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24FPS

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whitem8
Since all the Dylan stuff has been combined to this one thread... anyone here buying the Mobile Fidelity releases, numbered copies? I just picked up Blonde on Blonde, Bringing it all Back Home, and Blood on the Tracks and they are a revelation! Amazing sound. Interesting that Blonde on Blonde and Bringing it are 45rpm with two songs on each side, still one for Sad Eyed Lady, to create an even more thrilling sonic scape. Blood on the Tracks just shimmers with very crisp acoustic guitars. Great releases and very high quality packaging.

I am not grappling on weather I should get the vinyl Mono Box set... its driving me to the poor house.

Are the Mobile Fidelity releases better than the SACDs Dylan put out a few years ago. I had those and I can't see where anything could be much better than they were.

Not sure 24FPS, I don't have a SCAD player so never got them. But the Mobile Fidelity sound amazing. Particularly Blonde on Blonde and Bringing .... as they are at 45 rpm speed.

The long rumored Basement Tapes will be the next installment in the Bootleg Series for all you Dylan nuts out there which will be released in 11/14 on 6 CDs per Rolling Stone. Included will be 30 never released tunes.

[www.rollingstone.com]

Thanks! Looking forward to it. Should be all new to me, as I never got around to buying the 1975 treatment.

Most overrated Dylan phase of all, imo, and I'm a huge Bob fan. But I know this is the holy grail to many Bobsters.

Here's a snippet of Dylan's version for Things We Said Today, from the upcoming Paul McCartney tribute album: [instagram.com]

..... Geeeeeeeez now that's what I call A SNIPPET!!!! ....



ROCKMAN

I just checked tickets for the first 3 nights of next tour in Seattle. Shockingly, there are excellent seats left for all 3! 3000 seat theater. Think I'm going to go. The prices aren't bad either. He's been pretty good when I've seen him the last ten years. The exception would be the last show in an arena. Part of that was me as I was having a serious ear issue & couldn't understand a word he said. That & Mark Knopfler opened & put me to sleep! Really like Charlie Sexton's guitar playing.

Mark Knopfler opened & put me to sleep! .....as Ernest Tubb once said ...... They'll do it every time ....



ROCKMAN

I listen to this when my mommy's not around to sing me a lullaby...

Found out my friend is able to go, she has never seen Bob, so I went online to check tickets. Much to my surprise & delight, I got 2 tickets in the 5th row for the first night of this leg of the tour! Evidently they released the tickets for the premium packages that were unsold at regular ticket prices. $125 each. Not bad ! I'm psyched. I have seen Bob at this venue (Paramount Theater, Seattle) a few times before. He seems to like it. Its an old 2800 seat theater that has been refurbished. Very nice.

I'd like to see him another time, for what I see he plays in small places now and he hardly sells out . I think you can find tickets even at day of the show.

Jimmy Page visited a CD shop in Shinjuku, Tokyo Japan today.
He was looking for Dylan's bootlegs at there.(He skipped Robert Plant's brand new bootleg, though.)
Dylan's 2014 bootlegs are overflowing here now.

Saw Dylan last night in Seattle. He was in excellent form. Mostly newer material but the classics were stellar. "Simple Twist of Fate" & "All Along the Watchtower" were especially good. Bob's voice was the best I've heard in years & you could actually understand every word. He seemed pretty engaged, too. Charlie Sexton was excellent on guitar. Although it is always a roll of the dice, I would say go if you get a chance to see him. I didn't hear anybody who was less than happy in the crowd.

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crholmstrom
Saw Dylan last night in Seattle. He was in excellent form. Mostly newer material but the classics were stellar. "Simple Twist of Fate" & "All Along the Watchtower" were especially good. Bob's voice was the best I've heard in years & you could actually understand every word. He seemed pretty engaged, too. Charlie Sexton was excellent on guitar. Although it is always a roll of the dice, I would say go if you get a chance to see him. I didn't hear anybody who was less than happy in the crowd.

Good to hear - I'm seeing him in DC on November 25th (for the first time, no less), really looking forward to it.

