Tequila Cowboy wrote:

sactochris wrote:I hate to be such a stickler but Dylan only did one tour with The Dead, and it was a short one at that, It was just six shows in July of 1987.

I didn't see anyone say differently. I've heard the boots from the tour and a better album probably could have been produced from it. That's all. The rest of the talk was of the Dead being a huge covererer (i invented a word!) of Bob's music.

It was one tour but I think it was significant in that afterwards Dylan recommitted himself to touring (the Never Ending Tour). He also began varying his sets and adopted the approach where he was likely to dig deep into his catalog instead of giving a greatest hits plus the three or four best songs off the current album show. Dylan started radically reworking songs onstage and became more improvisational. Dylan's involvement with The Grateful Dead was one of the things that contributed to him rediscovering his vitality as an artist and musician.

RevMatt wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

sactochris wrote:I hate to be such a stickler but Dylan only did one tour with The Dead, and it was a short one at that, It was just six shows in July of 1987.

I didn't see anyone say differently. I've heard the boots from the tour and a better album probably could have been produced from it. That's all. The rest of the talk was of the Dead being a huge covererer (i invented a word!) of Bob's music.

It was one tour but I think it was significant in that afterwards Dylan recommitted himself to touring (the Never Ending Tour). He also began varying his sets and adopted the approach where he was likely to dig deep into his catalog instead of giving a greatest hits plus the three or four best songs off the current album show. Dylan started radically reworking songs onstage and became more improvisational. Dylan's involvement with The Grateful Dead was one of the things that contributed to him rediscovering his vitality as an artist and musician.

Which still doesn't translate as Dylan doing "several tours with the Grateful Dead".

Dylan opened on Summer 95 dead tour , does that count?
All of the live dead albums could have been better!

Hud wrote:Dylan opened on Summer 95 dead tour , does that count?
All of the live dead albums could have been better!

All of them? They're bound to number in the hundreds at this point aren't they?

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:

Hud wrote:Dylan opened on Summer 95 dead tour , does that count?
All of the live dead albums could have been better!

All of them? They're bound to number in the hundreds at this point aren't they?

Talking about the few Lps they released before the vault was opened. Basically before entire (mostly) shows were officially released. Not that they were bad, just no momentum, light on the jams. Trying to appeal to a broader audience which probably worked.......like the Dylan and the Dead lp

Gotcha. I think my first one was Steal Your Face, which no one seems to like but it's always been a favorite of mine. Same for Reckoning.

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Gotcha. I think my first one was Steal Your Face, which no one seems to like but it's always been a favorite of mine. Same for Reckoning.

I always liked those two records as well. Steal Your Face is a better record than the Deadheads think it is.

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Which still doesn't translate as Dylan doing "several tours with the Grateful Dead".

Sorry, I meant "shows" but put the word "tours" in the sentence by mistake. I'll stay off this thread.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

StevieRay wrote:TC - can you tell me why Empire Burlesque makes your top ten?

A few reasons; one the musicianship is impeccable. How can you not love Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein, along with the excellent Don Heffington (Lone Justice)as a backing band? Second, it's the songs. Every single song on side 1 is a favorite, especially Tight Connection to my Heart & I'll Remember You and When the Night Comes Falling From The Sky from side 2 can be a top ten Dylan song for me on the right day. On the downside the record is a little slick and has the eighties drum sound that I truly wish didn't exist but unfortunately did. I can't balms the songs or the musicians for that though. Also I saw several shows on the tour for that record where TP & the Heartbreakers were Bob's band and it was glorious. All those things leave me loving that record.

I'll give it a spin. In truth I was dismissive about the record and didn't even realize it was most of the The Heartbreakers backing him.

Hey bud - remember this show:

June 11, 2004 - Manchester, TN
Down Along The Cove
Tell Me That It Isn't True
Samson And Delilah
Watching The River Flow
You Win Again
Cold Irons Bound
Sing Me Back Home
Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine
Highway 61 Revisited
Pancho And Lefty
Seeing The Real You At Last
Blind Willie McTell
Honest With Me
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Summer Days
Cat's In The Well
Like A Rolling Stone

Was anyone else there?

What a terrific Never-ending Tour setlist. He mixes in what he feels like hearing and doesn't bludgeon you with his latest music. His band is just as satisfying of a group of guys to listen to as you will ever find. If I remember correctly he took the stage after Wilco. I think the musicians (at the time) were:

Bob Dylan — vocals, piano, harmonica (if he picked up the guitar it was sparingly)
Stu Kimball — rhythm guitar
Larry Campbell — pedal steel, lap steel, electric mandolin, banjo, violin
Charlie Sexton — lead guitar
Tony Garnier — bass guitar
George Receli — drums, percussion

I remember being just floored to hear Down Along The Cove as an opener. And - it was because of this show that I learned Sampson & Delilah was not a Grateful Dead song. The version Dylan played that day had a kind of ragtime blues/boogie feel to it... and, who even knew a fascinating character named Blind Willie Johnson wrote that one?

