Tag Archives: 1978

Bob Dylan: Seattle, Washington, 10 November 1978 (full concert audio)

Redirecting to a newer version of this post….

Hec Edmondson Pavilion
University Of Washington
Seattle, Washington
10 November 1978

Musicians:

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Billy Cross (lead guitar)
  • Alan Pasqua (keyboards)
  • Steven Soles (rhythm guitar, backup vocals)
  • David Mansfield (violin & mandolin)
  • Steve Douglas (horns)
  • Jerry Scheff (bass)
  • Bobbye Hall (percussion)
  • Ian Wallace (drums)
  • Helena Springs, Jo Ann Harris, Carolyn Dennis (background vocals)

Continue reading Bob Dylan: Seattle, Washington, 10 November 1978 (full concert audio)

Bob Dylan: Like A Rolling Stone, Los Angeles 1978 (Video)

bob dylan LA 1978

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

A real gem from the warm-up shows in Los Angeles 1978, fast & furious.

Universal Amphitheater
Los Angeles, California
1 June 1978

Continue reading Bob Dylan: Like A Rolling Stone, Los Angeles 1978 (Video)

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)

June 1: Bob Dylan – Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, California 1978 (audio & video)

bob dylan 1978

Dylan prepares for his first European tour in 12 years with the first of seven dates at the Universal Amphitheatre. Dylan introduces two songs from his forthcoming album, “Baby Stop Crying” replacing “I Threw It all Away,” and “Senor” replacing “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, Ma” Also introduced are the two arrangements that come in for such critical praise on his European visit, the torch ballad version of “Tangled Up in Blue” with just guitar, saxophone, and keyboard; and the hard-rock version of “Masters of War,” the fury of the backing for once matching the venom of the words. “Tangled Up in Blue” replaces a similar arrangement of”Girl from the North Country,” “Masters of War” replaces “Oh Sister.” The set’s finale is condensed down to: “The Man in Me,” “It’s Alright, Ma,” “Forever Young,” and a single encore, “The Times They Are a-Changin’.”
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)

Universal Amphitheater
Los Angeles, California
1 June 1978

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Billy Cross (lead guitar)
  • Alan Pasqua (keyboards)
  • Steven Soles (rhythm guitar, backup vocals)
  • David Mansfield (violin & mandolin)
  • Steve Douglas (horns)
  • Jerry Scheff (bass)
  • Bobbye Hall (percussion)
  • Ian Wallace (drums)
  • Helena Springs, Jo Ann Harris, Carolyn Dennis (background vocals)

Continue reading June 1: Bob Dylan – Universal Amphitheater, Los Angeles, California 1978 (audio & video)

April 23: Bob Dylan at Budokan was released in 1979

Bob_Dylan-At_Budokan-Frontal

 

April 23: Bob Dylan at Budokan was released in 1979

The Budokan album was only supposed to be for Japan. They twisted my arm to do a live album for Japan. It was the same band I used on Street Legal, and we had just started findin’ our way into things on that tour when they recorded it. I never meant for it to be any type of representation of my stuff or my band or my live show.
~Bob Dylan (to Kurt Loder – March 1984)

I believe this double LP was made available so our hero could boast of being outclassed by Cheap Trick, who had the self-control to release but a single disc from this location.
~Robert Christgau (robertchristgau.com)

Released 37 years ago today (April 23).

The album was slaughtered by many critics.. especially in the US.

“The writers complain the show’s disco or Las Vegas. I don’t know how they came up with those theories. We never heard them when we played Australia or Japan or Europe. It’s like someone made it up in one town and the writer in the next town read it. I don’t know what the reviewers mean half the time. I don’t even care.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Hilburn – Nov 1978)

Continue reading April 23: Bob Dylan at Budokan was released in 1979