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Bob Dylan - 'No Direction Home - The Soundtrack' (The Bootleg Series Vol.7)
 

Notes from www.bobdylan.com

Columbia recording artist Bob Dylan's "No Direction Home: The Soundtrack - The Bootleg Series Vol. 7" will arrive in stores August 30th on Columbia/Legacy. This latest edition in the critically acclaimed "Bootleg Series" is the companion soundtrack to the two-part feature-length film, "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," a Martin Scorsese picture. The film will make its U.S. premiere on the Public Broadcasting System's "American Masters Series" over the course of Monday and Tuesday nights, September 26-27th, respectively.

The two-CD chronologically sequenced package contains 28 Bob Dylan tracks -- 26 of them previously unreleased -- comprised of rare private recordings, live concert, television and festival recordings, and 12 alternate takes of songs from his Columbia LP recording sessions in New York and Nashville during this period. The songs range in time from 1959 (a high school recording of "When I Got Troubles," most likely the first original song he ever recorded), to 1966 (alternate takes of "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" and "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" from the "Blonde on Blonde" album recording sessions, as well as "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Like A Rolling Stone" from the legendary 1966 UK tour).

Many of the songs or tracks are introduced in the film for the first time in history, or are representative of times and places covered in the film, while others are alternate takes of classic tracks that were unearthed during the making of the film. For example, the version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" performed in 1961, at the intimate Carnegie Chapter Hall in New York City, was never known to have existed on any tape until now.

On the other hand, the "No Direction Home" film version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" is taken from the Newport Folk Festival, July 1964; while the CD version presents -- for the first time -- the first complete take of the song with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, recorded at Columbia Studios the month before. The track is then followed on the CD by "Chimes of Freedom" from Newport '64.

Archivists and researchers reviewed more than 400 hours of recordings by Bob Dylan in the preparation of "No Direction Home." The two CDs will be packaged with a 60-page color book housed in a slipcase. The book will include separate liner notes written by Andrew Loog Oldham, and Al Kooper who sheds light on the "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde" recording sessions in New York and Nashville (for which he played organ and served as musical director). An authoritative track-by-track delineation is also included.

The first feature-length film biography ever produced on the artist, "No Direction Home" is narrated in its entirety by Dylan. In addition to hours of black-and-white and color archival footage and photography, it features exclusive interviews with Joan Baez, photographer John Cohen of the New Lost City Ramblers, Allen Ginsberg, Tony Glover, Al Kooper, Bruce Langhorne, Paul Nelson, Suze Rotolo, Pete Seeger, Dave Van Ronk, Izzy Young of the Folklore Center, and many others.
 
CD One CD Two
1 When I Got Troubles Recorded by high school friend, most likely first original song recorded by Bob Dylan 1959
2 Rambler, Gambler Recorded by university student in Minneapolis, cf. "Wagoner's Lad" 1960
3 This Land is Your Land Live at Carnegie Chapter Hall, New York City 11/4/1961
4 Song To Woody From the Columbia album Bob Dylan 11/20/1961
5 Dink's Song Recorded by Tony Glover in Minneapolis, cf. "Minneapolis Hotel Tapes" 12/22/1961
6 I Was Young When I Left Home see track 5 above 12/22/1961
7 Sally Gal Take #1, outtake from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan sessions, New York City 4/24/1962
8 Don't Think Twice, It's Alright "Witmark Demo" - for publisher, Witmark Music 3/63
9 Man of Constant Sorrow From tv show, Folk Songs and More Folksongs 3/63
10 Blowin' in the Wind Live at Town Hall, New York City 4/12/1963
11 Masters of War Live at Town Hall, New York City 4/12/1963
12 A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Live at Carnegie Hall, New York City 10/26/1963
13 When The Ship Comes In Live at Carnegie Hall, New York City 10/26/1963
14 Mr. Tambourine Man First complete take, with Ramblin' Jack Elliott, alt. take from Another Side of Bob Dylan sessions, New York City 6/9/1964
15 Chimes of Freedom Live at Newport Folk Festival, Rhode Island 7/26/1964
16 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue Take #1, alt. take from Bringing It All Back Home sessions, New York City 1/16/1965
 		 1 She Belongs To Me Remake take # 2, alt. take from Bringing It All Back Home album sessions, New York City 1/14/1965
2 Maggie's Farm Live at Newport Folk Festival, Rhode Island 7/25/1965
3 It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry Original title "Phantom Engineer," Take #9, alt. take from Highway 61 Revisited sessions, NYC 6/15/1965
4 Tombstone Blues Take #9, alt. take from Highway 61 Revisited sessions, New York City 7/29/1965
5 Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues Take #5, alt. take from Highway 61 Revisited sessions, New York City 8/2/1965
6 Desolation Row Take #1, alt. take from Highway 61 Revisited sessions, New York City 7/29/1965
7 Highway 61 Revisited Take #6, alt. take from Highway 61 Revisited sessions, New York City 8/2/1965
8 Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat Take #1, alt. take from Blonde on Blonde sessions, New York City 1/25/1966
9 Stuck Inside Of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again Take #5, alt. take from Blonde on Blonde sessions, Nashville 2/17/1966
10 Visions of Johanna Take #8, alt. take from Blonde on Blonde sessions, New York City 11/30/1965
11 Ballad of a Thin Man Live at the ABC Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland 5/20/1966
12 Like A Rolling Stone Live at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England 5/17/1966

