Bob Dylan and The Band - The Basement Tapes Complete (2014)

Historically, these sessions have been treated with awe, as if something essential about both Dylan and popular song can be found on the tapes. That’s at best half true. The performances weren’t approached with any kind of gravity, and are best listened to with no reverence at all. For every moment of revelation and synthesis, there are five throwaways.

In 1984, he (Dylan) told Rolling Stone, “I never really liked ‘The Basement Tapes.’ I mean, they were just songs we had done for the publishing company, as I remember. They were used only for other artists to record those songs. I wouldn’t have put ’em out.”

Heard in full, the basement tapes make Dylan’s ambivalence seem reasonable. This is a tremendous stretch of music of such varying quality that extracting anything as concrete as an album from it seems like a kind of reality-show challenge. Better to approach it as a toolbox than as a serial listening experience.

But does any gainfully employed person need to hear Dylan sing “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It” in sloppy country-blues style, as he does on “The Basement Tapes Complete”?

“Too Much of Nothing” has one of Dylan’s best lyrics on the album, in which he exactly mimics the concision of an early blues tune: “Too much of nothing can turn a man into a liar. It can cause one man to sleep on nails, and another man to eat fire.” But there’s a deeply wayward backing vocal on the song, and Robertson was right to clean it up. There’s nothing virtuous about hearing the more ragged, unadorned version.

There are even some recordings made post-John Wesley Harding, post-Big Pink - including a spectacular session where Dylan reinterprets ''Blowin' In The Wind'' (a 6 1/2 minute hoot), an ''It Ain't Me Babe'' that's halfway to Nashville and ''One Too Many Mornings'', the 1966 arrangement but with added swing.

heartofsoul schreef:
Iemand anders als wat geluisterd? Hier ben ik voorlopig wel even mee zoet. Snel de eerste cd herbeluisteren, en dan morgen het tweede schijfje.

Fedde schreef:
Ik hoor graag jullie verdere bevindingen zodat ik in december van mijn verjaardagsgeld weloverwogen en zonder trillende knieën de juiste versie kan aanschaffen. Wat een nuttig medium is dit toch!

hoeveel verschillende takes en/of niet compleet opgenomen nummers kan een mens hebben ?

Stalin schreef:

De 6CD box ziet er prachtig uit, maar ik vraag me af hoe vaak je nou echt alles gaat draaien...

wilbur schreef:
Na een luistersessie van 6 1/2 uur ben ik van mening dat er in 1975 een behoorlijke keuze uit het basementtapes materiaal is gemaakt.

wilbur schreef:
Na een luistersessie van 6 1/2 uur ben ik van mening dat er in 1975 een behoorlijke keuze uit het basementtapes materiaal is gemaakt.

Floater schreef:

Ook tref ik nergens Can I Get A Racehorse (You Own A Racehorse) aan. Van deze Basement Tape song is in 1988 federal copyright protection aangevraagd, hoewel niet duidelijk is of het nummer ooit door Dylan is opgenomen.

Uncirculating Basement Tapes song mentioned by Garth Hudson in an interview by Mark T. Gould of "2001 Sound Waves" - reported in "Isis" magazine in Dec 2001. Talking about missing songs, Garth said: "There may be things in there, I just have to find them. There's one by Bob called CAN I GET A RACEHORSE?. He thought I had it on tape and I thought he had it. It's there somewhere. We just need to see if we can find it." The song is actually copyrighted as YOU OWN A RACEHORSE, listed by Tim Dunn in his book "The Bob Dylan Copyright Files 1962-2007" (AuthorHouse, 2008). This song is still unreleased, as it's not on "The Bootleg Series Vol. 11 - Bob Dylan And The Band: The Basement Tapes Complete", released Nov 2014, reportedly because the tape on which it was recorded was actually recorded over!

Floater schreef:
Dank Stalin.
Dus deze song zal wel nooit meer boven water komen...

RED ROOM -- UNRELEASED
- CATFISH BLUES – TAKES 1-4 (2:09, :43, 1:22, 1:00)
- I’M SO GLAD ABOUT IT (2:08)
- JELLY BEAN – TAKE 2 (2:29)
- JOSEY WALES (with Binson Delay) (3:10)
- LESITA (JESITA) MAROLLA (3:03)
- LOVE IS ONLY MINE – TAKE 2 (1:13)
- I AM FOR YOU, BABY (1:48)
- ON THE AVENUE (1:22)
- WORK WITH ME, ANNIE (2:03)

NOTES FOR AN IMAGINARY DISC 7

(These notes are quoted from Sid Griffin’s book. The songs are the ones omitted from the “Complete” Basement Tapes box set. Band-only tracks are not included. The order is Griffin’s. My comments are in brackets.)

