The 1966 Live Recordings

It Could Even Be Like a Myth - Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings (Early thoughts) Writing about BOB DYLAN: THE 1966 LIVE RECORDINGS is a daunting task; after all, so much has already been said, and with the mammoth, monumental 36-CD official release of all extant concerts, the 1966 record is as complete as it will get. It’s impossible to do justice to this set after one full listening. This is something that will take a year or two of intensive study and is not for novice Dylan fans, whom it would likely drive bonkers. (Released the week of the presidential election, it’s as if Bob knew what was coming and gifted us something to take our minds off President Trump, though “Desolation Row” sure provides a stark reminder of where we stand.) The set lists - aside from a scorching “Positively Fourth Street” in Australia - are unvarying, and to many ears, one concert is probably no different from another. As any seasoned Dylan fan will tell you, though, this is nonsense. The songs might remain the same, the arrangements the same, but Dylan emphasizes different words, and for me, the difference in some sets is as clear as night and day. I’ll start with saying that in a vacuum, these are all historic and great concerts. and the differences are more of degree than kind. I could take my least favorite set from both the acoustic and electric portions, and if it were all that existed, I’d no doubt worship at its altar. That, however, is not the case. We have an embarrassment of riches to choose from, and artists, even geniuses like Bob Dylan, have days where they aren’t feeling it as much as others. I’ll take Bob Dylan going through the motions over just about anyone else at his or her very best, but when Bob’s into it - when he’s seemingly possessed as he was during the acoustic portions of Birmingham and Sheffield - the results are hypnotic and give me goosebumps. Those sets are filled with “listen to the way he sings that line” moments, again and again. I hear "Mr. Tambourine Man" and think if EVERYONE listened - really listened - to this song world peace would be possible. There are at least five “holy s***” performances of “Visions of Johanna” (including Edinburgh and the aforementioned Birmingham and Sheffield), which leave you scratching your head about why the considerably less wondrous May 26 Royal Albert Hall version was selected for BIOGRAPH. The two concert halves form a whole that’s more than the sum of their parts, but really, the acoustic and electric portions couldn’t be more different, and an acoustic set standing out one night didn’t necessarily mean the electric half would. It’s understandable because they are two different worlds. The acoustic portion is otherworldly, transporting you to somewhere beyond time. Bob has talked about how one of his primary goals when making music is to stop time. For seven songs, night after night, he did just that. Crowds listened mostly in rapt attention. There was no booing. It is a holy, spiritual experience. When listening to word perfect performances of "Visions of Johanna," "Desolation Row," and "Mr. Tambourine Man," it strikes me that Bob Dylan could very well have been awarded a Nobel Prize in 1966 and makes the backlash to his receiving it a half century later seem silly, indeed. Anything spiritual vanishes the moment the Band breaks into “Tell Me Momma,” with a performer on the ledge and about to go over the edge. (Royal Albert Hall, night two, May 27, is Bob’s last concert before the motorcycle crash. After that, silence.) The electric set takes place in a different world, one of lust and vengeance, of mixed up medicine, of rock ’n roll. I can see Bob totally feeling the spiritual side one night and not so much the rock side (as perhaps in Sheffield). On other nights, maybe he can’t wait to break out the electric guitar, and the acoustic set is done as a duty (as perhaps in Royal Albert Hall, night one). The increasing hostility to the electric half as the tour went on seems to have inspired Bob to even greater performances. The defiant artist, spitting fire, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues," "Ballad of a Thin Man," "Like a Rolling Stone," singing songs that could all be in one way or another messages to the Mr. Joneses in the audience (e.g., “She” in “I Don’t Believe You” could be the fans). Live music recording was in its infancy in 1966, so the electric results are sometimes somewhat muffled and not as clear as the acoustic sets, but it’s obviously great rock ’n roll, with the Band getting tighter and tighter as the tour went on, straight through the extraordinary Albert Hall electric sets. The interaction is all there, including Bob’s comic asides, like when he’d assure the audience that he was playing folk or protest songs, or his insistence that “Visions of Johanna” isn’t a drug song and that it’s “just vulgar to think so.” Although there are boos and catcalling, it’s clear throughout the tour that the vast majority were applauding and appreciative of the music. Glasgow is another stand out, with what might be a contender for best ever live performance of “One Too Many Mornings,” and of course Manchester is here with the “Judas” exchange and what could be a word of advice for fans fifty years on: “Play f---ing loud."

