 Bob Dylan There's a certain contingent that will argue that Bob Dylan, without exception, always recorded more interesting music than his albums really demonstrate. I don't know how true that is, but I certainly can agree that he's one of the artists with the greatest "legendary bootleg" quotients: many of his bootlegs are so famous that mainstream fans even know about them, and in a couple of instances the record company ended up just going ahead and releasing the stuff since it was being circulated on such a large scale anyway. The official release of the "Royal Albert Hall" concert (considered by many to be one of the two or three most essential bootlegs of all time) certainly killed any need for boots from that show, and you'd think that the official Basement Tapes album would preclude the existence of further "Basement Tapes" boots. Not so … in fact, the official double album only features a fraction of the material actually recorded by Dylan and The Band in 1967. What's more, the music not on that album is consistently great, begging the question, why hasn't Columbia gotten around to putting out a box set of the complete Basement Tapes? Surely they'll get around to it, and I'll be first in line to greedily snap it up like a pedophile at Jon Benet's grave. (?) In the meantime, the five-volume series The Genuine Basement Tapes is the preeminent boot source for this amazing body of songs. One of the coolest elements about Bob Dylan is that he seems perfectly content to just record tons of music and release albums every now and then, and he's got no apparent desire to release stuff once he's moved along. Many people could bank a career on the material from this CD alone – yet almost all of it is unreleased, and all parties concerned don't apparently care. Perhaps they know it's extensively booted, and that this raises the hipness quotient of their music, that people have to be in the know enough to seek and find it. But at this point, more than thirty years on, shouldn't someone just go downstairs and turn a light on in that damn basement? If you're not familiar with the Basement Tapes, they consist of songs recorded by Dylan and The Band as he recuperated from his motorcycle accident. He'd released his string of "electric albums" and then had this motorcycle crash, and basically disapperared from the scene for a year or so (meanwhile, Sgt. Pepper and all that hippie malarkey was happening). Ensconced in the Band's house, these guys just made music and let the tapes roll, running through a mixture of old folk songs, originals, and some more recent covers – it's one of the most amazing recording projects ever done, especially since the artists had no intention of ever releasing it. In content, it was roots music – the originals even have the haunted air of old Appalachian ballads. The music is suspended in time, and while it hardly screams "1967," it is probably the best music to come out of that era (Lee Morgan excepted). The real Basement Tapes album was released in 1975, and represents only a small part of the total achievement. The Genuine Basement Tapes is the whole shebang, I believe, in fine sound (the sound even on the official album is not perfect, after all, this was home recording in 1967), and unrefurbished or edited. It's great music, and even if you don't like Dylan, you may well love this stuff. The Band always brought out the best in Bob, and this disc is just really fucking good. Pretty much every cut is fantastic (some run out halfway, as tapes end). Great performances like "One Single River," the spooky "Bonnie Ship the Diamond," "Hills of Mexico," "All You Have to Do is Dream," and cool covers of "A Fool Such as I" and "People Get Ready" are just a few of the standouts among the 20 tracks on Vol. 1. Melodies that sound like you've known them for years, earthy, natural playing from America's best band (they were called The Band for a reason) in their prime – great strainy harmonies, and Dylan in his best musical magician mode. This is timeless stuff – not exceedingly well packaged, but marvelous (dare I say important?) American music. It ain't rock, folk, country, or anything else I can name … it's just what it is, and what it always was, and you just meet it on its own terms. One day they'll put this stuff out legally, in the meantime, do not hesitate to support your local pirates, for this is seriously quality booty.
Review by Todd Rubber |