Hot on the heels of the announcement that Dylan’s early Witmark demos are being released as The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 comes this news that Legacy are going to be re-releasing the first 8 of Dylan’s records as a special mono box-set. Spanning 1962′s Bob Dylan to 1967′s John Wesley Harding, The Original Mono Recordings partner The Witmark Demos 1962-4 to showcase the incredible development during 5 pivotal years that sealed Dylan’s reputation as a phenomenon in modern music.
Amongst the other streams over at NPR’s First Listen this week is a selection of tracks from The Witmark Demos, volume 9 of the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series.
Most of the recordings on The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 were made for the M. Witmark & Sons publishing company. Artists would record their songs for publishing companies so they might be heard by other artists wishing to cover their songs, or maybe for TV or movie use.
Witmark had a small 6×8-foot studio, and it’s there that these songs were recorded and then transcribed into sheet music. So what you get is a fairly relaxed and young Bob Dylan playing his newest songs at the time. You hear flubs, forgotten verses, inspired playing and brilliant songs. Many of these tunes you already know, even if you’re just a casual Dylan fan. But you’ve probably never heard “Mr. Tambourine Man” on piano, or the roughly 15 songs never released in any official form.
Brace yourselves for Christmas In The Heart.
It’s out on 10/13.
All royalties will go to charity (Feeding America).
He’s been waiting 30 years for this!
No, seriously, his last #1 album was in 1976.
192,000 copies sold in 7 days does the trick in 2006.
All the chart info here.
#2 and #3 on the charts go to Danity Kane (Diddy’s new girl group) and hip-hopper Young Dro.
I don’t know what kind of commentary to make on that, so I’ll let you do the talking. Comment away.
Just for Bob: Goldrapp – Number One
…download away! Because modern music recordings “ain’t worth nothin’ anyway”. Speaking with Rolling Stone*, Dylan laments the quality of recordings:
“Brian Wilson, he made all his records with four tracks, but you couldn’t make his records if you had a hundred tracks today. We all like records that are played on record players, but let’s face it, those days are gon-n-n-e. You do the best you can, you fight that technology in all kinds of ways, but I don’t know anybody who’s made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really. You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious, they have sound all over them. There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static. Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded ‘em. CDs are small. There’s no stature to it. I remember when that Napster guy came up across, it was like, ‘Everybody’s gettin’ music for free.’ I was like, ‘Well, why not? It ain’t worth nothing anyway.’ “. . .
Well, Bob, I’ll be there waiting for Modern Times on CD… But is it format or recording method? I.e., how about that fogey-friendly limited edition LP they always do? Is that better? full interview… (interweb version: the feckers are making you buy the mag to read the rest). You can’t hate Modern Times that much Bob, not if you’re referencing Alicia Keyes…
But what format do we think Bob reckons sounds best? I’m thinking that he’s an 8-track kind of a guy…
*also cribbed via the BBC.
Bob Dylan’s releasing his first studio album in five years, Modern Times, on the 29th of August. I love Dylan, and I absolutely love modern Dylan – Time out of Mind is one of my favourite recordings of his, and I can’t wait to hear what the last few years – and the radio show – have done to him. Any thoughts on recent events, there, Bob…?
To celebrate, here’s Lovesick from Time out of Mind, both the Dylan original and a live cover by the White Stripes.
According to friends who have seen the master in concert, he’s a bore. But listening to the show, it’s really great. Bob is relaxed and his voice is soothing. He starts the show with ‘Blow wind blow’ by Muddy Waters, continues with ‘Please Don’t take my sunshine away’ and it’s brilliant. Along the way he tells little tales about the songs and somehow when Bob tell them, they sound more like gospel than stories.
He didn’t play my favourite weather song though, Crowded House’s ‘Weather with you’, instead he stuck mainly to old favourites including Dean Martin and the Beach Boys. I am confused with one thing about this press release, what exactly is his connection with Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel (both of whom I find incredibly annoying by the way)? Anyway, if you have xmradio, I suggest tuning it. From the preview of the first show I got, it sounds like great stuff.
From the press release:
Washington, D.C., April 19, 2006 – Bob Dylan’s much anticipated XM Satellite Radio music show, “Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan” will make its world premiere on May 3, it was announced today. Each weekly show will feature an eclectic mix of music based around a theme, and host Bob Dylan will offer stories about the music and topics of interest. Dylan also will read and answer select emails sent in by fans. In addition, “Theme Time Radio Hour” will feature contributions from special guests, including Elvis Costello, Charlie Sheen, Penn Jillette, Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel.
The first episode of “Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan” will be devoted to the theme of “weather,” with a song list that spans “A Place in the Sun” sung in Italian by Stevie Wonder, “The Wind Cries Mary” by Jimi Hendrix and “Keep on the Sunny Side” by The Carter Family, among many others. Song lists for future episodes will be built around themes such as “cars,” “dance,” “police,” and “whiskey.” Complete track lists from each “Theme Time Radio Hour” show will be posted on a dedicated Bob Dylan page on XM Satellite Radio’s website (http://www.xmradio.com/bobdylan) that will also include a link for users to purchase select songs heard on Bob Dylan’s show through Napster, XM’s digital music partner, as well as photos and information on encore broadcasts. Fans also can e-mail their questions and music requests directly to Bob Dylan at bobdylan@xmradio.com.
“With ‘Theme Time Radio Hour’ Bob redefines ‘cool radio’ by combining a sense of intellect with edginess in a way that hasn’t been on radio before,” said Lee Abrams, chief creative programming officer, XM Satellite Radio. “Bob has put a lot of work into his XM show and it’s clear that he’s having a good time behind the mic.”
“Theme Time Radio Hour with Your Host Bob Dylan” will debut Wednesday, May 3 on XM’s deep album rock channel, Deep Tracks (XM channel 40), at its regular weekly timeslot, 10 a.m. ET. Encore broadcasts of “Theme Time Radio Hour” will air throughout the week on Deep Tracks and XM’s folk music channel, The Village (XM channel 15). Complete scheduling information is available online at http://www.xmradio.com/bobdylan.
