Tell Tale Signs – 3CD version

Thanks to Liam Mogan in West Yorkshire, England:

“My deluxe copy of Tell Tale Signs was delivered this morning thanks to the miracle of shopping via online record store Badlands.

“Priced at £84.99 (considerably cheaper than most online retailers), their service can't be beaten. Listened to Disc 1 and can only agree with your NPR review from last week.

“I hope to submit a more detailed review soon.”

Key Dylan product at bargain prices

UK readers who intend to buy Tell Tale Signs next week from a Fopp store should check out their Dylan bargains.

When I was in the Cambridge branch a couple of weeks ago, Fopp had some tempting prices:

* DYLAN 3CD - £10

* Biograph (long box version) - £10

* Bootleg Series v1-3 - £14

* Greatest Hits (UK version) - £5

* Suze’s new book - £10

Bargains every one!



Gerry Smith

Tell Tale Signs – where the tracks come from

The 2CD version of Tell Tale Signs has 27 tracks. I should have better things to do with my time, but I couldn’t resist working out where in the 1989-2006 time frame each song came from.

To save you wasting your time too, here’s the breakdown:

Oh Mercy 8 tracks
TOOM 4
“L&T” 4
OSTs 3
Mod T 2
WGW 1
(GAIBTY 0)

New (to me) 5

(I’m counting Mississippi as from “Love And Theft”, even though it was left over from the TOOM sessions.)

A rich mix, I’d say.


Gerry Smith

Tell Tale Signs – reaction and best price

A couple of hours in the company of Tell Tale Signs last night, courtesy of NPR Music’s streaming of the 2CD version, served as a reminder – as if it were needed! – that its author is an immense, unmatched talent.

The 27-track compilation is eloquent testimony to Dylan’s abundant creativity over the last 20 years. It underlines the continuity in his art and enriches your appreciation of the work, particularly the two strongest albums of the period, Oh Mercy and TOOM, as well as introducing many of us to almost a dozen new recordings demanding careful scrutiny.

Yes, it could have been done very differently, but I, for one, consider that Sony’s Bootleg Series programme is – still - a wonder to behold.

As for the main purchase options – one, two or three compact discs: I just don’t understand why anyone would buy the single CD version; the 2CD is the standard version, which 90% of Dylan Daily readers are likely to buy; and the 3CD version is clearly aimed at collectors (the extra disc is destined to be massively bootlegged, but the packaging extras and artwork can’t be).

The target (UK) price for the 2CD version is £12.99 delivered – play.com, 101.cd, cd-wow and hmv are all discounting to that price, from the list £16.99. I contemplated asking my son to get me one in Paris next week, to get the French packaging, but with the FNAC online price at euro27, I plumped for play.com instead.

Roll on Monday: rapture in store! Thanks, Bob… Columbia – just keep ‘em coming!



Gerry Smith

Tell Tale Signs – streaming on NPR Music – NOW!

Thanks to Peter Brookes:

“Tell Tale Signs, streaming on NPR Music, is available in UK – I’m listening to it now! I have cut and pasted the link. I think that’s how it works:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95047293

“Love this informative site. Keep up good work.”

So, some of my Eurocentric whining of yesterday was overdone – copy has been corrected: thank you NPR, thank you Sony.

Tell Tale Signs sounds magical.



Gerry Smith

Tell Tale Signs - streamed on NPR Music from tomorrow

Sony’s Dylan site has announced that “NPR Music will exclusively stream Tell Tale Signs, the highly-anticipated forthcoming album from Bob Dylan, beginning Tuesday, September 30 at midnight, one week ahead of the album's release on October 7.

“The entire 2-CD, 27-song set will be available to hear on-demand at NPR Music for the week leading up to its official release.”

Which is great news. But come on, Sony - please ditch the America-centric worldview:

* NPR? Wot dat? National Public Radio?

* Oct 7 release? I have it down for Oct 6 – new albums, even from Sony, are always released on Monday here.





Gerry Smith

Greatest Hits/Back Pages tribute/Hot Club of Cowtown

Thanks to Gerry Bamford:

“A very minor comment, in passing, on your postings regarding Greatest Hits collections. I came across a CBS official cassette tape some years ago of the first Greatest Hits album and was surprised to find that the original version of LARS had been replaced with the live version from the IOW.

“Now why would they do that, I wonder?”

“And there are two imminent Back Pages gigs: this Saturday Sept 27 at 'Tracks' at The Railway in North Elmham and on Wednesday Oct 1 at The Queen Victoria in Snettisham, both in the county of Norfolk

“I went to Norwich Arts Centre last week to catch The Hot Club of Cowtown (who as you know have an association with Bob): I would recommend anyone to go check them out - a thrilling set indeed. I was told that they expect to do more with Bob in the future.”

FREE DYLAN CD, plus must-buy Dylan cover issue of Uncut

Oh Lordy! Batten down the hatches! Here comes a new Dylan album!

The promo started with the outriders - a trio of well-chosen free audio/video downloads, Dreamin’ Of You and the poignant, stripped-down version of Mississippi.

Now here comes the cavalry, led by the new (November… November?! It’s 25 September!) issue of Uncut, which has just hit the news-stands.

The cover is a 1980s Bob portrait. It announces a welcome 13-page Tell Tale Signs Special, featuring interviews with many who worked with Dylan in the years covered by the new album, 1989-2006, notably Daniel Lanois, Don Was and Jim Keltner.

And the “FREE DYLAN CD”? It’s Radio Bob Volume 2 – “another 17 brilliant tracks from Theme Time Radio Hour”, with tracks by artists such as Al Jolson and Mose Allison.


Uncut November 2008: a must-buy.



Gerry Smith

Mississippi – stripped-down download version from Tell Tale Signs

Thanks to Ken Crouch who spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/competition/2008/sep/22/bob.dylan.download.mississippi

Recommended “hits” compilations: #2 Masterpieces

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Yesterday I identified "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" as a highlight of “More Greatest Hits”.

“"Tomorrow Is A Long Time"'s other appearance on disc is on what very much looks like a precursor to 1985's Biograph box set, the Japan and Australia-only "Masterpieces" release from 1978.

“This 3CD set is also essential for Dylan fans, including as it does an intelligently selected collection of songs spanning Dylan's career from "Bob Dylan" to the most recent at the time official release, the live "Hard Rain" LP.

“Again, there are first time on an album outings for singles "Mixed Up Confusion" (proof that Dylan's rockabilly credentials go as far back as 1962), "Positively 4th Street" and "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window".

“This collection is essential for a clutch of rarities which to date have still not been made available on any other Dylan album - a 1966 live recording of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", which was the B side of the "I Want You" single, the superb piano/vocal version of "Spanish Is A Loving Tongue", which was the B side of the "Watching The River Flow" single, and the stomping "Rita May", recorded during the "Desire" sessions and released as a B side to the live version of "Stuck Inside Of Mobile", extracted from the "Hard Rain" LP.

“The one other unique recording on this set is the band version of "George Jackson", released in 1971 as a double sided single with the far superior acoustic version of the same song (which is sadly still awaiting its first album release).

“In fact, this album only puts a foot wrong in its inclusion of a live "Like A Rolling Stone", recorded by Dylan and the Band at the Isle Of Wight festival (previously made available on the "Self Portrait" album), in which Dylan (frankly) hilariously uses his "Nashville Skyline" voice to croon his way through one of his greatest songs, and repeatedly forgets the words in a way that has to be heard to be believed!”

Recommended “hits” compilations: #1 More Greatest Hits

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Further to your recent pieces on Greatest Hits, I thought it would be good to remind Dylan Daily readers of a couple of other compilation albums which contain hidden gems.

“More Greatest Hits (often erroneously referred to as Greatest Hits Volume 2), adorned by a classic Barry Feinstein photo of Dylan on stage at the George Harrison-curated Concert for Bangladesh, contains 20 tracks that were not actually hits for Dylan, and one that was, the smoothly saccharine "Lay Lady Lay".

“As a summary of his musical career up to its release in 1971, this is a more satisfying collection than Volume 1, with a smattering of songs from every album up to that point (except "Bob Dylan", which is not represented at all).

“If anything, the white hot trilogy of albums released in 1965 and 1966 are under-represented here, with only 5 of the 21 tracks coming from this fertile period. But this is only a minor quibble.

“What makes this album special is the inclusion of tracks which were unreleased at that time on any Dylan LP, and in all but one case are still only to be found on this collection.

“CD 2 of the album (which readers should note at 77 minutes in total running time means that it would actually fit onto one disc) closes with the trilogy of Basement Tapes songs that Dylan revisited with Happy Traum's accompaniment in 1971 - "I Shall Be Released", "You Ain't Going Nowhere" and "Down In The Flood."

“These are worth the price of entry alone, with very fine acoustic interplay between the two musicians, and Happy's tight vocal harmonies, recalling Rick Danko's singing on other Dylan recordings.

“In addition to these three songs are the single "Watching the River Flow", which kicks off the whole thing back on CD1, a hoarse sounding Dylan rocking up a head of steam with the assistance of Leon Russell on the ivories.

“Also included is "When I Paint My Masterpiece" recorded at the same sessions, a song which had a new lease of life in 1975 as the show-opener during the Rolling Thunder Revue tour.

“The final unreleased gem is an intimate live recording from 1963 of the beautiful "Tomorrow Is A Long Time", sung sweetly by Dylan, just him, his acoustic guitar and a silent, awestruck audience.”

Greatest Hits vol 2 – an even weaker compilation

If Bob Dylan – Greatest Hits was a poor compilation, the sequel, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits vol 2, was even weaker

Rush-released in Europe in 1967 (and totally different to the US release of the same name), following the success of Greatest Hits, it’s an even more cock-eyed compilation.

It duplicates three songs from the first volume. Seven of the 12 tracks come from Blonde On Blonde. And there’s nothing from Bob Dylan or The Times They Are A-Changin’.

And is there a Dylan CD with worse packaging? The cover is apologetically weak and both cover and disc itself tell of a song entitled Absolutely Sweet Mary!

The album has always been elusive. Both Brian Hinton and Michael Gray overlook it in their exhaustive reference books.


1. I Want You
2. One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)
3. It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry
4. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
5. Masters Of War
6. Chimes Of Freedom
7. Just Like A Woman
8. Obviously Five Believers
9. Rainy Day Women 12 And 35
10. Gates Of Eden
11. Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
12. Absolutely Sweet Marie


Gerry Smith

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EARLER RELATED ARTICLE:

Greatest Hits – an embarrassingly poor compilation

I’ve tended to dismiss the critical mauling that Greatest Hits has attracted since release in 1967. Having bought and enjoyed the compilation LP on vinyl on release, I just didn’t get the negative vibes - it was one of the highlights of my nascent record collection. OK, the songs weren’t hits, but I took “hits” as a metaphor for “best-known songs”.

