basement tapes and new neil young stuff

[Smurfbird]

I received a finished copy of this 6-CD Basement Tapes Complete and the packaging is sublime. It comes in a nicely constructed slipcase that includes two books. One book is purely of photographs from Elliot Landy and the man who shot the cover for the 1975 Basement Tapes in Hollywood, California, with ads, articles and bootleg covers and inserts from the era. Just beautiful. The second book includes the CDs and a booklet that features liner notes from Sid Griffin, once of the Long Ryders and author of Million Dollar Bash, a book about the basement tapes. Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin explains, rather confusingly, about collecting all the tape reels and the discoveries that were made and finally Jan Haust, who helped with this set further explains how it came together. There are reproductions of the vintage reel tape boxes, Scotch and Shamrock!

 

And, of course, 139 tracks that range from chilling to drivel, with a 6th CD that sounds like tapes that were recorded at 3-3/4 ips. It's not my favorite Dylan period. Like many, I prefer everything from the first album through Blonde on Blonde and then Blood on the Tracks and random tracks throughout his career up until Oh Mercy, where I enjoyed Daniel Lanois' heavy-handed production. Oddly, Time Out of Mind didn't do much for me.

 

There is a 2-CD RAW collection for those not interested in 6-CD artifacts. Though, you won't get the under two-minute run through of My Bucket's Got a Hole In It and plenty of other interesting moments.

 

As for Neil Young, I watched a concert in Central Park live on the internet a year or two back and I enjoyed every frayed note that flew between him and Crazy Horse. Haven't really loved a new album since I suppose the aforementioned Sleeps With Angels.

 

Cheers!