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crholmstrom
Saw Dylan last night in Seattle. He was in excellent form. Mostly newer material but the classics were stellar. "Simple Twist of Fate" & "All Along the Watchtower" were especially good. Bob's voice was the best I've heard in years & you could actually understand every word. He seemed pretty engaged, too. Charlie Sexton was excellent on guitar. Although it is always a roll of the dice, I would say go if you get a chance to see him. I didn't hear anybody who was less than happy in the crowd.

I was there too and concur. Going again tomorrow. Lots or really OLD people at the show though. Good thing for them there was an intermission.

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71Tele

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crholmstrom
Saw Dylan last night in Seattle. He was in excellent form. Mostly newer material but the classics were stellar. "Simple Twist of Fate" & "All Along the Watchtower" were especially good. Bob's voice was the best I've heard in years & you could actually understand every word. He seemed pretty engaged, too. Charlie Sexton was excellent on guitar. Although it is always a roll of the dice, I would say go if you get a chance to see him. I didn't hear anybody who was less than happy in the crowd.

I was there too and concur. Going again tomorrow. Lots or really OLD people at the show though. Good thing for them there was an intermission.

I presume you mean "Dylan's age"?

Bob's not playing guitar? What's up with that? I thought most of his tunes were based around his guitar playing.

I can however imagine that the band was tight without his playing guitar since I've heard he tends to do his own thing regardless of what was rehearsed, which would obviously be difficult for the band. peace

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Naturalust
Bob's not playing guitar? What's up with that? I thought most of his tunes were based around his guitar playing.

I can however imagine that the band was tight without his playing guitar since I've heard he tends to do his own thing regardless of what was rehearsed, which would obviously be difficult for the band. peace

He plays a lot of piano these days, which is equally challenging for his band...

I've heard that due to back problems he has dropped playing guitar on stage. His harmonica playing, by the way, is damn precise these days, when he plays it in two or three numbers a night.

- Doxa

This is fantastic!

Previously Unreleased Bob Dylan Song ‘Dress It Up, Better Have It All’ from 1967 ‘Basement Tapes’ Set



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-19 21:38 by swiss.

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Doxa

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Naturalust
Bob's not playing guitar? What's up with that? I thought most of his tunes were based around his guitar playing.

I can however imagine that the band was tight without his playing guitar since I've heard he tends to do his own thing regardless of what was rehearsed, which would obviously be difficult for the band. peace

He plays a lot of piano these days, which is equally challenging for his band...

I've heard that due to back problems he has dropped playing guitar on stage. His harmonica playing, by the way, is damn precise these days, when he plays it in two or three numbers a night.

- Doxa

Just as well I would say, since he doesn´t play the acoustic anymore. His electric guitar playing has never added anything positive to the songs. I remember a gig in Stockholm in 1996 where he for some strange reason decided to play a "solo" now and then, repeating the same four notes in every song. It was kind of entertaining in its own esoteric way, but also slightly embarrassing.

Just back from the show. His piano playing is actually quite good, and unlike his electric guitar playing, it's up in the mix so you can hear it. He must have practiced quite a bit because he is playing piano with quite a bit of confidence. The man always surprises....some more "hits" wuld have been nice, but they are kind of in a groove with the new material, and it comes off very well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-20 08:54 by 71Tele.

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71Tele
Just back from the show. His piano playing is actually quite good, and unlike his electric guitar playing, it's up in the mix so you can hear it. He must have practiced quite a bit because he is playing piano with quite a bit of confidence. The man always surprises....some more "hits" wuld have been nice, but they are kind of in a groove with the new material, and it comes off very well.

Even though he doesn't talk to the crowd (nothing new there), I thought he was quite engaged this show. Definitely hasn't always been the case.

I was hesitant to mention that I would be seeing Dylan again as the last time I saw him two years ago at the Santa Barbara Bowl it was rather depressing.
Granted this was an outdoor venue and the weather was on the nippy side by So. Cal standards (Dylan even wore a hoodie), but almost everything about that show left me thinking I would never pay to see him again. Bottom line...his voice was completely shot and the band seemed bored to tears as did nearly everyone else at the concert.

But when Dylan comes to town and there are great seats available, how could I not go?
So I bit the bullet and pulled up 2nd and 4th row seats for Friday and Saturday at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Was I in for a surprise!