This is Bob Dylan at his very best, period. I encourage all fans of Dylan, be it serious, hardcore fans or the more casual listener to purchase this box set while you can. It's absolutely fantastic! The box set contains 36 CD's and at a cost of under $100, that's an incredible value. This deluxe box set, though not numbered is one of the very finest releases in the superb Bob Dylan Sony/Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings Bootleg Series. This box set corresponds to the 2 CD Bootleg Series Volume 4 release "The Royal Albert Hall Concert" and the exact same recording of that truly historic concert taped on May 17, 1966 in Manchester, England is included in this set. The Box itself though housing 36 CD's is very compact, resembling a cube unlike the older, traditional large bulky box sets. Really nice.. 1966 saw the close of Bob Dylan's first cycle of music just prior to his motorcycle accident in July of that year. His finest work up to this time (tracks from the landmark albums "Bringing It All Back Home," "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde On Blonde") were performed on this tour which saw quite a lot of pandemonium over his recent transition to all electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Amazon's referencing of Dylan transitioning to "surrealistic electric poet" in the 1965/66 period is aptly quite accurate and very well put. He did after all, go on to later win the Nobel Prize For Literature.. Most appropriate. The Hawks (later The Band in the 70's) perform at maximum intensity and the quality of the recordings, though not always perfect are for the most part, excellent. The original recordings are a combination of Soundboard Recordings, Audience Recordings and official recordings from Columbia Records Mobile as Bob Dylan was considering releasing a live album at this time. The Columbia Records Mobile recordings are superb and even the Soundboard Recordings are quite good. The Audience Recordings are obviously of lesser quality though their inclusion does allow this set to present every performance from Bob Dylan's 1966 shows. Every known recording from Dylan's now legendary 1966 tour covering the U.S.,UK, Europe and Australia are included in this box set. Of all the Dylan live recordings out there from the early/mid 60's thru today, these are the prime ones though lets not forget his mid 70's live performances and the later tours with Tom Petty in the mid late 80's. Of course the culmination of all this incredible music winds up at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert in 1992. It just keeps on going. Thank you, Mr. Dylan. This set is unreleased Dylan at his very best second only to "The Cutting Edge 1965-1966" The Bootleg Series Volume 12 deluxe box set released in 2015 and the "More Blood, More Tracks" The Bootleg Series Volume 14 deluxe box set released in 2018. Both of these latter two box sets are comprised of unreleased studio recordings and are nothing short of amazing. This live chronicle covering virtually every show from 1966 is awesome. The above referenced studio tracks box sets along with this massive 1966 collection covers Bob Dylan at his cutting edge best. This is the Dylan that broke all the rules in pop music and redefined the live venue for.all that came after. Definitive. A must own!

