Dylan's Management Orders Hush on Reissue Talk

• i always find it interesting when people argue about bob dylan like this. we've probably all seen don't look back and laughed at the reporters for asking him all those misguided questions, yet you're all doing it, right here, and about what? a value judgement that can't be measured and therefore, can't be right or wrong, ever. listen to music for the joy that it brings to YOU, not other people, and stop trying to press that joy on others, because joy is also immeasurable, nor can it be shared. think about that, and stop over-thinking dylan. its annoying.

• only bob. forever debated, forever great. new morning.. if you have to write a sentimental song. try and write on like it. you cant. dylan and the dead re-issue. probably just a simple twist of fate. but it is kind of cool that T.T.L. is dylan/hunter project.

• While I will admit that "Dylan and the Dead" is not a album that either can be particularly proud of, there are a cache of recordings of the rehearsals for that tour floating around which contain some amazing and fascinating material. A lot of songs were worked on that they never touched in the 6 shows they played together. A sloppy, but fun version of Paul Simon's "Boy In The Bubble" is one of my favorites...

• Before the Flood could have been a great live album if they had recorded the shows from Philadelphia. Check out the audience tapes from those shows and you'll see what I am talking about. New Morning was a good album that still gets played on my stereo. As for the mixed reviews, what do they matter? Good or bad, they don't change reality.

• First of all, bucks, Dylan's three night stand was at the House of Blues, not the Hard Rock. Honest mistake. Beyond that, Darryl writes that "Together Through Life" reviews have been "mixed." Darryl goes even farther in a comment, writing that "The real news in this post is that the new Dylan record isn't that great..." In fact, the reviews have been almost universally positive. I've probably skimmed 30 or 40 of them this week (links to them have been posted daily since Monday on the expecting rain website), and I think only 2 or 3 were faint in their praise. Rolling Stone gave it 4 out of 5 stars, for example. New York Newsday called it a "timely masterpiece." The Washington Post reviewer tagged it "outstanding." Ann Powers in the L.A. Times loved it. So did the Boston Globe, and John Dickerson at Slate.com. OK, so London's Globe and Mail didn't love it. And neither did the AP, but who the hell gets music criticism from the AP? The point is that Darryl wrote the reviews are mixed, but they're really, in truth not very mixed at all. Of couse, Darryl also wrote about the live album Before The Flood that "there's some power in the Band-assisted grooves of standards such as 'Just Like a Woman'" even though the Band doesn't assist with any grooves at all on that solo Dylan performance. All in all, a shabby blig entry.

• "To be unable to see the difference between this stiff and great ones like 'Blonde,' 'John Wesley Harding,' or 'Blood on the Tracks' is--I'm sorry--a little mind-boggling." I never said it was on the level of those albums, only that it's an album worth exploring. I was responding to the line about it being "not worth talking about."

• Okay, I love New Morning, too. But people seem to be missing the main point of the story - why does a label like Sony go to the trouble and expense of remaster/packaging/releasing four albums simultaneously, and NOT promote them at all? I check Bob's website weekly, and had I not seen them being checked in at the counter of Good Records, I still would have no idea they were even out, which is ridiculous. This reminds me of Bob's 3 night stand at the Hard Rock last year - the media were banned, and the News reviewer had to buy a ticket to get in. Perhaps he is being micro-managed. Why don't they just wait 3 months to put out the remasters and promote them properly? Daryl has the right to dismiss any Dylan album he chooses, just as the rest of us do.

• hey michael, why don't I "right" about it? you gotta be kidding, "write?" i know that on "flood" dylan sings "woman" solo, but the spirit of the band is there, the way he yells the song, the attitude. anyhow, the line about "morning" was a throwaway, just a quick jab at the end; the real story is dylan's people not wanting to hype two great reissues in fear that such might interfere with his new album. that's just silly. and like I said, that makes me a little wary of the new cd. and I wasn't a big fan of "modern times" or "love and theft".

• Daryl Your article was ill- informed. You are out of your depth and made a fool of yourself. The Band do not play on Just Like A Woman on BTF, It is solo acoustic. New Morning- No sensible person with ears describe it as a clunker. This was an ignorant, cheap shot by you. WHy don't you right about something you know about, instead of annoying people with your ignorance.

• "To be unable to see the difference between this stiff and great ones like 'Blonde,' 'John Wesley Harding,' or 'Blood on the Tracks' is--I'm sorry--a little mind-boggling." Who's unable to do that?

• "New Morning is definitely an album worth talking about. Heck, Dylan himself devoted a whole chapter of his memoirs to the album's genesis." Yes, and he pinpointed it as a time when he had lost the ability to write the way he used to. In order to understand the greatness of Dylan's earlier work, it's important to see how New Morning falls short. This is a poor record, not without its fine moments--the guy is a genius after all (I'm partial to "Time Passes Slowly" myself)--but under-produced, out of touch, and unconfident. To be unable to see the difference between this stiff and great ones like 'Blonde,' 'John Wesley Harding,' or 'Blood on the Tracks' is--I'm sorry--a little mind-boggling.

• New Morning is NOT a clunker!!

• New Morning is definitely an album worth talking about. Heck, Dylan himself devoted a whole chapter of his memoirs to the album's genesis. New Morning has a warm, laid back style and some of the best melodies of his career. It only gets better with age.

• The reissued Basement Tapes sounds great, but there are NO EXTRA CUTS. The packaging is nice. The sound on Before the Flood is the real revelation. "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mind" sounds like the Sex Pistols. If one didn't know better, one might think the audience was dubbed in.

