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JOTTING DOWN NOTES

DOWN IN THE GROOVE

OFFICIAL RELEASES

Sony Music Entertainment Taiwan imported US version of “Live 1966” and released it there with a two booklets, one of which had the linernotes by Alexander Ma (in Chinese) and the other the Chinese translation of the lyrics (also by Ma).
The linernotes by Ma are really Dylan’s biographical information with some album sleeves, covers of the magazines (including Mojo), and the ticket stubs of two Osaka shows that he attended,.in February 1997.

The 60s
There is a television series to be broadcast in America called the The 60s and a soundtrack CD has been released. This features various artists, 15 cuts in all including Bob Dylan whose contribution is a re-recorded version of Chimes Of Freedom sung with Joan Osborne. This track was recorded on 31 October 1998


Bob On The Net

Since the last issue of The Bridge, an additional seven songs have appeared on the official website. They are as follows:

33. Rank Strangers [Brumley] - La Scalinata, Rome, 5.7.98
34. Shake Sugaree [Cotten] - The Roxy, Atlanta, 1.12.97
35. Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie [Cotten] - Stadtpark, Hamburg, 12.6.98
36. The Times We’ve Known [Les Bons Moments] [Aznavour] - Madison Square Garden, New York, 1.11.98
37. Little Moses [Williams,Jones] - Historic Orpheum Theater, Minneapolis, 2.9.92
38. I Believe In You - Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, 3.11.98
39. Across The Borderline [Cooder,Hiatt,Dickinson] - Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, 3.11.98

At the time of writing, a further seven songs have been removed, leaving songs 28 to 39 inclusive, still available.


Cover Versions

Fredlos Dylan pa narsk - Age Aleksandersen med band
Definitely something for those obsessed with Dylan covers this one. Nevertheless, it is an interesting one based, as it is, largely on the use of traditional Scandanavian instruments. It comes complete with a nifty booklet giving all of the lyrics and a little potted history of each song in Danish. Some of the titles have been metamorphosed in the translation to provide a different meaning for example, Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag becomes Age Aleksandersen's Istedgade - rag. Witty, eh?

Pickin’ On Dylan - Tribute is a new album of covers played in a Bluegrass style. There are 12 instrumental tracks by various country artists.

In addition there are a some of smaller items of interest. June Tabor’s set of BBC recordings, “June Tabor on Air”, contains versions of This Wheel’s On Fire and All Along The Watchtower. The new compilation CD from Lone Justice includes Go Away Little Boy with Dylan reputedly on harmonica. Finally, the latest Johnny Cash CD has re-release of Girl Of The North Country.



FORMS OF PSYCHIC EXPLOSION - MEDIA NEWS

VIDEO AND TELEVISION

The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) has included D.A. Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back” among the films to be added to the Library Of Congress’ National Film Registry “because it’s part of this country’s cultural history.”
And while we are on the subject of classic films:
At the end of last year The Musem of Television and Radio bowed to public demand and continued screening Bob Dylan’s Eat The Document through to 20 December 1998.

Bob Dylan has been awarded a SESAC Performance Activity Award for his popular cross-over single Make You Feel My Love, recorded by Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, Trisha Yearwood and Dylan.

More BBC shortfall when they screened highlights of Glastonbury 1998 on New Year’s Eve. Bob Dylan was listed but guess what? His contribution, to the annual festival, was conspicious by its absence!

RADIO
On BBC Radio One Thursday 28 January 1998 in a special edition of his show, Andy Kershaw, for an hour, went in search of the truth behind the mysterious `Live 1966’ album by Bob Dylan. The programme included an interview with Keith Butler, the man who shouted “Judas” as well as various songs from the show.



IS IT ROLLING BOB?

Irving Plaza, New York City, New York  - 8 December 1997 Line recording
This is the complete show from this small club played at the end of the 1997 tours. The quality is excellent and there are some interesting inclusions not least White Dove.

Los Angeles 14/2/74 Evening Line recording
This is the last 50 minutes of the 1974 tour available as a line recording. Some of these tracks were released on Before The Flood but this includes the Band tracks as well.