RevMatt wrote:

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Which still doesn't translate as Dylan doing "several tours with the Grateful Dead".

Sorry, I meant "shows" but put the word "tours" in the sentence by mistake. I'll stay off this thread.

Because of a typo? Please don't. I for one enjoy your insight. Dylan is big topic and deserves big thoughts and contributions.

Yep StevieRay I remember that show well. He was ON that day.

RevMatt wrote:There are several factors that went into Dylan's lost decade. First, he had always flown by the seat of his pants in the recording studio. He would rarely give the other musicians lyric and chord sheets to the song, expecting them to pick up on the chord changes the moment the reels start spinning.

A habit that no doubt dates from playing with Nashville session guys and The Hawks when he "went electric." Makes you appreciate exactly how special The Band really were. I have to say: I've been wearing out The Complete Basement Tapes (getting on my immensely patient wife's nerves). Just as satisfying a listening experience as I can remember. From an instrumentation perspective Robbie and Garth are omnipresent. Otherwise the recordings give a feel of musicians fearlessly picking up whatever instrument might be within hands reach. The breadth of traditional and cover songs is spellbinding. Here were a group of friends recording themselves learning about American music tradition. By many accounts the 24 months prior to the sessions had almost killed Dylan - and, here he was dialing it all back and immersing himself passionately as true student.

Seems like about once a year or so I go on a Dylan binge, and I'm in the middle of one right now. Every time I do this I tend to focus on a different set of albums and so far this time along with the Basement Tapes box that spurred this, I've been digging into "Self Portrait" - an album I'd always avoided based on its reputation. I can understand why coming off the run he had from '62-'69 that contemporary assessments were underwhelmed with the record. It is sprawling and uneven, but hardly unlistenable. "New Morning" which followed this has always been one of my all time favorites and you can see the seeds of that record being sown here.

I've also spent some time for the first time ever with "Slow Train Coming" - despite a few cringeworthy lyrics (and honestly - based on its reputation I was surprised by how good most of it was), the playing & production is superb and his voice is in rare form.

I'm thinking of digging in to a few 80s records next to see what gems might be unearthed.

self portrait has "Copper Kettle". It has to get credit for that.

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

RevMatt wrote:

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Which still doesn't translate as Dylan doing "several tours with the Grateful Dead".

Sorry, I meant "shows" but put the word "tours" in the sentence by mistake. I'll stay off this thread.

Because of a typo? Please don't. I for one enjoy your insight. Dylan is big topic and deserves big thoughts and contributions.

I feel bad about bringing this up. Matt, there is no one on this boards opinion who I enjoy reading more than yours. You really know what you are talking about. Please do not stop posting on this, or any other thread.

StevieRay wrote:

Tequila Cowboy wrote:

StevieRay wrote:TC - can you tell me why Empire Burlesque makes your top ten?

A few reasons; one the musicianship is impeccable. How can you not love Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein, along with the excellent Don Heffington (Lone Justice)as a backing band? Second, it's the songs. Every single song on side 1 is a favorite, especially Tight Connection to my Heart & I'll Remember You and When the Night Comes Falling From The Sky from side 2 can be a top ten Dylan song for me on the right day. On the downside the record is a little slick and has the eighties drum sound that I truly wish didn't exist but unfortunately did. I can't balms the songs or the musicians for that though. Also I saw several shows on the tour for that record where TP & the Heartbreakers were Bob's band and it was glorious. All those things leave me loving that record.

I'll give it a spin. In truth I was dismissive about the record and didn't even realize it was most of the The Heartbreakers backing him.

Hey bud - remember this show:

June 11, 2004 - Manchester, TN
Down Along The Cove
Tell Me That It Isn't True
Samson And Delilah
Watching The River Flow
You Win Again
Cold Irons Bound
Sing Me Back Home
Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine
Highway 61 Revisited
Pancho And Lefty
Seeing The Real You At Last
Blind Willie McTell
Honest With Me
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Summer Days
Cat's In The Well
Like A Rolling Stone

Was anyone else there?

What a terrific Never-ending Tour setlist. He mixes in what he feels like hearing and doesn't bludgeon you with his latest music. His band is just as satisfying of a group of guys to listen to as you will ever find. If I remember correctly he took the stage after Wilco. I think the musicians (at the time) were:

Bob Dylan — vocals, piano, harmonica (if he picked up the guitar it was sparingly)
Stu Kimball — rhythm guitar
Larry Campbell — pedal steel, lap steel, electric mandolin, banjo, violin
Charlie Sexton — lead guitar
Tony Garnier — bass guitar
George Receli — drums, percussion

I remember being just floored to hear Down Along The Cove as an opener. And - it was because of this show that I learned Sampson & Delilah was not a Grateful Dead song. The version Dylan played that day had a kind of ragtime blues/boogie feel to it... and, who even knew a fascinating character named Blind Willie Johnson wrote that one?

