Expecting Rain

An attempt to listen to all of Bob Dylan's studio albums in order over the summer, climaxing with the release of the newest Bob Dylan album sometime in September. There will be about 2 albums per week (sometimes 3).

Part 8:
The Basement Tapes
Recorded (Dylan/Band songs): June–September 1967. Official Release: June 26, 1975

Give it another listen and check back in! Feel free to skip the Band songs (recorded after 1967)--I will be. Or don't.

allmusic review:
The official release of The Basement Tapes -- which were first heard on a 1968 bootleg called The Great White Wonder -- plays with history somewhat, as Robbie Robertson overemphasizes the Band's status in the sessions, making them out to be equally active to Dylan, adding in demos not cut at the sessions and overdubbing their recordings to flesh them out. As many bootlegs (most notably the complete five-disc series) reveal, this isn't entirely true and that the Band were nowhere near as active as Dylan, but that ultimately is a bit like nitpicking, since the music here (including the Band's) is astonishingly good. The party line on The Basement Tapes is that it is Americana, as Dylan and the Band pick up the weirdness inherent in old folk, country, and blues tunes, but it transcends mere historical arcana by being lively, humorous, full-bodied performances. Dylan never sounded as loose, nor was he ever as funny as he is here, and this positively revels in its weird, wild character. For all the apparent antecedents -- and the allusions are sly and obvious in equal measures -- this is truly Dylan's show, as he majestically evokes old myths and creates new ones, resulting in a crazy quilt of blues, humor, folk, tall tales, inside jokes, and rock. the Band pretty much pick up where Dylan left off, even singing a couple of his tunes, but they play it a little straight, on both their rockers and ballads. Not a bad thing at all, since this actually winds up providing context for the wild, mercurial brilliance of Dylan's work -- and, taken together, the results (especially in this judiciously compiled form; expert song selection, even if there's a bit too much Band) rank among the greatest American music ever made.

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Bob Dylan
Release: March 19, 1962
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70175

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Release: May 27, 1963
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70208

The Times They Are a-Changin'
Release: January 13, 1964
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70256

Another Side of Bob Dylan
Release: August 8, 1964
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70288

Bringing It All Back Home
Release: March 22, 1965
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70318

Highway 61 Revisited
Release: August 30, 1965
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70374

Blonde on Blonde
Release: June 20, 1966
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=70418

John Wesley Harding
Release: December 27, 1967

Nashville Skyline
Release: April 9, 1969

Self Portrait
Release: June 8, 1970

New Morning
Release: October 21, 1970

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Release: July 13, 1973

Dylan
Release: November 16, 1973

Planet Waves
Release: January 17, 1974

Blood on the Tracks
Release: January 17, 1975

The Basement Tapes
Release: June 26, 1975

Desire
Release: January 16, 1976

Street Legal
Release: June 15, 1978

Slow Train Coming
Release: August 20, 1979

Saved
Release: June 20, 1980

Shot of Love
Release: August 12, 1981

Infidels
Release: November 1, 1983

Empire Burlesque
Release: June 8, 1985

Knocked Out Loaded
Release: August 8, 1986

Down in the Groove
Release: May 31, 1988

Oh Mercy
Release: September 22, 1989

Under the Red Sky
Release: September 11, 1990

Good as I Been to You
Release: October 27, 1992

World Gone Wrong
Release: October 28, 1993

Time Out of Mind
Release: September 30, 1997

"Love and Theft"
Release: September 11, 2001

Modern Times
Release: August 29, 2006

Together Through Life
Release: April 28, 2009

Christmas in the Heart
Release: October 13, 2009

1. Odds And Ends
2. Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast)
3. Million Dollar Bash
4. Yazoo Street Scandal
5. Goin' To Acapulco
6. Katie' Been Gone
7. Lo And Behold!
8. Bessie Smith
9. Clothes Line Saga
10. Apple Suckling Tree
11. Please, Mrs. Henry
12. Tears Of Rage

1. Too Much Of Nothing
2. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
3. Ain't No More Cane
4. Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
5. Ruben Remus
6. Tiny Montgomery
7. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
8. Don't Ya Tell Henry
9. Nothing Was Delivered
10. Open the Door, Homer
11. Long Distance Oprater
12. This Wheel's On Fire

A lot of really fun songs there, along with some true gems. Clothes Line Saga has always been one of my favorites

I tend to listen to Bob's songs and ingnore the Band's ones, even thought they're more or less all good.
Favourite ones are Odds And Ends, Million Dollar Bash, Goin' To Acapulco, Apple Suckling Tree and You Ain't Goin' Nowhere.
I just love the laid back feel of these sessions. I still have to listen to the complete boots, though.

The Basement Tapes is such a fun album....I like all of the songs on it...don't skip any of them.
>> MILLION DOLLAR BASH is one of Bob's truly hilarious songs...his sense of humor
is one of the things i love most about Bob.


....great album cover, too...

It's okay. Kind of a narrow window on what really went down at Big Pink.