Spanish Radio 3 Programme
This is a strange tape of a radio programme which is from Glastonbury 1998. It is to be an official broadcast but the line feed is weird containing conversation microphone settings and so on. The programme ends after Tangled Up In Blue with the anouncer giving the impression that this was then end of the concert! Definitely not essential.

THE THIRD ONE NOW
(GENUINE BOOTLEG SERIES VOLUME 3)

In the first issue of The Bridge we said we wouldn't give publicity to bootlegs but would comment where there was a historical dimension or the bootleg contained material that had not previously circulated on tape. The so called Genuine Bootleg Series Vol.3 falls into the latter category. This three CD set, like Vols. 1 and 2 contains a mish mash of material from a wide period. The interesting items among the fifty four tracks which are either new or in better quality than previously available are as follows :

1. Hard Times In New York [adapted from Ketty's Farm{trad.}]
2. The Death Of Emmett Till
3. I Rode Out One Morning
4. House Of The Rising Sun [trad.]
5. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean [Blind Lemon Jefferson]
6. Ballad Of Donald White
7. Visions Of Johanna [The Gaumont, Sheffield, 16.5.66].
8. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat [The Odeon, Liverpool, 14.5.66]
9. Mr. Tambourine Man [The Gaumont, Sheffield,  16.5.66].
10. This Wheels' On Fire
11. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (1)
12. I Shall Be Released
13. Too Much Of Nothing
14. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (2)
15. Went To See The Gypsy
16. If Not For You
17. Rita Mae,
18. Ballad Of A Thin Man
19. Blowin' In The Wind
20. Blowin' In The Wind
21. Shot Of Love
22. Watered-Down Love
23. Handy Dandy
24. TV Talkin' Song
25. Anyway You Want Me

The remaining twenty nine tracks are all ready available on the circulating tapes. They include: three official tracks, two with overdubs, one in a barely discernable different mix. This is a significant bootleg release because of the amount of new quality material it contains.



EDUCATED RAP

BOOKS

ALL THE RAGE - by IAN “MAC” McLAGAN
This recently published book is the autobiography of the rock organist who first achieved fame with the Small Faces. In his long career he has played with many major rock stars and bands, including Rod Stewart, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.
His path has crossed Bob’s several times over the years and he recounts some very funny “Bob” anecdotes. Two chapters deal with his time rehearsing and touring with Bob in ’84. We get glimpses of Bob’s dress sense, personal hygiene, unusual approach to rehearsing and recording, and his general idiosyncratic behaviour. The stories are told with affection. Mac is obviously a fan as well as a fellow musician and colleague.

The book provides a fascinating look into life at the top in the rock world. The narrative trips along ,never failing to interest or amuse, and is easy to read. It is published by Sidgwick and Jackson, at £16.99 in hardback.

In The Spotlight So Clear by John Hume
This is an excellent newphoto book by the John Hume. It is the first on three volumes covering the period 1984 to 1998. All of the photographs in this book were taken in the U.K and Ireland with 90% of these having not been published previously. Every tour from 1984 to 1998 is covered. The production quality has been increased for these volumes with the use of higher quality paper.

Volume 2 - “Clear Focused All Around” covers mainland Europe with the third - “In Jersey Anything’s Legal” features the U.S.A. and Canada from 1986 to 1998. All three volumes are printed in limited editions. For details of cost, available discounts and how to order see the advertisement later in The Bridge.

Tangled Up In Tapes Volume IV - by Glen Dundas
For those of you who are familiar with the previous volumes you will be delight with this new issue. This has been completely revised and now it covers all shows to the end of 1998. There are 368 pages, 32 pages of pictures of which 20 are in full colour. The sections include all known recodings (available or otherwise) plus listings of every session and live appearance. There are details of audience and line recordings as well a section on professional video. There are very useful indexes and performance statistics. This book can be ordered from:

My Back Pages or directly from Glen Dundas at 1837 McGregor Avenue Thunder Bay, Ont P7B 5G2.
Further details can be found on his web site at:
http//.www.baynet.net/~gdundas/

The Bob Dylan Companion Four Decades of Commentary
ed by Carl Benson (Schirmer Books, NYC, 1998)
This tome, not that original in concept, presents 46 articles organised in content-chronological order up to the end of 1997. Taken as a whole the reader is led through key events in Dylan's career in an accessible way. It remains useful to have this material gathered together in one volume.

