“I lost a great friend and a great hero last night,” Bruce Springsteen said yesterday night, onstage at the Bellville Velodrome in South Africa. “Pete back home was a very courageous freedom fighter. This is a song he adopted and helped popularize… Once you heard this song, you were prepared to march into hell’s fire.”
Then he sang “We Shall Overcome.”
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Take a look at Bob Dylan’s face in the above photo, which appeared today on American Songwriter. Then think about what it would be like if everyone you came in contact with wanted something from you. A photo. An autograph. A response to a question. An acknowledgement.
Something.
They always want some goddamn thing.
So maybe, even if it’s another artist, even if it’s Jeff Tweedy, you wouldn’t be in the greatest mood when the photographer took the photo.
Here’s Tweedy on playing “The Weight” with Dylan:
“We played that song in a different key every night. It was never in the same key. The tour manager would say, ‘It’s in A flat tonight.’ Or we’d already be out onstage, and we’d talk to Tony Garnier, the bass player, and somehow ask him which key and he’d say, ‘A flat.’ And that’s in front of a lot of people. But Dylan never told us. I think he likes putting himself and his band into a corner, to see if they can play their way out.”
“The Weight,” Virginia Beach, VA, on July 24, 2013:
Hoboken, NJ, on July 26, 2013:
Another clip of the same performance:
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Irvine, CA, August 3, 2013:
Another clip of the same performance:
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Irvine, CA, August 4, 2013:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Sixteen years ago, in January of 1997, the official sessions for 1997’s Time Out Of Mind began at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida with Daniel Lanois co-producing with Bob Dylan.
Time Out Of Mind followed the return to ‘folk’ albums, Good As I Been To You and World Gone Wrong that were the start of a new phase for Bob Dylan, one that has been a creative rejuvenation that continues to this day.
Musicians who took part in the sessions included Lanois, Augie Meyers (organ, accordion), Tony Garnier (bass). Jim Dickenson (keyboards), Jim Keltner (drums), Brian Blade (drums Winston Watson (drums), Tony Mangurian (percussion),Cindy Cashdollar (slide guitar), Bucky Baxter (acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar), Robert Britt (electric guitar), Duke Robillard (electric guitar), David Kemper (drums) and John Jackson (guitar).
Ten outtakes and alternative versions of songs on Time Out Of Mind were released on 2008’s The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006. I’ve posted them below.
Greil Marcus reviewing Tell Tale Signs:
The old songs that sprung to such cryptic life on Good as I Been to You and World Gone Wrong took a new form in 1997 with Time Out of Mind. There the likes of Blind Willie McTell’s “Ragged and Dirty” and the mists-of-time British ballad “Love Henry” shed their skins and grew new ones, turning into “Dirt Road Blues,” “Standing in the Doorway,” “Not Dark Yet,” “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven,” “Cold Irons Bound.” Onstage the songs changed shape yet again, as if they were less made than found, daring their putative composer to keep up with them. On numerous real bootlegs — as opposed to Dylan’s own official bootlegs — it was plain that “Cold Irons Bound” grew faster and bigger than anything else, but I have never heard anything like the Tell Tale Signs performance, from the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, in 2004.
Marcus ended his review:
…there is little point in saying that “Red River Shore,” despite the tragedy of its story, is as open as the Plains, the only limit to what it can say a matter whether you can see from one end of its Kansas to the other. After a few listenings, it might seem too sweet, not the tragedy it means to be at all. As you listen it might be replaced at the top of this set’s chart by “Most of the Time,” a song so carefully composed you can imagine that had Dean Martin or Fred Astaire had the chance to record it their versions would have been better than Dylan’s — and as Dylan performs it, solo on the first disc, with quiet, retreating accompaniment on the third, can make you lose track of time, to the point that the fact that Tell Tale Signs has dropped its clues over nearly two decades need mean nothing at all.
