Traveling Wilburys – The Inside Story

The new (September) issue of UNCUT, the London music/movies monthly mag which has just hit the streets, carries a four page feature article, Traveling Wilburys – The Inside Story.

The text is based on interviews with Tom Petty and the widows of George Harrison and The Big O. Which is probably why I chose to leave it on the supermarket shelf.

Other PR for the Wilburys reissue that I’ve come across has also featured the two widows. A turn-off for me – nothing they say about anything is of the slightest interest: the Yoko Ono/Linda Macca syndrome: it ain’t for me, babe.


www.uncut.co.uk




Gerry Smith

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs #23 and #24

* Thanks to Jackie Tutton:

“It is so difficult to choose 10 top Dylan tracks and, like Allan, mine change from day to day. Just now they are as follows:

1. High Water
2. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
3. Things have changed
4. Someday Baby
5. Abandoned Love
6. Shelter From The Storm
7. We better talk this over
8. I'll Be your baby tonight
9. Love Sick
10. 'Till I fell in love with you

“Could keep looking at this 'till my eyes go blind. Top 50 would be easier, I think.”


* And thanks to Matthew Caley:

1] Tears Of Rage
2] Nettie Moore
3] The Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar
4] Po Boy
5] Isis
6] As I Went Out One Morning
7] Tangled Up In Blue
8] I'm Not There
9] One More Cup Of Coffee
10] Queen Jane Approximately


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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

Please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs #22

Thanks to Allan c/o Robert Corlett:

“Thank you for the Dylan Daily, I really enjoy the news and the comments. I've got a problem with the top ten in that mine changes from hour to hour! Still here goes for today at any rate:

1/ Romance in Durango
2/ The ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
3/ I'll keep it with mine
4/ Every grain of sand
5/ Gates of Eden
6/ Winterlude
7/ Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
8/ This wheel's on fire
9/ Is your love in vain?
10/ I want you

Bonus track (well why not!): I shall be free

“All the best - KEEP ON KEEPING ON - ALLAN”

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs #21

Thanks to Mike Scholl:

“My Top 10 is more conventional than those of several Dyaln Daily correspondents. I envy the expertise of readers, but am still getting to know the official releases properly. It’s taken five years so far, and I feel I’m only starting:

Visions Of Johanna
Like A Rolling Stone
Tangled Up In Blue
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
It’s Alright Ma
Desolation Row
I Want You
Idiot Wind
Dignity
Not Dark Yet”


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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

Please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Don't Look Back - on TV again next Tuesday

Thanks to the ever vigilant Martin Cowan for noticing that Don't Look Back is being broadcast again - on More4 next Tuesday (31 July), at 10:00pm-12:00am.

More4 is a Freeview (digital terrestrial) channel which repeats selections of Channel 4’s output – generally an attractive idea, though for every re-run of The Sopranos you get wall-to-wall TV for Timewasters, like all those endless naff dream house buying/dream makeover/dream moving to somewhere nice series - aimed at people who must spend an awful lot of time dreaming.

And, then, just occasionally, More4 redeems itself with high art like Don’t look Back…

Here’s hoping that Channel 4 will also soon be showing the new Pennebaker documentary packaged in the recently released De Luxe DVD version of Don't Look Back.


Gerry Smith

Dylan (the 3CD compilation, due 1 October)

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Oh no - not a remix of Most Likely... . This already has the whiff of yet another missed opportunity from the Dylan suits... . Hard Rain video, anyone?”

Collectable tour posters

This new offer from specialist dealers www.eil.com caught my eye (though I know nothing about Dylan collectables):

“Complete Set Of 25 European Tour Poster Prints: Rare complete set of TWENTY FIVE poster prints issued to promote the European dates on his 2007 'In Person' tour. Although the design is primarily the same, each is printed with date and venue details in a panel at the foot of the poster. Most are printed with red or blue borders and depict Bob in a pensive mood at the centre. Incredibly difficult to obtain a complete set. £150”

www.eil.com


Gerry Smith

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs #19 & #20

Many thanks to all readers who have submitted Top 10 lists. They’ve generated a lot of interest. As the flow shows no signs of abating, The Dylan Daily will continue welcoming/posting lists for a while, before trying to interest the appropriate (wo)man in a suit at Sony. So please keep them coming…

Thanks to Andy Miller:

“I've just visited bobdylan.com and watched the trailer again. It's not looking good. "...Over 2,000 concerts, 600 songs etc etc..." but the same predictable half dozen song clips for the trailer.

