BOB DYLAN : THE RUNDOWN REHEARSAL TAPES 

 

Disc One

  1. Like A Rolling Stone 
  2. It's All Over Now Baby Blue 
  3. It's All Over Now Baby Blue 
  4. Blowin In The Wind
  5. Maggie's Farm
  6. Like  A Rolling Stone 
  7. The Man In Me
  8. To Ramona
  9. Most Likely You Go Your Way
  10. Simple Twist Of Fate
  11. Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat
  12. If Not For You
  13. I Threw It All Away
  14. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
  15. Going Going Gone
  16. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome
  17. Simple Twist Of Fate
  18. My Babe
  19. Like A Rolling Stone 

Disc 2

  1. Just Like A Woman 
  2. Just Like A Woman  
  3. Blowin' In The Wind  
  4. Blowin' In The Wind  
  5. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
  6. The Man In Me 
  7. You're A Big Girl Now 
  8. Don't Think Twice 
  9. I Threw It All Away 
  10. Love Minus Zero / No Limit
  11. Maggie's Farm 
  12. Ballad Of A Thin Man
  13. Simple Twist Of Fate 
  14. To Ramona 
  15. If You See Her Say Hello 

Disc 3 

  1. I Don't Believe You 
  2. Going Going Gone 
  3. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
  4. The Times They Are A-Changin'
  5. If You See Her Say Hello
  6. The Man In Me
  7. I Don't Believe You
  8. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
  9. You're A Big Girl Now
  10. Knockin' On Heavens Door
  11. It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
  12. Forever Young
  13. Repossession Blues
  14. One Of Us Must Know
  15. Girl Of The North Country

Disc 4

  1. We'd Better Talk This Over
  2. Coming From The Heart
  3. I Threw It All Away
  4. Maggie's Farm
  5. Ballad Of A Thin Man
  6. Simple Twist Of Fate
  7. To Ramona
  8. If You See Her Say Hello
  9. I Don't Believe You
  10. Love Minus Zero
  11. Stop Now 
  12. Stop Now 
  13. Coming From The Heart 
  14. Am I Your Stepchild?
    Bonus Tracks :
  15. Do Right To Me Baby
  16. Coming From The Heart 
  17. More Than Flesh And Blood (Helena Springs)

Label : White Bear

Venue : Rundown Studios, Santa Monica, California, USA

Date : December 1977 - January 1978

Quality : Studio Recordings (A+/A-)

Review (Bob's Boots) : Stunning!! This eagerly anticipated 4 CD release truly delivers. Excellent soundboard tapes of most recordings. It includes 2 Booklets and a poster. Absolutely 100% superb package. The photos are incredible. There is also quite a bit of new to CD material, all in as good a sound as exists. The included information is incredible as well. Edited from the sleeve notes: this set compiles all of the known recordings from the month and a half of rehearsals that preceded the 115 date world tour of 1978. Held at a small converted two story rehearsal space in downtown Santa Monica that was the legendary Rundown Studio.  It also includes, for the first time, more than a full CD's worth of previously uncirculated recordings from the desk tapes of then engineers Arthur Rosato and Joel Bernstein. The first CD opens with one of those new recordings, a full blown arrangement of Like A Rolling Stone that's quite different from the one utilized on the tour. Note: 8 tracks on this 4cd set are (most likely) unintentionally repeated - Disc Two - Maggie's Farm, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Simple Twist Of Fate, To Ramona, If You See Her Say Hello, I Threw It All Away, Love Minus Zero,   Disc Three - I Don't Believe You - these tracks reappear on Disc Four with very different sound characteristics (i.e. although they are very different mixes taken from different source tapes, they are in fact the same performances). It's likely that a source tape mis-attribution is to blame for this error.

