…the most famous of Dylan’s many “home” tapes, the so-called “Minneapolis Hotel Tape.” Recorded by Tony Glover at Bonnie Beecher’s apartment in Minneapolis, whimsically dubbed The Beecher Hotel by Dylan (hence the title of the tape), large portions of this tape appeared on the first Dylan bootleg album, the legendary Great White Wonder.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
The December tape has been in wide circulation for many years. It was actually the first bootleg ever produced. It was released on a 2 LP set in 1969, and went by the title ‘Great White Wonder’ It has been available under various titles a countless number of times in the decades that followed. The quality has generally been very good, and the performance tells the story of a fresh faced boy just out of high school, who had the energy and natural ‘world-traveled weariness’ quality that would forever change the world. It is absolutely required material for even the smallest collection.
~bobsboots.com
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The Home Of Bonnie Beecher Minneapolis, Minnesota 22 December 1961
most audio from grooveshark…
Candy Man (trad. arr. by Revd. Gary Davis)
Baby Please Don’t Go (Big Joe Williams)
Hard Times In New York Town
Stealin’, Stealin’ (trad. arr. Memphis Jug Band)
Poor Lazarus (trad.)
I Ain’t Got No Home (Woody Guthrie)
It’s Hard To Be Blind (trad.)
Dink’s Song (trad. arr. by John & Alan Lomax)
Man Of Constant Sorrow (trad. arr. Bob Dylan)
Story Of East Orange
Naomi Wise (trad.)
Wade In The Water (trad.)
I Was Young When I Left Home
In The Evening (Brownie McGhee)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Eric von Schmidt)
Sally Gal
Gospel Plow (trad. arr. Bob Dylan)
Long John (trad.)
Cocaine (trad. arr. Revd. Gary Davies)
VD Blues (Woody Guthrie)
VD Waltz (Woody Guthrie)
VD City (Woody Guthrie)
VD Gunner’s Blues (Woody Guthrie)
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (Blind Lemon Jefferson)
Ramblin’ Round (Woody Guthrie)
– Hold the bottle in here. OK wait I gotta fix this, he man you gotta see some pictures of me. I’m not kidding yeah at Whittakers. I look like Marlon Bran.. James Dean or somebody. You gotta see. Like two of this blue turtle neck sweater on. All kinds of pictures of me, without a guitar. Or else you can just see the top of it. (Dave Glover talks off mike) Ha ha I know what you mean. ~Dylan – before “Black Cross”
Black Cross (Lord Buckley)
According to Scaduto [Anthony Scaduto], Dylan gave copies of this tape to several friends, suggesting that he felt it was a good representation of his development as an artist. According to Shelton [Robert Shelton], Glover also taped Dylan at this time “doing [some] r&b-type Chuck Berry songs.” There is no evidence to support Shelton’s assertion, although Dylan and Glover may well have jammed together on those kinds of songs.
Thank you. I suppose you’ve been reading the newspapers and watching the TV? And you see how much trouble this world is in. Madmen running loose everywhere. Anyway we, we’re not worried about that though — it doesn’t bother us — because we know this world is going to be destroyed. Christ will set up his kingdom for a thousand years in Jerusalem where the lion will lie down with the lamb — we know this is true. No doubt about it. So, it’s a slow train coming. It’s been coming for a long time, but it’s picking up speed.
~Bob Dylan(before Slow Train – Santa Monica first show 1979)
The first gospel tour (Nov 1, 1979 – Dec 9, 1979) might be the best of the the three gospel tours, here is a wonderful show from – first of four @ Santa Monica.
And we love the Gospel tours !
Civic Auditorium
Santa Monica, California
18 November 1979
Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
Fred Tackett (guitar)
Spooner Oldham (keyboards)
Tim Drummond (bass)
Terry Young (keyboards)
Jim Keltner (drums)
Regina Mcrary , Helena Springs , Mona Lisa Young (background vocals)
In his first tour of Europe in 12 years, Bob Dylan played Nürnberg on July 1. Organized by the new “Rock im Park” festival which was established in 1976 with Santana and Chicago, 1978 featured both Eric Clapton and Dylan in front of 80,000 spectators.
The show is imbued with additional meaning since the Zeppelinfeld was constructed in the ’30s and was the site for the Nazi Party rallies between 1933 and 1938 and can be seen in the film Triumph Of The Will. That a Jewish artist such as Bob Dylan preformed there 40 years later provides a special irony for the setting.
~gsparaco(collectorsmusicreviews.com)
Zeppelindfeld
Nuremberg, West Germany
1 July 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)
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Eric Clapton (guitar) on I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight & The Times They Are A-Changin’
Classic Bob Dylan bootleg 1989: The Oh Mercy Outtakes
“Most of them [the songs on “Oh Mercy”] are stream-of-consciousness songs, the kind that come to you in the middle of the night, when you just want to go back to bed. The harder you try to do something, the more it evades you. These weren’t like that.”
~Bob Dylan (to Edna Gundersen, 21 September 1989)
There are several releases that has these outtakes, the first I found was Deeds of Mercy but my favourite is Mercy on Us: The Oh Mercy outtakes remastered. Essentially the same release but with better sound. I think they managed to cut the hiss, without ruining the music – unlike so many other times…
“These recordings have traded for years, and have appeared on several commercial bootlegs. The cover states the tracks to be remastered, and indeed they sound great. The package is a cardboard triptych with some beautiful “Oh Mercy” inspired graphics. The track list shown on the back cover is correct except for one thing…What Good Am I? has a misspelling and appears as “What Goog Am I?”. Other than that typo, this is truly a stunning title . Highly recommended!” – Bobsboots
Highlights: Born in Time, Shooting Star (both takes) and God Knows but everything is highly recommended and I would pick different songs if you asked me another day.
These tracks started circulating in June 2016 when the bootleg After The Empire became available.
Keeping within the brief, Dylan who was still bubbling with ideas, re-entered the studio on halloween 1985 at Cherokee Studios – It has been assumed that the players were Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Vito San Filippo (bass), Raymond Lee Pounds (drums), Carolyn Dennis, Madelyn Quebec, Elisecia Wright (backup vocals) but that doesn’t make up for the harp playing and electric piano that you hear through these tracks – and, possibly entertained by the idea of Neil Young’s “Everybody’s Rockin’” album, Bob threw around a few ideas that seemed to be based around rock and roll, the sessions still have the nuance of a little 80’s production, and like “Empire Burlesque”, these sessions can be a lot of fun. These recordings are a heck of a lot of feeling, Dylan’s muse, while not burning like it had or would again, directs him to dismissing any worries of seriousness and instead let him and his band have a bit of fun.
–collectormusicreviews.com
Cherokee Studio
Hollywood
Los Angeles, California
31 October 1985