I'm going to focus on the music here...the historical situations surrounding these concerts are good to know, but I can't talk about them like I know "what it was like" or "what it was all about". At best, listen to the in-between's with the audiences and you'll get the idea. The songs he plays alone are about as dense as a collapsed star...his rhythm is great, reminds me of the spells Charley Patton can put you under. His voice is something else, though - it's like someone's speaking to you from another world. He has experienced the peculiar and decided to write about it, through fictional plot lines or situations that actually occurred. But all the imagery is his, and he knows how to sing about it. His harmonica playing is exploratory - it reminds me of the Renaissance lute, very different from Freight Train Blues, Girl from the North Country, Bob Dylan's Dream. I think about parts of the U.S. I've never been to when I listen to those songs....but with these new ones, you could walk all over the place and still not find the source. Even if he's rambling on purpose, I'll put on my rambling shoes too. Now...when the Hawks come on, forget it man. Game over. This is some of the best music you will ever hear in your life. Turn the volume up...all the way up to a point right before your ears pop and your speakers bleed. Let the rhythm consume your every motion. Flow with it, flow in it. It's unbelievably tight playing - nothing in rock music has ever matched these concerts (and up until this point in time, 2019, still has yet to match it.) Dylan wrote songs that didn't contain room for 20-minutes solo....Robbie, Garth, and Richard had just enough to time to damage the audience...and my lord, did they put a hurting. It's exciting and irresistible. As a bassist, I can't get enough of Rick Danko's playing. It stands alone. You need to watch any footage of these concerts and pay attention to his fingers. The recordings don't pick up all the nuances, but he's FLYING. I cramped up so bad the first couple months trying to figure it out my hand looked like that of a dying rat. Rocks' greatest bassist and one of music's finest. Mickey Jones bears the Hammer of Thor in these shows. He wants to smash the audience, and he does. Now...the way Bob Dylan moves his voice in and out of the rhythm is incredible, it's very hard to do (and you will hear that even he took some time getting used to his words being sung in different patterns.) Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, for me, is just the hornet's thorax. It's a shnazzy. Watch that Scorsese documentary on Dylan, in particular the footage for this song. Dylan really gets into it, like during that line "Sweet Melinda the peasants call her the goddess of gloom!" He's in it. That's my recommendation for how to treat this music...be in it, groove with the players and have a good time. Each CD with the Hawks seems to highlight different players...when you start to get used to the way the Hawks were playing his songs, you'll be able to "fill in the blanks". I'm 25, and it's very odd to hear these songs knowing people like my grandparents were in their 30s when this was happening. For those of you my age out there, it may seem hard to understand what "50 years ago" actually feels like, so do whatever you can to make that happen...then try to imagine someone doing something similar in our day and age (you know, shaking things up a bit..)

This set perfectly documents the 1966 World Tour which has (at least retrospectively) been lauded as one of the best ever. Dylan was at a peak from a creative and influential standpoint, and his supporting musicians included most of the (future) Band, who would go on to create a couple of the greatest albums of the rock era. Of course the focal point of the tour is the heresy of the former folkie Dylan plugging in during the second set of each night. From what I can hear, the audience is not that hateful at most of the shows, and from what I have read, the “big boo” may be somewhat overblown in the pursuit of a good narrative. I’m not concerned about that mainly because here we are blessed to have an incredible document of pretty much every show of the European tour in soundboard quality, and a few in multi-track recorded by Columbia. After a couple slightly ragged shows in Australia, the tour really sets a high standard of quality from night to night. The soundboards document interesting mixing differences as sometimes you can hear Garth or Robbie and the others a little higher or lower, which can add a different texture. Also some nights are played with more abandon than others. The acoustic sets tend to be more uniform but still excellent. However, there are some exceptions like the impossible Sheffield set with the Tambourine Man descending into swirling harmonica madness and emerging again just when you think it cannot possibly return. Not to ramble any further, if you are a serious Dylan fan this is going to be the best thing you purchase this year and at less than $4 per disc, it is actually a great value. Also the packaging is pretty perfect, very compact but informative. Even the sleeves are sturdy and will not allow the discs to simply fall out like a lot of them. However, they are of slick material so I do not think they will cause many scratches either.