“I agree with all the other readers arguing this could be the time for Sony to break beyond yet another 'Best Of...' for the supermarket shelves.

“But is anybody really there at Sony taking any notice and, on the off chance that they are, how could we lobby most effectively? Can the Dylan Daily somehow be a conduit for such a process?

“And, on the off chance, here's my 10, covers included:

Ballad of Donald White
Song to Woody
Idiot Wind (from Hard Rain)
Caribbean Wind (early studio version)
Lone Pilgrim
Mr Tambourine Man (Prague 95 first night - with electrical glitch edited out)
Restless Farewell (from Sinatra's 80th)
The Wild and Wicked Youth (Belfast 98)
The Times We've Known (New York 98)
Things Have Changed”

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And thanks to JB Heinink

“I'm really sure that Sony will not include out-takes in the new "Dylan" 3CD. I'm only hoping that they finally release the unreleased CRAWL OUT stereo-mix:

http://www.zimmingpoint.com/gww/modules/news/article.php?storyid=126


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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

Please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs (17-18)

* Thanks to Andrew Smith:

“As other contributors have already suggested, how about, instead of another tedious compilation of tracks you already own (bolstered by that “remix” of Most Likely… to make you feel that you have to buy the damn thing), Sony put out a best of previously unavailable material, or at least include a generous helping of such?

“I don’t know about you, but my favourite of the many Bob Dylan compilations on the market has to be More Greatest Hits. It’s a nice mixture of well- known songs, fan favourites, new material (at the time) and a couple of live tracks. Too bad it’s only currently available on CD with the, to my mind, inferior US track listing.

“Anyway, if Sony are serious about taking fan preferences into account, then this is our opportunity to press for the release of some lost gems. My votes go to, in chronological order:

1 Black Cross - live at the Gaslight
2 Long Ago, Far Away – Witmark demo
3 She’s Your Lover Now (band version)
4 I’m Not There
5 Tomorrow Is A Long Time (1970 studio version)
6 Lily Of The West (from deleted Dylan album)
7 Abandoned Love (live version)
8 Hurricane (original version)
9 Blind Willie McTell (band version)
10 Born In Time (Oh Mercy outtake)

“And no need to enter me into the Rough Guide draw, of course, as I already have the copy you so generously sent me, for which, once again, many thanks. Keep up the good work!”

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* Thanks to Paul Ryles:

“This is impossible, but my top ten songs at the time of writing are:

1. When The Ship Comes In
2. Blowin' In The Wind (Beverly, Mass. 30th Oct. 1992)
3. Waiting For You
4. Pretty Peggy-O (Malmo, Sweden, 6th June 1998)
5. Visions of Johanna (NYC, 26th July 1999)
6. Shelter From The Storm
7. Tell Ol' Bill
8. Weeping Willow (Supper Club, Late Show, 17th Nov. 1993)
9. Moonshiner
10. When The Deal Goes Down



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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

Please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Rolling Stone or Michael Gray: missed Dylan put-on or simple edit?

Thanks to John Carvill:

“Maybe the discerning Dylan fans who read the Dylan Daily can help with this query?

“In Michael Gray's Dylan Encyclopedia, he refers to a 1969 Rolling Stone interview conducted by Jann Wenner, in which Wenner hadn't realised that Dylan was putting him on until it was pointed out to him later that when he used the phrase 'unload my head' and Bob picked up on it, saying he should use that line in a song, Dylan was fully aware that he'd already coined the phrase himself in 'From a Buick 6'.

”Now, as 'excerpted' here, the transcript of the interview would seem to bear Gray out:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938145/the_rolling_stone_interview

”Yet in the 'Bob Dylan - The Essential Interviews' book, published by Rolling Stone (under the Wenner Books imprint), the exchange about 'unload my head’ is expanded to include Wenner pointing out to Dylan that he had used that phrase "in one of your songs on 'Highway 61'".