1. PO’ LAZARUS – TAKE 2 (4:21)

The first take stops at under a minute, and then they begin again. Dylan’s voice is recorded too hot and therefore is greatly distorted, but he sings it like a Southern Baptist preacher on methamphetamines. Listen, and you shall hear a melodic climb starting at 2:43 that remains a Dylan staple during the summer of ’67.
[Timing includes the first take.]

2. OL’ ROISIN THE BEAU – TAKE 1 (4:46)

The first of two takes recorded back-to-back in rapid succession. This take is more controlled than the second attempt, and Dylan is supremely confident in his vocal. Yet something is missing. They know this and press onward.

3. CATFISH BLUES – TAKES 1-4 (2:09, :43, 1:22, 1:00)

Dylan on organ; Danko bass; Manuel tambourine & floorboards; Robertson electric guitar.
“Name one, name one!” Dylan urges, as the tape starts to roll.
“Ahhh…’Catfish Blues’?” Robertson suggests meekly. And the song is exactly what you’d expect. Takes 2 & 3 are faster, but still the same old blues. Dylan pounds out a lyric in take 4 and Robbie rather surprisingly sounds like a young Carl Wilson on a clean-toned electric solidbody, but ultimately this 12-bar blues goes nowhere. “You asked to play this one, didn’t you?” an exasperated Bob says, and Robbie laughs.

4. I’M SO GLAD ABOUT IT (2:08)

Dylan vocal; Danko bass; Hudson piano; Manuel tambourine; Robertson electric guitar.
A distorted clutter of a song, this is a C&W country ballad that sounds like something a gospel group like the Swan Silvertones would’ve cut. This song seems to (musically) make the move from the Lord to R&B and has an early-1960s feel about it. Another potential classic tossed aside by Dylan; we can only hope the Old Crow Medicine Show resurrect it one day.

5. JELLY BEAN – TAKE 2 (2:29)

Dylan on electric piano; Manuel on tambourine; Robertson on guitar.
A slower take, this must have been recorded fairly early on in the Red Room sessions from the sound of it, and this time around Robbie plays fills at a few key points. (He wasn’t on the first take.) Distortion abounds, particularly on Dylan’s vocal.
[About 25 seconds was apparently cut from take 1 on the box set.]*

6. JOSEY WALES (with Binson Delay) (3:10)

With Manuel on electric piano & Robertson on guitar.
Dylan now has an electric guitar in his lap, and he must be sitting down too, as the squeak of a chair can be heard. Garth – if it is him at the controls – has turned up the Binson delay on the vocal, giving Dylan an Alan Vega or dubstep sound…one that causes him to crack up most uncontrollably at 1:07. A Chuck Berry nonsense lyric to a Chuck Berry progression.

7. LESITA (JESITA) MAROLLA (3:03)

Dylan plays an out-of-tune acoustic 12-string; Danko bass; Manuel electric piano; Robertson electric guitar.
A dusty south-of-the-border ballad of lost love, and a fascinating glimpse into a genre Dylan would not fully explore until the Rolling Thunder Review. If Scarlet Rivera had added her gypsy violin to this rather confusingly titled ditty, the song would sound even more like the precursor to ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ and ‘Romance in Durango’ than it already does here.

8. LOVE IS ONLY MINE – TAKE 2 (1:13)

Dylan on electric piano; Danko bass; Manuel tambourine; Robertson electric guitar.
Dylan is experimenting here, and he stops at :55 to say, “Wait…that’s been done, I heard a song like that,” when he realizes he is almost singing ‘You, Baby’ by the Turtles, a hit from the year before.

9. MONA MAROLA (1:50)

Dylan on electric guitar, with Danko on bass & Robertson electric guitar.
The tequila must have been poured before this one, as this is another nonsensical cod-Spanish ballad. Garth is absent again.

10. I AM FOR YOU, BABY (1:48)

Dylan vocal; Danko bass; Manuel electric piano; Robertson tambourine.
Here, Dylan is making up a song from the ether again, with the great Fats Domino in the back of his mind. The title was originally written down as ‘On Blueberry Hill,’ although it shifted with repeated takes into ‘I Am For You, Baby.’ The 1950s are ingrained in Dylan’s musical DNA; he can effortlessly come up with such R&B/doo-wop tributes, as he does here.

11. ON THE AVENUE (1:22)

Dylan vocal, tambourine; Danko bass; Manuel electric piano; Robertson electric guitar.
This song sounds like a follow-up to Aretha Franklin’s ‘I Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You),’ a #9 pop hit in the USA in April 1967. The recording is not good, with what sound like bongos being played enthusiastically in the far corner of the room, although it is impossible to say for certain.

