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BOB DYLAN 1965 REVISITED

Great Dane Records CD9419 14 CD box [T-480]

DISK ONE

(1) Bringing It All Back Home sessions (New York, NY); January 13-15, 1965
(2) Hawks session (New York, NY); January 27, 1966
(3) Les Crane Show (New York, NY); February 17, 1965

Tracklist: (1) I'll Keep It With Mine, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Farewell Angelina, You Don't Have To Do That, She Belongs To Me, Love Minus Zero, If You Gotta Go Go Now, If You Gotta Go Go Now, If You Gotta Go Go Now, If You Gotta Go Go Now
(2) I'll Keep It With Mine (instr.)
(3) It's All Over Now Baby Blue, interview, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

DEEP: Quality is excellent throughout, comparing favorably to other unofficial releases, except the official ones, of course. Fine quality sound on the Crane performances and interview.

DISK TWO

Civic Auditorium (Santa Monica, CA); March 27, 1965

Tracklist: To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero, Mr Tambourine Man, Don't Think Twice, With God On Our Side [cut], She Belongs To Me, It Ain't Me Babe [cut], Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll [frag], All I Really Want To Do, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

DEEP: 13 tracks cloned from Songs That Made Him Famous (which had 5 bonus trax). Sound quality is listenable but annoying. I know the historians will say any Dylan 1965 show on tape is important, but it is the standard show/setlist, and the Manchester Trade Hall is much better.

NOTE: Although apparently sharing the source tape of Songs That Made Him Famous, this disc is not an exact clone; it includes the 30-second fragment of "Hattie Carroll" that the earlier disc omitted.

DISK THREE

(1) City Hall (Sheffield, UK); April 30, 1965
(2) Don't Look Back soundtrack
(3) Levy's Recording Studio (London, UK); May 12, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Times They Are A-Changin', To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero
(2) Times They Are A-Changin', To Ramona (Sheffield, 4/30); Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll (Leicester, 5/2); Lost Highway, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Savoy Hotel, 5/3-4); Little Things (Newcastle hotel, 5/6); Don't Think Twice (Newcastle, 5/6); It's All Over Now Baby Blue (Savoy Hotel, 5/8); instrumental improvisation, Times They Are A-Changin', Talkin' World War III Blues, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Gates Of Eden; Love Minus Zero, All I Really Want To Do (London, 5/9)
(3) Miami Sales Message, If You Gotta Go Go Now

DEEP: Sheffield is lame quality, distant, historical significance be damned. The rest of the disk contains interviews/press conferences from the 1965 tour and the complete live and backstage performances found in Don't Look Back, all in excellent quality. Great to have it all in one place and in such good quality.

NOTE: This entry principally relies on the tracklist supplied by the issuer, and is not entirely consistent with the standard Dundas listing.

DISK FOUR

Free Trade Hall (Manchester, UK); May 7, 1965

Tracklist: Times They Are A-Changin, To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero, Mr Tambourine Man, Talking World War III Blues, Don't Think Twice, With God On Our Side, She Belongs To Me, It Ain't Me Babe, Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, All I Really Want To Do, It's All Over Now Baby Blue

DEEP: Absolutely essential show, available on several other releases in comparable, perhaps identical sound. If you don't get this box, do grab one of the other disks. The definitive '65 acoustic Dylan best quality available.

DISK FIVE

Royal Albert Hall (London, UK); May 10, 1965

Tracklist: Times They Are A-Changin, To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Love Minus Zero, Mr Tambourine Man, Talking World War III Blues, Don't Think Twice, With God On Our Side, She Belongs To Me, It Ain't Me Babe, Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, All I Really Want To Do, It's All Over Now Baby Blue

DEEP: Same setlist as Manchester, but in barely listenable quality. More a curiosity piece.

DISK SIX

BBC TV (London, UK); June 1, 1965

Tracklist: Ballad Of Hollis Brown, Mr Tambourine Man, Gates Of Eden, If You Gotta Go Go Now, Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, It Ain't Me Babe, Love Minus Zero, One Too Many Mornings, Boots Of Spanish Leather, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), She Belongs To Me, It's All Over Now Baby Blue.

DEEP: A great performance previously available on The Circus Is In Town; while the sound quality differs, it is hard to say which is better. The sound on here has a bit more hiss but appears more natural. Anyway, you need to have one or the other, if not a tape.