The cover artwork – dark browns dominant, with echoes of Rembrandt – seemed to elevate Dylan to his rightful place among the greats of Western art, well away from the rabble of fellow 1960s popsters.

But when I returned to Greatest Hits recently, the penny suddenly dropped. Good as its songs are, the 12-track UK version from March 1967 was an embarrassingly poor compilation.

The compilers of Greatest Hits had seven Dylan albums and umpteen singles to draw from, yet chose eight of the 12 tracks from just two LPs – Bringing It All Back Home and Blonde On Blonde. Yes, they’re both masterpieces but what a cock-eyed selection to include no singles (unlike the US/world version which had Positively 4th Street), nothing from the first album, Bob Dylan, and only a single track from the other four great albums of the period.

Greatest Hits has long been superseded in the Dylan catalogue. Good thing, too – it was the first missed opportunity in the discography – the first of many, according to some. I’ll be given a fairer hearing to the critics of CBS/Columbia/Legacy/Sony in future. Though the label generally does a fine job in showcasing Dylan, they’re not above criticism, as Greatest Hits demonstrates.



Gerry Smith

Dylan discography – now almost a constant companion

I’m referring more and more to Brian Hinton’s fine book, Bob Dylan Album File & Complete Discography (Cassell Illustrated, 464pp, pbk, £14.99, 2006).

A handy compilation, packed with hard information as well as informed opinion, it’s now almost a constant companion.

If you don’t possess a recent Dylan album guide, Hinton’s is well worth seeking out. I keep seeing the UK edition (blue cover), discounted to about £5, in major London retail outlets. Somewhat surprisingly, I’ve also seen the US edition (brown cover) for £5 in London remainder shops.

Bargain of the year!


Gerry Smith

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EARLIER RELATED ARTICLE

New - Bob Dylan Album File & Complete Discography

Brian Hinton’s new book, Bob Dylan Album File & Complete Discography (Cassell Illustrated, 464pp, pbk, £14.99), is a welcome addition to my library: I’ll be referring to it often.

It’s the most detailed study of the Dylan oeuvre since Clinton Heylin’s Dylan - Behind Closed Doors was published ten years ago. It’s more detailed than the most recent competitor, Varesi’s The Bob Dylan Albums (2002). Oliver Trager’s Keys To The Rain - The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopdia also covers this ground (in less detail) but covers a multitude of other topics, too.

Hinton, biographer of Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell, among others, complements the discographical detail with an occasionally stimulating commentary on every track on every album, so the book is a uniquely systematic appraisal of Dylan recordings. And there’s a handy full-page reproduction of every album cover. So, Bob Dylan Album File & Complete Discography is worth having for its scope, utility and currency.

Reservations? I have a few. Concerning treatment, judgments and accuracy.

Whenever any rock writer starts to describe individual songs – “first we have the hushed drum intro…” – my eyes automatically jump to the next paragraph. This happened here, frequently. Writing about music in this fashion is like dancing about architecture, as the man said.

Once your text starts to judge creative work, you expect readers to demur. A sample couple of demurrals: Saved “sounds wonderful to contemporary ears…”; whaaa? It still sounds awful as ever to these contemporary ears. Hard Rain suffers because “it omits all of the duets with Joan Baez”. Hinton can not be serious? Surely?

In discussing Dylan’s songs, Hinton imports a succession of third party quotes, usefully widening the range of opinions in the book. But he frequently fails to explain who his commentators are – I happen to know of Jeff Tweedy and Derek Barker; many readers won’t. But “Paul Zollo” and “Robert Fisher”? Dunno, got me pal: Hinton’s drinking buddies? How do I know whether their opinions are worth considering?

More troubling are the errors. Spelling and grammatical errors might irritate only pedants, but they sow doubt about the accuracy of factual data. Checking the three small-format pages introducing Desire, I found seven spelling and grammatical errors. Elsewhere, glancing through the text, I stumbled across the World Gone Wrong photo shoot transposed from Camden Town to a neighbouring North London suburb, Crouch End. And Augie “Meters” playing organ on Time Out Of Mind. If these examples are typical, the book is seriously undermined.

And I wish I had a euro for every rock writer who claims that Dylan/The Beatles invented the concept album. Such albums had been around for years before Dylan ever entered a recording studio. Sinatra, anybody?

Bob Dylan Album File & Complete Discography: recommended, with reservations.


Gerry Smith

Theme Time Radio Hour scheduling: not good enough

The Dylan Daily has spared few superlatives in praising Theme Time Radio Hour: there have been few radio series as good as this - ever.

Until recently, series 2 was broadcast from 10pm on Friday night: I know I’m not the only listener who regarded it with gratitude as a reward for a week of toil.

So what did BBC 6 Music do?

Moved it to midnight on Sunday.

Who in their right mind will listen to it in that slot? I’d wager that the small audience for this delightful programme has dwindled to virtually zero.

I’m an enthusiast, but even I forget to tape the bl**dy programme at that time. BBC 6 Music might as well just drop it from their schedules.

Anglo Dylan fans are badly served by this new scheduling. Not good enough.



Gerry Smith

Greatest Hits – an embarrassingly poor compilation

I’ve tended to dismiss the critical mauling that Greatest Hits has attracted since release in 1967. Having bought and enjoyed the compilation LP on vinyl on release, I just didn’t get the negative vibes - it was one of the highlights of my nascent record collection. OK, the songs weren’t hits, but I took “hits” as a metaphor for “best-known songs”.

The cover artwork – dark browns dominant, with echoes of Rembrandt – seemed to elevate Dylan to his rightful place among the greats of Western art, well away from the rabble of fellow 1960s popsters.

But when I returned to Greatest Hits recently, the penny suddenly dropped. Good as its songs are, the 12-track UK version from March 1967 was an embarrassingly poor compilation.

The compilers of Greatest Hits had seven Dylan albums and umpteen singles to draw from, yet chose eight of the 12 tracks from just two LPs – Bringing It All Back Home and Blonde On Blonde. Yes, they’re both masterpieces but what a cock-eyed selection to include no singles (unlike the US/world version which had Positively 4th Street), nothing from the first album, Bob Dylan, and only a single track from each of the other four great albums of the period.

Greatest Hits was the first missed opportunity in the discography – the first of many, according to some. I’ll be given a fairer hearing to the critics of CBS/Columbia/Legacy/Sony in future. Though the label generally does a fine job in showcasing Dylan, they’re not above criticism, as Greatest Hits demonstrates.



Gerry Smith

Two Dylan poems in new issue of New Yorker

Thanks to Zoot Blanco (!?) for the tip that there are two short Dylan poems in the new issue of the New Yorker magazine, published today.

The provenance of the enigmatic pair, entitled “17” and “21”, isn’t explained in the magazine’s online issue, but I’d guess they’re from the forthcoming book by Barry Feinstein, Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric: The Lost Manuscript, covered here on The Dylan Daily last week.

www.newyorker.com




Gerry Smith

Dylan covers album by Andy Hill and Renee Safier

I don’t usually bother with Dylan covers albums. I occasionally enjoy the Byrds’ Dylan stuff in the car, and rate highly Bryan Ferry’s recent foray into the genre, but little else.

But I warmed to It Takes A Lot To Laugh, by Andy Hill and Renee Safier (Hillstruck Music, CA, 2001). I particularly liked the refreshing takes of a trio of Dylan songs I don’t hear often – Emotionally Yours, Seven Curses and Shooting Star. The two singers alternate as main vocals; I warmed to their harmonies and acoustic playing.

www.andyandrenee.com


Gerry Smith

Yet more new Dylan work set for release this autumn

The flow of new Dylan product shows no sign of abating just yet.

Hot on the heels of next month’s new album, Tell Tale Signs, and new children’s book, Forever Young, comes news of yet more previously unpublished Dylan work.

Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric: The Lost Manuscript, by Dylan & photographer Barry Feinstein (due from Simon & Schuster on 17 November, hardback, 160 pages) has two dozen of Dylan’s “prose poems” - written at the request of Feinstein, to accompany his mid-‘60s photos documenting Hollywood’s downside.

Barry Feinstein also photographed Dylan many times, of course - his best-known piece is the cover of The Times They Are A-Changin’, and he recently published his Dylan portfolio as Real Moments, a large format photobook.



Gerry Smith

Suze Rotolo’s new book: sympathetic… revealing… unique…

The Dylan Daily’s exclusive review of Suze Rotolo’s new book, A Freewheelin’ Time - by Anne Ritchie, a contemporary of Rotolo, who first saw Dylan perform in 1965:


I got a lot from reading A Freewheelin’ Time by Suze Rotolo. Subtitled A Memoir Of Greenwich Village In The Sixties, the book is not all about Bob, though every mention of Bob/Bobby quickened the pulse. It wasn’t till around p90 (in a 360+-page book) that Dylan really came into it, when Rotolo describes their first flirty meeting at a folk concert in July 1961, though she’d already seen him singing and playing back-up harp at Gerde’s.

The earlier sketching in of the political and social background to the early Dylan songs interested this reader - the contrast of bohemian Village life in the straitjacket of the fifties – as did her description of her own unconventional upbringing in an Italian immigrant family, where, as a “red-diaper baby” she imbibed her parents’ culture along with their leftist politics at a time of anti-communist fervour.

But it’s the affectionate, gentle reminiscences of the young Dylan that make A Freewheelin’ Time worth reading. Early on in the book we are treated to a picture of the aspiring folksinger, still with puppy fat, trying on one item of wrinkled clothing after another to get the right image. His walk is described as “a lurch in slow motion”; he has a “healthy ego”.

At the beginning of their relationship, Rotolo describes him as “funny, engaging, intense, persistent”, but also mentions his “facility for not telling the truth”, his evasiveness about his upbringing, the contradictory stories. We get a dramatic account of her discovery of his real surname when he drops his draft card: by this time they were living together but he’d kept that from her. To annoy him she would sometimes call him by his real initials, RAZ, though he didn’t mind when she called him Boo Radley.

There are several reminders of Chronicles: from Dylan’s soaking up of influences to his surprising talent for woodwork, using the cabinet housing the second-hand TV to make a coffee table and book shelves.