"Folk-rock. I've never even said that word." Bob Dylan. For fans of Dylan's early period this massive set will be a good addition to the music shelf. If you've heard Vol. 4 in the Bootleg Series you already have a good idea of what's here. 1966 was a pivotal year for both Dylan and music. And similar to the earlier release of the '65-'66 studio recordings, this set includes every gig he did in '66. Five "stars" because I was around then listening to Dylan and I still remember how exciting it sounded when he strapped on an electric guitar and had a tough, rocking, roadhouse band backing him. Some fans will rate this release higher or lower depending on how they hear all these concerts. So, to each his own on that subject. If you want to know a lot more about these concerts, read the recently published book "Judas!: From Forest Hills to the Free Trade Hall..." by Clinton Heylin, an in depth look at that whole period. But let's also remember that (also like the '65-'66 studio set) these recordings had to be released by the record label or their 50 year copyright protection would go out the window, allowing anyone who had access to the recordings to release them and keep the money. So while I'm very happy to have these recordings don't believe all the hype about finding all these tapes and issuing them just for avid fans (like me admittedly) to pounce on. I haven't had this set long enough (I started listening just before release day) to listen to every single gig--but I'm in no hurry--preferring to hear each concert as a standalone experience. So I listened to the first couple of concerts and then picked various dates from across this set to get a better idea of overall sound quality. Most of these sets have decent to good sound--but remember these are soundboard recordings for the most part with their own sonic limitations, and a few concerts recorded by CBS for possible release, that are the best sounding of the bunch. The last concerts (grouped together because of their audience origins) from Feb. and April of '66 in the U.S., Australia, and Sweden, are audience tapes with less than stellar sound. But at least they're all included. The packaging isn't as massively cool as the previously mentioned studio box set, but does have good notes by Clinton Heylin, along with some nice period photos. The outer box is a thick-ish cardboard with some nice period graphics all over it, not much bigger than the CD envelopes inside (with pics from Pennebaker's films) that has been used for other large sets, especially for jazz artists or classical music. The set lists are pretty much the same from gig to gig. There's no real need to dissect every gig or song from different concerts. Dylan changed up his performances from gig to gig which you can hear across this collection. At this late date it may be hard for some people to listen to several of these gigs in one sitting, and wonder what all the excitement is (was) about. Admittedly (for me) this is something to be enjoyed in small doses like the huge Grateful Dead sets--a concert or two at a time--rather than sitting down and listening to several gigs nonstop. And I wonder if Dylan fans who weren't lucky enough to have been around in '66, and experienced that whole era, when Dylan morphed from acoustic folk music/'"voice of the people", to a whole other rock 'n' roll thing with (essentially) The Hawks adding to his new overwhelming (for some folk fans) electric sound, can fully appreciate what Dylan was doing. "I adjusted the strap on my Telecaster so I could release it with a quick thumb movement and use the guitar as a weapon. The concerts were starting to feel that unpredictable." Robbie Robertson. Every night you can hear Dylan escaping the bonds of folk music when he and his band plugged in and turned up the sound. There's an edge, an excitement, in Dylan's vocals and in his backing band's powerful playing that swept away the "old" Dylan sound. That was Dylan, the beacon, the leader, of the folk movement. This was Dylan blasting into outer space using electrified instruments. The concert from 6 May '66 in Belfast is just one example of this change. The acoustic set is nice, but the eruption when the full band plays is something else again. "At one of the shows, where the stage wasn't much higher than the seating of the audience, a girl stormed the stage with scissors in her hand. Security grabbed her in time, but it was a close call." Robbie Robertson. But if you weren't around in '66 and into Dylan's music, this collection will give you a good idea of the changes ("Drop dead Dylan.") Dylan was making in his music. I can remember being stunned at hearing Dylan "go rock 'n' roll" and being excited about it. But other Dylan fans I knew were dismayed at his "sell-out" from the perceived folk music principles he had previously laid out for fans. Remember the "Judas!" comment from an outraged audience member? That kind of thinking was very real back then. Dylan's "new" music was heard as some kind of hostile takeover, a betrayal, of his previous stance in folk music, which was the very soul of '60s folk/protest music for many people who believed he was a "traitor" (as some people yelled) to the folk movement. And it all disappeared when Dylan appeared on stage with an electric guitar around his neck and even more musicians standing with him with even more electric instruments. And the loud sound! And now having the chance to hear all these gigs as Dylan and his band attack many of these tunes brings back some of that '66 excitement and wonder. And for fans who weren't there way back then this is a chance to hear Dylan change his style night after night from a previously scruffy Guthrie inspired folk singer to rock 'n' roller. In (for me) small doses this is a chance to relive that whole era, and this music still has the electric excitement from that time. If you have the coin and are a fan of early, game-changing Dylan, you might want to investigate this set. If this is too much check out the 2 CD concert release (set for Dec. release) for a good idea of what's here. And now on to The Who box set (now held back until Dec.), celebrating their first album. It would've been too much to have so much good music in the span of a week or so and try and review it all. What a great couple of months for '60s music fans. And if you're a Deadhead and want a 21 CD set of live Dead from '71 post a comment and I'll get back to you.

