Classic Records To Reissue Dylan's Freewheelin' on vinyl*

A few years ago, Classic announced that they would be releasing Dylan's 1960's Columbia catalog, only to have the program scrapped before it ever got started.

Well, it looks like they will now be releasing the ORIGINAL version of Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, including the cuts deleted when the album was originally released. Details (via the always-helpful musicangle.com) are here. I can't wait!

 

I hope they do the mono version...

 

And stereo too.

Wonder what this will do to the high value of the originals?

 

I would guess about the same as an Honus Wagner replica card, not much

C

Article goes on to mention two live The Neil Young Bootleg series titles will also be released:
"Classic will also issue Neil Young's "Live at The Fillmore East" and "Live At Massey Hall," mastered from the original analog tapes."
Yeah!

 

That's truly incredible. I can't believe that Sony is allowing them to reissue the alternate album. I'm pretty sure that I remember Steve posting once that Sony balked when he wanted to add "Positively 4th Street" to the DCC Gold Highway 61 Revisited. I thought I'd go through life without ever seeing a copy of the original Freewheelin', much less own one. If I buy one lp this year, this will be it. I hope it's the mono version.

 

As I put down my money for the CD/DVD-A combo pack of Massey Hall, I was afraid this day would come.

 

If this goes through, I wonder if there's any chance Dylan/Sony will allow Classic to reissue the alternate "Blood on the Tracks" in the same manner? THAT would be awesome

Also, while we're dreaming, will Classic be issuing a vinyl version of Neil Young's Archives box when (if) it comes out?

 

That would be incredible as well.

If the Fillmore and Massey Hall albums are coming out on vinyl, I'm sure the whole box will come out on vinyl. I wonder what it will cost? $200? $300?

 

I wish they would have announced this earlier. I'm not going to buy these two again no matter how much I like them. I guess it pays to wait but who knew?

 

I pretty much knew it would happen. Classic issued the Bob Dylan bootleg series on vinyl, and you knew they or someone else would eventually put out the Neil Young Archives stuff on vinyl. I probably won't buy the Fillmore set on vinyl, but I like the Massey show enough to at least consider it. Of course, it will probably be a double lp for $49.98 or something like that.

 

Thanks. I pasted the announcement below. So there are no plans for Columbia/Sony to issue the original version of the LP on CD? Another stupid, missed opportunity.

Thank goodness it's been bootlegged as are numerous other essential recordings that Columbia/Sony does not see fit to release.


Classic To Reissue Ultra-Rare Dylan Freewheelin' Album along with New Neil Young Titles
At a press conference held during Stereophile's HE2007, Classic Records's Mike Hobson announced that the label would soon issue the original version of Dylan's Freewheelin' album containing cuts including "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues" and other tracks deleted from the album when it was originallyh issued by Columbia.

Fewer than a dozen copies of the original version were accidentally issued and have become a much sought after collectible, fetching thousands of dollars at auction.

The original track listing and the version that was released will come from Classic as a double 200g LP. At this point in time there are no plans for Columbia/Sony to issue the original version of the LP on CD.

Classic will also issue Neil Young's "Live at The Fillmore East" and "Live At Massey Hall," mastered from the original analog tapes.

. Also coming is a new, "raw" edition of Living With War before the gospel choir was added to the mix. The label also announced an impressive listing of more than two dozen EMI classical music titles and played a finished version of the much anticipated Aqualung

 

I didn't know either, but I waited. Everything Neil has released in the last few years turns up on Classic Records LPs so it was a matter of patience.

As for the original Freewheelin', I've always wondered if the extra three tracks will have an effect on the sound. Freewheelin' is a long record as it is. I guess we'll hear soon enough.

 

Cool, I will pick this up. I also hope they do other Dylan 60s stuff, and I would really like to see them do Blood On The Tracks. I have yet to hear a copy that really nails that one.

Will probably pass on the Neil Fillmore LP, but Harvest, and Harvest Moon sure would be nice. Man, the vinyl surprises are coming fast and furious lately.

Havent seen this much action since the early/mid 90s!

 

Imagine Blood on the Tracks, Blonde On Blonde. etc. on 45 RPM vinyl.
Please don't wake me up.

 

One more reason for me to buy a turntable. It seems like every week lately there is an announcement of a new LP released.

 

The withdrawn first version of the album that Classic presumably will release, was probably shorter than the album we know. Four songs were recorded and added to the album after Columbia decided that the first version shouldn't be released:
Girl Of The North Country
Masters Of War
Talkin' World War III Blues
Bob Dylan's Dream

IMO, the changes improved the album.

 

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

And four songs were dropped from the first version: "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues," "Let Me Die in My Footsteps," "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie," and "Rocks and Gravel." So the alternate version of the album should be about the same length as the officially released one, I would think.

I think that "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" is not just the great lost Dylan song of the period, it's the great Dylan song of the period. Should have been on the album, should have been bigger than "Blowin' in the Wind."

 

I agree that it's a great song but the other songs they dropped are unexceptional and the substitute songs are better, IMHO.
They could have dropped for example "Down The Highway" and let "Let Me Die In My Footsteps" remain on the album.
Trivia: The "Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3" version of "Let Me Die In My Footsteps" is edited. There's an extra verse on the version on the withdrawn "Freewheelin'". (I hope the Classic Records release will have the complete song.)

 

Wow! This is very exciting news. I'll definitely be picking this up!

 

Or Dylan could have released two, possibly even three, albums from the material he recorded during these sessions.

I hope so. I hope it's an exact duplicate of the original version that was actually released. Both mono and stereo copies do exist - I wonder which one they'll choose?

 

Classic first tried to do this 7-8 years ago, exactly the same way, as a two-record set with the original lineup on one record and the official lineup on the other. It was even on a tentative schedule that was e-mailed to me. But it was canceled.

Sundazed wanted to do at least the mono version in its Dylan vinyl reissue series, but was told, "Bob Dylan likes the album just the way it is."

I wonder what changed... but whatever did, I'm happy it did.

 

Count me as exited about the announcement, I'd love to hear the record in its original form. This is one of my favorite Dylan records, mono please.

I actually found an original pressing of Blood on the Tracks with a 1A stamper on side two. With all due respect to Bob, this side two blows away the released version. Lilly Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts is done solo acoustic and has none of that cowboy feel of the released version.

As important as these records are, it seems reasonable to release the pre-release incarnations of these records. Of course Highway 61 is better in its final version IMO.

 

So, by extension, one could see a $700 Box Dylan box in the future.
Mmmm, so much new vinyl, so much potential debt . . .

 

Wow. How'd they get Bob to sign off on this?

I would have never thought that anyone would be able to reissue the deleted original album. Good times indeed for vinyl people.

Someone said this is beginning to look like the second golden age of the lp.Im thinking they just may be right.