Charlie wasn't touring with Bob in 2004…It was Stu Kimball…he is still touring with Bob. And Charlie has returned off and on, as of late. It is worth stating though that if you did catch Dylan during the years Charlie and Larry <'99 to '02> were touring with him that you got arguably the best lineup of the NET.

beantownbubba wrote:Infidels got 4 stars from RS while Empire Burlesque and Oh Mercy each got only 2. AMG went 4, 4.5 and 3.5, respectively and Christgau gave scores of B-, B+ and B, respectively. Christgau gave Slow Train Coming a B+ while the other 2 gave it 3 stars. All together, I'd say that's a bit higher than I would have guessed but again, the AMG scores in particular might involve some retrospective adjustments. The comments to all make interesting reading but that's way too much to quote or even summarize here. The Dylan entry in the Rolling Stone Record Guide is written by Rob Sheffield, which is a good thing.

The original RS review of Oh Mercy gave it 4 stars. It's linked below.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/album ... y-19890921

hanklow wrote:

StevieRay wrote:Stu Kimball — rhythm guitar
Larry Campbell — pedal steel, lap steel, electric mandolin, banjo, violin
Charlie Sexton — lead guitar
Tony Garnier — bass guitar
George Receli — drums, percussion

Charlie wasn't touring with Bob in 2004…It was Stu Kimball…he is still touring with Bob. And Charlie has returned off and on, as of late. It is worth stating though that if you did catch Dylan during the years Charlie and Larry <'99 to '02> were touring with him that you got arguably the best lineup of the NET.

Thanks for the clarification. I wish I knew more about most of these musicians. Larry is the only one I would recognize if I saw him on the street.

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Jeff Bridges narrates Bob Dylan's road to Big Pink and 'Basement Tapes'


Bob Dylan in 1967
IMAGE: ELLIOTT LANDY/LEGACY RECORDINGS FOR MASHABLE

The Dude abides. Very cool.

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Watch Bob Dylan perform a concert for an audience of one

All covers!

Buddy Holly’s “Heartbeat”, Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill”, Chuck Wills’ “It’s Too Late (She’s Gone)”, and a blues jam.

So, did this guy get burned by not getting any, like, Dylan in his Dylan set list? Or did he get the ultimate rarities show? You figure Dylan has played those three songs as many as a dozen times all together? I kind of doubt it. Oh, that wascally wabbit!

P.S. Here, Elmer Fudd delivers my favorite cover of "Heartbeat" ever! It was quite dramatic on vinyl and pretty powerful even like this:

May a thousand dissertations bloom.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this on so many levels. Bizarre. Wonderful. Bizarrely wonderful.

http://youtu.be/tBc_4dPQusI

Video of Garth Hudson going back to Big Pink.
Apologies for the link but I'm experiencing technical issue with posting youtube videos from my computer

Phil Cook, who is currently in Hiss Golden Messenger, recommended this.

Kudzu Guillotine wrote:

Well I'm glad I heard it. It's not as bad as I feared. But it hasn't made me want to run out and buy the album.

I might've mentioned this in another thread somewhere, but I'm spending the year going through Dylan's discography chronologically. Initially I didn't think of it as being all that ambitious, but I just mapped it out and holy shit--it's actually going to take the whole year. Any Bobophiles have any suggestions of where I might benefit from compressing or expanding the outline below? I'm trying to group things by "era" (or at least time period) as much as possible.

Any books I might enjoy? I have Chronicles, The Recording Sessions (I forget the author), Levon's book. Others? Movies? Unreleased/hard to find shit?

January (1961-1964)
Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A'Changin'
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Bootleg 1: Rare & Unreleased
Bootleg 6: Live 1964
Bootleg 9: The Witmark Demos

February (1965-1966)
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Bootleg 4: Live 1966

March (1967)
Bootleg 11: Basement Tapes Complete
John Wesley Harding

April (1969-1970)
Nashville Skyline
Self Portrait
New Morning
Bootleg 10: Another Self Portrait

May (1973-1974)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Dylan
Planet Waves
Before the Flood

June (1975-1976)
Blood on the Tracks
Desire
Bootleg 5: The Rolling Thunder Revue
Basement Tapes 1975

July (1978-1981)
Street Legal
Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love

August (1983-1988)
Infidels
Empire Burlesque
Knocked Out Loaded
Down in the Groove
Dylan & the Dead

September (1989-1993)
Oh Mercy
Under the Red Sky
Good As I Been to You
World Gone Wrong
MTV Unplugged
Bootleg 8: Tell Tale Signs

October (1997-2006)
Time Out of Mind
Love and Theft
Modern Times
Bootleg 8: Tell Tale Signs

November (2009-2015)
Together Through Life
Tempest
Shadows in the Night

December
Christmas in the Heart

Don't have time right now for a complete response but a couple of things come immediately to mind: The film Don't Look Back, the standard bio by Robert Shelton the name of which escapes me at the moment, the Rolling Stone bio series Dylan book by Jonathan Cott (possibly hard to find) and anything about Bob you can find written by Greil Marcus and Christopher Ricks (note both, especially Ricks, have written widely on other topics which may or may not be of interest).

I have some editing suggestions on the music side and will get back to you w/ those.