I’m glad I got over my misgivings about ordering this box set. After listening to about 96% of the CDs, I think that at least 86% of them are worthy of further appreciation. And I respect the warts-and-all approach of including even marginal recordings and allowing the listener to sort things out. Most of the audience tapes (5 CDs) are quite flawed in sound quality, but they are significant in other ways. They probably represent what most of the audiences actually heard at these concerts in 1966, which is sobering to realize. It would take several years for sound technicians to (sometimes) adequately reproduce––let alone record––the live sound of electric bands. This is pioneering stuff at the beginning of the rock concert era. Most of the recordings (24 CDs) are taken directly from the mixing boards to a high quality reel-to-reel mono tape deck. The operator, Richard Alderson, was Dylan's sound engineer and his taping techniques mostly improved as the tour went along. Overall the monos sound better than the stereo tapings (7 CDs) of the four shows that Columbia Records tried to capture. Many of the best concerts and individual song performances are on the mono tapes. To my ear, they sound better than the stereo recordings from Manchester and London that most Dylan fans have become familiar with over the years. The tour was intense and Dylan was focused on performing these songs. The Hawks mostly got better and better as they accompanied him. There are many fine instrumentals during both acoustic and electric sets. I love the sense of “being along for the ride" that developed as I listened to these concerts. As for those who think that this box set is just too much of one thing, I remind them that too much is never enough in rock n roll. Almost all of the publicity about the tour concerns the second-half electric Band performances. Admittedly, music historians place a lot of significance on these groundbreaking, tense, misunderstood rocknroll workouts. But I am disappointed that no one seems interested in the first-half acoustic outings of solo Dylan. They are some of the most focused, heartfelt, expressive live sets Dylan ever performed; he skillfully accompanies himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica. Some of his improvisations on harmonica are literally breathtaking. The booklet included with the box set, written by Clinton Heylin, is sparse but helpful. Heylin's 2016 book Judas! is a more expansive supplement; it provides context and some insight about the tour and the performances. But the recordings can speak for themselves. Overall, the set is exquisite stuff for a serious Dylan fan with some time on her hands!

What can you say if you are a Dylan fan? Well, you have to own this, it is as simple as that. Since I wrote a paper about him and had some long discussions with one of my professors about the value of what Dylan said back in the 60s when I was going to College, I felt particularly vindicated when when Mr. Dylan won the Noble Prize for Literature. So what do you get when you buy this box set? How about ALL 36 of the concerts he did on his World tour in 1966. But nowhere does it say you get the full concert on each disk. More on that later. After listening to some of them, (just got this for Christmas from my wife so I haven't had time to hear them all) it gives understanding as well as a lot of value. Did you understand the big fuss about when he went electric? I thought I did, but not as well as when I listened to Disk #21 (and yes each disk is marked with a number). It starts out acoustic, just him and his guitar. Then when his electric backup band comes on and joins him, it is quite jarring. Especially if you know that all the albums he had released up to 1966 had been acoustic only and that is the way his fans thought of him. The backup band - was THE BAND, but not yet. As they became the group known as "The Band' after backing him up for some time. In these recordings, some of it sounds pretty rough. They got better, in fact they got great, but that is another review. The electric sound to unexpecting ears not wanting electric, had to have been, and was quite shocking. You can hear it on these disks. If you know of Dylan, you know he likes to change things, so you will hear differences in some of the songs from disk to disk. In fact, it appears he had basically 2 set track lists - (unless he did all the songs and they alternated them between disks which is a possibility as some of the disk are more like album length. Usually for example one performance will include Desolation Row & Just Like A Woman, and the next performance will not, but will include Ballad of A Thin Man, Just Like A Woman and Like A Rolling Stone.The liner booklet included in the box doesn't detail that or else I overlooked their explanation. Maybe it will help if you look at the number of tracks and the length of each disk. I know when my wife and I saw Dylan in concert back in the 80s - it was not a 45 minute or so concert. He did a mix of old and new songs. We skipped his recent concert in a nearby city since the reviews of the setlist showed he was only doing 'standards' from his most recent two CDs. The booklet did mention that soundboard or high quality tapes of all the concerts were not in existence. So to ensure that all the concerts were included they got the best possible audience recording (as my wife said 'Aren't those illegal?) Some