latest from Desolation Row:-
More on Bootleg Series 8
My announcement yesterday about the new album “Tell Tale Signs” was based largely on information from Bobdylan.com. ISIS issued their own bulletin, and we both seem to have concluded that the 3 CD set containing the 7” vinyl could only be obtained by ordering from bobdylan.com, but that you’d still be able to get the 3CD set without the vinyl from other sources. This has been questioned by some who have read the Bobdylan/com announcement differently. Looking back at the Bobdylan.com announcement, it could be concluded that the only source of the 3 CD set is through Bobdylan.com. However, information from Sony/Columbia says otherwise. The only way to get the 7” vinyl is through bd.com by buying what they are calling the “Bobdylan.com Exclusive Deluxe Edition” but you can get the set without the vinyl through normal sources (although, caution, it’s a limited edition). Bobdylan.com mentions three options (2, 4 and 5 below), but there are apparently 6 options, as follows:
1. Single CD version (13 songs) in a jewel case with a 16 page booklet. The US and Canada will hold off on releasing this format until some time in November but elsewhere it will be released simultaneously with the other formats on October 7th. I believe this will be disc 1 of the 2/3 CD set.
2. 2 CDs featuring 27 songs plus a 60 page booklet with “stunning” rare photos and in-depth notes by author Larry "Ratso" Sloman. Price through bd.com $18.99, but available elsewhere.
3. The limited de-luxe edition - As above plus third CD with additional 13 live songs, plus 150 page deluxe photo book of Bob Dylan "singles" from around the world. Available through usual outlets.
4.The Bobdylan.com Exclusive Deluxe Edition - As 3 above plus 7" vinyl single of "Dreaming of You" and "Ring Them Bells". Available only through bd.com at $129.99. Note that these two tracks are not unique to the vinyl; they are both to be found on the first two CDs.
5. Four 180 gram vinyl LPs featuring 27 songs ( from CDs 1 & 2) plus the 60-page booklet as above. Price through bd.com $99.99, but available elsewhere.
6. An iTunes release of the 2CD version with an exclusive bonus track (to be decided) not included on any o fthe other formats.
Items 4 and 5 will be heavy and, if bought through Bobdylan.com, postage charges to Europe will be steep; for option 2 it’s just under $40.00.
"Dreaming of You" is available as a free download from bd.com. if you have trouble like I did, go to
www.yousendit.com That’s where I had success. There will be a second free download available early September but the exact date and which track are still to be decided.
“Ring Them Bells” on CD2, live at the Supper Club 1993, can be viewed in video format in the online version of Mondays USA today (see next section), You should be able to see it by clicking on the following url or by pasting it into your browser -
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-07-28-dylan-telltale-signs_N.htmIt’s a truly beautiful version IMO.
A concept video has been shot and is scheduled to premiere on September 8. The US are planning to give Amazon.com the premiere but it’s still to be decided for elsewhere. Further promotional videos are being planned.
The New Album According to Edna Gundersen
From USA Today –
The tunes, they are a-changin', and Bob Dylan fans will find the telltale signs on Tell Tale Signs, the long-rumored eighth installment of his Bootleg Series.
The two-CD, 27-song set, out Oct. 7, contains previously unreleased studio recordings, demos, alternate takes, live tracks and rarities spanning 1989 to 2006, a rich period that generated the lauded Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, Modern Times and Oh Mercy. A third 12-track disc is part of a limited-edition deluxe set in a hardcover slipcase with a book with photos of all of Dylan's singles. The 27-song version also will be issued in a limited-edition four-LP set.
Listeners will discover a wealth of fresh material and multiple versions of songs with altered lyrics, moods and styles.
"When Most of the Time came out on Oh Mercy, I thought it was such an achingly beautiful love song," says Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of A&R at Columbia/Legacy. "Now it's here as a folk version and something that sounds like Dylan with Brian Eno and The Edge. To hear the way the songs and lyrics develop is fascinating. Dylan comes across as a folk singer, a blues musician and a jazz artist."
Dignity appears as a truncated piano demo and in twangy rockabilly form. Series of Dreams undergoes a rewrite. Twin renditions of the bluesy Marchin' to the City serve as blueprints for 'Til I Fell in Love With You.
The newly unveiled Dreamin' of You, a free download at the just-overhauled bobdylan.com, bears lyrics that later fed other songs.
Also new to Dylan's canon are Red River Shore and Can't Escape From You, written for a film but never used. Miss the Mississippi was rescued from a long-shelved album with David Bromberg, and 32-20 Blues marks Dylan's only release of a Robert Johnson cover.
Among the rarities are the live The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore, eight-minute 'Cross the Green Mountain, The Lonesome River duet with Ralph Stanley and Ring Them Bells from Dylan's storied 1993 stint at the Supper Club in Manhattan. Those performances were filmed but never released.
"The songs and performances are of such strength and diversity, they will appeal to new fans and longtime fans," Berkowitz says, predicting the two-CD set will satisfy most appetites. "For some fans, there's never enough."