Bob Dylan: The Life and Music of America’s Folk-Rock Icon
Stephen Matteo Metrobooks, NYC, 1998
A bit of a crowd-pleasing, coffee-table effort which succeeds in providing a digestible account of Dylan's career for the average person. Certainly not essential for the dyed-in-the-wool Dylan fan but perhaps worth it for some of the photographs shown in colour for the first time.

Patti Smith Complete. Lyrics, Reflections and Notes for the Future
In November, 1998, Doubleday & Co. finally published Patti Smith Complete. Lyrics, Reflections and Notes for the Future, the long awaited collection of Patti Smith songs (272 pages, 35$; ISBN: 0-385-49079-8). The book is handsomely produced and features many black and white photos, including a previously unreleased one, by Kevin Mazur, of Patti Smith performing with Bob Dylan at the Boston Orpheum in December, 1995, during the "Paradise Lost" tour, plus three other illustrations of a marginal Dylan interest: the Orpheum Theater front, announcing Dylan and Smith's two performances there (page 184), a 1970 Mapplethorpe candid shot of a scowling Patti Smith on the rooftop of the Chelsea Hotel in NYC, holding Dylan's Bringing it All Back Home LP, with Blonde On Blonde in the background (page xiii), and a funny 1971 portrait by Judy Linn of Patti Smith sitting in a chair wearing a "Dylan mask", as captioned, actually a 1965 Dylan close-up torn off from a magazine (page 1). Besides the lyrics to each and every Patti Smith song, this heavy volume also contains brief annotations of a more or less historical character, tracing Smith's career from the beginning. These include several passing mentions to Dylan, but only one entry, on page 184, deals in full with him:

"In the winter of 1995, petitioned by Bob Dylan to tour with him along the east coast, we asembled the Gone Again [i.e. Patti Smith's 1996 come-back album] crew. Lenny [Kaye], Jay Dee [Daugherty], Tony[Shanahan], Oliver [Ray], and Tom Verlaine formed the band and friends and family were added for good measure. On the tour bus, Michael Stipe donated his expertise at the microwave, providing special nachos for us all.

This was a joyful period for me, of comradeship; of shaking off the performance dust. The highlight came from the opportunity to accompany Bob on a song of my choice. I chose Dark Eyes. Singing with the one who had been an inspiration and influence on my work was an experience I shall always cherish."

Patti Smith and Dylan go a long way back together: she has acknowledged many times his influence on her, has written at least one poem about him ("Dylan's Dog"), and covered his song The Wicked Messenger both live and on her acclaimed 1996 album, Gone Again. It seems a bit strange, though, that she omits to mention their first encounter at NYC's "Bottom Line", while the Patti Smith Group was playing a few dates there in the Summer of 1975. At the time, Dylan was starting to put together his Rolling Thunder Revue concept and Smith had just secured a deal with Arista and was about to record her debut album, Horses. It is a well-known fact that Dylan asked Patti Smith to join the Revue, but she declined in the end, preferring to launch her own career (see Miles' interview of PS in issue 32 of The Telegraph).

Magazines and Interviews
The March 1999 issues of Uncut and Guitar World carried slightly differing versions of a Dylan telephone interview with Murray Engleheart. The questions ranged from Dylan's changing audience profile, his histoplasmosis episode, the current relevance of his classic albums, various musical influences (Buddy Holly, Skip James), the recording process and Time Out Of Mind in particular. Perhaps the most interesting snippet came when Dylan was talking of Time Out Of Mind; "There wasn't any wasted effort ……. I don't think there will be on any more of my records". So there you go, there is hope for more albums yet!

Richard Johnston grabbed an interview with Tony Garnier which was published in the latest edition of Bass Player online (http://www.bassplayer.com/9810/garnier/htm). The gist of the piece is quite technical but Garnier makes this interesting observation about playing with Dylan:

" Bob's songs are based on music I've played all my life, but the best way to learn them is to know the lyrics. Once you do that you see how powerful the music is. I can be onstage playing something we've performed hundreds of times, and I still get emotional hearing it."


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