His voice is better than it's been in years imo, and his delivery was just as good...no more ending each phrase of every song on a weird high note.
Setlists were identical both nights, but to hear opener Things Have Changed, Love Sick, Twist of Fate, and All Along The Watchtower were enough reasons to be happy.
His band were kicking ass on the upbeat songs, and laid low and slow for the more subtle tunes. No guitar playing from Dylan as expected, but he bounced (shuffled?) between the piano and standing alone at the mic enough to make things interesting. I was close enough to see him singing & or playing harp at the mic, and it dawned on me that maybe he's not playing guitar because of some more serious health issues than have been mentioned lately. His left hand and arm seemed to be almost at a loss of control at times, either awkwardly/limply hanging by his side, or grasping at the mic stand like a death grip.
Not one to start any grim rumors, just an observation. With that said, his piano playing (I couldn't see his hands) was great, and was more audible than I've ever heard him play while he lead the band.

All in all it was a sublime experience, and I'm thanking my lucky stars I had the courage to want to go see him again.
After the numerous train wrecks I've seen him perform throughout the years (along with some stellar performances), I'm thankful that I can leave a Dylan concert again and witness a bit of the old magic.

If you get a chance go see him...after all he's 73 years old and I'm not sure how long this "never-ending tour" will continue.

___________________________________________________________________________

Setlist:

Things Have Changed
She Belongs to Me
Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
Workingman's Blues #2
Waiting for You
Duquesne Whistle
Pay in Blood
Tangled Up in Blue
Love Sick
Second Set

Intermission

High Water (For Charley Patton)
Simple Twist of Fate
Early Roman Kings
Forgetful Heart
Spirit on the Water
Scarlet Town
Soon After Midnight
Long and Wasted Years

Encore:

All Along the Watchtower
Blowin' in the Wind

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-26 18:00 by Hairball.

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Hairball
I was hesitant to mention that I would be seeing Dylan again as the last time I saw him two years ago at the Santa Barbara Bowl it was rather depressing.
Granted this was an outdoor venue and the weather was on the nippy side by So. Cal standards (Dylan even wore a hoodie), but almost everything about that show left me thinking I would never pay to see him again. Bottom line...his voice was completely shot and the band seemed bored to tears as did nearly everyone else at the concert.

But when Dylan comes to town and there are great seats available, how could I not go?
So I bit the bullet and pulled up 2nd and 4th row seats for Friday and Saturday at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. Was I in for a surprise!

His voice is better than it's been in years imo, and his delivery was just as good...no more ending each phrase of every song on a weird high note.
Setlists were identical both nights, but to hear opener Things Have Changed, Love Sick, Twist of Fate, and All Along The Watchtower were enough reasons to be happy.
His band were kicking ass on the upbeat songs, and laid low and slow for the more subtle tunes. No guitar playing from Dylan as expected, but he bounced (shuffled?) between the piano and standing alone at the mic enough to make things interesting. I was close enough to see him singing & or playing harp at the mic, and it dawned on me that maybe he's not playing guitar because of some more serious health issues than have been mentioned lately. His left hand and arm seemed to be almost at a loss of control at times, either awkwardly/limply hanging by his side, or grasping at the mic stand like a death grip.
Not one to start any grim rumors, just an observation. With that said, his piano playing (I couldn't see his hands) was great, and was more audible than I've ever heard him play while he lead the band.

All in all it was a sublime experience, and I'm thanking my lucky stars I had the courage to want to go see him again.
After the numerous train wrecks I've seen him perform throughout the years (along with some stellar performances), I'm thankful that I can leave a Dylan concert again and witness a bit of the old magic.

If you get a chance go see him...after all he's 73 years old and I'm not sure how long this "never-ending tour" will continue.

___________________________________________________________________________

Setlist:

Things Have Changed
She Belongs to Me
Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
Workingman's Blues #2
Waiting for You
Duquesne Whistle
Pay in Blood
Tangled Up in Blue
Love Sick
Second Set

Intermission

High Water (For Charley Patton)
Simple Twist of Fate
Early Roman Kings
Forgetful Heart
Spirit on the Water
Scarlet Town
Soon After Midnight
Long and Wasted Years

Encore:

All Along the Watchtower
Blowin' in the Wind

Sounds like we had similar experience. I only went 1 night though. I walked out of the show 2 years ago. I was having an issue with my ear & couldn't understand a word he said. I've seen him many times since the late 70s & this time was one of the best. What a great band. My friend had never seen him & she was impressed too. Glad you enjoyed the show!