His letters to Suze while she was in Italy…Italy… are revealing. One, written at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, shows a genuine fear of imminent atomic war and a recognisable reaction: if the world was going to end all he wanted was to be with her. Another, in contrast, shows him responding to her news she’d had her hair cut. He liked it as it was. In one of his letters bemoaning her absence, “hating time”, he surely alludes to the Latin poet Catullus’s wonderfully modern-sounding poem Odi et amo when he says “I hate it I love you”.

Memories of their time together that resonate include Bob singing “Why Must I Be A Teenager In Love?”; watching the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald live on TV; hunting with him for an affordable jacket for the cover of the first album.

The story behind the Freewheelin’ cover is an interesting one. After the Don Hunstein (mis-spelt in the book) photo-shoot in their tiny, freezing apartment, they’re persuaded to go out into the cold. The unsuitable-for-the-weather suede jacket put on by Dylan is “an image choice”, while Suze, in two bulky sweaters and a coat tied tightly round the middle felt “like an Italian sausage”.

There are many intimate photos in the book, and other personal mementoes of her time with Bob. Ones that stand out are a newspaper cutting of “Bob Dylan of Gallup, NM” playing with “rural gusto” and the sheet music for Masters Of War and Train a-Travelin’ illustrated (well) by Rotolo.

That the background to Another Side Of Bob Dylan – which “made tough listening” - was the breaking down of their relationship is confirmed in a section aptly named “Ballad”.

Rotolo’s dissection of the painful break-up rings true, but she doesn’t go into tell-tale detail. She alludes earlier in the book to her mother’s and sister’s antagonism towards Bob and now concedes that her sister “had a valid point” in her assessment of him as a “lyin’ cheatin’ manipulatin’ bastard”. A later heartfelt comment “Yeah, he was a lying shit of a guy with women” is about as far as she goes in her criticism, his infidelities only hinted at.

A Freewheelin’ Time, rather than giving much new insight into Dylan the man, confirms what has often been written about him before. But it does give a more sympathetic picture, without a hidden agenda, one that covers the romantic side of him that concurs with his wonderful songs of love.

Rotolo also gives a valuable definition of the art of Dylan’s songs as “translations of moods and sensations… fictions that allude to these experiences”. More specific assertions are the claim that Mr Tambourine Man was written when Dylan was roaming the streets after a quarrel with her; that “Bobby had become Dylan” after the Carnegie Hall concert.

In her narrative she quite often slips into Dylan-speak (just like many of his fans): “we heard the rooster crowing at the break of day”; “He saw right from his side and I saw right from mine” and some section titles - Time Out Of Mind, Not Dark Yet – are borrowed from his album and song titles. I think they add to the memoir, which, as is revealed in the Acknowledgements at the end, she was encouraged to write after she appeared in Martin Scorsese’s film No Direction Home.

For the non-Dylan content, A Freewheelin’ Time is more of a woman’s book, the personal information - meeting Bob’s parents, hating being seen as a “chick” in a “pre-feminist” time, and resenting the phone calls complementing her as a muse and for standing by her man - would probably have little interest for most men.

There are another 70+ pages after the break-up with Dylan and this is where A Freewheelin’ Time fades away. I wasn’t really interested in her circuitous trip to Cuba or her move to Cambridge, Mass, with her new boyfriend and even mention of the odd meeting up with her erstwhile boyfriend failed to brighten up the narrative.

Nevertheless, I was left feeling warm towards Suze Rotolo and grateful that she’d shared the unique experience of her formative years alongside the towering talent of Bob Dylan.


Publication details: A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir Of Greenwich Village In The Sixties, by Suze Rotolo. London: Aurum Press, September 2008, hardback, 371pp, £16.99. ISBN 978 1 84513 392 4.

Elliott Landy’s Woodstock photos

Thanks to Ken Crouch in Somerset:

“I’ve noticed that there is a interest in Woodstock photos: I’ve managed to pick up a copy from a friend who was about to throw it out - Woodstock Dream, by Elliott Landy.

“This is a wonderful book, 391 pages, published by Te Neues (in Germany; it’s available on Amazon.co.uk – Gerry Smith, Ed), printed in Italy.

“Dylan Daily readers should track this - down great photos of Dylan and the performers at Woodstock. I’ve not seen this book before.”

Elliott Landy’s Woodstock Bakery photograph

Thanks to David McDonald, Director of Woodstock... Can't Get There From Here:

“Don't know if you've been keeping up with the recent discussion of a certain Elliott Landy photograph of Bob taken with two ‘unknowns’ in front of the Woodstock Bakery in 1967.

“But that discussion made me fish through my old hard drives to find a section of "Woodstock Can't Get There From Here" that I had abandoned a few years back because of a fixed audio track I could do nothing about.

“It's really quite a funny story. The two people pictured with Dylan are old Woodstock characters, curmudgeons. Here's the link to the video. It's flawed, like I said, but it's got heart”


http://blip.tv/file/1227232

Italian admirer records 419 Dylan songs - BOBMANIA #31

Thanks to Nakano for news of Michel Montecrossa, an Italian Dylanophile who likes Bob’s music so much that he’s recorded over 400 of his songs:

“Here’s a link for the list of all 419 Bob Dylan and Dylan-related songs covered by Michel Montecrossa:

www.Michel-BobDylan.com


“The list - including all the productions of the respective songs, as well as audio files for some of the songs can be found here:

www.mirapuri-enterprises.com/Michel-BobDylan/bobdylancoversongs.html

Hidden in plain sight: #2-5

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“A few nominees from me:

* Buckets of Rain - BOTT - nice relaxed vocal, elliptical lyrics, "I ain't no monkey but I know what I like", Dylan's slapped acoustic guitar, perfect

* Mozambique - Desire - ironic lyric, sinewy violin, superb harmonising with Emmylou

* Never Say Goodbye - PW - meandering, lyrics which sum up moods rather than images, one of Dylan's most perfect songs, sensitive banking from The Band and nice harmonies from Rick Danko

* We'd Better Talk This Over - S-L - strong melody, magical wordplay, another highly underrated gem.

“It strikes me looking at this list that these songs are all quite similar in structure - no choruses!

“And re the Sopranos song: I believe Dylan's cover of Return to me is quite widely available - even has the old croaker singing in Italian - nice!”

Down The Tracks: admirable new DVD analysing Dylan’s influences

Markets abhor a vacuum. So the scarcity of official Dylan DVD product has opened the door for the release of a growing number of unauthorised products, of variable quality.

Down The Tracks: The Music That Influenced Bob Dylan, a new documentary from White Crow Productions, is one of the more attractive releases in this burgeoning niche.

It covers well the bases you’d expect - 1960s New York, the counter culture, and Dylan’s folk, country and blues antecedents. An interview with Pete Seeger is the highlight.

The impressively varied roster of contributors includes musicians Tom Paley and Sid Griffin, record biz operators Lawrence Cohen and Joe Boyd and writers Mike Marqusee and Michael Gray. Griffin is wisely employed throughout to pull the narrative together. He excels (just as he did in Million Dollar Bash, his recent book on the Basement Tapes).

Together, they provide a coherent narrative: if you need an introduction on where Dylan’s art sprung from, Down The Tracks is an admirable primer.

Its weaknesses are principally budget-related. The main downside is the lack of Dylan footage: presumably it’s too expensive or too jealously guarded. So expect production values below those of, say, No Direction Home – on Down The Tracks, talking heads and stills dominate.

The largely unknown musicians used to punctuate the narrative don’t add much, either – apart from a fine performance from the Handsome Family.

Budget constraints apart, the script occasionally sounds stilted; I’m not over-fond of the narrator. And the jukebox leitmotif palls quickly.

But these negatives are outweighed by the programme’s positives: Down The Tracks is a welcome addition to the Dylan DVD library.

Recommended.


Down The Tracks: The Music That Influenced Bob Dylan. DVD, 1 disc. White Crow Productions for Eagle Rock, June 2008, 95 mins, £10.



Gerry Smith

Return To Me on Sopranos soundtrack

Thanks to Brendan Lyons for this reminder:

“Forgive me if this has been reported before.

"Last night, I was watching an ‘extra’ on the dvd of the final series of The Sopranos. It was an interview with David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, and was about the music used in the series.

“He said the Bob Dylan recorded a Dean Martin song, Return To Me, specially for an episode of The Sopranos. To quote David Chase: ‘Dylan’s manager, Jeff, said Bob Dylan would like to do that song for our show’.”

Oberst/Dylan… continued

Playing Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes almost non-stop since his superlative Portsmouth gig on Tuesday, I keep returning to the Nebraskan’s cover version of Girl From (sic) The North Country.

It’s a live rendition, by Oberst, along with Americana chums M Ward and Jim James, recorded specially for the September 2005 MOJO free cover disc, Dylan Covered.

And it’s magnificent. Oberst’s second verse entry is one of the most jaw-droppingly dramatic moments in rock music.

This North Country is probably my favourite Dylan cover of all. I almost prefer it to the Dylan/Cash version.



Gerry Smith

Conor Oberst: the new Dylan?

Labelling Conor Oberst, the sometime Bright Eyes frontman, as “the new Dylan” is just lazy clichéd journalism. It’s dumb and it does the gifted young Nebraskan a disservice: he’s the nothing more or less than the new Conor Oberst.

But at the wonderful Oberst gig I attended in Portsmouth this week (review from www.musicforgrown-ups.com below) there were Dylan links for the observant.

First up was a rocking bluesy version of Corrina Corrina, the trad tune Dylan popularized on Freewheelin’.

Then Oberst also played Everybody’s Talkin’, the Fred Neil song recorded by Harry Nilsson for the era-defining movie Midnight Cowboy, and which, we are told, replaced Lay Lady Lay on the soundtrack.

Dylan Daily readers who get the chance to see Oberst on the world tour he’s just started are urged to seize it – he’s a magnificent performer, with or without any Dylan links.



Gerry Smith


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ARTICLE FROM MUSICFORGROWN-UPS.COM


Conor Oberst in Portsmouth: a magical gig

Last night’s Conor Oberst gig in Portsmouth was a stunner. The city’s sold-out Wedgewood Rooms, a tiny venue holding about 500, standing, was treated to a committed, energetic Oberst show, with powerful support from his Mystic Valley Band.

The 1 hour 40 minute show took you on an eclectic, richly musical tour, veering from country rock to confessional singer-songwriter balladry and new wave/indie rock to the Chicago blues.

The core of the set was a trio of songs from the fine new album (also called Conor Oberst): Moab, Milk Thistle, and I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital).