DISK SEVEN

Highway 61 Revisited sessions (New York, NY); June 15 - July 31, 1965

Tracklist: Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (mono), Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (stereo), Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (stereo acetate), Phantom Engineer (mono), Phantom Engineer (stereo acetate), Phantom Engineer (stereo), Like A Rolling Stone (stereo); Like A Rolling Stone (mono), Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (mono), Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (mono), Positively 4th Street (mono), It Takes A Lot To Laugh (mono), Tombstone Blues (mono), From A Buick Six, From A Buick Six, From A Buick Six

DEEP: Mono, stereo, and/or acetate versions of familiar material. A few of the acetate versions sound the same as the mono and/or stereo mixes, so you are sometimes getting the same take from a different source. Quality is excellent throughout. Many of these versions are found on other releases. A worthwhile disk, though I find it hard listening to so many takes of a song in succession.

DISK EIGHT

(1) Highway 61 Revisited sessions (New York, NY); August 2, 1965
(2) Newport Folk Festival (Newport, RI); July 24-25, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Desolation Row, Queen Jane Approximately, Highway 61 Revisited, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
(2) All I Really Want To Do, Maggie's Farm, Like A Rolling Stone, Phantom Engineer, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Mr. Tambourine Man

DEEP: Five excellent quality mono mixes available elsewhere. Quality here is excellent; "Desolation Row" is markedly different in this incarnation and has to be heard. So exhaustively reviewed I won't bother to comment other than to say that the quality here is up to snuff, which is to say very, very, good.

DISK NINE

Forest Hills (New York, NY); August 28, 1965

Tracklist: She Belongs To Me, To Ramona, Gates Of Eden, Desolation Row, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Mr. Tambourine Man, Tombstone Blues, I Don't Believe You, From A Buick Six, Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

DEEP: I call this the curiosity piece of this set, much like the Elephant Man's bones. Cool to check out once or twice, but beyond that not very fulfilling. Quality is dire, though I hesitate to say unlistenable. The sound is really bad and hard to enjoy, so let's put it in the "historical significance only" category.

DISK TEN

(1) Forest Hills (New York, NY); August 28, 1965
(2) Hawks sessions (New York, NY); October 5 - November 30, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Maggie's Farm, It Ain't Me Babe, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone
(2) Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window, I Wanna Be Your Lover, Jet Pilot, Medicine Sunday, Number One, Freeze Out

DEEP: The Hawks sessions are in excellent quality, with multiple takes and variant mixes, same quality to these ears as what is previously been available. Disk ten is a winner.

DISKS ELEVEN & TWELVE

(1) Allen Stone interview (Detroit, MI); October 24, 1965
(2) Nat Hentoff (unpublished) Playboy interview (New York, NY); October or November 1965

DEEP: Excellent quality interviews, revealing, playful, fun to listen to, no doubt. As cool as these are, how often are you gonna play 'em? A good listen, once, but better to have it in print to refer back to for specific quotes.

DISK THIRTEEN

(1) KQED Studios Press Conference (San Francisco, CA); December 3, 1965
(2) Berkeley Community Theater (Berkeley, CA); December 4, 1965

Tracklist: (1) press conference
(2) Tombstone Blues, I Don't Believe You, Baby Let Me Follow You Down

DISK FOURTEEN

(1) Berkeley Community Theater (Berkeley, CA); December 4, 1965
(2) Columbia press conference (Los Angeles, CA); December 16, 1965

Tracklist: (1) Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, Long Distance Operator, It Ain't Me Babe, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Positively Fourth Street, Like A Rolling Stone
(2) press conference

DEEP: The press conferences are hilarious, vintage BD. Play it for your friends!! The classic tape from December 4 is not great quality, but oh so listenable; to my ears the same quality as found on Long Distance Operator. The Hawks cook up a sizzling brew, white hot flame on top of BDs scorching vocals. The press conferences serve as nice bookends to the show.

DEEP: So, is it worth it you ask? Most of this material is available on other CDs in the same quality. Granted, there are a few takes of some outtakes which may appear here for the first time, but the "first-time on CD" release of Forest Hills, RAH '65, Newcastle '65 does not warrant the investment when you consider the quality. The interviews are cool also but can be just as enjoyable on tape. On the other hand, if you have nothing and want to get started, this would not be a bad place. Another factor in your decision might be whether or not you can get this material on tape from someone. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fine packaging job on the set. Each disk individually packaged in its own jewel case, some double slim lines. Large format 12x12 booklet with source information (how accurate it is I've yet to check) and nice photographs, all previously published. A fine overall job, yet I really believe a 10CD box with the interviews transcribed would have been better and more affordable.

AMG: A gift to Dylan archaeologists from enterprising bootleggers, 14 CDs' worth. The results are imposing, to say the least, as is the price. Nevertheless, extremely worthwhile.