Note: All recordings are previously unreleased except disc one, track 4, originally issued on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Columbia, 1963); and disc two, track 12, originally issued on the album Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert - The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (Columbia/Legacy, 1998).

 DVD notes from www.bobdylan.com

MARTIN SCORSESE DIRECTING FIRST FEATURE-LENGTH FILM BIOGRAPHY OF BOB DYLAN TO PREMIERE THIS SEPTEMBER

PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE DVD WITH EXTENSIVE BONUS FEATURES ONE WEEK PRIOR TO BROADCAST

In an event that has brought together Bob Dylan and Martin Scorsese, NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN, a production of Spitfire Pictures, Grey Water Park Productions, Thirteen/WNET New York and Sikelia Productions, in co-production with Vulcan Productions, BBC and NHK, will make its U.S. broadcast premiere on Thirteen/WNET's award-winning AMERICAN MASTERS series Monday and Tuesday, September 26-27 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). Part One will also premiere on September 26 in the UK, on the BBC's counterpart, the internationally prestigious series ARENA. This will be a historic collaboration between the world's two principal public broadcasters, brought together in a production forged by independent producers Spitfire Pictures. Paramount Home Entertainment will also release a DVD version of the documentary with extensive, additional, never-before-seen footage on September 20. Apple will present the DVD and international version of NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN, and is the corporate underwriter of the PBS broadcast.

The two-part film, which focuses on the singer-songwriter's life and music from 1961-66, includes never-seen performance footage and interviews with artists and musicians whose lives intertwined with Dylan's during that time. Dylan talks openly and extensively about this critical period in his career, detailing the journey from his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, to Greenwich Village, New York, where he became the center of a musical and cultural upheaval, the effects of which are still felt today.

For the first time, The Bob Dylan Archives has made available rare treasures from its film, tape and stills collection, including footage from Murray Lerner's film Festival documenting performances at the 1963, 1964 and 1965 Newport Folk Festivals, previously unreleased outtakes from D.A. Pennebaker's famed 1967 documentary Don't Look Back, and interviews with Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Maria Muldaur, and many others. In anticipation of the film, members of Dylan's worldwide community of fans also contributed rarities from their own collections.


In addition to being the director of such dramatic films as Raging Bull, Goodfellas and The Aviator, Scorsese is an avid chronicler of the history of American popular music. Most recently, he executive-produced the music miniseries The Blues, which aired on PBS, as well as the related concert film Lightning in a Bottle, directed by Antoine Fuqua. Scorsese also directed the documentary The Last Waltz (1978), which captured the legendary farewell concert of The Band, and he served as an assistant director and editor on Woodstock (1970).

In discussing his excitement about the current project, Scorsese remarked, "I had been a great fan for many years when I had the privilege to film Bob Dylan for The Last Waltz. I've admired and enjoyed his many musical transformations. For me, there is no other musical artist who weaves his influences so densely to create something so personal and unique."

Along with Scorsese, NO DIRECTION HOME: BOB DYLAN is being individually produced by Jeff Rosen of Grey Water Park, Nigel Sinclair of Spitfire, Anthony Wall of the BBC's Arena series, and Susan Lacy of Thirteen/WNET New York's AMERICAN MASTERS series, which has won the Emmy for Outstanding Primetime Non-Fiction Series five of the last six years.

"When we first began discussing this project years ago, we were overwhelmed by the material at hand - home movies and history-making concert footage, fascinating interviews with Dylan's friends and fellow performers and, of course, Dylan himself, speaking so frankly about this incredible period in his life," said Lacy, series creator and executive producer of AMERICAN MASTERS. "What we needed - above all - was an artist with a singular vision who could fuse this material into a unique visual narrative. That artist was Martin Scorsese, who graciously agreed to direct."

Added Spitfire's Sinclair: "Bob Dylan is a true cultural worldwide icon. This is the first time Bob has given this unprecedented access, which, coupled with Marty's outstanding filmmaking talents, should provide an unparalleled portrait of Dylan's indelible mark on the culture of the 20th century."

"This is history," said Wall, ARENA series editor. "As Dylan's extraordinary career is building to another great peak, it's also a milestone for the BBC and PBS."