A highlight - one among many - was a rousing blues version of Corrina Corrina, the trad ballad popularized by Bob Dylan (on The Freewheelin’…). It showed the Mystic Valley Band – three guitars, drums and keyboards/synth/flugelhorn – at their best. The impossibly young lad playing bottleneck seized his opportunity to excel.

The Mystic Valley Band were a fine complement to Oberst all night long – having clearly bonded creatively and socially during the gestation of the new album in remote rural Mexico.

Conor Oberst (the artist formerly known for Bright Eyes), an engaging, immensely likeable performer, overcame a heavy cold just to be there – he was sweating profusely, spluttering, drinking, even spitting (!) all night long. Many less committed musos would have stayed in bed in the hotel with a hot water bottle and a pile of pills. Oberst worked very hard - and enjoyed it.

The head cold – and the mainly rock-out setlist - meant that Oberst’s signature, keening, tremulous vocals, were reined in, except in the ballads. Watching him from 10 feet away reminded me just what a gifted musician, songwriter and performer he really is: few contemporary rockers can touch him.

I half believe that rock is dead, but gigs like last night’s magical Conor Oberst show prove that it has plenty of life left - it just depends who’s playing.

Catch this tour! Buy the new album!



Gerry Smith

I’m Not There: 2DVD now released in Europe (well, parts of…)

Thanks to Jorg, in Germany:

“Just a quick update concerning the INT-DVD-release: the "special edition" of I’m Not There released in Germany yesterday is the 2 disc version; seems to be identical with the US version.

“A friend tells me in Italy there is also a 2 disc collector's edition available.

“The standard 1 disc version here has no extras.”



(The 2DVD version is still not on sale in UK and France from the local amazon websites – Gerry Smith).

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I’m Not There – shame about the extras

Conscious of my petulant decision to delay buying I’m Not There until the 2DVD version becomes available in Europe, a friend came round last night, toting his new single disc UK version.

Watching the film for a second time confirmed the opinion from the original big screen viewing that Todd Haynes’s film is a serious piece of well-executed art and that it will stand repeated scrutiny.

The single disc version’s extras – which compare badly with those on the Collector’s Edition – were our focus last night.

I'm Not There single DVD has:

· a documentary on the making of soundtrack - the most interesting extra
· an option of watching the film with an audio commentary from Haynes. While the film is running. Why would anyone want that?
· a long interview with Haynes. Very long. I can’t remember a single thing he said
· tribute to Heath Ledger – which has little interest for me; I know virtually nothing about him
· an underwhelming Dylan filmography>discography>bibliography

High-quality movie. Shame about the extras.

The extra extras on the 2DVD set apparently include: deleted scenes, featurettes, a music video, audition tapes for Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw, a gag reel, unreleased trailers featuring the six actors re-enacting the 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' music video.

Hmmm… Are they worth waiting for? Probably not.

But I’ll still delay buying I'm Not There to register my protest at Paramount Pictures’ discrimination against European consumers.




Gerry Smith

New Dylan magazine cover, and more on Bob Dylan Inc

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

* “The current issue of Rock and Reel magazine has Dylan on the cover.

http://www.rock-n-reel.co.uk/


* “Bob Dylan Inc: I have to admit that the wheels came off my Dylan-mobile when I heard his skimpy rewrites of Trouble No More (Some Day Baby) and Rolling and Tumblin (Rollin and Tumblin) with sole composer credits to B Dylan.

“If he wants to cut covers of old electric blues songs, by all means do it but at least have the decency to acknowledge your sources.

“Can't help but feel that the ‘cut and paste’ jobs that pass for original lyrics on the last three albums do nothing for his status as world's greatest songwriter, and in all honesty probably diminish his standing.”

Bob Dylan Inc? …encore…

Thanks to Brett Scott:

“I share your anonymous correspondent’s misgivings about Bob Dylan Inc.

“Except I would go further. I’m a long-time Bob devotee, but I’m getting heartily sick of recent developments, especially:

* the new Sony luxury album’s rip-off pricing

* Dylan’s NET rut: anyone with wider interests in rock knows that his contemporaries – Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and even Van Morrison, for God’s sakes – are doing much better shows than Zim these days

* the art sales. I’ve no problem with the two shows of originals, in London and Germany, but the mass marketing of the limited edition copies left a sour taste

* I’m Not There. I know Bob wasn’t in it, but there was something cheesy and exploitative about that whole project.

Maybe I’m getting old and bitter, but I know I’m not alone in tiring of Bob Dylan Inc, as Zim gets bigger and bigger in the global mainstream entertainment market.


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Bob Dylan Inc?

I keep hearing rumblings of discontent about what’s alleged to be the growing commercialisation of Dylan’s creativity.

One Dylan Daily reader confided a few days ago: “incidentally I'm pissed off with all the latest money-grabbing (or should that be grubbing) antics of Bob Dylan Inc. - absolutely no need for any of it!”

It was provoked by the fanciful price for the top spec super-duper version of the forthcoming album, Tell Tale Signs.

There have been similar stirrings in the past, of course, principally about Dylan’s involvement in TV ads.

While respecting the views of those who are uncomfortable when art mixes too readily with commerce, I take a more relaxed view of the merchants in the temple.

I don’t blame anyone, creative artist or not, for maximising the return for their labour, as long as what they do doesn’t offend my moral sense.

But record companies and concert venues testing whether the market will bear silly prices doesn’t offend me – it’s capitalism in action. I can choose to ignore them. And it hardly ranks alongside selling people into slavery or biting off the heads of babies.

It’s Sony’s commercial decision to set prices for Bob product. If they get it right, people will buy. If not, they’ll be left with eggy faces (and unsold stock).

Me? I wouldn’t touch the Tell Tale Signs Special/Limited DeLuxe Collector’s Edition @ $130 with a four metre bargepole. But, then, it’s not aimed at me - I dare say that if I was a serious collector, I’d have placed my order weeks ago.

I’ll be snapping up the standard Tell Tale Signs 2CD on release day, though!



Gerry Smith

Bob Dylan Inc?

I keep hearing rumblings of discontent about what’s alleged to be the growing commercialisation of Dylan’s creativity.

One Dylan Daily reader confided a few days ago: “incidentally I'm pissed off with all the latest money-grabbing (or should that be grubbing) antics of Bob Dylan Inc - absolutely no need for any of it!”

It was provoked by the fanciful price for the top spec super-duper version of the forthcoming album, Tell Tale Signs.

There have been similar stirrings in the past, of course, principally about Dylan’s involvement in TV ads.

While respecting the views of those who are uncomfortable when art mixes too readily with commerce, I take a more relaxed view of the merchants in the temple.

I don’t blame anyone, creative artist or not, for maximising the return for their labour, as long as what they do doesn’t offend my moral sense.

But record companies and concert venues testing whether the market will bear silly prices doesn’t offend me – it’s capitalism in action. I can choose to ignore them. And it hardly ranks alongside selling people into slavery or biting off the heads of babies.

It’s Sony’s commercial decision to set prices for Bob product. If they get it right, people will buy. If not, they’ll be left with eggy faces (and unsold stock).

Me? I wouldn’t touch the Tell Tale Signs Special/Limited DeLuxe Collector’s Edition @ $130 with a four metre bargepole. But, then, it’s not aimed at me - I dare say that if I was a serious collector, I’d have placed my order weeks ago.

I’ll be snapping up the standard Tell Tale Signs 2CD on release day, though!



Gerry Smith

Rotolo recognised Dylan in Picasso: revealing interview

Thanks to Martin Cowan for alerting me to a revealing interview of Suze Rotolo by Richard Williams for The Guardian newspaper. Highly recommended.

A couple of tasters:

* “While in Umbria she read Françoise Gilot's Life with Picasso and felt a shock of recognition. "I felt I was reading a book of revelations, lessons, warnings," she writes. "Even though Picasso was a much older man than Bob and had experienced a lot more, their personalities were so similar that it was astounding."

* “Nowadays she doesn't care to listen to the songs of parting and loss he wrote while she was away - "Don't Think Twice", "One Too Many Mornings", "Tomorrow is a Long Time" - even though, like their composer, she firmly resists literal interpretations. "People ask, 'Was this song written for you?' Well, I could say this and that. I could make a list. But if you really listen to those songs, they're somewhat like fiction - he's written something coming from his life, but he sets it in a fiction, maybe using another character's voice.”

Excellent article: read it in full here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/16/biography.bobdylan


Gerry Smith

Dylan the American poet: new regular commentary

Thanks to Lawrence J. Epstein:

“I am writing a new source of commentary about Bob Dylan. I will write regularly about Dylan for The Best American Poetry blog. The Best American Poetry is an annual anthology that includes the best poems published during the previous year.

“I am an author who writes about American culture and society. I am currently writing a book about folk singers from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan for Yale University Press.

“My posts, titled The Bob Dylan Watch, will appear every two weeks or whenever some crucial new event occurs or some vital material appears. I’ll be commenting on books, films, articles, websites, blogs or other Dylan-related materials and will also take a look back at Dylan’s achievements.

“In researching my book, I’ve interviewed many people about Dylan. Some of them are famous, like Pete Seeger, or Peter, Paul and Mary. Others are less famous, like B.J. Rolfzen, Dylan’s high school English teacher. They were all interesting, and I’ll be blogging about some of them as well.”


http://thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/dylan_watch/

Suze Rotolo’s memoir: encore… encore…

Thanks to Keerstin in Los Angeles

”I read the Suze Rotolo book as soon as it came out. I think everyone is being a little overly critical of the book. It is titled ‘Freewheelin in 60’s’ and that’s exactly what it is about...

“There are a few insights into Bob’s personality as a young man during his rise to fame, which I found interesting. Overall the book was a fun read with lots of great details of old NY locations that no longer exist. Anyway, that’s my take on it.

”Zim zim will be here at the beginning of September and I will let you know how the concert is!

”I just adore your blog.”

Suze Rotolo’s memoir: encore

Thanks to PJ in DC:

“The Rotolo book is not worth the money, and I must say that I am astounded at how much critical praise it received.

“Rotolo's new age-y writing style is, in places, very irritating. Moreover, though the Dylan information is somewhat interesting, hardcore fans will not glean much that is news or unknown...

“... In the sections where Rotolo discusses her life independent of Dylan, I skimmed or skipped. When I did try to read these passages, I found them uninteresting at best.

“If you really want to see the Dylan-specific stuff in the book, I recommend simply waiting until you can borrow a copy.”

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Meanwhile, UK publishers Aurum have kindly agreed to supply Dylan Daily with a review copy, so watch this space for an early review. Aurum also corrected my price info given yesterday: their UK hardback edition of A Freewheelin’ Time is priced at £16.99, not £18.99.