Daniel Lanois spoke to Alastair McKay of Uncut magazine when the outtakes and demos for the Time Out Of Mind sessions were released on the Bootleg Series album Tell Tale Signs:
Jeff Rosen [DYlan’s manager] called me a couple of months ago and said he was thinking or releasing the demo version of “I Can’t Wait”. That was my demo, which was done at my theatre. I was renting a theatre at the time in a place called Oxnard [California]. I had my shop set up there for a while. So Bob Dylan would roll down to the teatro, cos it was a Spanish town. That’s where we did the demos for Time Out Of Mind, and out of that demo session came some lovely things, including that version of “I Can’t Wait”, which I feel has a lot of thunder in it. It’s very stripped down ’cause it’s piano – Bob on my lovely turn of the century Steinway, which has a roaring bass in it; me on my goldtop 1956 Les Paul, through a Vox, and Pretty Tony on the drums, who was a friend of mine who stopped by the help with the demos. I was sad to abandon that version, ’cause I think it has lot of rock’n’roll in it.
I did a lot of preparation [for the album] with Pretty Tony in New York City. I listened to a lot of old records that Bob recommended I fish out. Some of them I knew already – some Charley Patton records, dusty old rock’n’roll records really, blues records. And Tony and I played along to those records, and then I built some loops of what Tony and I did, and then abandoned these sources; which is a hip-hop technique. And then I brought those loops to Bob at the teatro. And we built a lot of demos around them, and he loved the fact that there was a good vibe on those. Some of the ultimate productions ended up having those loops in them. Songs like “Million Miles” and, uh, is it “Heartland”? [We think he means “Highlands” – ed] – those long blues numbers have those preparations in their spine.
I wanted people to respond to the vocal and not play across the vocal, so when the singer sings, you keep quiet. And if you want to respond to the singing, then you should have a signature or a melody and not ramblings. The rambling thing belongs to an old Nashville sound, where people pick a lot. I didn’t want ramblings. Just like I don’t like Dixieland playing for that reason – it becomes like a mosquito in the room, like “Would you just stop playing for a minute?” I want to hear the singer. I wanted to make sure that we didn’t fall into the clichés of Nashville ramblings. I think that was OK for the past, but not for now. [Drummer] David Kemper said I told him that the players shouldn’t play pedestrian – they had to play strange? He might have been referring to that particular rant where I felt that people were on autopilot, and I didn’t want autopilot. I wanted Bob’s vocal and lyrics, and then if we had something to say musically aside from that, then let’s say it loud and proud, no meanderings.
Read the rest of Lanois’ comments here.
“Cold Irons Bound” – 5:57 (Live at Bonnaroo, 2004)
“Mississippi” – 6:04 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
“Red River Shore” – 7:36 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
“Can’t Wait” – 5:45 (Alternate version, Time Out of Mind)
“Marchin’ to the City” – 6:36 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
“Mississippi” – 6:24 (Alternate version #2, Time Out of Mind)
“Mississippi” – 6:24 (Alternate version #3, Time Out of Mind)
“Red River Shore” – 7:08 (Unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
“Marchin’ to the City” – 3:39 (Unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
“Can’t Wait” – 7:24 (Alternate version #2, Time Out of Mind)
“Dreamin’ of You” – 3:34 (Single Edit) (Unreleased, Time Out Of Mind)
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Last night, (January 12, 2014), Neil Young began his “Honour the Treaties” tour at Massey Hall in Toronto.
Here’s the set list.
Here’s a video of Neil Young at a press conference on January 12, 2014 talking about why he is supporting the First Nations communities with his tour of Canada:
Below are the clips I’ve found thus far from Massey Hall. If you find more, please let me know.
Meanwhile, enjoy.
“Old Man”:
“Ohio”:
“Southern Man”:
“Pocahontas”:
“Pocahontas” (another clip):
“Heart Of Gold”:
“Heart Of Gold” (another clip):
Compilation including “Helpless,” “Comes A Time,” “Heart Of Gold,” “Ohio,” and “After The Gold Rush.”
(Also check my posts with videos from the Carnegie Hall shows. Watch the January 6 show here, the January 7 show here) the January 9 show here and the January 10 show here.