of them sound like they were recorded in an echo chamber or from the back row of a crowded theater, and maybe they were. So in the box set, instead of presenting them chronologically all of the 'audience recordings' are the last 5 in the box. Each CD is in a cardboard box with a different picture of Dylan on the front and an old fashioned back of a reel to reel tape box (and yes I have lots of real ones here at home with stuff on them and a reel to reel player to play them on if they would hook up to anything now). The box tells you whether the disk is Monophonic or Stereophonic (most are mono) and list the location and date of the performance as well, at the bottom, it tells you whether it was Soundboard, CBS recording (they were planning a live album and recorded some of the concerts) or Audience Tape. So in the order they are in the box: with , Box # Location, Number of Tracks, total time, a few of the songs on the disk, and the type recording: 1. Sydney 7 tracks, 45:32 includes Desolation Row & Just Like A Woman,Soundboard 2. Sydney 8 tracks, 41:28 includes Ballad of a Thin Man, Positively 4th Street, Soundboard 3. Melbourne 9 tracks 54:12 includes Desolation Row, Just Like A woman, Soundboard 4. Copenhagen 7 tracks 36:27 includes Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 5. Dublin 7 tracks 45:14 includes Visions of Johanna, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, Soundboard 6. Dublin 8 tracks 44:25 includes Tom Thumb's Blues, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 7. Belfast 6 tracks 39:08 includes Fourth Time Around, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, Soundboard 8. Belfast 8 tracks 41:29 includes One Too Many Mornings, Ballad of a Thing Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 9. Bristol 7 tracks 46:42 includes Fourth Time Around, Mr. Tambourine Man (2 Soundboard) other 5 Audience recordings 10. Bristol 8 tracks 41:54 includes Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 11. Cardiff 8 tracks 46:24 includes Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 12. Birmingham 7 tracks 45:44 includes She Belongs To Me, Desolation Row (incomplete), Just Like A Woman, Soundboard 13. Birmingham 8 tracks 42:36 includes I Don't Believe You, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 14. Liverpool 12 tracks 75:40 includes Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 15. Leicester 7 tracks 48:00 includes It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, Soundboard 16. Leicester 8 tracks 42:04 includes Tell Me Momma, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 17. Sheffield 7 tracks 52:56 includes Visions of Johanna, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, CBS Records recording (Stereo) 18. Sheffield 8 tracks 46:19 includes Baby Let Me Follow You Down, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 19. Manchester 7 tracks 52:56 includes Fourth Time Around, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, CBS Records recording (Stereo) 20. Manchester 9 tracks 48:17 includes One Too Many Mornings, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone CBS Records recording (Stereo) 21. Glasgow 12 tracks 79:10 includes It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Desolation Row (incomplete) Just Like A Woman, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 22. Edinburgh 7 tracks 50:14 includes Desolation Row (incomplete) Just Like A Woman, Mr. Tambourine Man, Soundboard 23. Edinburgh 8 tracks 44:56 includes Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 24. Newcastle 7 tracks 47:27 includes She Belongs To Me (incomplete) Desolation Row (incomplete) Just Like A Woman, Soundboard 25. Newcastle 8 tracks 43:35 includes One Too Many Mornings, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 26. Paris 7 tracks 45:34 includes She Belongs To Me, Desolation Row (incomplete) Just Like A Woman, Soundboard 27. Paris 8 tracks 45:34 includes I Don't Believe You, Ballad of a Thing Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Soundboard 28. London 7 tracks 49:01 includes Fourth Time Around, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, CBS Records recording (Stereo) 29. London 8 tracks 45:20 includes Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, CBS Records recording (Stereo) 30. London 7 tracks 45:34 includes She Belongs To Me, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, CBS Records recording (Stereo) 31 London 8 tracks 43:35 includes I Don't Believe You, Ballad of a Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, CBS Records recording (Stereo) 32. White Plains 9 tracks 52:24 includes To Ramona, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, She Acts Like We Never Met (incomplete) Audience tape 33. Pittsburgh 8 tracks 43:07 includes Mr. Tambourine Man, Positively 4th Street, Like A Rolling Stone, Audience Tape 34. Hempstead 13 tracks 64:03 includes Fourth Time Around, Visions of Johanna, Desolation Row, Audience Tape 35. Melbourne 12 tracks 64:20 includes She Belongs To Me, Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, Audience Tape 36. Stockholm 11 tracks 44:44 includes It's All Over Now Baby Blue, Desolation Row (incomplete) Audience Tape That's all folks. Admit it. If you've gotten this far you either already own this box set or you are going to buy it. If you care at all about Dylan's music, go ahead and spend the big bucks. The music is worth it.

