Bob Dylan and his band performed “All Along The Watchtower” the other night, June 28, 2014, at Wiener Stadhalle in Vienna, Austria.
[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.]
–- A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Great to hear these two songs, “Rainy Taxi” and “Rent I Pay,” which Spoon performed on Kimmel this past Thursday night.
They are both on the upcoming album, They Want My Soul.
Now watch Spoon Play ‘Rainy Taxi’ & ‘Rent I Pay.’
“Rainy Taxi”:
“Rent I Pay”:
[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.]
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On June 26, 1975, 39 years ago, Columbia released a version of The Basement Tapes.
The two album set contained 24 songs from the more than 100 songs that Bob Dylan and The Band recorded during the informal ‘Basement Tapes’ sessions.
Many of the recordings that didn’t make it onto the official release, are wonderful.
Yeah, the fidelity from the bootlegs isn’t so great, but the vibe is incredible.
Here are ten gems.
“Big River”:
“I Am Your Teenage Prayer”:
“I Don’t Hurt Anymore”:
“I Can’t Make It Alone”:
“Cool Water”:
“Joshua Gone Barbados”:
“Belchezaar 1 & 2”:
“Waltzing With Sin”:
“The Hills Of Mexico”:
“The French Girl” Take 2:
[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.]
–- A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Soul man Bobby Womack, whose numerous R&B hits included “Lookin’ For A Love,” “That’s The Way I Feel About Cha,” “Woman’s Gotta Have It” and “If You Think You’re Lonely Now,” died today according to the artist’s label, XL Records.
The cause of death has not been revealed, but Womack had been suffering from colon cancer and diabetes.
In 1964 Womack and his brothers, recording as The Valentinos, released a song Womack had written, “It’s All Over Now.” A month later the Rolling Stones released their version, which became a #1 hit on the UK sales charts and introduced the singer’s song to a generation of white teens, including me.
I loved “It’s All Over Now,” though it was years before I noticed that the songwriter was Bobby Womack.
I interviewed Womack in 1984 at his home in the Hollywood Hills for Rolling Stone when he was in the midst of one of many comebacks — this one had started with 1981’s The Poet.
At the time we talked, Womack had another hit album,The Poet II.
I asked Womack what his reaction was back in 1964 when he first learned that the Rolling Stones had a hit in England with his song.
“Tell them to get their own fucking song!,” he said. “I never was happy about that until I saw a check.”
Womack became friends with Ron Wood of the Stones, and played on several of Wood’s solo albums.
When he learned of Womack’s death, Ron Wood Tweeted:
“I’m so sad to hear about my friend Bobby Womack ~ the man who could make you cry when he sang has brought tears to my eyes with his passing.”
Womack had problems with drugs — in particular, cocaine. “The biggest downfall for any entertainer is drugs,” Womack said. “I ain’t saying I was totally out there, but I had my share.
During that interview he said he’d been clean for six months and told me he was excited to be touring with a hit album.
“I don’t know about everyone else, but I want to live,” he told me. “I have two sons. I have a beautiful wife. And music, the gift that God gave me, means more to me today than it’s ever meant.”
Read the New York Times’ obit here.
Read Rolling Stone’s obit here.
Read NPR’s obit here.
“If You Think You’re Lonely Now”:
“Woman’s Gotta Have It”:
“Across 110th Street”:
“Across 110th street” live, 1973, on Soul Train:
The Valentinos, “Lookin’ For A Love”:
Bobby Womack, “Lookin’ For A Love” (remake):
The Valentinos, ‘It’s All Over Now:
The Rolling Stones, “It’s All Over Now”:
“The Bravest Man In The Universe” (from Womack’s 2012 album for XL):
“Please Forgive My Heart” (from Womack’s 2012 album for XL):
Bobby Womack at Glastonbury 2013:
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Ron Wood had this TV show, “The Ronnie Wood Show,” on which he played music and interviewed musicians.
Here. in 2011, he talks to Mick Hucknall and they play a bit of Bob Dylan’s ‘One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later).’
Plus a clip with Wood and Paul McCartney talking about “Get Back.”
Video: Ron Wood and Mick Hucknall Sing Bob Dylan’s ‘One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)’:
Ron Wood and Paul McCartney:
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In response to my post yesterday, “Bob Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ Manuscript Sells for $2 Million But Dylan’s Secrets Remain Secret,” Mike Jones commented:
The LARS lyrics went for more than I thought they would…how are a few pieces of paper worth more than the Newport guitar? I don’t get the whole ephemera thing. I guess people like to have historical stuff, just to look at or whatever. But I would much rather have the Newport guitar, which sold for like half as much. That seems very strange to me.