”So, is this revisionism on Wenner's part, an attempt to make himself look more alert? Or is this a genuine transcript, meaning that Wenner wasn't so fooled by Bob's put-on as Gray believes?

“Anyone got any clarifying info? A copy of the original magazine?”


(Editor’s note: the version of the interview included in the book Bob Dylan - The Essential Interviews is much longer than the online version linked above – the ‘unload your head’ passage is one of many additional passages in the book which are not in the online “excerpt” - Gerry Smith.)

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs (13-16)

* Thanks to Ron Ferguson, in Oregon, USA:

“Dear Dylan Daily,

“Here’s my top ten:
1. All Along the Watchtower
2. Jokerman
3. Union Sundown
4. Tangled Up in Blue
5. When the Deal Goes Down
6. Workingman’s Blues #2
7. Tombstone Blues
8. Desolation Row
9. Gotta Serve Somebody
10.Dignity

“I do enjoy this site and will simply say thanks.”


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* Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Further to the interesting selection of Top Tens on the site, it struck me that surely Dylan fans deserve better than yet another reissue of tracks we already have.

“As someone else has posted, it would be nice to have some live stuff from the NET, and to be honest I'd rather have further volumes of the Bootleg Series (including the God years and the Supper Club shows) than re-heated re-hashes!”


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* Thanks to Brad Mayhew:

“Slow Train
Satisfied mind/saved
pressing on
mr. tambourine man
like a rolling stone
a hard rain's a gonna fall
tomorrow is such a long time
knockin’ on heaven’s door
not dark yet
my back pages”


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* Thanks to David Hawthorn:

“These are my current favourites. A live compilation album would be good. Most of my favourites are live versions:

1. Friend of the devil (Dubuque, 1996)
2. Licence to kill (Letterman show, 1984)
3. I want you (Supper club, 1993)
4. Don't think twice, it's all right (Woodstock II, 1994)
5. I'll keep it with mine (Official bootleg)
6. Like a rolling stone
7. Changing of the guards (1978 tour)
8. Knocking on heaven's door (Unplugged version)
9. One too many mornings (Supper club, 1993)
10. Tomorrow is a long time (1978 tour)”


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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

The competition closes at 2301 GMT on Thursday 19 July. So please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs (10-12)

* Thanks to Juliet Seer:

“Wow, this was difficult! I really had to narrow it down! Well, here are my Top Ten:

1. Love minus zero/No Limit
2.Abandoned Love
3.License to kill
4. It's Alright Ma(I'm only bleeding)
5.Spirit on the Water
6.Oh Sister
7.Wedding Song
8.Tangled up in Blue(live version)
9.Desolation Row
10.Seven Days

“These are some of my all-time favorites, but there are so many more!
PEACE.”


* Thanks to Walter Morris/TH Monk:

1.) Tom Thumb Blues
2.) Memphis Blues Again
3.) Man In The Long Black Coat
4.) Things Have Changed
5.) Hucks Tune
6.) Thunder On The Mountain
7.) High Water
8.) Can't Wait
9.) Ain't Talkin'
10.)Gates Of Eden


* Thanks to Gerald Bamford, musician with Back Pages, splendid Dylan tribute band in Norfolk, England:

“Another 10 for your lists:

Boots of Spanish Leather (from anywhere)
New Pony (it's the sex and the sax)
Isis (Live 1975 - For Leonard, if he's still here)
Country Pie (Portsmouth 2000 on Live 1961-2000 - you remember - you were there)
The Wicked Messenger
This Wheel's on Fire
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (the first is always the best)
Romance in Durango
You're A Big Girl Now
Forever Young

“And what about this and what about that?

“No need to include any from the latest albums since they exist as total entities fresh in the mind it seems to me”



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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

The competition closes at 2301 GMT on Thursday 19 July. So please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

BOBMANIA # 6: new Dyl-Time Theme Radio Hour

Thanks to Mel Prussack:

“Hi Gerry-Thanks for your help in getting my podcast out to so many more Dylan fans. Vol 11 of "Dyl-Time Theme Radio Hour" is now online. The theme this month is "People" “

http://dylanshrine.podOmatic.com/

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs (7-9)

* Thanks to Ronald L. Brown, in Bay City, MI, USA:

“Dear Dylan Daily folks, Here's my top ten:

Brownsville Girl
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
Every Grain of Sand
Foot of Pride
Forever Young
Honest With Me
Idiot Wind
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Like a Rolling Stone
Simple Twist of Fate

“Thanks - I enjoy your website.