12. WORK WITH ME, ANNIE (2:03)

Dylan vocal & acoustic guitar; Danko bass; Manuel electric piano; Robertson electric guitar & harmony vocal.
“Who’s gonna do the woo-woo?” Bob asks. They all know this one; lyrics, rhythmic changes, tempo…no instruction needed. Hank Ballard’s band The Midnighters had a #1 R&B hit with this in 1954, and the Hawks had performed this with Ronnie Hawkins. Robertson offers a supportive harmony vocal, but at 1:44 they stop and within moments break into ‘Confidential.’
[This is almost certainly the ‘Confidential’ that’s on track 22, disc 6 of the box set, which is 1:27 and otherwise not listed separately in Griffin’s book.]

13. I’M ALRIGHT – TAKE 2 (2:38)

Dylan vocal, acoustic guitar; Danko harmony vocal; Hudson organ; Manuel piano; Robertson electric guitar.
This recently uncovered take could use Rick’s hefty but unobtrusive basslines. The guitar and organ combine to drown out Richard’s piano. Like the first take, it cuts to an abrupt stop, during the chorus.
[The box set version fades at 1:42. It’s possible Griffin was mistaken that this was a second take, and not just a longer copy of the same take that cut at :58.]

(Griffin also lists two takes of Bourbon Street, but I think he is mistaken there; the version on the box set is simply a longer copy of the bootlegged take.)

14. WILD WOLF – TAKE 1 (3:36)

Dylan vocal, acoustic guitar; Danko bass; Hudson organ; Manuel drums; Robertson electric guitar.
My notes: Griffin doesn’t say much about the music here, except that “Manuel’s drumming is dead on the mark here [with] sensitive cymbal work.” He writes that on take 2, Garth switches to piano, and notes the solo that starts around 2:40 (definitely the box-set take). However, organ and piano can both clearly be heard simultaneously on the box set, suggesting that Levon Helm may also be playing here. (The wider stereo of the original tape would be more useful for us than the collapsed mix in the box set.) Griffin also lists an identical track time for both takes.

15. CONFIDENTIAL TO ME (3:09)

Dylan vocal, piano; Danko bass; Hudson organ; Manuel drums; Robertson guitar.
This is another 1950s tribute from the same reel as ‘Berkowitz Blues’ (a Band instrumental) and ‘Comin’ Round the Mountain.’ No way is this Levon on drums; it would have been better to have no drums at all.
[This appears to be the THIRD version of Confidential recorded during these sessions! Compared to the bootlegged take and the box set bonus track, it’s twice the length of either and has different instrumentation.]

[HIDDEN BONUS TRACKS]

KING OF FRANCE (5:39)

The full-length track. A take of 3:50 was edited from the 5:39 version, but the extra length is largely made up of Robbie taking a solo to the end while the musicians repeat a I-IV chord change.

[12 seconds preceding Baby Ain’t That Fine]
A newly discovered tape of this song has 12 seconds at the front that are missing from the version heard on bootlegs. This initial part is a take of a completely different song, yet God knows what song – doubtless a fragment of a lost-forever Basement song. An educated guess is that it is ‘Down in the Hollow,’ as this song was listed on the same Big Pink reel.
Dylan then says, “Garth, you gonna play along with us?”
[Presumably this is different than the 12-second ‘Won’t You Please Come Home’ that Griffin mentions elsewhere, which is on track 7, disc 2 of the box set.]

[30 seconds preceding Northern Claim]
Robertson asks, “Do you remember ‘Annie Had A Baby’?” “Sure do,” says Bob, but the Hank Ballard hit remains unrecorded for now, as Garth stops the tape.

(* I haven’t checked all Griffin’s timings; sometimes they may not be right or may include some extra tape. His time for ‘She’s On My Mind Again,’ for instance, is 30 seconds longer than the CD, but that seems to have the full performance.)

(One odd detail: The bit of Dylan banter about “Floyd & Lloyd” at the end of disc 6 that comes after ‘Confidential,’ Griffin lists as being spoken before ‘Hallelujah, I’ve Just Been Moved.’ I have not tried to compare the different song orders in Griffin and the box set, but obviously there are a lot of differences. It’s not clear whether Griffin saw all the original reels. He did give a short list of song-titles presumed to be erased, but there are a couple songs he listed as missing, ‘Down By The Station’ and ‘Any Time,’ that turned up on the box set.)

When I reported for duty in the basement the day after I arrived in Woodstock, they were working on “Yazoo Street Scandal.” Richard was playing drums. It was the first time I’d heard him, and I was just in awe. It was like a force, and he immediately became my favorite drummer.