He originally wanted FRANK ZAPPA to produce that record in his home studio. Can you believe that shit? Needless to say, Zappa wasn't interested.LetMeSleep wrote:Thanks KD.
I'm currently going through the Christian period whilst listening to the pod "Dylan : Album by Album". He discusses the mixing process to Shot of Love and how Plotkin worked laboriously on the mixes only to have Dylan opt for basic session rough mixes as the final mix. The clunky mix of the album is a hindrance. KD, do you know if the Plotkin mixes ever surfaced on the bootleg scene? I've not heard of any and wondered if you'd come across any.
Dylan
- Wendy Carlos's Twin
- Future Drummer
- Posts: 2809
- Joined: Sat January 05, 2013 9:37 am
Re: Dylan
- Kevin Davis
- tl;dr
- Posts: 9312
- Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm
Re: Dylan
Maybe this one?LetMeSleep wrote:Thanks KD.
I'm currently going through the Christian period whilst listening to the pod "Dylan : Album by Album". He discusses the mixing process to Shot of Love and how Plotkin worked laboriously on the mixes only to have Dylan opt for basic session rough mixes as the final mix. The clunky mix of the album is a hindrance. KD, do you know if the Plotkin mixes ever surfaced on the bootleg scene? I've not heard of any and wondered if you'd come across any.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/yww71nf0r ... s.zip/file
- Spoiler: show
- LetMeSleep
- Posting (live)
- Posts: 17987
- Joined: Wed February 06, 2013 2:47 am
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/
- Location: Scooby Doo
Re: Dylan
Thanks KD. I'll dl and give a listen.
- Kevin Davis
- tl;dr
- Posts: 9312
- Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm
Re: Dylan
I think this is one of Dylan's absolute best periods vocally, and thematically this album is a lot less heavy-handed than the previous two. If you only listen to one thing on that set, try the "Caribbean Wind" outtake on disc 3 -- in my opinion that remains Dylan's best as-yet unreleased studio recording, I was absolutely stunned that it didn't make the 9 disc bootleg box from this era.
- LetMeSleep
- Posting (live)
- Posts: 17987
- Joined: Wed February 06, 2013 2:47 am
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/
- Location: Scooby Doo
Re: Dylan
I think I've got it on the genuine bootleg series. I remember the youtube link you posted a half decade ago.
- Wendy Carlos's Twin
- Future Drummer
- Posts: 2809
- Joined: Sat January 05, 2013 9:37 am
Re: Dylan
Yup. Fantastic track and a highlight of the GBS bootlegs.Kevin Davis wrote:I think this is one of Dylan's absolute best periods vocally, and thematically this album is a lot less heavy-handed than the previous two. If you only listen to one thing on that set, try the "Caribbean Wind" outtake on disc 3 -- in my opinion that remains Dylan's best as-yet unreleased studio recording, I was absolutely stunned that it didn't make the 9 disc bootleg box from this era.
- Kevin Davis
- tl;dr
- Posts: 9312
- Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm
Re: Dylan
Man, the first GBS set was *huge* for me - that, the New Morning outtakes, the All Hallows Eve concert, and Thin Wild Mercury Music were Dylan Bootography 101 for me. Insane how much of that stuff has been officially released now.
-
liebzz
- I've been POOSSTTIiiEEnngeeaahh
- Posts: 10374
- Joined: Thu January 03, 2013 7:55 pm
Re: Dylan
Okay, here goes. This might take quite a while but I will try to get through as many as I can...
Let me start with my preconceptions because I think the perspective that you walk into such things matters. First, I am familiar with only a couple of albums and mostly his greatest hits and this is mostly due to the fact that I never believed I had the patience for folk music. I always thoroughly enjoyed what I had (and there was one point in the past that I wanted to do this years ago but just didn’t find the time) but figured the effort would be too great. Second, my real limitation as a music fan is that I am not one to pore over lyrics and most of the time can’t decipher them. My sense of Dylan here is juxtaposed against Neil Young. For Neil, this task is relatively effortless (save for the 80s) because listening to him play, I am hanging on every note because his playing is at the forefront and though he does have many beautiful songs with great lyrics, they aren’t his focal strength to me - there’s a feeling conveyed in the music that transcends. I never ventured as far with Dylan because he is not given that same credit but instead known for his poetry and thematic restlessness as an outsider. So now it comes time to get inside. I envision now, especially as I listened through the first album, that these are misconceptions- that Dylan has plenty to say in his music along with his words. What now follows is a journey through this lense...