“By the way, I am looking for reviews for the July 11 concert in Sterling Heights, Michigan.”



* Thanks to Peter Truin, in Ipswich, UK:

“My top five are easy to choose, but it's difficult to choose the next five, in fact they could be different on another day, although LARS and Visions will always be there somewhere.

1 Sad Eyed lady of the Lowlands
2 Series of Dreams
3 Blind Willie McTell
4 Positively 4th Street
5 Not Dark Yet
6 Visions of Johanna
7 Like a Rolling Stone
8 Bob Dylan's Dream
9 She Belongs to Me
10 Working Man's Blues



* Thanks to Antonio Curado, in Toledo, Spain:

“Here's my top ten, Gerry. The Rough Guide doesn't matter, the real important thing is the pleasure doin' it (this could be one attempt, tomorrow maybe other):

1. New Danville Girl
2. Visions of Johanna
3. Desolation Row
4. Working Man's Blues # 2
5. Yonder Comes Sin
6. I'll Remember You (Masked & Anonymous)
7. Only a Pawn in Their Game
8. Sign of the Cross
9. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Thru Dark Heat)
10. Cross the Green Mountain


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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

The competition closes at 2301 GMT on Thursday 19 July. So please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs (4-6)

* Thanks to Steve Hughes:

A seemingly impossible task, but here goes!

1.blind willie mc tell.
2.positively 4th street.
3.aint talkin.
4.spanish harlem incident.
5.song to woody.

6.the lonesome death of hattie carroll.
7.gates of eden.
8.not dark yet.
9.i dreamed i saw st.augustine.
10.pledging my time.
(All songs off officially released albums.)



* Thanks to Simon Koch:

Here's the list:
1. Man in the long black coat
2. Stuck inside of mobile with the Memphis Blues again
3. Not dark yet
4. Trying to get to heaven
5. Girl from the north country
6. Simple twist of fate
7. Ain't talking
8. Spirit in the water
9. Workingman's Blues #2
10. Up to me



* Thanks to Bernard McGuinn:

“You know what would be a worthwhile Sony release? For them to take all the individual tracks that have appeared on the numerous greatest/essential compilations that they've put out over the yrs, and to select a noteworthy, previously unreleased, live performance of that song.

“And, preferably, I'd like the selection to come from the last 20 years. Now that would be something worth spending time and money on.

“Failing that, let's have the non-Dylan album tracks that are scattered across various tribute and soundtrack albums pulled together in one place:

Tell Ole Bill
Huck's Tune
Friend of The Devil
Mutineer,
Blue eyed Jane
This old man
Return to me
Waiting for you
Cross the green mountain and, finally,
I'm not There, the incomparable Basement song.


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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

The competition closes at 2301 GMT on Thursday 19 July. So please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs (3)

Thanks to Rob Port, fellow citizen of Hertfordshire, England:

Vision of Johanna
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Floater (Too Much to Ask)
Working Man’s Blues
Born In Time
Abandoned Love
Tryin' To Get to Heaven
Don't Fall Apart on me Tonight
Baby, Stop Cryin
Something there is about You

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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

The competition closes at 2301 GMT on Thursday 19 July. So please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Your Top 10 Dylan Songs (2)

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“As usual, can't resist this. How can you pick ten?”

1 - Something's Burning, Baby - Empire Burlesque
2 - Man in the Long Black Coat - Oh Mercy
3 - Born in Time - Under the Red Sky
4 - Shooting Star (live) - Unplugged
5 - Ring Them Bells (live) - The Great Music Experience
6 - Cold Irons Bound - Time Out Of Mind
7 - Somebody Touched Me - (live) from Live 1961-2000
8 - High Water (for Charley Patton) - Love And Theft
9 - Mutineer (live) - from Warren Zevon tribute CD, Enjoy Every Sandwich
10 - Beyond the Horizon - Modern Times

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Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

The competition closes at 2301 GMT on Thursday 19 July. So please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

Tell The Dylan Daily which 10 songs you’d pick for DYLAN, the new compilation album – and win a free copy of The Rough Guide

Would you like to win a free copy of Nigel Williamson’s excellent Rough Guide to Bob Dylan (2nd ed, 2006)?