Yes indeed crholmstrom I thoroughly enjoyed it.
And like you, I've seen him many times since the late '70's starting with the Slow Train tour at the Santa Monica Civic (and sat 5th row next to Ronnie Wood)!

Anyways, here's an interesting "professional" review of the first nights show from the L.A. Times.
(I think the writer may be slightly grumpier than he claims Dylan to be, although he does make some valid points)

Bob Dylan opens three nights in Hollywood with grunts, grim themes
-Randall Roberts

> Dylan

Bob Dylan wore a gray suit and wide-brimmed hat, the latter of which shadowed eyes he described in song as holding “secrets in them that I can't disguise.” He stood before a well-behaved and polite, if mostly nonplussed, crowd at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and let out a series of nasally, nearly indistinguishable grunts.

“[mumble mumble] Why thank you [mumble mumble mumble] right back,” he may have said.

They would be the most notable nonmusical utterances that the singer, songwriter and perennial badass would direct at the crowd Friday night. He'd just sung in “Love Sick” of being worn out, and he kind of seemed it. “I'm sick of love -- I wish I'd never met you,” he offered. “I'm sick of love -- I'm trying to forget you.” After the song ended and he spoke his sentence, Dylan and his five-piece band walked off and the intermission lights came up. The blues indeed.

Dylan, 73, was midway through his debut performance at the Dolby Theatre, longtime home of the Academy Awards. The first of three consecutive gigs in Los Angeles as part of his Never Ending Tour, the artist was playing, by his own website's count, for the 54th time in L.A., the most recent of a run stretching back to the Hollywood Bowl in 1965.

Was it a drag? Thematically, yes. How can a song like 2009's “Forgetful Heart,” with the couplet, “The door has closed forevermore / If indeed there ever was a door,” be anything but? It's one thing to negate the future, after all, but it's downright hostile to do the same to the past. The rendition, though, was tempered by an ethereal delicacy, highlighted by multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron's accents on banjo and lead guitarist Charlie Sexton’s typically gentle, evocative lines.

As has been the case for, well, ever, Dylan didn’t play songs as recorded. He and his band (featuring Stu Kimball, rhythm guitar; Tony Garnier, bass guitar; and George Receli, drums, percussion) delivered a dose of Charlie Christian/Django Reinhardt jazz here, some Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys-style twang there.

More Lone Star swing than New York folk, his sound was electric but minus much distortion or aural antagonism. When Dylan sang high, he hit where he was aiming. When he sang low, which he did a lot, it was like he was burping out the lines. At one point during “Long and Wasted Years,” I imagined his vocal chords as a frayed rope holding a broke-down engine. One day soon it may bust, but until then the threat is something to behold.

Was the set illuminating? When he delivered a typically oblique take on “She Belongs to Me” and the line, “She wears an Egyptian ring that sparkles before she speaks” it was. And pretty much whenever Dylan played harmonica or Sexton soloed. Did Our Hero seem a spectral grump, somewhere between myth-buster and misanthrope? He did to me -- but who can really tell?

The couple sitting next to us left four songs in, right after Dylan had chugged through “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'.” (What did they expect?) As the band rolled into “Spirit in the Water,” a few pockets of the crowd clapped tentatively, only half-sure whether this was variation on a classic or one of his recent grim weepers.

“Things have changed,” Dylan had warned them in his first song. “People are crazy and times are strange / I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range / I used to care, but things have changed.”

Yes, they have. Where his voice used to soar he’s now ditch-digging while around him remarkable musicians swirl and twang. At this point it should be understood that their versions of “Blowin’ in the Wind” or “All Along the Watchtower,” both of which Dylan offered in a quickie two-song encore, swung in ways utterly removed from the perhaps platonic ideal versions locked in our stubborn memories.

The evening featured a nearly identical set as he’s played of late, one heavy on his 21st century work, nothing from the 1980s and light on his formative '60s and '70s classics. Recent-vintage Dylan doesn’t play the guitar. He alternately sang, sat behind a piano -- guy’s got some great barrelhouse chops -- blew typically mesmerizing harmonica runs, coughed-forth couplets and occasionally did a quirky little groove dance that signified approval or joy or something.