This is an unimaginable dream and it is every bit as fantastic as you could want. This is like having the entire 1983-84 season on DVD, when Larry was at his athletic peak! I wish the powers that be would issue the same for the Beatles, especially everything recorded during the making of Sgt Peppers, all the chatter and warm up etc, that would make an incredible amount of money even if offered as inexpensive as this, they'd be making hand over fist because Beatles fans would open even the tightest purse strings, I guarantee it!! The sound is all over the place but that is a huge part of the appeal! In some cases you're only getting snippets of not the best quality to solidly recorded rocking discs. Just like that tour, it was an up and down roller-coaster that I've been reading about for well over a quarter of a century and he has helped me through many a tough time, one of the many reasons I have Bob tattooed over my heart. The man is a living legend and I've seen him a dozen or more times but now I get to travel with the band around the world in that incredible year of 1966!! For those who are unaware, his backing group was compromised of the core members of The Band (Up on Cripple Creek, The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down, The Weight!!) including Robbie Robertson on guitar, Levon Helm (for part of the tour), Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson!! Seriously, you can't pass this up, beyond my wildest dreams, it's like being there!!

生々しい記録をこれだけ聴ける事は、うれしい限り

Lots of other reviews here on Amazon, making good points. What do you get? 36 CDs, a slim booklet, and a well-made cardboard box with lid. CD card covers have tracklist and recording details on back, and individual (all different) live concert photos from the tour on the front. What's on the CDs? 18 concert recordings from soundboard reel tapes (in mono) or professional CBS concert recordings (in stereo, the last few concerts of the tour). Most are complete, or just missing a bit where tape had to be turned-over / changed. The last 5 discs are audience recordings of shows CBS didn't record. Why is this interesting? Firstly, it's for Bob Dylan freaks like me, who know that these Dylan concerts are among the greatest musical evenings there have ever been for rock music fans. The live recordings in Europe are excellent quality, a fine representation of the music. The concerts are generally the same songs (over and over again!), BUT in the case of the electric sets, different songs come off better or less well on different nights (especially the thunderous intros). The band listened to the tapes after the concerts, and no doubt looked for ways to make the next concert better. Even the acoustic sets show Dylan in different moods, sometimes just singing the songs nicely in tune, professionally for the people, but sometimes in touch with what the songs are about and conveying the meaning with real feeling. Even the audience tapes have a story to tell - history tells us that the electric sets were over-loud and people couldn't understand the vocals. Now you can hear for yourself, what it sounded like for those attending. I'm a Dylan-in-'66 nut - I bought the £400 studio set (and CBS then kindly gifted purchasers with all the 1965 live material too). We know that we're getting these things because the copyright is running out, but it's finally getting us as much as we can listen to, of probably the greatest rock tour that there ever was. Everything there is, is not too much! There is no other example of such great coverage for a great tour. Value for money is hardly an issue, faced with the chance to get this material - however, 36 CDs for £100-odd -you do the math.. The audience recordings may have you straining to follow the electric sets, and the Australian soundboards are not like the European recordings, but there's plenty to enjoy in great recording quality. So, a wonderful present for Dylan buffs, in barebones packaging, which keeps the price manageable. Leaflet is dull but refers readers on to the Clinton Heylin book about the tour, which is well worth acquiring. Incidentally, the re-issue of the No Direction Home DVD has live footage of a few whole songs from the tour, as extras. When I loved the bootleg of the Manchester concert in the early seventies, I never dreamed that we would (eventually!) get to hear all-there-is of this wonderful material - glad I lived long enough to see this day.

