Box Sets #21 Bob Dylan The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 - The Best of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966

Yet another box set. Don't they come thick and fast at this time of year?

I first reported on this set in all of it's versions last month, so if you wish to read it or refresh your memory, you can do so here.

As I indicated then, I opted for the set entitled 'The Best of The Cutting Edge'  which came on three LP records plus two CD's. Housed in a very sturdy slipcase box, each of the albums has been pressed on 180g vinyl and each is contained within a nice thick card cover in a retro style that puts me in mind of the kind of covers old 78 RPM records used to come in. Not only that, but there is also a card, not paper, inner sleeve. A nice touch I feel.

And of course there is a book which in this edition is a 12" x 12" softback running to 56 pages. And a very fine thing it is if I'm honest. In fact it was one of the main reasons for me plumping for the vinyl version, to have a book of a decent size that I could actually read without the aid of a magnifying glass. 

The least impressive part of the set are the two CD's which are in ordinary card sleeves but as they will mainly be used in the car, that is a very minor quibble.

Obviously I'm aware that having gone for the lower priced set, I was set to miss out on a lot of music that is included in the 'Deluxe Edition'. However those nice people at a certain well known online retailers that shall remain nameless, provide a service that enables a purchaser to download a copy of their item. On the day of release, I duly set about downloading my copy, only to discover that I was provided with the full Deluxe Edition! All 6 CD's (111 tracks) of it!

So enough of the packaging and downloads. What of the quality of the music? Well, all I can say is that this is exactly what made me a fan of Bob Dylan in the first place. Did anyone ever produce a better body of work in such a short space of time? And what we have here allows us to experience first hand how those wonderful 1965/66 recordings evolved in the studio to eventually become the trio of albums 'Bringing It All Back Home', 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Blonde on Blonde'. Albums that were all recorded within a 14 month period. Incredible!

For the purpose of this post, I intend to focus on the vinyl version - a mere 36 tracks, as absorbing and analysing the larger collection will take considerably longer but is something I feel I may return to in the fullness of time. Personally I believe that the vinyl albums provide one with a more pleasurable listening experience. Why? Well simply because there is far less repetition. I mentioned that there were 36 tracks spread across the three discs and these represent 33 different songs. Only 'Like a Rolling Stone', 'Desolation Row' and 'Highway 61 Revisited' are repeated and in vastly different arrangements. Compare that with four versions of 'On The Road Again' or 'It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry' or even 20 versions of 'Like a Rolling Stone' that appear on the Deluxe Edition, and you can possibly imagine that this might jar after a while.

OK everything included here may not be absolutely top class, but it is not meant to be. Let's not forget that this collection is part of the Bootleg Series. We are dealing here with rehearsals, demos and alternate takes that were considered to be not good enough for the officially released albums or were still very much works in progress. So on side 6 of the vinyl we hear an unusual fourth take of 'Just Like a Woman' taken at a much faster pace than the sedate released version. Even producer Bob Johnson comments "That's one hell of a beat". He doesn't sound convinced and one can understand why Dylan soon reverted to the slower tempo. Also some of the tracks come to a sudden and abrupt ending which can take one unawares upon first hearing. There are also short throw-away snippets of songs such as 'You Don't Have to Do That'. But none of these things ultimately detract from the listening experience. Simply because much of the content is absolutely brilliant and we are witnessing first hand a genius at work - warts and all. We hear Dylan creating and refining his words and melodies, making adjustments to the tempos or the way the words fit within the framework of the songs. There are changes that will surprise people who are familiar with these songs but the whole experience is absolutely fascinating and always entertaining.

In my view we should just be bloody grateful to Bob for allowing us to witness this act of creation. 

Bob Dylan - The Cutting Edge 1965-66, The Bootleg Series Volume 12.

After what has been literally months of speculation as to what would make up Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series Volume 12, all was revealed this week when we were informed that it would consist of unreleased outtakes and alternate versions of the songs recorded in 1965 and 1966. Let's be honest, this is no major surprise as these recordings are very close to being 50 years old which would mean that the copyright would pass into the public domain - unless they became commercially available first. However, the news has caused a flurry of excitement in the music press, the Dylan fan community and yes, even among my own friends, who are all anxious to get their hands on this material. 

Well, one must remember that this was the period in which Dylan issued no fewer than three seminal albums (one of which was a double), albums that even today are regarded among the best work by Dylan and indeed any other recording artist. In case you are not old enough to know this, or happen to have arrived from another planet, the albums in question are, 'Bringing it all Back Home', 'Highway 61 Revisited' and 'Blonde on Blonde'.

The Bootleg Series began way back in 1991 (can it really be 24 years ago?) with 'The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3'. It was a way of appeasing fans who had collected Dylan's unreleased work in the studio and on stage on, well yes you guessed it, bootleg albums and tapes. We were then given seven years to digest this package as 'The Bootleg Series Volume 4' was not released until 1998. Since then the pace has increased somewhat with the last four volumes all arriving in the seven years since 2008. And the packages are becoming increasingly more elaborate with basic and more expensive deluxe versions on offer.

For Volume 12 (released on 6 November), the choice is even greater with a basic 2 CD version entitled 'Best of the Cutting Edge' and a Deluxe Edition containing no fewer than 6 CD's. Such a collection is great if one wishes to listen to multiple versions or takes of the same song. I love the song 'Like a Rolling Stone' but seeing that Disc 3 of this set is made up of 20 versions of it, I wondered if I my love would endure hearing it over and over for an hour or more. It doesn't sound to me like the best audio experience and certainly not one you would wish to inflict on your non Dylan loving friends or family. However I expect that this will indeed be the most popular of the editions on offer.

The thing is, that we Dylan fans all tend to be completists and simply have to own every possible version of a song that has been committed to tape. Not that the so called Deluxe Version will give us that. For to obtain every single note recorded by Dylan in those two years. one would have to choose the limited edition (only 5000 units). This consists of 18 CD's (379 tracks), nine mono vinyl singles in picture sleeves and a 180 page hardcover book. And the price for this version? Well in the UK you would get one penny change from £600.

Despite the fact that most Dylan fans (myself included) already own some of this material on bootleg albums such as 'The Genuine Bootleg Series'  (4 volumes) or 'Thin Wild Mercury Music' , there are few among us who will not hesitate to purchase one of these packages in November. Advance orders for their personal preferences have in many cases already been made. For myself, I have pretty much decided that I am going for the Deluxe 3 LP and 2 CD version complete with a booklet of liner notes and unreleased photographs. I think that should be sufficient for me.