Gerry Smith

Suze Rotolo’s memoir

I stumbled upon a stray copy of A Freewheelin’ Time, the new Suze Rotolo memoir, in my local Borders last night. I assume it was “stray” as I understood that it wasn’t due to be published in London until 25 September (though the US edition has been available – online - since 13 May).

A 10 minute skim read raised the possibility that an earlier claim on Dylan Daily that Ms Rotolo’s book would be one of the big Dylan events of recent years might have been premature.

Perhaps it isn’t intended as a “Dylan event”? Though I don’t see any reason why anyone would want to know about Suze’s early life without the Zim connection. Anyhow, Dylan only figures in half the book’s almost 400 pages, and I failed to find any Earth-shattering revelations.

A full-length, fair-minded Dylan Daily review will follow - if I can get hold of an advance copy. In the meantime, if you’ve bought the book and have views on it, I’ll be very pleased to publish them here.



Gerry Smith

Film-maker’s evocation of Old Woodstock

Thanks to film director David McDonald for more clips from his work documenting life in Woodstock:

“I've got a bunch of videos you might be interested in:

* Did I send you The Band in Woodstock?

http://blip.tv/file/1062928


* Or, the section on The Woodstock Soundouts, which happened in the summers preceding Woodstock, and which Dylan played at?

http://blip.tv/file/1059037


* Also, there's a clip I like to call rock 'n roll summer camp:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Misanthrope/videos/4/


* Finally, there's the trailer I did for a film called "The Culture Wars":

http://theculturewars.blip.tv/#695454


* And part two of that film, which I'm now working on, a clip called "America's Oldest Peace Protesters."
http://www.bbc.co.uk and after it add:

http://blip.tv/file/1042507/


“Woody Guthrie had a sticker on his guitar that said, "This machine kills fascists." I feel very much the same way about my camera.”



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Dylan in Woodstock: must-see new documentary, featuring Elliott Landy


Thanks to film director David McDonald for details of his new documentary on Woodstock. The 4’11” Dylan sequence, featuring a recent interview with photographer Elliott Landy, is a must-see:

“I am the director of a film called "Woodstock/You Can't Get There From Here”, featuring a section on Bob Dylan's life in Woodstock”:

www.viddler.com/explore/Misanthrope/videos/1/



Gerry Smith

Tell Tale Signs: three disc non-deluxe version?

Thanks to Jace:

“Tell Tale Signs: don't get me started on the different tiers and pricing of this release, I just hope the rumored 3CD non-deluxe version is for real.

“I'm as excited by this era of Dylan as any right now, and if they really wanted to offer a special edition, how about one with a DVD of the entire live set filmed for Masked and Anonymous? Or at least the audio - those 4 songs on the soundtrack are killer!”

Dreamin Of You – new free download on bobdylan.com - encore...

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Following recent comments, I too have downloaded this new old Dylan song.

“While picking up the lyrical similarities between this and ‘Standing in the Doorway’, I was also struck by how it didn't sound like it came from the TOOM sessions - I'm wondering if it has had a sexed-up remix?

“Nice song though.”

Tell Tale Signs: encore… encore… encore

Thanks to Liam Mogan:

“Just a quick response to avid collector Daniel Lobby's disappointment at my post about the new 'bootleg' album.

“My comment 'If it's a true 'bootleg' then give us something truly rare' was specifically referring to the inclusion of already officially released tracks within the collection. His musings on this statement are contradictory especially when he goes on to say that 'Perhaps the answer is for Columbia Records, every now and then, to gather these oddities and rarities together and release them on a compilation album.' A statement I heartily agree with I, especially when the new collection misses out on some fantastic one-off tracks, such as 'Red Cadillac..' and 'I Can't Get You Off of My Mind' (amongst others). I also agree that the inclusion on the No Direction Home OST of 'Song to Woody' and 'LARS' was below the belt and unnecessary.

“I do not doubt the rarity value of the Oh Mercy/Time Out of Mind outtakes, I was simply questioning the vitality of a new Bootleg Volume containing a large volume of multi-takes.

“Similarly, I have no idea about the quality of items within the Dylan Vaults - I merely suggested it would have been nice for this volume to have followed the successful blueprint of Volumes 4, 5 and 6 in releasing top-notch live collections. This is why I suggested the Supper Club and Born Again recordings.

“Finally, I take umbrage at Daniel's questioning my description the first instalment of the series" as "majestic". Was it not majestic even to the likes of Mr Lobby who obviously had the majority of the tracks anyway? Did he not enjoy or appreciate the sound clarity of the release?

“For me, as a 16 year old Dylan fan at the time it took my breath away (it still does). Even if a lot of the tracks did already exist amongst collectors, the majority had never been officially released.

“Does Daniel suggest that the first official release of 'I'm Not There' on the OST was not of interest because the Tree With Roots/Genuine Basement Tapes collections already included it? Even though the sound quality was a million miles away from the bootlegs?

“To my mind the purpose of the Bootleg Series is not just to offer outtakes and alternative versions. No one can doubt that the first 7 volumes entrenched His Bobness' position as the greatest songwriter, performer and recording artist of the 20th century. Can anyone truly say that this collection promises to do the same?

“Been listening to Dreamin' of You for the past few days. Nice enough but not a patch on the song that used the same lyrics. Cleary, Bob's quality radar was switched back on in the 90s.”

Tell Tale Signs: encore… encore…

Thanks to Daniel Lobby:

“I am quite disappointed by some of the comments made about the forthcoming "Bootleg Series" release.

“Liam Mogan said, "If it's a true 'bootleg', then give us something rare" and then went on to describe "the first instalment of the (bootleg) series" as "majestic". I would suggest that he re-examines that first "Bootleg Series" release. Of its 58 tracks, only 21, as I recall, were new to collectors at the time plus one line recording that we already had as an audience recording.

“The full 3-CD version of Volume 8 will have at least 16 tracks that are new to collectors, up to 10 more "new" tracks (depending on which takes of the Oh Mercy songs are used), plus another 6 that we already have as audience recordings (likely to be line recordings and/or better quality on "Volume 8) - not to mention "Ring Them Bells" from the Supper Club, which sounds better on the USA TODAY video than on the soundboard recording that emerged recently.

“Whilst on the subject of the Supper Club, David Faulkner says that he didn't realise that these shows were professionally filmed. The sole purpose of the four shows was to film them and thus the only reason they took place at all. This is certainly mentioned in Clinton Heylin's biography of Dylan.

“As for a fan-based "Bootleg Series" release, I'm not at all convinced. Who amongst Dylan fans knew about "Dreamin' Of You" or "Can't Escape From You" or "Marchin' To The City" or "Mary And The Soldier" before this track listing was announced? Precious few, if any, I'd suggest.

“And, similarly, even for previously released songs, who amongst Dylan fans would know which exist in a usuable demo form? Or with different lyrics? Or with totally different musical arrangements? Again, very few of us. We would have been blundering around in the dark.

“The inclusion of recordings already officially released is a difficult one. The record company cannot win. Those who who have already bought the soundtrack albums for the one Dylan track feel swizzled. Those who have not (or were even unaware of the recordings) welcome it.

“Perhaps the answer is for Columbia Records, every now and then, to gather these oddities and rarities together and release them on a compilation album. Anyway, what about "Song To Woody" and "Like A Rolling Stone" on Volume 7 (No Direction Home), the former a straight lift from a regular Dylan album and the latter a repeat from the previous volume in the series? These were far greater "crimes" against collectors but I recall little complaint at the time.

“On the other hand, I do agree that the price of the Deluxe edition only available through bobdylan.com (the one that includes the 7" vinyl single) does seem very, very high indeed, particularly when you add in the postage cost from the States to Europe. Does anyone yet know the retail price of the shop-bought or internet-bought version of the DeLuxe package? The one that is housed in the bigger, hardback slipcase (complete with the two hardback books and the 3 CDs) but excludes the vinyl single?

“I'm tempted to say "Get real!" to your contributors and the record company executives alike!”

No new content on Friday or Monday – see you again on Tuesday

I’m taking advantage of the fine summer weather to get the garden sorted, and am turning off my computer for a few days.

So there’ll be no new content on Friday or Monday. I’ll be back posting new copy on Tuesday 5 August.

Make sure you drop by!



Gerry Smith

Tell Tale Signs: encore

Thanks to David Faulkner:

“I agree with Liam, a disappointing track list.

Not poor enough to stop me buying it of course, but I won't be investing in the 3-disc set which is priced absurdly high if you just want the music.

“Maybe it will all sound more like a coherent whole when I hear it, but my hopes are not high.

“My respect for Steve Berkowitz and his management of the Bootleg Series has taken a big knock. I am certain that, if they were guided by a consultation with fans (as Sony purportedly was for the Dylan hits collections), we would not being seeing a track listing like this one.

“Now that we are up to Volume 8 of the Bootleg Series, the only market Sony have for these collections is the relatively diehard fans - so why not give us more of what we want and sell more stuff as well as keeping our goodwill? And it can only be goodwill, or a lack of sanity, that has seen me buy, for example, six copies of "Blonde On Blonde" in various formats over the years.

“After the our hero's ‘renaissance’ over the last decade with three excellent albums, the Oscar win, the Chronicles autobiography, the Scorsese No Direction Home documentary, the wonderful Theme Time Radio Hour, the approval of the I'm Not There film idea, the Pulitzer Prize award and the praise for his series of paintings I guess it was about time us fans got brought down to earth by what appears to be a relatively ill-thought-through pasting together of miscellaneous tracks, with lots of ‘repeats’. Of course there will be a huge range of views about what the ‘next’ collection would be but I suspect this one will provide little satisfaction beyond the genuine rarities.

“As with Liam, I had also been kinda hoping for a complete Supper Club live set. I just love those stripped down acoustic performances that Bob and the band deliver with such energy and commitment. Until I saw the article in USA Today I hadn't realised these shows had also been filmed professionally; what a great DVD we may (or may not) get one day.

“Ho hum.

“I was going to suggest we fans put together a proposal for the next three Bootleg Series collections, but we'd never agree, would we?”



And to Cornelius Collins:

“Re: ‘I've already spent stupid prices for the Gods and Generals, North Country and the Lucky You soundtracks and the Ralph Stanley album. I don't particularly want to pay for them again.’

“Sorry to say, but I think it was fairly stupid of Liam M. to have spent so much on these albums for one track apiece. Major artists like Dylan always have their odds and ends compiled eventually.