If so, simply send The Dylan Daily a list of the 10 Dylan songs (ranked 1 to 10) – you’d most like to see included on DYLAN, the new 3CD compilation, due 1 October. Please send to: songs@dylandaily.com

Your list will be posted on The Dylan Daily web site, and then aggregated with the other lists to produce a composite fans’ choice list of 51 tracks, which will be widely publicised and sent to Sony.

Your name will be entered in a prize draw and the lucky winner will be asked for his/her postal address and receive a free copy of the Rough Guide, kindly provided by the publishers at launch last year.

The competition closes at 2301 GMT on Thursday 19 July. So please send your Top 10 Dylan songs list now, before you forget!

If you already have a copy of the Rough Guide, please send your Top 10 list anyway – the more contributions, the more authoritative will be the eventual list of top Dylan songs – the 51 track compilation the fans would like to see!

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Here’s a reminder of what Sony are saying about their new release:

“DEFINITIVE BOB DYLAN RETROSPECTIVE SET FOR WORLDWIDE RELEASE OCTOBER 1: 3CD DYLAN To Feature 51 Tracks Spanning Five Decades. DYLAN - will be released worldwide on October 1 by Columbia Records. This definitive Bob Dylan collection chronicles the artist's four decades of groundbreaking studio recordings, as well as his unparalleled influence on popular music and culture.

“A career-spanning, three-CD retrospective of Bob Dylan's music -
Extensive Liner Notes And Never-Before-Seen Photos Highlight Deluxe Edition - Two additional versions of DYLAN will be released simultaneously with the 3-CD set: A deluxe edition featuring the three disks in a cloth covered case, and accompanied by an extended booklet of classic and rare Dylan imagery plus 10 limited edition postcards highlighting pivotal moments of Bob's career. The "Best Of" edition will feature 18 songs on a single disk.”

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And as an ideas starter, here’s the tracklist of the last major Dylan compilation, The Essential Bob Dylan, from 2001:

Disc: 1
1. Blowin' In The Wind
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
3. The Times They Are A-Changin'
4. It Ain't Me Babe
5. Maggie's Farm
6. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
7. Mr Tambourine Man
8. Subterranean Homesick Blues
9. Like A Rolling Stone
10. Positively 4th Street
11. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
12. I Want You
13. Just Like A Woman
14. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
15. All Along The Watchtower
16. Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
17. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
18. Lay, Lady, Lay
19. If Not For You
20. I Shall Be Released
21. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
22. Knockin On Heaven's Door


Disc: 2
1. Forever Young
2. Tangled Up In Blue
3. Shelter From The Storm
4. Hurricane
5. Changin' Of The Guards
6. Gotta Serve Somebody
7. Blind Willie McTell
8. Jokerman
9. Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love?)
10. Silvio
11. Everything Is Broken
12. Dignity (Original Version)
13. Not Dark Yet
14. Things Have Changed


Thanks in advance for sending your Top 10 list to songs@dylandaily.com


Gerry Smith

Dylan soundtrack for Cold Case

Blood On The Tracks, episode 84 from the fourth series of Cold Case, the US crime thriller, is remarkable: all eight songs in the programme are written and performed by Dylan:

- The Times They Are A-Changin'
- All Along the Watchtower
- Ballad of a Thin Man
- Thunder on the Mountain
- Positively Fourth Street
- Knockin' on Heaven's Door
- Simple Twist of Fate
- Like a Rolling Stone.

Many of the songs fit naturally into the plot; they also lend it much-needed gravitas. It’s well worth watching out for a repeat of the episode, originally aired last month on Sky One.


http://www.tv.com/cold-case/blood-on-the-tracks/episode/932311/summary.html



Gerry Smith

Radio Bob: free Theme Time-themed CD

Radio Bob, the free Theme Time-themed CD enclosed with the current issue of UNCUT, the music/movies monthly mag, has some delicious tracks, including Hank Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bukka White, Robert Johnson, Elmore James and Muddy Waters.

