Earlier we told you about the Bob Dylan massive 36-disc box set of all of the surviving concerts from 1966.
Out on November 11, the set brings together both professionally recorded audio by Columbia’s mobile recording, soundboard tapes and audience recorded sources from 23 different shows. The only previously released material is the May 17, 1966 show from Manchester, included on Bob Dylan Live 1966: The Bootleg Series, Volume 4, two tracks that were on the album Biograph and a smattering of other individual performances.
Adam Block, president of Legacy Recordings, said “While doing the archival research for The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12, last year’s box set of Dylan’s mid-60s studio sessions, we were continually struck by how great his 1966 live recordings really are. The intensity of Bob’s live performances and his fantastic delivery of these songs in concert add another insightful component in understanding and appreciating the musical revolution Bob Dylan ignited some 50 years ago.”
Dylan had “gone electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, incensing traditionalists and exciting new fans. With the 1966 tour, he brought along a band featuring Robbie Robertson (guitar), Rick Danko (bass, backing vocals), Richard Manuel (piano), Garth Hudson (organ) and Mickey Jones (drums). Sandy Konikoff plays drums on the White Plains and Pittsburgh shows only.
Liner notes for Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings have been provided by Clinton Heylin, a consultant on the project and author of JUDAS!: From Forest Hills to the Free Trade Hall: A Historical View of Dylan’s Big Boo, the definitive written account of Dylan’s historic and pivotal 1965-66 world tours.
Each of the individual CDs is housed in a custom sleeve featuring stills from color film shot by D.A. Pennebaker, whose footage from Dylan’s 1965 and 1966 tours became the cinéma vérité classics Don’t Look Back (1965) and Eat The Document (1966).
Two weeks after the release of the box set, Columbia/Legacy will put out The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert, recorded on May 26, 1966. While also part of the box, the label wanted to release this particular show separately to correct a long-time situation where a performance from Manchester during the same tour had been labeled The Royal Albert Hall Concert.
The discs (full track list to be released later):
Disc 1 – Sydney, April 13, 1966 (Soundboard recorded by TCN 9 TV Australia)
Disc 2 – Sydney, April 13, 1966 (Soundboard recorded by TCN 9 TV Australia)
Disc 3 – Melbourne, April 20, 1966 (Soundboard / unknown broadcast)
Disc 4 – Copenhagen, May 1, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 5 – Dublin, May 5, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 6 – Dublin, May 5, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 7 – Belfast, May 6, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 8 – Belfast, May 6, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 9 – Bristol, May 10, 1966 (Soundboard / audience)
Disc 10 – Bristol, May 10, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 11 – Cardiff, May 11, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 12 – Birmingham, May 12, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 13 – Birmingham, May 12, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 14 – Liverpool, May 14, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 15 – Leicester, May 15, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 16 – Leicester, May 15, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 17 – Sheffield, May 16, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 18 – Sheffield, May 16, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 19 – Manchester, May 17, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 20 – Manchester, May 17, 1966 (CBS Records recording except Soundcheck / Soundboard)
Disc 21 – Glasgow, May 19, 1966(Soundboard)
Disc 22 – Edinburgh, May 20, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 23 – Edinburgh, May 20, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 24 – Newcastle, May 21, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 25 – Newcastle, May 21, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 26 – Paris, May 24, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 27 – Paris, May 24, 1966 (Soundboard)
Disc 28 – London, May 26, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 29 – London, May 26, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 30 – London, May 27, 1966 (CBS Records recording)
Disc 31 – London, May 27, 1966 (CBS Records recordings)
Disc 32 – White Plains, NY, February 5, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 33 – Pittsburgh, PA, February 6, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 34 – Hempstead, NY, February 26, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 35 – Melbourne, April 19, 1966 (Audience tape)
Disc 36 – Stockholm, April 29, 1966 (Audience tape)
The track list for The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert:
Disc 1
She Belongs to Me
Fourth Time Around
Visions of Johanna
Its All Over Now, Baby Blue
Desolation Row
Just Like a Woman
Mr. Tambourine Man
Disc 2
Tell Me, Momma
I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
One Too Many Mornings
Ballad of a Thin Man
Like a Rolling Stone