“I would agree the Bromberg sessions are notable by their absence. And the price is another matter entirely. And probably the repeated versions of songs should all be on the bonus disc, though that's without hearing them--maybe they're quite different sounding.

“But I like how the selection focuses on Oh Mercy forward. There's an integrity to that.”


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Thanks to Liam Mogan:

“Just read the track listing from the latest Bootleg Series, Tell Tale Signs. Don't know about everybody else, but I'm feeling kind of underwhelmed.

“It seems that there is a lot of repetition - 3 alternative versions of Mississippi! Now, whilst I think it's a good track (I even have a secret soft spot for the Sheryl Crow version), surely this is barrel scraping at its most brazen.

“Similarly, we get 2 alternative versions of Most of the Time, Born in Time and even the mediocre Can't Wait. Also, there's a few tracks the diehard Dylan fan will already have.

“I've already spent stupid prices for the Gods and Generals, North Country and the Lucky You soundtracks and the Ralph Stanley album. I don't particularly want to pay for them again.

“If it's a true 'bootleg' then give us something truly rare. Especially when you consider the $129.99 price for the Deluxe Edition on bobdylan.com!

“Once it's released I'm sure I'll savour every track. I'm looking forward to hearing some pristine live tracks, the World Gone Wrong outtakes and the real rarities (Red River Shore, Miss the Mississippi etc).

“But where are the rest of the Bromberg outtakes, why no complete Supper Club set or DVD? It seems like a missed opportunity to me, and light years away from the majestic first instalment of the series and the historic Albert Hall set.

“Personally, I was hoping for a live album from the 'born again' era (some of the Toronto bootlegs are breathtaking), but, alas, it was not to be.

“I suppose all the people can't be all right all of the time.”



(Full details, inc full tracklist and stunning artwork, now online at www.bobdylan.com

What do YOU think of the new release? Let me know. Gerry Smith, Ed)

More doubts about Tell Tale Signs, the new Bootleg Series album

Thanks to Bernard McGuinn

“While I found myself nodding in agreement as I read through Liam Mogan's comments (below), I can't help thinking that every Dylan fan, not least myself, thinks that he/she could do a much better job with The Bootleg Series than any record exec, given half a chance.

“The reality is you can't please any of the people, any of the time, when it comes to Bob's archives.

“So, while we may get three versions of Mississippi, and question why they didn't supply us with, say, two more Bromberg out-takes, I also know that there will be some - me included! - who will be wondering how many more versions may be available!

“The obvious solution, from a purely selfish fan-based perspective, is to take advantage of the digital wizardry, and put everything online for downloading at a reasonable price.

“Some hope! ;-)”




And thanks to Brian Fairbanks:

“I would even go further -- I might not even buy them, as a protest. With all the content that's floating around out there, can't we get some of that?

“I'd love to have official versions of the ENTIRE Supper Club run, at least rather than this. I'd love to have Restless Farewell from the Sinatra birthday concert and that good song from Hearts of Fire...

”... and so forth.

“If the record company’s gonna release bootlegs, they should release the best stuff first.”



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EARLIER RELATED ARTICLE:

Thanks to Liam Mogan:

“Just read the track listing from the latest Bootleg Series, Tell Tale Signs. Don't know about everybody else, but I'm feeling kind of underwhelmed.

“It seems that there is a lot of repetition - 3 alternative versions of Mississippi! Now, whilst I think it's a good track (I even have a secret soft spot for the Sheryl Crow version), surely this is barrel scraping at its most brazen.

“Similarly, we get 2 alternative versions of Most of the Time, Born in Time and even the mediocre Can't Wait. Also, there's a few tracks the diehard Dylan fan will already have.

“I've already spent stupid prices for the Gods and Generals, North Country and the Lucky You soundtracks and the Ralph Stanley album. I don't particularly want to pay for them again.

“If it's a true 'bootleg' then give us something truly rare. Especially when you consider the $129.99 price for the Deluxe Edition on bobdylan.com!

“Once it's released I'm sure I'll savour every track. I'm looking forward to hearing some pristine live tracks, the World Gone Wrong outtakes and the real rarities (Red River Shore, Miss the Mississippi etc).

“But where are the rest of the Bromberg outtakes, why no complete Supper Club set or DVD? It seems like a missed opportunity to me, and light years away from the majestic first instalment of the series and the historic Albert Hall set.

“Personally, I was hoping for a live album from the 'born again' era (some of the Toronto bootlegs are breathtaking), but, alas, it was not to be.

“I suppose all the people can't be all right all of the time.”



(Full details, inc full tracklist and stunning artwork, now online at www.bobdylan.com

What do YOU think of the new release? Let me know. Gerry Smith, Ed)

Thumbs down for Tell Tale Signs, new Bootleg Series album, due October

Thanks to Liam Mogan:

“Just read the track listing from the latest Bootleg Series, Tell Tale Signs. “Don't know about everybody else, but I'm feeling kind of underwhelmed.

“It seems that there is a lot of repetition - 3 alternative versions of Mississippi! Now, whilst I think it's a good track (I even have a secret soft spot for the Sheryl Crow version), surely this is barrel scraping at its most brazen.

“Similarly, we get 2 alternative versions of Most of the Time, Born in Time and even the mediocre Can't Wait. Also, there's a few tracks the diehard Dylan fan will already have.

“I've already spent stupid prices for the Gods and Generals, North Country and the Lucky You soundtracks and the Ralph Stanley album. I don't particularly want to pay for them again.

“If it's a true 'bootleg' then give us something truly rare. Especially when you consider the $129.99 price for the Deluxe Edition on bobdylan.com!

“Once it's released I'm sure I'll savour every track. I'm looking forward to hearing some pristine live tracks, the World Gone Wrong outtakes and the real rarities (Red River Shore, Miss the Mississippi etc).

“But where are the rest of the Bromberg outtakes, why no complete Supper Club set or DVD? It seems like a missed opportunity to me, and light years away from the majestic first instalment of the series and the historic Albert Hall set.

“Personally, I was hoping for a live album from the 'born again' era (some of the Toronto bootlegs are breathtaking), but, alas, it was not to be.

“I suppose all the people can't be all right all of the time.”



(Full details, inc full tracklist and stunning artwork, now online at www.bobdylan.com

What do YOU think of the new release? Let me know. Gerry Smith, Ed)

Classic Dylan photographs on view in central London gallery

I must have walked within 50 yards of Blink Gallery, at 11 Poland St London W1, a thousand times without ever realising it was there. Then, for some reason last week, I headed down Poland St, south off Oxford Street, opposite HMV Oxford Circus branch, for the first time.

And there it was – a fabulous small gallery of two floors of framed, signed limited edition rock musician photos.

Pride of place goes to two Dylan pics by Jerry Schatzberg:

* Bob Dylan Pliers 1965 5/20 £2k + VAT 16” x 20” Silver Gelatin print, and

* Bob Dylan 1965 8/30 £2k + VAT 16” x 20” Silver Gelatin print.

Most readers would recognise both from the Blonde On Blonde cover shoot.

The Dylan pics are surrounded by other iconic shots documenting the best of Brit rock, from the Stones to Paul Weller. My favourite is is a wonderful tableau from the Beggars Banquet shoot, and there’s Hendrix, Oasis, Bob Marley et al, if jokey Stones debauchery isn’t your bag.

If you’re in London’s West End with a spare fifteen minutes, a visit to Blink Gallery is highly recommended. It’s free to look, and if you have a couple of thousand pounds to spare, you can buy, too.

(aficionados of soft porn: please brace yourself for a pleasant surprise before clicking the link below)


www.blinkgallery.com




Gerry Smith

I’m Not There – shame about the extras

Conscious of my petulant decision to delay buying I’m Not There until the 2DVD version becomes available in Europe, a friend came round last night, toting his new single disc UK version.

Watching the film for a second time confirmed the opinion from the original big screen viewing that Todd Haynes’s film is a serious piece of well-executed art and that it will stand repeated scrutiny.

The single disc version’s extras – which compare badly with those on the Collector’s Edition – were our focus last night.

I'm Not There single DVD has:

· a documentary on the making of soundtrack - the most interesting extra
· an option of watching the film with an audio commentary from Haynes. While the film is running. Why would anyone want that?
· a long interview with Haynes. Very long. I can’t remember a single thing he said
· tribute to Heath Ledger – which has little interest for me; I know virtually nothing about him
· an underwhelming Dylan filmography>discography>bibliography

High-quality movie. Shame about the extras.

The extra extras on the 2DVD set apparently include: deleted scenes, featurettes, a music video, audition tapes for Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw, a gag reel, unreleased trailers featuring the six actors re-enacting the 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' music video.

Hmmm… Are they worth waiting for? Probably not.

But I’ll still delay buying I'm Not There to register my protest at Paramount Pictures’ discrimination against European consumers.




Gerry Smith

Don’t Look Back: Malcolm McDowell bit part?

Thanks to Andrew Kelly:

“I caught the More 4 screening of Don’t Look Back last night (22 July) and was struck once again by the possibility that one of the others in the drunken confrontation in the Savoy suite over the glass thrown from a window looks as though he could be a young Malcolm McDowell, the actor probably best-known as Alex in ‘A Clockwork Orange’.

“Can anyone give a positive identification of the man who asserts: ‘You're a big noise... I'm nothing’ etc toward the scene's end?”

Dylan v Cohen (and Young)

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“You may remember a comment that was made a few months back comparing Dylan to Neil Young in terms of ‘value’ in concert.

“I am wondering whether the same can be said when comparing Dylan to Leonard Cohen, whose recent show you enjoyed so much.

“Dylan gives us 90 minutes, 16 songs - (10 minute version of Cats In The Well, anyone?), whereas the boy Len gives us the best part of 3 hours and 25 songs.

“I'm wondering whether Dylan concertgoers are feeling short-changed these days?”


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Yes - Neil Young IS upstaging Dylan

Thanks to Dave Dingle:

“Neil Young upstaging Bob? You better believe it!

“Having seen Bob over 100 times (an amateur compared to some, I know), I was struck last week by Neil doing a full one hour acoustic set, the like of which we haven’t seen from Bob since the 1960s, and a storming electric set ... active, prowling the stage, playing his own lead …

“I was left with the feeling that going to see Neil was an altogether more satisfying experience than Bob in recent years, stuck behind the piano, or even doing his few guitar songs.

“Sad to say, my conclusion is that Bob will never undergo the kind of renaissance that Neil obviously has!”


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Neil Young upstaging Dylan?