And the CD has a delightful Bob cover portrait, which gifts Dylan a pair of impossibly blue (nay, turquoise) eyes.

Looks like a must-have to me. Especially as the issue is a Dylan cover collectible.

www.uncut.co.uk


Gerry Smith

Five star review for Gray’s new Blind Willie McTell bio

Michael Gray’s new biography of country blues legend Blind Willie McTell, published last Monday in the UK, is already widely available on the High Street: by the weekend, it was prominently displayed in all of the London bookshops I happened to visit.

It’s a beautiful artifact, and most Dylan fans will feel compelled to check it out. The new issue of UNCUT, the music and movies monthly, gives it a five star review – “fascinating… authoritative… vivid…”. Another triumph for the prolific Gray, then.

The full price (£25) hardback is available discounted from amazon.co.uk

Details: HAND ME MY TRAVELIN' SHOES: In Search of Blind Willie McTell, by Michael Gray London: Bloomsbury, July 2nd, 2007. Hardback 1st edition. ISBN: 0 7475 6560 0; ISBN-13: 978-0747565604. 448 pages.


Gerry Smith

Montreal, 4th of July

Thanks to Lawrence Kirsch:

“Bob and the band walk onto the stage to the theme of Fanfare for the Common Man. A voice off stage tells of several of Dylan's accomplishments thru the decades.

“For the first time in I don't know how many years I could understand an actual word here and there and could sort of tell what the heck he was singing.

“Great variety of material: classics, a few from Blood on the Tracks.
And Lo and Behold, Bob is playing the "Geetar" again, Halafuckinleuah.

“The band rocks, and Bob is fun when he plays that stringed instrument, but God help us when he tortures that organ. He sounds like an organ grinder at an amusement park.

“He seemed to be having a great time on stage, smiling and surfing while he played keyboards.

“Daniel Lanois was hanging out in the lobby during the support act, chatting to anyone and everyone that approached him. No, he did not play with Bob.

“My highlights were Highway 61, Chimes of Freedom and All Along the
Watchtower.

“Bob Dylan was honored by the Montreal Jazz Fest. He received the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award, created last year, to underline the quality and innovation of work as well as the determining influence of the body of work an author-composer has on international popular music.

“The Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award is a bronze sculpture inspired by a self-portrait that Miles Davis had donated to the Festival in 1988. I think Dylan was genuinely pleased to receive this award and it was reflected in his energetic performance.”

How to enrich Bryan Ferry’s Dylanesque with bonus tracks

On release in the UK several months ago, Dylanesque, Bryan Ferry’s covers CD, got great press – positive reviews and a very high profile in the English media.

Some reviews of the new American release are less positive. Probably because, while Ferry is respected (even revered) in his homeland the US has never been so receptive.

Thanks to Martin Cowan for this link: “Amusingly scathing review of the latest Ferry CD from Pitchfork here”:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/43837-dylanesque

Pity. Ferry’s the real deal – a grade one popular musician. Dylan is the preferred singer of Dylan songs, but Ferry’s one of only two singers I’d have entrusted with a covers album. Van Morrison’s the other contender, as most who’ve seen him perform outstanding versions of Just Like A Woman and It’s All over Now, Baby Blue in concert will testify.

If you buy Dylanesque, you can enrich its 11 songs by burning a new CDR to include as bonus tracks Ferry’s earlier Dylan covers:

* A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (These Foolish Things, 1973)

* It Ain’t Me Babe (Another Time Another Place, 1974)

* It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (Frantic, 2002)

* Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (Frantic, 2002)

They make a strong album even stronger.




Gerry Smith

New UNCUT magazine - a must-have for Dylan collectors

Dylan collectors will be snapping up the new (“August”) issue of UNCUT, the music and movies glossy monthly published in London. The Dylan cover portrait (circa 1965) announces Tangled Up In Bob: A Dylan A to Z, the main feature, a 13 page piece by Nigel Williamson, Damien Love and Allan Jones.

