Come Gather 'Round, People

Since we launched this blog over 10 months ago (!), I've tried to bring the occasional bit of BBC awesomeness to my fellow, deprived non-Brits. It's impossible to share it all, or even all of the truly excellent stuff that seems to flow out of The Beeb on a weekly basis. But this one, I just can't pass up. About 10 days ago, BBC Radio 2 broadcasted Dream Dylan Live, in which they aimed to put together -- from recordings spanning his entire career -- their approximation of the ultimate Bob Dylan concert. It's a neat enough concept as it is, but what made this program truly special was that it included four live recordings (obtained direct from the Dylan archives) that had never seen the light of day before. The end result is a really sweet listen. And some kind soul even made some artwork for it, which I pass along as well, in case you want to burn to CD and enjoy your Dylan in "take away" fashion, as they say in dear old Blighty.

DREAM DYLAN LIVE - BBC Radio 2 Presentation, October 6, 2007

Artwork:
Front cover
Back insert

01 Blowin' In The Wind*
02 Only A Pawn In Their Game*
03 The Times They Are A' Changing
04 Mr. Tambourine Man
05 Like A Rolling Stone
06 Maggie's Farm
07 All Along The Watchtower
08 Lovesick*
09 To Make You Feel My Love
10 Things Have Changed
11 The Groom's Still Waiting At The Alter*

*Previously unreleased

Look Out, Kid!

A message from our good buddy Tim at Baby Got Books:



Go here to make a Dylan message of your own, "Subterranean"-style. The new Dylan best-of collection is out on October 1.

Now You Don't Talk So Loud

Today is International Talk Like Bob Dylan Day, so pinch your nostrils together, imitate those odd cadences, draw out those vowel sounds and get your inner Bob on today. Here, practice your talkin' with these:

MP3: Bob Dylan - "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" from The Freewheelin' Session Outtakes (bootleg), studio outtake, recorded 1962

MP3: Bob Dylan - "Talkin' World War III Blues" from Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears (bootleg), recorded May 7, 1965, Free Trade Hall, Manchester, UK

MP3: Bob Dylan - Message to Columbia Records Sales Meeting in Miami, from Thin Wild Mercury Music (bootleg), recorded May 12, 1965

Oh, and a Happy 66th Birthday to the great man himself, born on this day in 1941. But of course, he was so much older then, he's younger than that now.

RELATED: Today's edition of Slate features a collection of Dylan photos from the 60s and 70s, most of them by the wonderful Elliott Landy.

Odds and Sods

GoldenFiddle has the first look at Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan (the circa '66 edition) in the forthcoming Todd Haynes biopic, I'm Not There (which, from the look of things, will be either terrific or a complete disaster).






The Traneumentary is a weekly podcast celebrating the unparalleled artistry and influence of John Coltrane, featuring interviews with such friends and admirers as McCoy Tyner, Terence Blanchard, Jimmy Cobb and (coming up) Sonny Rollins. It's 15 weeks in, with only 3 more to go, but all of the episodes are archived at the site and well worth a listen. ('Trane fans, stay tuned to our Classic Bootleg Series. I'm just sayin'.)


The reunited Crowded House will release a new record, Time On Earth, on July 2. The record was produced by Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Kings Of Leon, Ray LaMontagne) and Steve Lillywhite (U2, XTC, Morrissey). Guitar god Johnny Marr features on two tracks, including lead-off single "Don’t Stop Now," which will be available on iTunes on June 25. The record will also include Crowded House's take on the gorgeous "Silent House," which CH main man Neil Finn co-wrote with the Dixie Chicks. The Chicks' version of that song was among the highlights of their splendid Taking The Long Way album last year. Here, see for yourself:

MP3: Dixie Chicks - "Silent House" from Taking The Long Way


And music critic Sasha Frere-Jones, who's been on a tear lately, profiles indie it-girl Feist in The New Yorker, calling her new record, The Reminder (out next week), "radiant" and "luminous".