Neil Young’s current London shows, with long setlists drawn from across his catalogue, have been getting rave reviews.

According to Martin Cowan:

“Interesting to compare Neil Young's 23/24 song sets from his current tour with the 17 that Dylan serves up these days.

“I have been pondering lately on Dylan set lists (further to my last email) and concluded that if he cut short some of the instrumental "noodling", he could play a few more songs and perhaps be a little more generous with that superlative song book. Just a thought.”


Here’s a sample of Young’s ever-changing setlist, from 8 March at Hammersmith Apollo, courtesy of Bad News Beat:

01. From Hank To Hendrix
02. Ambulance Blues
03. Sad Movies
04. A Man Needs A Maid
05. Flying On The Ground Is Wrong (grand piano)
06. On The Way Home (grand piano)
07. Harvest
08. Journey Through The Past (upright piano)
09. Love In Mind (upright piano)
10. Mellow My Mind
11. Love Art Blues
12. Love Is A Rose
13. Heart Of Gold
14. Old Man
---
15. Mr. Soul
16. Dirty Old Man
17. Spirit Road
18. Down By The River
19. Hey Hey, My My
20. Too Far Gone
21. Oh, Lonesome Me
22. Winterlong
23. Powderfinger
24. No Hidden Path
---
25. Roll Another Number



Gerry Smith

Dylan/Cohen: perfect asymmetry?

Thanks to Jane Milton:

“I enjoyed Anne Ritchie’s piece on Bob/Len. (What follows is my attempt to ensure that Dylan Daily carries articles by women on two successive days - for the very first time, if I’m not mistaken.)

“I’m a Bob devotee but have found solace with Lennie in several periods when Dylan has been floundering.

“Leonard’s first two ground-breaking albums were released when Dylan was putting out albums like Nashville Skyline, well below the standard of his mid-60s masterpieces.

“Then, when Leonard’s output floundered, in the second half of the ‘70s, Dylan was back on top.

“And then when Bob went AWOL in the late 80s, L Cohen delivered two more masterpieces – Various Positions and I’m Your Man.

“Has anyone else noticed how their discographies seem to be in perfect asymmetry? For one who loves both, it’s been a lucky coincidence.”

Leonard Cohen – the Canadian Dylan?

I saw Leonard Cohen for the first time last week, at London’s O2 Arena. It was a magnificent gig (click on the Music For Grown-Ups link to read the detailed review).

So thanks to Anne Ritchie for sending her timely article on Leonard and Dylan:

“Just as Ira B Nadel’s book, Various Positions - A Life Of Leonard Cohen, was turning a little tedious, with its microscopic examination of the (French) Canadian (Jewish) literary scene and references to authors I’d never heard of (and was unlikely to ever want to discover), my interest was reawakened in the middle chapter (Chapter 7), when Bob Dylan appeared for the first time.

“We had arrived at 1966, when Cohen, aged 31, was about to embark on his singing career. At an all-day poetry get-together, none of his fellow poets had heard of this Dylan who Cohen was raving about. One of his friends went out immediately to buy Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, but when they were played they had little impact. Only Cohen was impressed, declaring he would become the Canadian Dylan: music seemed more lucrative than literature.

“En route to Nashville, Cohen stopped off in New York, where he stayed, on and off, for two years. There he was introduced to fellow Canadian Mary Martin, an assistant to Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman. It was Martin who arranged for fellow Canadians the Hawks, later known as The Band, to back Dylan. (She also managed Van Morrison for a time.)

“With Martin as his manager, Cohen established himself in the New York music scene. John Hammond, who had also discovered Dylan, signed him to Columbia Records.

“At this point in Various Positions, we see various members of Dylan’s circle from Cohen’s perspective: arguments with Joan Baez over drugs, his infatuation with Nico… .

“It was not until autumn 1969 that Cohen and Dylan met for the first time. Dylan heard that Cohen was at another Village folk club and summoned him to the Kettle of Fish. Their mutual admiration is no secret. Cohen has described Dylan as a Picasso – exuberant, wide-ranging, and assimilating the history of music. Dylan is reported to have gone backstage at several Cohen concerts, and even called in to the recording studios with Allen Ginsberg to sing back-up on Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On, a notorious track on the Phil Spector-produced album, Death of A Ladies’ Man.

“As author Nadel remarks, Cohen and Dylan share some qualities in their song-writing, notably sophisticated lyrics and elegant melodies. They both draw heavily from The Bible. Nadel adds that neither had much of a voice.

“I’d agree that early Lennie can sometimes embarrass with flat notes, but his speaking voice is rich and sonorous and his singing improved with confidence. Dylan could always sing. Listening to his early songs, forty five years down the line, I am often surprised by the force of his singing, the phrasing and the way he holds onto notes. And though his singing voice has seen better days, his speaking voice continues to charm.

“Cohen’s trademark is the most felicitous turn of phrase, both in speech and song. Phrases in his songs impress me with their beauty even when I struggle to comprehend them. Often described as hypnotic, his melodies can draw you in to an intimate world. Only in later songs, as in those in The Future, does Cohen seem to break out from his enclosed world - though his two most recent albums, Ten New Songs, and Dear Heather, see him once again retreating into Planet Leonard.

“Various Positions gives a detailed, informative picture of Leonard Cohen the man and consequently many insights into his (relatively limited) musical output.

“By comparison, Dylan’s vast and varied output reflects a boundless curiosity. It reveals a man looking outwards as well as inwards.”

BOBMANIA #26: Dylan fan art

Thanks to Michael Bowman:

“Here's a cool word art/Dylan music page:

http://www.ni9e.com/typo/typo_dylan.html

BOBMANIA #25: new Dyl-Time Theme Radio Hour

Thanks to Mel Prussack:

“Just to let you know that I just posted this month’s Dyl-Time Theme
Radio Hour show.

“The theme this month is Town Hall: I'm sure you are familiar with that show! Thanks again for your getting the word out for me.”

http://dylanshrine.podOmatic.com

Don’t Look Back on TV again next week

Thanks to Martin Cowan:

“Don't Look Back is being shown twice next week on More4 - Tuesday 22 July at 10.00 pm and again on 23 July at 1.05am.”

(Readers watching the film for the first time next week might then check out the magnificent Don't Look Back 65 Tour De Luxe Edition. The box, 2dvd, plus book and flipbook, is one of Dylan Daily’s favourite releases of the last decade – Gerry Smith).

I’m Not There on DVD: even in the “value” supermarket

I’m Not There is a fine film, but it’s not targeted at Mr Joe and Mrs Josephine Mainstream Public. I’d have wagered serious money against seeing it on the supermarket shelves yesterday.

But there it was, on the day of release - in the Top 30 DVD rack, no less - in Asda, the Brit Wal-Mart “value” chain, priced at about £12.75.

Heavens to Murgatroyd!

Is Dylan even more central to the Zeitgeist than I thought?




Gerry Smith

I’m Not There on DVD: better news on Euro release

Thanks to Jörg in Germany:

“Just discovered today at amazon.de that a special edition might be released in August:


http://www.amazon.de/Im-Not-There-Cate-Blanchett/dp/B001BP2YW0/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I211RVJO6UIOJ9&colid=3V77ER07ULT3Q

“Let's keep our fingers crossed... “

Just Like Bob Zimmerman’s Blues: “valuable”

Thanks to Michael Gray:

“Re your posting re rare early Dylan books: there is a fair amount of detail on both the Ribakoves’ book and the Dave Engel book in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia.

“Since the entries are people-based, as you know, you’ll find the info on these books under the authors’ names.

“I describe Engel’s Just Like Bob Zimmerman’s Blues: Dylan in Minnesota as “one of the four or five most valuable books on Bob Dylan”: a view I stand by.”


www.bobdylanencyclopedia.blogspot.com

I’m Not There on DVD: a muted welcome

I’m Not There, Todd Haynes’ art-house film on the many lives of “Bob Dylan”, split Zimfandom; I found it deeply enjoyable (see review below).

Monday (14 July) finally sees the UK release of I’m Not There on DVD (Region 2 - Europe, Japan). Normally, I’d be queueing to buy a copy.

But, as far as I can make out from favoured online suppliers, it’s only available to European buyers in the single disc version. US consumers have had the choice of one or two disc versions since its May release in North America.

So I’ll be ignoring I’m Not There - until a Region 2 2DVD version goes on sale, or the single disc version hits the bargain bins at under £5.

Only a muted Dylan Daily welcome, then, for I’m Not There on DVD, I’m afraid.

Pity, great pity. This isn’t the first time European Dylan consumers have been expected to be thankful for half a loaf.





Gerry Smith




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I’m Not There – artful, enjoyable, stimulating

I hadn’t really fancied I’m Not There, probably as a reaction to the incessant wall of hype greeting the film’s release.

And half an hour into yesterday’s showing at my local art-house cinema, I felt vindicated.

Harrumph! Woody, the tiresomely precocious young black version of Dylan, had me gritting my teeth. Hollywood does it again, I was thinking - manages to turn gold into lead. Why was I wasting my time in a cinema on a fine spring Sunday?

Then some new characters were introduced – notably Rimbaud and Ms Blanchett – and I’m Not There took wing and eventually started soaring. And the next 90 minutes was riveting.

Ideas were bursting from the screen so quickly that you had to concentrate hard to pick up all the references, catch all the quotations.

But it was more than a sterile intellectual exercise – it was emotionally engaging, too. You were regularly moved by the script and the performances. The chaos of something approaching Dylan’s world was beautifully evoked. And the use of Dylan’s music was spellbinding.

I’m Not There is not, as I had suspected, an exploitation biopic. No, it’s a major movie in its own right, an artful rumination on Dylan’s genius, and an appropriately masterful contribution to our perception of who he really is (or might be).

I’ll be buying the DVD, partly to max on the enjoyment, partly to try unravelling the complexities of a richly layered piece of art.

If you haven’t yet seen I’m Not There, you’re in for a feast – it’s an enjoyable, endlessly stimulating feast.



Gerry Smith

Folk-Rock: encore

Thanks to Daniel Lobby:

“I think it wrong of keepingitrandom to characterise the Folk-Rock - The Bob Dylan Story book as ‘almost fanzine style’ or to say that ‘the general tone (is) pretty flighty’.

“Published in February 1966, it was presumably written in the preceding months, a time when Dylan was riding on chart success. It is admittedly a quick-fire book written for a predominantly young readership but, within that context, it is fairly serious and quite informative, containing some detail not generally known at that time.