Dylan sang about long, wasted years, about how “the sun can burn your brains right out.” During the wonderfully grim “Soon After Midnight,” from his most recent (and excellent) studio album “Tempest,” he described the action in the wee hours, of drunken revelry and bitterness: “Two-timin' Slim? Who's ever heard of him? I'll drag his corpse through the mud.”

Was there contempt within these grunts? Was that a hint of a wry smile that curled across his face at one point? Who knows. But Dylan doesn't do warm and comfortable, and certainly has no time to parse himself.

Which is to say, “Long and Wasted Years” could be about a lover or it could be directed at us. “It's been such a long long time / Since we loved each other when our hearts were true / One time, for one brief day, I was the man for you.”

It seemed longer than that, but memories are sometimes hard to trust.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

I love Bob. Have seen him live 15 times, between the years 1994 and 2013. The shows were in arenas, school gymnasiums, amphitheatres, baseball parks and at county fairs. Between '94 and '02 the shows were mostly outstanding. Great musicianship, varied setlists and a mostly coherent and engaged Bob.

By 2006 I decided I had seen him enough. Started going again in 2011 and went again in 2012 and 2013. Those 3 shows were pretty terrible. Uninspired sets and mostly incoherent and disengaged Bob.

It's encouraging to read that he found his mojo again down under. However, the setlists still look pretty uninspired for a guy with such a canon at his disposal.

[www.npr.org]

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JimmyTheSaint
I love Bob. Have seen him live 15 times, between the years 1994 and 2013. The shows were in arenas, school gymnasiums, amphitheatres, baseball parks and at county fairs. Between '94 and '02 the shows were mostly outstanding. Great musicianship, varied setlists and a mostly coherent and engaged Bob.

By 2006 I decided I had seen him enough. Started going again in 2011 and went again in 2012 and 2013. Those 3 shows were pretty terrible. Uninspired sets and mostly incoherent and disengaged Bob.

It's encouraging to read that he found his mojo again down under. However, the setlists still look pretty uninspired for a guy with such a canon at his disposal.

I don't think the setlist lacks inspiration, I think he's is choosing to focus on newer material and not do a greatest hits show. Not the first time Bob has done this by any stretch.

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71Tele

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JimmyTheSaint
I love Bob. Have seen him live 15 times, between the years 1994 and 2013. The shows were in arenas, school gymnasiums, amphitheatres, baseball parks and at county fairs. Between '94 and '02 the shows were mostly outstanding. Great musicianship, varied setlists and a mostly coherent and engaged Bob.

By 2006 I decided I had seen him enough. Started going again in 2011 and went again in 2012 and 2013. Those 3 shows were pretty terrible. Uninspired sets and mostly incoherent and disengaged Bob.

It's encouraging to read that he found his mojo again down under. However, the setlists still look pretty uninspired for a guy with such a canon at his disposal.

I don't think the setlist lacks inspiration, I think he's is choosing to focus on newer material and not do a greatest hits show. Not the first time Bob has done this by any stretch.

Agreed. For me the benefit was he seemed far more engaged in the material than he has been many times in the past. The material was well suited to the band.

Saw him last night, the third and final show at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. It was my 11th show since 1991. Pretty much each time I vow after the event, "Never again." Last night I was thinking "Never again" about 30 seconds into the opener, "Things Have Changed" - though I did not recognize the song until it was almost finished.

The show was sheer torture. Maybe I should have been better acquainted with his newish material, though his traditionally appalling delivery and bizarre phrasing would have rendered them all complete mysteries anyway. The "warhorses" - Tangled Up in Blue, She Belongs to Me, and Simple Twist of Fate - were murdered.

I didn't even care that skipped "All Along the Watchtower" and "Blowin' in the Wind". I just wanted it to be over. I would have walked out, but it's a nice venue, and I had an expensive $160 seat in Row H with a buffer zone of empty seats around me. It also would have been nice to see his face from said seat, but he was backlit by faint spotlights.

I saw just 2 dudes in Deadhead shirts. This demo used to dominate Bob shows post-Jerry, but they have thankfully disappeared. That did not stop one of the dudes from doing an awkward white-man dance throughout the show. (The elderly crowd was seated throughout.)

How bad was it? I was thinking I could be home watching the completely inane "Homeland."