Bob Dylan (1962) - before there was the huge legend, and the insistent status of a man who could do no wrong, there was an album primarily of covers. An acoustic guitar and harmonica. No Judas, no Rolling Thunder Revue. Just a kid laying down some of his favorite traditional songs, covers, and a couple he wrote himself. Soaked in these songs is a nod to the blues, and it’s astonishing how he holds you and comforts you all by himself here. The music is fabulous here. Whether it’s truth or not, the harmonica on You’re No Good feels virtuoso almost because it’s so damn essential to the song. Talkin’ New York is his, but there’s no growing pain or sort of ability to tell it from the others in its quality of craft, which should be taken as a tremendous compliment. From here, I can’t simply highlight the best of this album because every song is its own highlight and its translation pure genius. Pretty Peggy-O has an addictively catchy refrain - a pop song almost in a folk world. Same with Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. The blues in In My Time of Dyin’ and Fixin’ to Die, the gospel in House of the Rising Sun, and the folk of See That My Grave is Kept Clean all amazing given that this is a solo record. Hot damn this is a tremendous beginning that I’ve never heard that much ranting and raving about greatness like the next couple of albums to follow. This is one I will be back for again (I listened to this one maybe a few weeks ago).
Let me start with my preconceptions because I think the perspective that you walk into such things matters. First, I am familiar with only a couple of albums and mostly his greatest hits and this is mostly due to the fact that I never believed I had the patience for folk music. I always thoroughly enjoyed what I had (and there was one point in the past that I wanted to do this years ago but just didn’t find the time) but figured the effort would be too great. Second, my real limitation as a music fan is that I am not one to pore over lyrics and most of the time can’t decipher them. My sense of Dylan here is juxtaposed against Neil Young. For Neil, this task is relatively effortless (save for the 80s) because listening to him play, I am hanging on every note because his playing is at the forefront and though he does have many beautiful songs with great lyrics, they aren’t his focal strength to me - there’s a feeling conveyed in the music that transcends. I never ventured as far with Dylan because he is not given that same credit but instead known for his poetry and thematic restlessness as an outsider. So now it comes time to get inside. I envision now, especially as I listened through the first album, that these are misconceptions- that Dylan has plenty to say in his music along with his words. What now follows is a journey through this lense...
Bob Dylan (1962) - before there was the huge legend, and the insistent status of a man who could do no wrong, there was an album primarily of covers. An acoustic guitar and harmonica. No Judas, no Rolling Thunder Revue. Just a kid laying down some of his favorite traditional songs, covers, and a couple he wrote himself. Soaked in these songs is a nod to the blues, and it’s astonishing how he holds you and comforts you all by himself here. The music is fabulous here. Whether it’s truth or not, the harmonica on You’re No Good feels virtuoso almost because it’s so damn essential to the song. Talkin’ New York is his, but there’s no growing pain or sort of ability to tell it from the others in its quality of craft, which should be taken as a tremendous compliment. From here, I can’t simply highlight the best of this album because every song is its own highlight and its translation pure genius. Pretty Peggy-O has an addictively catchy refrain - a pop song almost in a folk world. Same with Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. The blues in In My Time of Dyin’ and Fixin’ to Die, the gospel in House of the Rising Sun, and the folk of See That My Grave is Kept Clean all amazing given that this is a solo record. Hot damn this is a tremendous beginning that I’ve never heard that much ranting and raving about greatness like the next couple of albums to follow. This is one I will be back for again (I listened to this one maybe a few weeks ago).
- oasisfan35
- Rank This Poster
- Posts: 4684
- Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 3:07 pm
Re: Dylan
liebzz wrote:Okay, here goes. This might take quite a while but I will try to get through as many as I can...
Let me start with my preconceptions because I think the perspective that you walk into such things matters. First, I am familiar with only a couple of albums and mostly his greatest hits and this is mostly due to the fact that I never believed I had the patience for folk music. I always thoroughly enjoyed what I had (and there was one point in the past that I wanted to do this years ago but just didn’t find the time) but figured the effort would be too great. Second, my real limitation as a music fan is that I am not one to pore over lyrics and most of the time can’t decipher them. My sense of Dylan here is juxtaposed against Neil Young. For Neil, this task is relatively effortless (save for the 80s) because listening to him play, I am hanging on every note because his playing is at the forefront and though he does have many beautiful songs with great lyrics, they aren’t his focal strength to me - there’s a feeling conveyed in the music that transcends. I never ventured as far with Dylan because he is not given that same credit but instead known for his poetry and thematic restlessness as an outsider. So now it comes time to get inside. I envision now, especially as I listened through the first album, that these are misconceptions- that Dylan has plenty to say in his music along with his words. What now follows is a journey through this lense...