“One could say that it was a ‘cut and paste’ job. After all, the authors, Sy and Barbara Ribakove, cite 20 different publications that they consulted and list 17 articles from which they have drawn material. In addition, however, they thank Izzy Young for allowing access to ‘the research facilities of The Folklore Center’.

“It was never intended to be a formal biography and, the repetition of Dylan's own life-story fables aside, it is reasonably accurate. Even their judgements are far from flippant.

“The book ends: ‘Exactly where Bob Dylan is going, no one can predict. He may never find a permanent stopping place. But the journey will never be dull, either for him or for those who watch, applaud or mock him along the way. It is out of such journeys, sometimes dangerous, always lonely, that great art is made.’

“Not bad, not bad at all.”

Folk-Rock - the very first Dylan book

Thanks to keepingitrandom:

“I have a copy of that book, Folk-Rock: the Bob Dylan story.

“It is a paperback book written in an almost fanzine style... although, unlike Zimmerman Blues which I also have & which was published in the '70's, the text repeats early b.s. like the liner notes on his first album... carnivals, Gallup, New Mexico, etc... a few interesting photos... the general tone pretty flighty... interesting for its time...”

Positively Main Street: delightful new edition of an early classic

You wait for ten years: nothing at all. Then, suddenly, three turn up at the same time. Dylan books, that is.

Bobby had been around for a decade, a global superstar for a big part of it. But, in London at least, you couldn’t buy a single book on the man or his art.

Then, in 1972, along came the first English paperback editions of Gray’s Song & Dance Man, Scaduto’s biography and Toby Thompson’s Positively Main Street. Three very different Dylan books, each one manna from Heaven for the info-starved Zimfan.

The trio encouraged the coming idea that Dylan was even bigger than had been thought, that he was far more important than his 1960s rockpop contemporaries. That here was a musician you might be listening to, carefully, for the rest of your life.

Toby Thompson, an early Dylan fan, had a simple idea: go up to Hibbing and explore Dylan’s background – the place, the people, the culture.

So he did, reporting his findings in a series of articles for New York’s Hipster Bible, Village Voice, in 1969; the pieces were then stitched together to form the original US edition of Positively Main Street in 1971, reaching the UK a year later.

Thompson ended up interviewing Dylan’s mother, Beatty; his brother, David; his uncle Maurice; his first girlfriend, Echo; plus several teachers from Hibbing High, and various other acquaintances.

The whole while, he’s probing, searching for the essence of Dylan. And emoting, excitedly. This from his very first paragraph:

“I just finished speaking with ‘Girl From The North Country’. Right, the very same chick Bob wrote the song about… ”

First time round, I was thrilled by Positively Main Street, because of its myriad insights into Dylan’s background, and because it’s such an impressive piece of writing – part travelogue, part Beat-soaked memoir, part page-turner. It’s a sheer delight to read. And all the while, you sense that, in addition to finding Dylan’s roots, the youthful author is really finding himself.

Thompson has an engaging style, and if you share his passion for his subject, you know exactly what’s driving him. He was a fine writer at a tender age (appropriate, that!).

Just like the first time, I raced through the new edition of Positively Main Street in a single sitting. Thirty-five years after the first read, I found it utterly absorbing.

The new edition, from the University Of Minnesota Press, has several “bonus tracks”, which enrich the original text:

* a new preface by Thompson

* Thompson’s Hibbing photographs, notably of Echo Helstrom posing among heavy-duty industrial machinery in the mining zone: it’s not hard to see why both writer and subject were smitten!

* a revealing 36 page interview with Toby Thompson carried out in 2005 by Terry Kelly for publication in UK fanzine The Bridge

* a different sub-title: the original edition was Positively Main Street: An Unorthodox View Of Bob Dylan.

The new Positively Main Street is a lovely little book, even better than the original, a cherished addition to the Dylan bookshelf. Thompson and the University of Minnesota Press have enhanced what was already a classic and made it available to a whole new audience. Dylan fans owe them a debt of gratitude.


Positively Main Street: Bob Dylan’s Minnesota by Toby Thompson, University Of Minnesota Press, 2008, 215pp, pbk, ISBN 978-0-8166-5445-1, $15.95/£10 (from amazon).



Gerry Smith

Dylan in Woodstock: must-see new documentary, featuring Elliott Landy

Thanks to film director David McDonald for details of his new documentary on Woodstock. The 4’11” Dylan sequence, featuring a recent interview with photographer Elliott Landy, is a must-see:

“I am the director of a film called "Woodstock/You Can't Get There From Here”, featuring a section on Bob Dylan's life in Woodstock”:

www.viddler.com/explore/Misanthrope/videos/1/



Gerry Smith

Drawn Blank catalogue (UK) – then there were three: encore

I followed up Ken Crouch’s tip and sourced a catalogue from Smart gallery, Harrogate.

As its full title, The Drawn Blank Series: Bob Dylan Limited Edition Graphics, indicates, it catalogues the collection of prints which has been on sale at 40-plus UK galleries since Saturday 14 June.

It’s a small subset of the catalogue of original paintings exhibited at London’s Halcyon Gallery (and covered in the much bigger Halcyon catalogue) – only 10% of the original canvases were turned into limited edition prints – but is beautiful, desirable collectable.

The structure of the Limited Edition – prints are available in 6 sizes/bundles – is clearly outlined. It’s published by Washington Green in association with The Times newspaper.

www.washingtongreen.co.uk



Gerry Smith

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In addition to the various editions of the Prestel catalogue published for the Chemnitz exhibition (detailed recently on The Dylan Daily), there are two Halcyon Gallery catalogues – a small freebie pamphlet (A5, c10 pics, 24pp) and the big coffee table hardback (oversize, 300+ pics, 288pp, £39.99).

Many thanks to Ken Crouch in Wells, Somerset for details of a third (highly collectable) UK variant:

“Went to see the Dylan art exibition in Bath today; visitors to the this site should pop along, it’s free. I couldn’t afford £1,000 for a print but £10 for the catalogue is well worth the money… Bob playing in the background and free coffee… Well done to the organisers.

“The catalogue has all 29 prints, even the sets of four prints. Brief history of Dylan in the back. Andrew Motion reviews the prints. 12” x 8”, 72pp. Published by Washington Green Fine Art, on very good quality paper. Front white and back with Dylan’s sig on front and back. £10."

Sounds worth chasing up - watch this space!

Last night’s show in Lorca, Spain

Thanks to Gerald Bamford for phoning in his report on Dylan’s 4 July gig at the Plaza de Toros in Lorca, SE Spain:

“Lovely show tonight in Lorca. The bull ring on a hot evening was the perfect venue. Great atmosphere, smashing crowd of people - clearly still high from winning Euro 2008 the other night.

“My highlights in a strong performance were Ain't Talkin' and Blowin' In The Wind, which had such an unusual intro that I struggled to identify it at first, though I must have heard a hundred or so versions.”

“Hoping to get to the Jaen show tomorrow. Don’t forget to pick me up at Luton Airport a week on Sunday!”


SETLIST:

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
3. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
4. Rollin' And Tumblin'
5. Tryin' To Get To Heaven
6. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
7. Moonlight
8. Honest With Me
9. Desolation Row
10. High Water (For Charlie Patton)
11. Spirit On The Water
12. Highway 61 Revisited
13. When The Deal Goes Down
14. Summer Days
15. Ain't Talkin'

16. Thunder On The Mountain
17. Blowin' In The Wind

Dylan’s Euro 2008 tour, drawing to a close, finishes with a Portuguese gig next Friday.



Gerry Smith

Drawn Blank catalogue (UK) – then there were three

In addition to the various editions of the Prestel catalogue published for the Chemnitz exhibition (detailed recently on The Dylan Daily), there are two Halcyon Gallery catalogues – a small freebie pamphlet (A5, c10 pics, 24pp) and the big coffee table hardback (oversize, 300+ pics, 288pp, £39.99).

Many thanks to Ken Crouch in Wells, Somerset for details of a third (highly collectable) UK variant:

“Went to see the Dylan art exibition in Bath today; visitors to the this site should pop along, it’s free. I couldn’t afford £1,000 for a print but £10 for the catalogue is well worth the money… Bob playing in the background and free coffee… Well done to the organisers.

“The catalogue has all 29 prints, even the sets of four prints. Brief history of Dylan in the back. Andrew Motion reviews the prints. 12” x 8”, 72pp. Published by Washington Green Fine Art, on very good quality paper. Front white and back with Dylan’s sig on front and back. £10."

Sounds worth chasing up - watch this space!





Gerry Smith

Rare Dylan books

Re-reading Positively Main Street in its shiny new edition for review here on The Dylan Daily next week, I came across, in author Thompson’s revelatory interview with The Bridge fanzine in 2005, mention of two rare Dylan books:

* Folk-Rock: The Bob Dylan Story, by Sy and Barbara Ribakova (1966)

* Bob Zimmerman’s Blues: Dylan in Minnesota, by Dave Engel (1997)

I’ve never seen either book, and would be indebted to any Dylan Daily reader able to throw light on them: if you have a copy, please email a few details – content, treatment, style, tone, your opinions…

Thanks, in advance.



Gerry Smith

Feinstein’s Dylan exhibition extended, plus new Sub H Blues photo

Birmingham’s Snap Galleries is extending its Barry Feinstein exhibition of Dylan photographs until Saturday 9 August. Snap is selling prints from the photographer’s iconic catalogue, as published in his new book, Real Moments.

And Snap has unearthed (and is selling) a new colour still, by Tony Frank, from the Subterranean Homesick Blues black and white film shoot.

Snap Galleries runs a remarkable series of rock photography exhibitions.

Their newsletter – itself a visual feast; any rock fan should subscribe (free) – announces some enticing forthcoming shows:

1. "Majesties and Exiles", new Rolling Stones exhibition starts 13 September 2008

2. Dylan “Gets Born” - glorious colour from the Subterranean Homesick Blues film set

3. Oasis: awesome early years singles and albums portfolio collection launches in November 2008

4. Soul with attitude

5. Feinstein Dylan show extended

6. Pepper drumskin at Christie’s

7. Wonderwalls

8. More out of print and 'sold out' books


Snap Galleries Limited, Unit 7 - Ground Floor, Fort Dunlop, Fort Parkway, Birmingham B24 9FD


www.snapgalleries.com




Gerry Smith

What’s So Great About… Bob Dylan – listen online

You can listen online (until this Friday, 4 July) to What’s So Great About… Bob Dylan, the 30-minute documentary broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 28 June.

Voices heard include Al Kooper, Andrew Motion (English Poet Laureate) and Bryan Ferry.

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4




Gerry Smith