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Bob Dylan – Blind Willie McTell (January 12… by Flixgr
When the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards were held two years ago, on Thursday, January 12, 2012, Martin Scorsese was the Music + Film honoree.
Appearing with his band to perform “Blind Willie McTell,” a song included in Scorsese’s PBS documentary series “The Blues,” was Bob Dylan.
Scorsese, of course, also put together the Dylan documentary, “No Direction Home.”
When Scorsese took the stage to accept his award he said:
“Such a great honor and an amazing performance by the great one, Bob Dylan. This award has a very special significance to me, so I’d like to begin with a special thank-you to Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli and the Hot Club of France. That was the music I used to hear when I was growing up in my apartment in New York, even before we had a TV, in the middle to late ’40s. Before anything for me, there was music and conversation, and for me they were both the same thing.”
Watch Olivia Harrison present the award and Scorsese accept it:
(If you’ve got Spotify, you might dig this Martin Scorsese jukebox plus clips from scenes in Scorsese films that include music.)
Other versions of “Blind Willie McTell”:
Accoustic version off The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3, from the Infidels sessions:
Electric version off The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3, from the Infidels sessions:
And a live electric version, Vienna, VA, August 24, 1997:
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2014, April 11-13 and April 18-20.
Day 1: OutKast, The Knife, The Replacements, Broken Bells, Zedd, Girl Talk, Ellie Goulding, Chromeo, HAIM, Neko Case, AFI, Martin Garrix, Bonobo, Bryan Ferry, The Glitch Mob, The Afghan Whigs, The Cult, Bastille, Flume, Aloe Blacc, Jagwar Ma, A$AP Ferg, Grouplove, Woodkid, Carnage, Shlomo, Gareth Emery, Michael Brun, MS MR, Kate Nash, Hot Since 82, Damian Lazarus, GOAT, Nina Kraviz, Anthony Green, Duke Dumont, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Solomun, ZZ Ward, Anti-Flag, Caravan Palace, Flatbush Zombies, Deorro, Waxahatchee, Title Fight, Davide Squillace, DJ Falcon, Dum Dum Girls, Austra, Tom Odell, Dixon, Wye Oak, Crosses, Mako, The Preatures, The Bots, Gabba Gabba Heys
Day 2: Muse, Queens Of The Stone Age, Skrillex, Pharrell Williams, Lorde, Foster The People, Pet Shop Boys, MGMT, Empire Of The Sun, Fatboy Slim, Nas, Kid Cudi, The Head And The Heart, Sleigh Bells, Cage The Elephant, City And Colour, CHVRCHES, Dillon Francis, Capital Cities, The Naked And Famous, Temples, Mogwai, Warpaint, Solange, Washed Out, Future Islands, Ty Segal, DARKSIDE, Banks, Tiga, Bombay Bicycle Club, Holy Ghost!, Netsky, RL Grime, Galantis, Foxygen, White Lies, Graveyard, The Internet, Laura Maula, The Dismemberment Plan, Headhunterz, Blood Orange, GTA, TJR, Cajmere, Guy Gerber, Nicole Moudaber, MAKJ, Bear Hands, The Magician, Young & Sick, Unlocking The Truth, Saints Of Valory, Carbon Airways, UZ, Syd Arthur, Bicep, Drowners
Day 3: Arcade Fire, Beck, Calvin Harris, Neutral Milk Hotel, Disclosure, Lana Del Rey, Motorhead, Alesso, Duck Sauce, Little Dragon, Beady Eye, Flosstradamus, The Toy Dolls, The 1975, Adventure Club, Big Gigantic, Chance The Rapper, Laurent Garnier, Krewella, Rudimental, STRFKR, Fishbone, Trombone Shorty, AlunaGeorge, Art Department, Flight Facilities, Frank Turner, John Newman, Maceo Plex, Superchunk, Bombino, Daughter, Bad Manners, Surfer Blood, Lee Burridge, Poolside, Classixx, Showtek, James Vincent McMorrow, Bo Ningen, Aeroplane, Ratking, Jhene Aiko, J. Roddy Walston & The Business, Factory Floor, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Anna Lunoe, The Martinez Brothers, Scuba, John Beaver
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Neil Young performs Bert Jansch’s “Needle of Death” and other songs, January 6, 2014, at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium in New York City.