• A multi-CD set of the COMPLETE 1969-1970 recordings of Dylan (from Nashville Skyline THROUGH New Morning, along with all unreleased outtakes and sessions) would be a revelation, and a superb set. He was still cahnging dramatically from session to session. New Morning had a tremendous and well deserved reception in 1970. It was heard as a "return of Bob Dylan" by some, with yet another voice and song style. But when you put all the 69-70 material together with the unrealeased material, it has incredible variety.

• Before The Flood has always been a personal favorite of mine and any reissue should include extra tracks of the extraordinary music made by Dylan and The Band on what was to be their "farewell" tour. The Basement Tapes should also be fully exhumed in all their historical glory and significance. What Sony has put out is merely a teaser as bootleg fans know full well. There's tons of stuff unreleased.

• The only reason I could think of for Sony to reissue Dylan & The Dead is to maybe catch people off guard who don't know it exists, and expect them to think it's worth buying because of the two big names. I too am curious as to what a reissued Basement Tapes sounds like. Attn. Someone at the Observer: get ahold of a promo from that Sony rep & review it for us!

• perhaps "clunker" is too strong a description for "new morning," but i certainly wouldn't put it on par with "blonde on blonde" or any of the truly legendary dylan efforts. i love "flood" exactly for the reasons some hate it: intensity. dylan as a punk, screaming at the whole idea of being a spokeman for a generation of folkies. "new morning" coming on the heels of drivel like "self-portrait" gained a decent reputation simply for being coherent. anyhow, why on earth did sony legacy decide to reissue dylan and the dead? that's just plain stupid. what's next, quadruple cd versions of "self portrait" and "knocked out loaded"?

• "Any body want to venture an opinion that Dylan and the Dead is some sort of lost masterpiece?" No. No one does.

• That's a very good question about these new "Basement Tapes," since the Columbia album from '75 was in a muddy, mono mix, whereas most of the original tracks are in stereo and amazingly clear.

• I almost never listen to Before the Flood. It's tiresome to hear one song after another blasted out at full volume with no subtlety or change of pace. Basically, Dylan just shouts his way through the whole concert. Weirdly, It's Alright Ma seems to benefit from this treatment. New Morning on the other hand is a fine album that I do listen to every now and then. It creates it's own little world and takes you along for the ride. When I found out that it was actually supposed to be the score for a musical I enjoyed it even more. Does anyone know if The Basement Tapes have been re-mastered from the original tapes. Or have they just had some kind of technical wizardry performed on a digitized copy?

• for those of us who remember that "New Morning" came out right around the time that the Vietnam War and the specter of the draft were ending could never call that album a "clunker" ... it reflected a moment of hope after a nightmare of a decade ... and "Day of the Locust" is one of the greatest sendups of academic pretension

• The Band does not play on "Just Like A Woman" on "Before the Flood". Dylan plays it solo and it IS a great version of the song.

• Most hardcore Dylan fans really like New Morning and conversely think that Before The Flood is an overrated bloated Dylan record that doesn't stand up to repeated listening. New Morning is wonderful and blows away Together Through Life. It stands on it's own but in the context of Bob coming off of Nashville Skyline and Self Portrait it must have been like water to a starving man.

• "The Basement Tapes" are great -- especially in the full five disc unreleased version. But I agree with the others who write in support of "New Morning." I've had all of these albums since they were originally released on vinyl. I listen to "New Morning" far more than "Before the Flood" whose novelty will wear off pretty quickly you will find. There are some bad songs on "New Morning" -- but there a handful of songs like "Sign on the Window," "The Man in Me," "If Not for You," and "Day of the Locust" (not to mention the great title song), which I will be listening to for the rest of my life. "Sign on the Window" is up there with Bob's very finest songs. "Brighton Girls are like the moon." What a great line that is.

• >Any body want to venture an opinion that Dylan and the Dead is some sort of lost masterpiece? (insert cricket sounds here) DYLAN & THE DEAD is the absolute nadir of Bob Dylan's output; NEW MORNING is a truly beautiful album to be treasured. Put down the pipe already.

• OK, OK, New Morning is just OK. A middling record that doesn't belong in the same league with Flood or The Basement Tapes. Hell, I think even Dylan would admit it. And even if The Band isn't backing Bob on "Just Like A Woman," the spirit of a band is there as Dylan shouts the lyrics out like Johnny Rotten. The real news in this post is that the new Dylan record isn't that great and Dylan's own people want to quash talk about reissues in order to promote the new product. Any body want to venture an opinion that Dylan and the Dead is some sort of lost masterpiece?

• New Morning a clunker? Go back and listen to it for crying out loud!!!!!!!!!

• If Paul Simon or another singer-songwriter of that era did New Morning, people would've praised it back then and now.

• Darryl you need to do some re-listening. New Morning is great, and The Band are nowhere to be found on "Just Like a Woman" on BEFORE THE FLOOD, it is a solo acoustic number on that record.

• Yup. Gotta heavily agree with the others. That's actually one of my favorite albums. Dylan had just allowed himself to get all domesticated and settled down......and New Morning reflects that in all its early bliss.

• New Morning ain't bad! Not life-changing or anything, but it's a nice break from having to think during a Dylan record.

• i beg to differ about New Morning here, kind sir, but ... are you out of your mind ??? New Morning is just another Dylan Classic that the masses "didn't get", just because he was changing again, and folks "like to wear their old shoes", er, resist change and aren't open-minded enough to immerse themselves and indulge in the artists' greatness. The studio musicians on this album, such as a Young Buzzy Feiten on guitar, along with jazzy piano and feathery drum brushes make this album a joy to listen to if only for its musicality. Add in great songs like If Not For You, Went To See The Gypsy, Day of The Locusts, and the spoken word/scat singing on If Dogs Run Free (!!!) did somebody say this album wasn't worth talking about ??? I can't STOP talking about it. Put this damn album in the player, spark one up, and listen to it for the first time, again. Thank you.

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