Tell Tale Signs: an important release/best prices/3CD rip-off?

#1: Tell Tale Signs: an important release

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

My 2 disc copy arrived from Amazon yesterday. It is barely out of its wrapper, but I wanted to quickly jot you some thoughts.

I have only had a brief dip into disc 1 but on the strength of what I have heard so far this is an important release and re-ignites my interest in Dylan, which has dipped since "Modern Times".

* "Mississippi" (track 1 disc 1): what a fantastic version. Gone is the intrusive backing from L And T, just Dylan's bluesy strum, Lanois's subtle fills and an upfront and committed vocal - just great.

* "Dignity"(piano demo): again, superbly committed vocal and the track benefits again from losing its chugging boogie woogie band backing - Dylan's vocal is so up front, he sounds like he's in the room. A really committed performance.

* "Someday Baby": why was this version not on "Modern Times"? More contemporary sounding, so sounds more original and less of a Muddy Waters steal - interesting to hear the same or similar words in a completely different musical setting.

* "High Water" (live): this starts unpromisingly, with Dylan seemingly groping round for the words but then we hit the second verse, he suddenly focuses, snarls out the lyrics and the band fall into step. Wow! Nice to hear a live performance properly recorded, too (rather than the official and unofficial "field recordings" we have had to make do with for the last few years.)

A few comments on the packaging: nice to see lots of recent pix of Dylan, and Ratso's liner notes are excellent. However, while there are detailed photo credits, there are no songwriter credits or publishing details anywhere in the package, surely an oversight.”



#2 Tell Tale Signs: best prices

Thanks to Renaud Depierreux in Brussels:

“Just to let you know, the best price I have seen for Tell Tale Signs 2CD is euro16 in Media Markt in Brussels!

“As far as I am concerned, I ordered my 3CD copy directly from Amazon.com at $ 99.99 ($ 107.47 with S&H) which, thanks to the advantageous EUR/USD exchange rate (but for how much longer?) is quite interesting, I think.”



#3 Tell Tale Signs: rip-off 3CD?

Thanks to Gordon Macniven:

“Ref Liam Mogan's piece - the 3CD set "a rip off"!? Surely not! For goodness sake, don't let Sony know he thinks they could have got a 5CD set out of this - they'll rush out just such a set at - well who knows - £399?

“I’m a very contented owner of £12's worth of the 2CD set.”