I understand why some folks, especially musicians, would want the guitar Bob Dylan played at the Newport Folk Festival gig that drew the line between the old Dylan, and the new.
For me though — and I’m not saying paying $2 mil makes any kind of sense — between the guitar and the manuscript, I’d go for the manuscript.
Guitar:
Here’s why.
Certainly the guitar is an iconic object, symbolic of Dylan’s rejection of so-called ‘folk music’ for rock ‘n’ roll, but he could have played any Strat that day and made the same music, made the same impact. Dylan’s art and his creativity didn’t hinge on that particular guitar. In fact, he played many guitars over the years. It’s always been Dylan, not his instruments, that makes the difference.
But that manuscript.
That’s the artist at work. That’s the artist in the throes of the creative process.
On those pages we see the song take shape. Words crossed out and other words written in. The chorus forming before our eyes from page to page.
And those cryptic notes to the side of the lyrics. “Al Capone,” “On the Road,” “Pony Blues,” “Butcher Boy.”
From these pages and the ones for “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” we get the curtain pulled back a little on Dylan’s creative process.
And when one combines what’s on these pages, with what he reveals in “Chronicles: Volume One” and elsewhere, we do get a vague sense of the Dylan mind at work.
We’ll never get to the bottom of it, and it’s probably better that way, but still.
So Bob Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ lyrics are very different from the Newport guitar. They’re a time machine that takes us back to that day (s) when Bob Dylan put the ideas that were in his head down on hotel stationary, and created a timeless song, a song that, nearly 50 years after he wrote it, stands tall.
But what do you think?
Would you opt for the Newport guitar, or the “Like A Rolling Stone” manuscript pages?
Manuscript:
Or is there something else that you’d go for instead. If you had the money, and if you could afford to spend it in this way.
Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 singing “Like A Rolling Stone”:
Bob Dylan – Like a Rolling Stone (Live… by toma-uno
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Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ front woman Karen O’s solo album, Crush Songs, will be released on September 9, 2014 on Cult Records.
This is Karen’s O’s first solo album, although she has previously recorded and released solo material including the Oscar-nominated “The Moon Song.”
The album was recorded in 2006 and 2007 and is described in a press release as “an intimate collection of lo-fi bedroom recordings in the vein of Karen’s Oscar-nominated “The Moon Song.”
“The Moon Song”:
Here’s what Karen O says about the album:
Cult Records is The Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas’ label.
The album can be pre-ordered here. A vinyl version will include “personal drawings” by Karen O and handwritten lyrics.
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Bob Dylan live at Thessaloniki Harbor in Thessaloniki, Greece last night.
Dylan sounds quite good based on these clips and the band is really swinging. I’m very impressed with Dylan’s band. Shows last year and this show what a killer performing unit they are. Based on the shows in Japan, Ireland, Turkey and now Greece, this is going to be a great year for Dylan in concert. Hopefully we’ll have a new album before the end of the year, and then I’m hoping another bootleg series set in 2015.
It’s going to be very interesting to see what Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” manuscript sells for at auction tomorrow. I’ve seen an estimate that it could sell for as much as $2 million. Crazy. Well we’ll know soon enough.
Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the videos of Bob Dylan live at Thessaloniki Harbor below.
Dylan and band:
Bob Dylan – vocal, piano, harp
Charlie Sexton on lead guitar
Donnie Herron – banjo, viola, violin, electric mandolin, pedal steel, lap steel
Stu Kimball – rhythm guita
Tony Garnier – bass
George Recile – drums
Bob Dylan live at Thessaloniki Harbor:
Things Have Changed plus all of “She Belongs To Me”:
“She Belongs to Me”:
Excerpt:
“Beyond Here Lies Nothin'”
“What Good Am I?”
“Duquesne Whistle”
“Pay in Blood”
“Tangled Up in Blue”
“Love Sick”:
“High Water (For Charley Patton)”
“Simple Twist of Fate”
“Early Roman Kings”
“Forgetful Heart”:
“Summer Days”:
“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”:
“Soon after Midnight”
“Long and Wasted Years”
Encore:
“All Along the Watchtower”:
Another view:
“All Along the Watchtower” & “Blowin’ in the Wind”:
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“Blowin’ In The Wind”:
Another fan recording:
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Bob Dylan performs “Duquesne Whistle” at the Black Box, Istanbul, Turkey on June 20, 2014.
“Forgetful Heart”:
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