No hay que decir que es una caja para los muy fans de Dylan, una vez dicho esto hay que añadir que se trata de una gira mitica yo diria indispensable para entender que necesaria para entender el desarrollo de la musica popular de nuestros dias., es casi un diario de abordo de toda una epoca. Tanto Martin Scorcese como sobre todo D.A Pennebaker hicieron dos excelentes documentales sobre la misma, sobre todo el segundo. Estos cociertos documentan ala perfeccion la transicion del Dylan folk al Dylan electrico y la evolucion que concierto a concierto se va produciendo, como el publico y el mismo se van acostumbrando a esa evolucion. De hecho el programa en todos ellos es casi identico y siempre tienen una primera parte acustica de Dylan solo y luego Dylan con los Hawks, que terminarian siendo tras esta gira The Band. Aqui los musicos son Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel ,Garth Hudson y Mickey Jones, salvo este ultimo, luego vino el famoso encierro de Woostock y las no menos miticas "cintas desde el sotano". Todo es pura historia, pura leyenda. el sonido depende de cada concierto y las fuentes tambien, desde la grabacion casera a la mesa de mezcla, en cualquier caso conservan el sabor de lo autentico, la verdad que le ha llevado a ser premio Nobel, a ser una piedra principal de la musica de nuestros dias. Curiosamente CBS solo grabo dos de los conciertos para editarlos, el de Manchester que finalmente fue editado como si se hubiera el "famoso" concierto del Albert Hall de Londres, aqui tiene el del Royal Albert Hall autentico editado por vez primera. Es sin duda un privilegio asistir tras tantos años a estos conciertos en donde se puede vivir el embiente de aquelos eventos. Sydney, Melburne, Copenhagen, Dubkin, Belfast,Bristol, Cardiff, Birminham, Liverpool, Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester,Glasgow, Edinburg, Newcastle, Paris, Londres, White Pains NY, Piittburg,, Hampstead, Melburne y Stockholm. Faltas muy pocos lugares de la gira pero al parecer no ha sido posible obtener documentos sonoros de los mismos de cualquier forma el trabajo de arqueologia de esta edicion es mas que evidente. Es una caja que es casi para especialistas en Dylan pero interesantisima y bastante bien de precio a tenor de que se trata de 36 CD nada mas y nada menos. Una aventura prodigioda de un nuevo Odiseo en busca de otro mundo.

On saluera l'effort complétiste de Columbia qui sort ici l'intégralité des enregistrements connus de la tournée la plus célèbre du rock. Ils sont allés jusqu'à mettre quelques disques issus des enregistrements pirates de l'époque (inécoutables, soyons honnêtes) en fin de coffret. Que l'on se rassure les deux bons tiers du coffret sont d'une qualité tout à fait satisfaisante. A noter qu'il s'agit de la même setlist (à quelques variations près) qui se répète, donc même si Dylan varie les interprétations tout en nuance de soir en soir, le non-initié pourra se sentir assomé là où le fan se délectera. Mais c'est la nature du produit qui veut ça. Un coffret économique et complet, présenté avec soin, à réserver aux mordus donc. Les autres se contenteront du Bootleg Series Vol 4 ou du Real Royal Albert Hall, deux concerts présentés ici et disponibles indépendamment qui sont sans doute objectivement les meilleurs.

This set of concert tapes from Dylan's famous 1966 tour, recorded in various ways - soundboard mainly - are excellent. They are excellent because the sound quality is good; they are excellent because the 1966 tour was one of Dylan's best, highlighted by focusing almost entirely on new material he had not systematically exploited in a concert setting (in this respect they are similar to his 1979-80 gospel tour recordings); and excellent because they allow the listener to follow the tour sequentially, discovering how the Hawks and their mercurial singer/band leader learned to jell, gradually honing their chops, morphing into a remarkable musical engine.