The magazine – it’s the the 10th Anniversary issue – also has a very collectable free CD, Radio Bob – “15 Brilliant Tracks from Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour”, plus a short article on “the coolest radio show ever”. Good call, UNCUT.

The issue’s protective card wallet, mirroring the front cover, protects the CD and a free (non-Dylan) booklet.

Collectors should move quickly – this issue is likely to sell out.


www.uncut.co.uk


Gerry Smith

Masked And Anonymous – encore

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Further to your recent post, it is interesting that once again so-called media experts are unable to appreciate the artistry of Bob Dylan - typified perhaps by the one star rating that "Masked and Anonymous" received in the Radio Times.

“While Dylan is certainly not what you might call a "proper" actor, he has undoubted screen presence and shed-loads of charisma. His work - both musically and on celluloid - eschews traditional linear formats, which means that he creates art that is misunderstood by the mainstream media.

“The only shame is that the poor reception of his movies prevents more people from watching and enjoying his work in this area.



Original article:

Masked And Anonymous – undervalued film and CD

A recent showing of Masked And Anonymous on late night TV was a reminder that the mixed critical response it had on release undervalued a little gem of art-house cinema. Despite a few longueurs, the film is compelling viewing. And you can’t take your eyes off the Main Man.

The viewing confirmed for me the judgments made in a review of the movie (see below) posted on www.musicforgrownups.co.uk, The Dylan Daily’s sister site, at the time of release.

Rediscovering the CD was a joy, too. Apart from the quartet of strong performances by Dylan’s luminous Campbell/Sexton band, it has several outstanding covers – the Italian rap version of Like A Rolling Stone (Come Una Pietra Scalciata) ranks in my top 10 Dylan retreads.




Masked And Anonymous - Dylan's most convincing movie

SGM writes:
Masked And Anonymous is an enjoyable movie, far more convincing than all of Dylan's other acting appearances on celluloid, notably Hearts of Fire. I'll be buying it on the day it gets DVD release.

Judging it against standard Hollywood blockbusters, you'd come away disappointed. No car chases, no hi-tech special effects, no dumbed-down script aimed at Beavis in Akron OH, no significant love interest, no happy ending.

But if you're a fan of good independent cinema - low budget, cerebral productions like the Europeans made after WW2, with a number of our US directors aping them in the 1970s - aimed at intelligent art house audiences, the chances are you'll love this film. Especially if you're a Dylan fan.

The script is well written, with a gravitas worthy of its main actor - I found myself on the edge of my seat, anxious not to miss a single word of dialogue. Every word counts. The themes broached in the movie are the big ones Dylan addresses in his music.

Acting is convincing - you get emotionally involved with the oddball characters. Goodman and The Dude are splendid, and you don't take your eyes off Bobbie whenever he's on camera.

Direction and editing is strong, with barely a wasted second of footage in over 100 minutes. The film skilfully evokes a dislocated, familiar-yet-exotic time and place. There are some lovely sight gags - the sight of "the Pope" eating a slice of pizza, just out of focus behind the main action, while networking with "Mahatma Ghandi", is particularly memorable. The soundtrack CD is top class; the film has Dylan and his regular band performing their CD tracks live, on a sound stage.

There's only one (admittedly vital) weakness preventing Masked And Anonymous achieving instant classic status - the essentially trivial milieu (preparations for a charity rock concert, thus show business) in which it's set.

Masked And Anonymous is a must-see for all Dylan fans. You will not be disappointed.

Dylan the Christian, continued…

The Dylan Daily will be concluding the occasional series on Zim the Christian with reviews of three more important books:

* Williams, Paul. Dylan: What Happened? And Books, 1979, 125pp, pbk.

* Gilmour, Michael J. Tangled Up In The Bible: Bob Dylan And Scripture, Continuum, 2004, 146pp, pbk.

* Vernezze, Peter and Porter, Carl J, Bob Dylan And Philosophy: It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Thinking, Chicago, Open Court, 2006, 205pp, pbk.

If you’ve read any of them and wish to share your thoughts with fellow readers, please get in touch – editorial@dylandaily.com

Thanks in advance.


Gerry Smith