Sleeve information : The first CD opens with an arrangement of Like A Rolling Stone that's quite different from the one utilized on the tour itself, before introducing a first ever CD transfer of the complete December 30th 1977 tape. This particular rehearsal comes at a time when the touring band was still in a state of flux, with Denny Siewell on drums, Jesse Ed Davis on guitar and Katie Segal and Debbie Dye Gibson on backing vocals. It also features Dylan figuring out a piano arrangement of It's all over now baby blue, as well as versions of three songs that failed to appear on the tour; Most likely you go your way, Leopard skin pill box hat and If not for you. Though this is a first generation digital transfer of the cassette master, this is one recording not from the mixing console, but recorded by one of the musicians with a boom box. (hence the slightly recessed vocals). However, it remains a fascinating insight into the embryonic stage of rehearsals at this point. Tracks 15-17 on the first CD gain come from a first-gen digital transfer of a tape that has generally only circulated in mediocre quality, from high generational recordings. This session featured a different drummer, (Bruce Gary), as well as a unique 1978 arrangement of the Blood On The Tracks classic You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. Finally, the CD concludes with a teaser of the goodies to be found on CD2... a previously uncirculated take of the old blues standard My Babe. The second CD continues in the same vein, and features a full disc worth of uncirculated gems (save for versions of Blowin In The Wind and Ballad Of A Thin Man previewed on the legendary Genuine Bootleg Series: Third One Now set. Every song is presented complete, with false starts kept to a minimum, and a number of outstanding arrangements from the early 1978 shows are first realized here (notably I Threw It All Away, The Man In Me and If You See Her Say Hello. The latter is a magnificent arrangement that, thankfully, is represented in three separate guises on this collection (given the paucity of actual live performances)... it never made it past the first four gigs!!). These recordings feature the backing vocalists Helena Springs and Jo Ann Harris, although the drummer(s) is unknown. The third CD concludes these new recordings with fully realized versions of I Don't Believe You and Going Going Gone. These are followed by what many Dylan fans choose as their favorite Dylan rehearsal recording, bar none... the January 30th 1978 tape. Again, it has been transferred from the master cassette direct to DAT. It has never before sounded this good! Continuing with some important arrangements discarded early in the tour; Tomorrow Is A Long Time, and Knockin' On Heavens Door receive their definitive renditions. A lovely play-through experience which concludes, fittingly, with a new transfer from a first generation cassette of the equally renowned three song tape from two days later that Dylan personally gave to a reporter who was interviewing him for a cover story on Renaldo and Clara. The February 1st rendition of Repossession Blues is another holy grail recording for the bobcat fraternity, here transferred in all of its' pre-Dolby, original, expansive glory. The fourth CD jumps ahead to the end of the first leg of the tour, and the recruitment of a new bass player/ bandleader, Jerry Scheff. (of Elvis Presley fame). Scheff replaces a disenchanted Rob Stoner. This so called Scheff Audition tape appears here in a new transfer from a first generation cassette, and features two new Dylan compositions in incomplete but fascinating versions. We'd Better Talk This Over will appear in a matter of days at the Street Legal sessions, but with some subtle lyric changes. Coming From The Heart will have no such luck, despite being the best of the songs co-written with backing singer Helena Springs. However, just to show the song in all of its stages and splendor, at the end of the audition tape is a complete recording from the Rundown made immediately after the Street Legal sessions. Along side it are two distinctly different recordings of the Dylan-Springs unreleased original Stop Now. The Bonus Tracks rounding out this overview of the Alimony Tour Rehearsals are three notable forms of Dylan originals debuted on the American leg of the tour. Do Right To Me Baby and Coming From The Heart are one-off 1978 debuts. Do Right, would of course, would be the first public performance of a Slow Train song. Finally, there is a soundboard recording of Am I Your Stepchild? from the Oakland show. This particular performance, which is quite different from the version on Genuine Bootleg Series Vol.1, was apparently used for copyright. More Than Flesh And Blood (Written By Dylan/Springs) is the final track, but it's not listed on the package. It's a studio recording, unknown date (post 1978) and location. Performed by Springs. So there you have it. Songs and arrangements are raw and reborn from one of Dylan's most overlooked years - when he played to something close to 3 million people in a single year, and wowed just about every one of them. Oh..., and then found Christ....