Tag Archives: The Band

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums, Bob Dylan Concerts, Great albums, The Band

August 27: Another Self Portrait The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 by Bob Dylan was released in 2013

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“…one of the most important, coherent and fulfilling Bob Dylan albums ever released.”
– David Fricke (Rolling Stone Magazine)

The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969–1971) is an album of unreleased recordings, demo recordings, alternative takes mostly from Bob Dylan’s 1970 albums Self Portrait and New Morning, and a couple of live tracks from the Isle of Wight Festival (1969), released on August 27, 2013. It is the latest addition in the series of official “bootleg” recordings issued by Columbia Records.

Pretty Saro (official video)

The cover is new artwork by Bob Dylan. The liner notes have been written by Greil Marcus, who wrote the original Self Portrait review for Rolling Stone that infamously asked, “What is this shit?”. Also included is an extensive essay from journalist Michael Simmons. The set also contains rare photographs of that era from John Cohen and Al Clayton.

“For fans, this is more than a curiosity, it’s an indispensable addition to the catalog.”
– Thom Jurek (allmusic)

I wrote about what I liked best about this bootleg series release when it came out last year:

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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums

The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11 – First impressions

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bob dylan vol 11

  • We get a restored documentation/recording of Dylan’s legendary 1967 sessions with The Band.
  • 6-disc set with 138 tracks
  • Compiled from  restored original tapes
  • 120 page deluxe-bound book containing rare and unseen photographs and memorabilia
  • Extensive liner notes

Wow! Right?

We have the original album and a lot of us has collected bootlegs over many years, and the big question is: Are there something in this new release that we haven’t heard before?

Check out: Garth Hudson talking about the sessions at Big Pink

basement_tapes_LP

From Wikipedia:
“During his world tour of 1965–66, Dylan was backed by a five-member rock group, the Hawks, who would subsequently become famous as the Band. After Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident in July 1966, the Hawks’ members gravitated to the vicinity of Dylan’s home in the Woodstock area to collaborate with him on music and film projects. While Dylan was concealed from the public’s gaze during an extended period of convalescence in 1967, they recorded more than 100 tracks together, comprising original compositions, contemporary covers and traditional material. Dylan’s new style of writing moved away from the urban sensibility and extended narratives that had characterized his most recent albums,Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, toward songs that were more intimate and which drew on many styles of traditional American music. While some of the basement songs are humorous, others dwell on nothingness, betrayal and a quest for salvation. In general, they possess a rootsy quality anticipating the Americana genre. For some critics, the songs onThe Basement Tapes, which circulated widely in unofficial form, mounted a major stylistic challenge to rock music in the late sixties.”

bob-dylan-basement-tapes

In my view, the two most comprehensive un-official releases have been:

Bob Dylan: A Tree with roots

boot_tree_with_roots

From Bobsboots:
“A complete overhaul of the basement tapes. 128 tracks in total, completely remastered with a major leap forward in sound quality compared to the original 5CD set. Put together in a much more organized and logical sequence. High quality packaging, 2 booklets, extensive original source notes and reprints of important press coverage. Original pressing limited to 500 copies.”

 

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Bob Dylan, The Band

Garth Hudson talking about the Big Pink sessions with Bob Dylan in 1967 (videos)

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Garth Hudson

 

Hudson was just as crucial to the very different sounds made in the Basement the year afterwards: especially since in large part it was Garth who tape-recorded those unique, informal sessions, and had the sense to look after, afterwards, all the dozens of unknown-about extra ones beyond those of immediate interest to Dylan’s music publisher, and which only began to circulate decades later.
~Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)

It’s Garth Hudson’s 77th birthday today.

Here is a nice interview with Hudson from youtube (prismfilms) where he’s talking about the conception of “The Basement Tapes” (all the wonderful music Bob Dylan & The Band made in June-October 1967 in the basement of Big Pink)

basement tapes

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Music Calendar

July 5 in music history

Happy Birthday Robbie Robertson! (read more)

Robbie Robertson, OC (born Jaime Robert Klegerman; July 5, 1943) is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. The Band has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. As a songwriter Robertson is responsible for such classics as “The Weight”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, “Up On Cripple Creek”, “Broken Arrow” and “Somewhere Down the Crazy River”, and has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

 robbie robertson
“That’s All Right” is the name of the first commercial single released by Elvis Presley, written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup. Presley’s version was recorded on 5 July 1954, and released on 19 July 1954 with “Blue Moon of Kentucky” as the B-side. It is #112 on the 2004 Rolling Stone magazine list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.  Elvis Presley Thats All Right
“Gloria” is a rock song classic written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and originally recorded by Morrison’s band Them in 1964 as the B-side of “Baby, Please Don’t Go”. The song became a garage rock staple and a part of many rock bands’ repertoires. It is particularly memorable for its “G–L–O–R–I–A” chorus. It is very easy to play (three-chord) and thus is popular with those learning to play guitar. The song continues to be played by thousands of bands from famous recording artists to unknown garage bands. Humourist Dave Barry joked that “You can throw a guitar off a cliff, and as it bounces off rocks on the way down, it will, all by itself, play Gloria.” Them - Gloria

Spotify Playlist – July 05
Bob Dylan, Concert films, Film, Live, The Band

The Last Waltz different versions

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Last-Waltz

This film should be played loud!

This is a message on a title card at the beginning of the film. The greatest concert movie ever made. This post concerns the movie, the audio releases have to wait for it’s own post.

Wikipedia:

The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The Last Waltz was advertised as the end of The Band’s illustrious touring career, and the concert saw The Band joined by more than a dozen special guests, including Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, Bobby Charles and Neil Young.

The event was filmed by director Martin Scorsese and made into a documentary of the same name, released in 1978. The film features concert performances, scenes shot on a studio soundstage and interviews by Scorsese with members of The Band. A triple-LP soundtrack recording, produced by Rob Fraboni, was issued in 1978. The film was released on DVD in 2002 as was a four-CD box set of the concert and related studio recordings.

Trailer:

I have several versions of the film, and I’ve seen many versions of it. I’ve seen it at the cinema, I’ve played it to death on video cassette, I have two DVD releases , a Blu-ray release and I’ve seen/heard quite a bit of bootlegs of the show.

This is a film that I’m really passionate about, and I have often wondered if there’s footage, filmed sequences, that is not in the official version. Whatever condition such film would be in was irrelevant, I wanted to see as much as possible of the legendary concert.

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