Bob Dylan (1962) - before there was the huge legend, and the insistent status of a man who could do no wrong, there was an album primarily of covers. An acoustic guitar and harmonica. No Judas, no Rolling Thunder Revue. Just a kid laying down some of his favorite traditional songs, covers, and a couple he wrote himself. Soaked in these songs is a nod to the blues, and it’s astonishing how he holds you and comforts you all by himself here. The music is fabulous here. Whether it’s truth or not, the harmonica on You’re No Good feels virtuoso almost because it’s so damn essential to the song. Talkin’ New York is his, but there’s no growing pain or sort of ability to tell it from the others in its quality of craft, which should be taken as a tremendous compliment. From here, I can’t simply highlight the best of this album because every song is its own highlight and its translation pure genius. Pretty Peggy-O has an addictively catchy refrain - a pop song almost in a folk world. Same with Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. The blues in In My Time of Dyin’ and Fixin’ to Die, the gospel in House of the Rising Sun, and the folk of See That My Grave is Kept Clean all amazing given that this is a solo record. Hot damn this is a tremendous beginning that I’ve never heard that much ranting and raving about greatness like the next couple of albums to follow. This is one I will be back for again (I listened to this one maybe a few weeks ago).
I started listening to Dylan from the beginning of his career a very long time ago and always enjoyed it from the get-go. Over time I obviously found albums I revisit more often than others and tend to cherry-pick the multitude of bootlegs sparingly. I haven't given his career a full listen in ages, seems like a fair time to do so.
absinthe makes the heart grow fonder...
- Kevin Davis
- tl;dr
- Posts: 9312
- Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm
Re: Dylan
That's awesome, liebzz. I have found that though it's often the lyrics and the songwriting that draw people into Dylan, it's the voice and the singing that keep people around. This is completely counterintuitive to Dylan's reputation in the music world but I've found it to be true time and time again. I hope you enjoy it. I'll be prepared to swoop in with a bunch of "and, be sure to check this out..." type recommendations once you're done!
- Hatfield
- AnalLog
- Posts: 1512
- Joined: Fri January 04, 2013 8:54 pm
Re: Dylan
I have high hopes for this Liebzz, especially after your write up for his debut album. I LOVE Bob Dylan and don't get much from that first record in the way of feeling or wanting to revisit it. My feelings on that album are all thought based and not due to an emotional response.
Giddy up!
Giddy up!
- Wendy Carlos's Twin
- Future Drummer
- Posts: 2809
- Joined: Sat January 05, 2013 9:37 am
Re: Dylan
The first album isn't very exciting compared to demos he was recording at the time. The tape recorded at Bonnie Beecher's apartment in Minneapolis when he was on Xmas break in 1961 is far more respresentative of his repertoire at the time and nowhere near as lightweight.
The second album is where things came into focus in the real recording studio.
The second album is where things came into focus in the real recording studio.
- oasisfan35
- Rank This Poster
- Posts: 4684
- Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 3:07 pm
Re: Dylan
I have the albums queued up for playing chronologically at work this week and I'll be damned but I almost forgot to include Positively 4th Street in there, lil bugger.
absinthe makes the heart grow fonder...
-
ghost
- AnalLog
- Posts: 1336
- Joined: Tue January 14, 2020 5:06 pm
- Location: northwest midwest
Re: Dylan
I spent an entire year doing a full tour of his discography in like 2015, purchasing the CDs and bootleg sets as I went. Spent about a week with each album, sometimes two albums per week. Got to be a drag somewhere around Knocked Out Loaded, but other than that it was a fun little exercise.
- Hatfield
- AnalLog
- Posts: 1512
- Joined: Fri January 04, 2013 8:54 pm
Re: Dylan
To that point, L do you listen more than once? How much time do you spend with albums? I listened to Oh Mercy almost exclusively for over a month when I first found it and that is surely one of the reasons I feel so connected to those songs. You've probably said in other tours, but what is your process?ghost wrote:I spent an entire year doing a full tour of his discography in like 2015, purchasing the CDs and bootleg sets as I went. Spent about a week with each album, sometimes two albums per week. Got to be a drag somewhere around Knocked Out Loaded, but other than that it was a fun little exercise.
