"Blood on the Tracks" the untold story

It's a nice piece--written honestly, and with care; interesting to see the different opinions . . . as for the "just report" line of commentary, it's not a news story, it's a personal recounting of a pivotal moment in the career in one of music's most important figures. He's wrapping his very personal firsthand recollection around the facts that he sees as pertinent.

There are a few "new agey" type comments that an editor might advise against, but overall, he writes well (especially for a "technical" person) and captures/recreates some of the "magic" in the air. Certainly a worthy piece of pop music history to have on the books.

doug

 

Agreed.

Why would anybody attack the writer of this piece? He didn't write the piece to impress anybody... just to tell a story. And yeah maybe there is personal stuff in there you can't relate to or can't reconcile in your view of Dylan... but man it seems sort of mean-spirited and pointless to trash talk the writer.

 

I like the sound quality on the NY sessions better.

Tim

 

Because some people just want the silver platter of anecdotes whilst begrudging the person doing the writing the thrill of their personal experiences.

 

Great read...thanks.

 

Agree. He's no Judas for the electric redo. I've always identified with the spirit of the released version and from someone who has gone through the venom and vitriol of a relationship gone horribly wrong, I can see him spitting into the mic as he sings it.

 

Well said. I fully agree with your opinion.

 

That's a really revealing piece. I liked that the bassplayer (last man standing at the NYC sessions) comes back to comment that BD was playing in an open tuning, and an unstated one at that. It's a wonder we get these songs at all sometimes it seems.

 

It increased my appreciation for the record to read all this; however, I don't think all the NY performances are the best ones. Bob's timing is often not great at the best of times, and these are nice but he clearly got better with more performances. Though the consistent unstrained vocal tone is lovely.

But hey, the same is true of many of the first ten Dylan discs as well.

 

Great read, great story to tell!
Amazing. Imagine this, at 19!

 

A very interesting read, full of depth, passion and creativity. Not a bad thing, IMO.

 

The original NY Sessions of BOTT, if released the way they were, would have been much more intense and would have made the record even better.

The article was a great read. Don't care how it was written.

 

This was all I could think of after reading this fantastic article. I can't imagine being in this type of a situation at any age, never mind nineteen! I thought the article couldn't have been written better. I would love to read a book of his story in the music business. He perfectly captures this era of music when people took their part in it's creation very seriously.

There is a reason that there is so little timeless music being made these days. I think that it may be in the small details and attitude that this article conveys. It's often said that the internet killed the record business blah, blah. Maybe the computer and it's introduction into the recording studio actually did more long term harm.

Make faceless music that completely lacks that special 'spark' for twenty years and you end up in today's situation. Making the faceless music in this manner in the studio is only part of the problem. All that attention to capturing that perfect sound back then has been turned upside down by creating music this way and then deliberately compressing to mp-3, satellite radio etc. All this faceless computer captured music, re-processed and compressed by computers. At the end of the chain is the consumer now listening to this music just as background music. The 'spark' is gone so who would put down their hard earned money when everything sounds so bland?

I've put my hard earned money down on 'remasters' that were supposed to make my favorite music sound better. The problem is that they have turned so many of my favorites into something that sounds worse. I love music so I read up on these releases here and take the time to figure it all out. The average consumer isn't going to do that. I think people instantly react to the real thing. They aren't reacting because it's been a long time since they have heard the real thing. I don't play vinyl so I'll actually include myself here. I remember what my Hendrix and LedZep records sounded like and no remaster has captured it........End Rant Here

I'm always fascinated to read any details of Dylan in the studio. The author really puts Dylan's way of working in stark contrast to other artists obsessing for weeks on something. Picturing Dylan writing these timeless songs on paper as fast as his hand could write is quite an image. I can understand both points of view on the NY Sessions and released album. I love them both but the NY Sessions may be my favorite studio session ever. I'm just not rational commenting on them.

 

Reviving an old thread....

Maybe that was his original intent, but a visit to this website today reveals that, in the grand (Facebook) tradition of (attempting to) monetize the internet, the writer has decided to sell the story to readers at $3.29 a pop.

It's certainly his right to do so....but golly....

 

Yeah, I'm really interested in reading the story, but the "Or you can read it here for free" link takes you pretty much to the first sentence and nothing else.

 

There's a whole book about the making of Blood On The Tracks:

“A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the Making of ‘Blood on the Tracks”’ by Kevin Odegard and Andy Gill.

 

How I wish that there would be a proper deluxe edition of this album, which would tell the story of its inception with maybe a live show or two thrown in for good measure.

Surely it would sell enough for it to be an attractive proposition.

Best Wishes
David

 

I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

Seconding the recommendation. Odegard played on the Sound 80 sessions, and Gill writes about Dylan about as well as anyone.

 

It's back for free

'Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks: The Untold Story' is available again for free at
http://www.glennberger.net/2012/01/15/bob-dylans-blood-on-the-tracks-the-untold-story/. Enjoy. If you'd like to make a contribution to the writer, it would be appreciated.

 

Blood on the Tracks has always been one of my favorite records. I would have loved to have been there to witness the recording in NYC.
I sure would like to see a proper release of the complete session recordings. One can only hope.

 

"The writer" is you, correct?

 

Thanks, Glenn. It is the first time I've heard any of that. I have prefered most of the NYC versions to the final takes, but didn't know the story behind them. Thanks.

 

I also preferred most of the NYC versions, and it's really fascinating to me that the Andy Gill/Kevin Odegard details Dylan's dissatisfaction with them. "Idiot Wind" and "Rosemary, Lily" in particular are superior (to me) than the official versions....though I totally get why someone would disagree. That's what makes music so great, that we derive satisfaction in different ways.

In the end, I'd kill for a deluxe release that contains all the outtakes!