I've always wondered why it was released. Dylan seems mum on it, Robbie Robertson claims it was to combat low quality. bootlegs. But I always assumed it was released for the Band, who may have needed the dosh. Certainly more than Dylan, who was riding high, commercially, in '75.

havent listened to the official album in maybe 8 years!
Not since "Tree With Roots"

(i organized the recordings into the order Heylin has in Recording Sessions)

...listened to 60% of the discs last week.
Love the originals, love the covers, love the questionables, love the sound quality.

I have heard lots of reasons as to why it was released but agree with you that Dylan has never been particularly specific on his thinking in 1975 when he granted his consent. Wikipedia, which as you know is never wrong, says the following as to why The Basement Tapes were released:


FYI, with regard to the footnotes in the quote, #56 & 58 cite Million Dollar Bash: Bob Dylan, the Band, and the Basement Tapes by Sid Griffen and #57 cites Clinton Heylin's Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited.

The Basement Tapes is a very curious sort of album and I presume that Dylan was telling the truth when he said that these songs were never intended to form a Dylan album but were to be demos for other artists to cover, kinda/sorta like an update of what Dylan had done with regard to the Witmark Demos.

the only problem with it is that not all the songs he recorded are on it. Loved it and still do. I love the sound he has on it.

Wonderful music!! This (and the complete set) might be responsible for my never-ending quest of seeking out rare Dylan recordings. As we're all aware, some of his finest performances are the ones 'behind the scenes' or 'lesser known'. Plus this is a fine example of an artist never being satisfied and continually changing. He'd had great success as a ROCK innovator and the whole scene was following his lead to an extent (Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Zappa etc), yet The Basement Tapes took us in a completely different direction just as the mid-60s trilogy had done after he'd conquered the folk scene. Just a fascinating, transitional link before the country phase, steeped in strange mystery, humor, pain and fun. And I really like the warm, lo-fi sound of Garth's recordings. I play drums and usually dig a heavy beat,so it's hard to believe that something (mostly) without drums could be so rhythmic.

That's the Dylan rhythm.

Listen to his acoustic guitar strumming the opening of Tombstone Blues off of Highway 61 Revisited and tell me you can't hear the oceans roar, the march of a thousand drums.

It is wonderful music. I still skip the Band songs, though. And as Aint Talkin mentioned, it's only a glimpse into the music made at the Big Pink. Crying out for an updated release (more Dylan, less 'not Dylan').

I skip the Bands songs too, not that I don't like them, it's just all I listen to is Bob, and the Beatles...same with Before The Flood...Although Katie's Been Gone is a brilliant track.

Is the complete Basement Tapes, the A Tree With Roots? I'm a bit confused.

Yes, A Tree With Roots (4 discs) is the complete 'Dylan' basement recordings that I was referring to (or the similar 5-disc comp). There is a 10 disc reel that I've never listened to though, but I heard that the extra discs are mostly Band/TinyTim tracks. Of course, I could be wron

I'd forgotten how good Sign on the Cross is, love the vocal.

Please Mrs Henry I gotta play it again

I'm down on my knees/and I ain't got a dime.

Love that he can hardly hold it together after

Look, Missus Henry
There’s only so much I can do
Why don’t you look my way
An’ pump me a few?

^
Yeah, it's great, he doesn't know that people will be listening to these, so it's very natural, very unguarded. And he does it again during Get Your Rocks Off.

This may be the best description of TBT as it relates to Bob's career of that I've ever read. You hit the nail on the head - I'm sure this album is directly responsible for legions of fans exploring BD's unofficial releases.

A selection of the Basement Tapes were the nucleus of the famous Great White Wonder bootleg in 1969. Which is generally considered the album that fired off the whole bootleg industry, at least when it came to rock music.

from Mr. Tambourine's thread:




http://expectingrain.com/discussions/vi ... s&start=25

His performance of This Wheel's On Fire is stunning. A haunting vocal, the middle verse is especially chilling.

songs i'm glad are on the official release:
Goin to Acapulco
Lo and Behold
Bessie Smith
Clothes Line Saga
Apple Suckling Tree
Please Mrs. Henry
Tears of Rage
Too much of nothing
yea heavy and a bottle of bread
ain't no more cane
don't ya tell henry
nothing was delivered
open the door, homer
long distance operator
this wheel's on fire

Songs i wish made the official release:
one for the road
i'm alright
be careful of the stones that you throw
spanish is the loving tongue
banks of the royal canal
i forgot to remember to forget
big river
waltzin in sin
i'm not there
you gotta quit kickin my dog
silent weekend
sante fe

probably others i'm sure...

Only a complete anal dork with more time than life would quibble about the song selection when putting the gold from this album in their ears.

Open the thread, homies!

I guess it's a bad day for denial, here at smokey's rest home, because the song selection blows. The album is stuffed with Band songs that don't fit at the expense of gems like Sign on the Cross, I'm Not There, All You Have to Do is Dream, the awesome trio of Cash covers, Don't Know Why They Kick My Dog Around (FOR PETE'S SAKE), Get Your Rocks Off, The Big Flood...the list goes on and on.