Would You Eat Them In A Box? Would You Eat Them With a Fox?

Back in early March, we tipped you to a project called Dylan Hears A Who, which wedded the verse of Dr. Seuss to a dead-on imitation of Highway 61-era Bob Dylan, to amazing effect. It was a lovingly realized tribute to both artists, if not a skillful parody with something to say about the similarities between them. Now Salon profiles what happened when the folks at Dr. Seuss Enterprises got wind of things. Let's just say they weren't flattered. The site is now "retired" permanently -- which is an awful shame because it was brilliant in every detail, right down to the album art and liner notes. For those of you who missed out, I can't resist sharing one of the seven tracks.

MP3: Dylan Hears A Who - "Green Eggs And Ham"

Odds and Sods

Salon's Audiofile podcast this week is a chat with Shins frontman James Mercer.







The new Wilco record, Sky Blue Sky, has leaked all over the place, over 2 months before its May 15 release date, but you can download one track, "What Light," right now with their compliments.






Speaking of upcoming releases, mark your calendars, White Stripes and Ryan Adams fans. The Stripes have wrapped up work on Icky Thump in Nashville and promise to deliver it "as soon as corporately possible," while Mr. Adams will deliver Easy Tiger on June 5. Just the one this year, Ryan?


Recent show reviews at Pitchfork have featured some really exceptional photography by a New York artist named Kathryn Yu. She has a blog that features some of her work, and regularly posts photostreams at Flickr as well. Her shots of the Arcade Fire shows at Judson Memorial Church last month were the first ones to catch my eye.


The long lost Dylan-Seuss sessions -- genius!











Finally, "Ms. Lefevre," a cheesy video made in 1996 by a Vancouver punk-pop trio called Maow. Why should you watch it? Because their drummer was a little hottie named Neko Case, that's why.


Kathryn Yu recently shot Neko, too. (Thanks, Jo, for the Neko-Maow tip.)

Classic Bootleg Series Vol. 1: Bob Dylan - Thin Wild Mercury Music

TTT readers who know me -- and at this point, let's face it, that's most of you -- are probably aware that I'm an obsessive collector of bootleg recordings. Over the years, I have amassed a tremendous collection. As in hundreds upon hundreds. Basically, I have so many boots, I don't know how many I have. So when thinking about regular features that we might run on this blog, it's occurred to me lately that the most natural thing for me to do is share some of my musical wealth. (And if you don't already know, sharing and trading, free of charge, is how most of this material gets passed around in the Internet age -- gone are the days when I had to steal off to Greenwich Village on business trips to NYC and drop $100 on a handful of records.) Because while a lot of stuff that never gets officially released certainly deserves that fate, there are other unreleased recordings that are among the finest and/or most historically significant performances ever caught on tape. So this is the first installment in what I intend to make a regular feature here at TTT. Check back often and hopefully I can introduce you to some of the most amazing music you've (n)ever heard.

And where better to start than with one of the more legendary boots of all time. Thin Wild Mercury Music is arguably the best collection of early run-throughs, alternate takes and unreleased tracks from Bob Dylan's sessions for Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde in 1965 and 1966. In other words, some of the best music ever made. Artwork for a CD case is included. Enjoy, and again, there is much more to come.

BOB DYLAN - THIN WILD MERCURY MUSIC

Original Spank Records artwork:
Front cover
Back insert

01 If You Gotta Go, Go Now
02 She Belongs To Me
03 Visions Of Johanna (Seems Like A Freezeout)
04 From A Buick 6
05 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
06 Medicine Sunday (Temporary Like Achilles)
07 I Wanna Be Your Lover
08 I'll Keep It With Mine (instrumental)
09 Love Minus Zero/No Limit
10 Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
11 Number One (instrumental)
12 She's Your Lover Now (Glass Of Water)
13 Jet Pilot
14 Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
15 Visions Of Johanna (Seems Like A Freezeout)
16 She's Your Lover Now (Glass Of Water)
17 Miami sales convention message
18 If You Gotta Go, Go Now