-
liebzz
- I've been POOSSTTIiiEEnngeeaahh
- Posts: 10374
- Joined: Thu January 03, 2013 7:55 pm
Re: Dylan
The process is chronological and usually studio only unless a live album is sort of essential to the experience. With artists like Dylan you can dig forever and keep coming up with stuff so I sort of glide across the main surface but really try to give each album a fair listen...
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan - while the first album relies heavily on covers and compositions in a musical sense, this album does sort of take the next step. I mean, the first half of this album is just a knock you over the head tour of essential Dylan tracks from a purely greatest hits perspective. And if it’s not, well then it’s some of the best work from Dylan so far (meaning the first album + greatest hits I have heard over the years). There’s nothing I can say about Blowin’ in the Wind that hasn’t been beaten into every living person so I will leave it at great. Girl From the North Country is a beautiful song and feels so fragile in a sense compared to the songs on the rest of the album - especially given the hard condemnation coming in Masters of War. Where this album really shines for me is where it feels like he’s just riffing on whatever comes to mind while he’s strumming. This quality is shared by A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (personal favorite from this album), Talkin’ World War III Blues, and I Shall Be Free. I can feel his sense of tension and urgency in both of these and this is where you can hang on words and turns of phrase - but in both that strumming sort of keeps you in the loop, let’s you know he’s not done yet.
In larger terms, this is a second spotless album for me. I know he’ll go full band in just a few albums, but the amount and quality of communication with nothing more than guitar and harmonica (with an occasional drum full) sort of leads me to more fully appreciate and understand the horror that accompanied going electric. But for his own restlessness as an artist, he might never have needed to.
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan - while the first album relies heavily on covers and compositions in a musical sense, this album does sort of take the next step. I mean, the first half of this album is just a knock you over the head tour of essential Dylan tracks from a purely greatest hits perspective. And if it’s not, well then it’s some of the best work from Dylan so far (meaning the first album + greatest hits I have heard over the years). There’s nothing I can say about Blowin’ in the Wind that hasn’t been beaten into every living person so I will leave it at great. Girl From the North Country is a beautiful song and feels so fragile in a sense compared to the songs on the rest of the album - especially given the hard condemnation coming in Masters of War. Where this album really shines for me is where it feels like he’s just riffing on whatever comes to mind while he’s strumming. This quality is shared by A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (personal favorite from this album), Talkin’ World War III Blues, and I Shall Be Free. I can feel his sense of tension and urgency in both of these and this is where you can hang on words and turns of phrase - but in both that strumming sort of keeps you in the loop, let’s you know he’s not done yet.
In larger terms, this is a second spotless album for me. I know he’ll go full band in just a few albums, but the amount and quality of communication with nothing more than guitar and harmonica (with an occasional drum full) sort of leads me to more fully appreciate and understand the horror that accompanied going electric. But for his own restlessness as an artist, he might never have needed to.
- Kevin Davis
- tl;dr
- Posts: 9312
- Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 6:06 pm
Re: Dylan
I definitely agree with this, though I like some of the stuff on the first album.Wendy Carlos's Twin wrote:The first album isn't very exciting compared to demos he was recording at the time. The tape recorded at Bonnie Beecher's apartment in Minneapolis when he was on Xmas break in 1961 is far more respresentative of his repertoire at the time and nowhere near as lightweight.
This bootleg does a really nice job of rounding up some of the best '61 material:
http://thousandhighways.blogspot.com/20 ... eased.html
- Wendy Carlos's Twin
- Future Drummer
- Posts: 2809
- Joined: Sat January 05, 2013 9:37 am
Re: Dylan
I have a first generation dub of the full Minnesota tape that sounds better than Columbia's source if you EQ it a little bit and fix the channel disrepancies, as it is mono. Sounds very very good.Kevin Davis wrote:I definitely agree with this, though I like some of the stuff on the first album.Wendy Carlos's Twin wrote:The first album isn't very exciting compared to demos he was recording at the time. The tape recorded at Bonnie Beecher's apartment in Minneapolis when he was on Xmas break in 1961 is far more respresentative of his repertoire at the time and nowhere near as lightweight.
This bootleg does a really nice job of rounding up some of the best '61 material:
http://thousandhighways.blogspot.com/20 ... eased.html
- tragabigzanda
- Production Police
- Posts: 51634
- Joined: Tue September 24, 2013 5:56 pm
Re: Dylan
tragabigzanda wrote:I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problemtragabigzanda wrote:Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Mon January 12, 2026 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.