 61 Revisited in 1965





Bob_Dylan_-_Highway_61_Revisited

“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 (to Frances Taylor – Aug 1965)

“Highway 61 Revisited is the product of a series of recording session in which Dylan is performing at his peak, pure creativeness, sheer intensity, inspired by and pulling forth equivalent performances from the musicians around him. Whichever way he turns, something new and remarkable happens.”
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)

Studio A
Columbia Recording Studios
New York City, New York
2 August 1965
The 5th Highway 61 Revisited session, produced by Bob Johnston

Continue reading August 2: Bob Dylan – 5th recording session for Highway 61 Revisited in 1965