The Basement Tapes - Bob Dylan & The Band (1975)


 In 1966 Bob Dylan broke the momentum of his career when he was involved in a motorcycle and allegedly broke his neck. He spent most of the next year recuperating in his home at Big Pink in Woodstock, New York and recording dozens of demos with his backing band, which was rapidly developing from The Hawks into The Band. At the same time, The Band was recording thier debut album, Music From Big Pink, regarded as one of the classics of 1968.

Many of these demos were compiled on a bootleg, perhaps the first ever bootleg: Great White.

A few years later in 1975,  in order to beat the bootleggers, an album of the basement session called, appropriately enough, The Basement Tapes was compiled and released, along with eight songs by The Band, which were in fact recorded later but which  were mixed in such a way that they sounded as if they were recorded at the same time and place as the Dylan songs. Including the songs by  The Band was probably dishonest and misleading, and The Basement Tapes has come under a lot of criticism for this, along withh the fact that the compilers of the compilation (namely The Band's Robbie Robertson) left out some choice Dylan songs ("I Shall Be Released, "The Mighty Quinn", and others) in favor of The Band's songs and making it seem like the sessions were a meeting of equals, which was not strictly true. 

With the backstory out of the way, let's get to the music: this was, in my opinioin, Bobby D.'s last great gasp of unbridled genius creativity. He would never write so many great songs in such a short amount of time as he did here, and as he had been doing for the last five or six years. While he still has dozens of great songs and a few great albums from later in his career, this represents both the end of his peak genius period and the beginning of his laid-back country rock phase.

The songs themselves have little to do with the psychedelic country-blues of '66's Blonde On Blonde: they share more in feel with late '67's folkish John Wesley Harding; but there's a genuine sense of fun that runs through The Basement Tapes that's reflected in the playful lyrics, the singing and the playng by The Band, which is generally stellar, by the way: man, this album just feels like a real roots rock album, it feels really really  good. Relaxed, laid back as the songs themselves, and loose...but yet...so right on. 

There are  a lot of throwaway numbers, but they are all worth hearing, there's some sort of mysterious gravitas to it all and it's it's stll packed with, in my opinion, some of Dylan's best songs: "Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", "Nothing Was Delivered" and two co-writes with Rick Danko, "This Wheel's On Fire", and "Tears Of Rage" are all five star classics: to think that he recorded the alltimer "I Shall Be Released" (my all-time favorite Dylan song at this time blows my mind.)

There are some deluxe archival releases which include a lot more songs from these sessions, which I've never heard: I'm sure there are some gems to be found in there, but I'm sure there's also some hazy and directionless folk covers and jams and the like, and I'm not sure I have the will to sample them all and curate the best from them, so I haven't bought that release.

I do wish that The Band's songs had been left off in favor of more Dylan songs, but to be clear I enjoy all of them quite a lot so this album is still a classic.

5/5

Below is "This Wheel's On Fire", one of the songs Dylan wrote with Rick Danko. My favorite version is actually The Byrds' version from 1968, but this one is good, too.

Spotify Link

https://open.spotify.com/album/6BOlD6UGUg45IsUXPSplkY?si=gIWWCwZdSUC_idHre6kBGQ


This one is mostly in mono or mono-ish sound, with lots of hiss,  and the sound pretty much defines "muddy basement demo": but that was probably intentional and actually adds to the atmosphere. I love the sound, I just have an standard CD master made in the early 90s.





Coming Up:

All This Useless Beauty - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco

The American Dream

American Idiot - Green Day

Amnesiac Radiohead

Another Life - Another Life

Arrival - ABBA

B

The B-52s

Bachelor No. 2 (Or, The Last Remains of the Dodo) - Aimee Mann

The Ballad of Easy Rider - The Byrds

Bambu - Dennis Wilson

Band on the Run

Bangles EP

The Basement Tapes - Bob Dylan & The Band

BARB

The BBC Sessions -- Belle & Sebastian

The Beatles [The White Album] 

Beatles For Sale 

Beauty and Sadness -- TheSmithereens

Beauty and the Beat -- The Go-Go's

Become What YOu Are - The Juliana Hatfield 3

Before & After - Tim Finn

Beggar's Banquet. The Rolling Stones

Begin Here - The Zombies

Being There - Wilco

The Bends -- Radiohead

Berlin - Lou Reed

The Best of Badfinger

The Best of Dark Horse - 1976-1989 - George Harrison

The Best of Sam Cooke

Best Shots - Pat Benatar

Betchadupa

Between The Buttons - Rolling Stones

Big Canoe - Tim Finn

the Big Express - XTC

Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi - Camera Obscura

Billy Idol

A Bit of Previous - Belle & Sebastian

The Black Album - Prince

Black Gold - Nina Simone

Black List - Alex Chilton

Black Market Clash - The Clash 

Black Sea - XTC

Black Snake Diamond Role -- Robyn Hitchcock

Black Spring - Lush

Black-Eyed Man - Cowboy Junkies

Blind Man's Zoo - 10000 Maniacs 

Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan

Blondie

Blood And Chocolate - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan

Blue Kentucky Girl -- Emmylou Harris

Boats Against the Current -- Eric Carmen

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan In Concert: Brandeis University 1963

Book - They Might Be Giants

Bookends -- Simon and Garfunkel

Booker T & The M.G.'s

The Bootleg Series 1-3 Bob Dylan

Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen

Born toDie - Lana Del Rey

Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

Bossanova - The Pixies

The Both

Boy - U2

The Boy with the Arab Strap - Belle & Sebastian

Boys Don't Cry - TheCure

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel

Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan

Brutal Youth - Elvis Costello

Bryter Layter - Nick Drake

Buena Vista Social Club

Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield Again

Buoys - Panda Bear

Byrdmaniax - The Byrds

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