Here’s the setlist.
Here’s the New York Times’ review.
(Also check my posts with videos from the January 7 show here and the January 9 show here.)
“Hank To Hendrix”:
“On The Way Home”:
“Only Love Can Break Your Heart”:
“Love In Mind”:
“Mellow My Mind”:
“Someday”:
“Old Man”:
“Ohio”:
“Ohio” (different perspective)”:
“Southern Man”:
“Needle Of Death”:
“Heart of Gold”:
“Comes A Time”:
“Long May You Run”:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news —
Forty years ago, on January 3, 1974, the “Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour” kicked off at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois.
Eighteen thousand, five hundred fans were there to see the historic first show.
This was the only full-bore tour Dylan and The Band did together after The Hawks changed their name to The Band and became major stars themselves.
I saw Dylan and The Band when they played the Oakland Coliseum on February 11, 1974. I was about halfway back, a ways up, but for me it was incredible.
It was my first time seeing Dylan, and while the Oakland Coliseum is big, it’s not that big. The sound was good and I was blown away. I’d seen The Band at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco previously, but to seem them with Dylan — it was on a whole other level.
I know that Dylan has talked about being on autopilot by the time he got to Oakland, but it sounded damn good to me.
Here’s the only video with Bob Dylan and The Band that seems to be available from the first Chicago show. They started off with a blistering version of “Hero Blues.” Dig it!
Here’s The Band playing “Stage Fright” the next night in Chicago:
Bob Dylan and The Band at Capital Center, Landover Maryland on January 15, 1974 — full show:
Bob Dylan playing “Desolation Row” at St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Missouri, February 4, 1974:
Bob Dylan, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974:
Bob Dylan, “Gates Of Eden,” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974 (sound is iffy at first but then it’s pretty great):
Bob Dylan and The Band, “Highway 61,” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974:
Bob Dylan & The Band, “Maggie’s Farm,” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974:
Here’s the setlist played that first night in Chicago (from bjorner.com):
Chicago Stadium
Chicago, Illinois
3 January 1974
1. Hero Blues
2. Lay Lady Lay
3. Tough Mama
4. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Robbie Robertson)
5. Stage Fright (Robbie Robertson)
6. Share Your Love With Me (Briggs/Malone)
7. It Ain’t Me, Babe
8. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
9. All Along The Watchtower
Holy Cow (Alain Toussaint)
King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (Robbie Robertson)
10. Ballad Of A Thin Man
Up On Cripple Creek (Robbie Robertson)
11. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
12. The Times They Are A-Changin’
13. Song To Woody
14. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
15. Nobody ‘Cept You
16. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Life Is A Carnival (Robbie Robertson – Rick Danko – Levon Helm)
The Shape I’m In (Robbie Robertson)
When You Awake (Richard Manuel – Robbie Robertson)
Rag Mama Rag (Robbie Robertson)
17. Forever Young
18. Something There Is About You
19. Like A Rolling Stone
(encores)
The Weight (Robbie Robertson)
20. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
1-3, 9, 11, 17-20 Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, harmonica), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Garth Hudson (organ, piano and clavinette), Richard Manual (keyboards), Rick Danko (bass), Levon Helm (drums).
4-5 Bob Dylan (guitar), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Garth Hudson (organ, piano and clavinette), Richard Manual (keyboards), Rick Danko (bass, vocal), Levon Helm (drums).
6 Bob Dylan (harmonica), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Garth Hudson (organ, piano and clavinette), Richard Manual (keyboards), Rick Danko (bass), Levon Helm (drums, vocal).
10 Bob Dylan (piano).
12-16 Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, harmonica).
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
The Afro-Peruvian collective Novalima visited KCRW’s studios recently and performed a tribute to Nelson Mandela.
Check out “Liberta”:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Psychic TV performed at Brooklyn Night Bazaar on December 27, 2013.
Watch 30 minutes of quality video:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-