The Basement Tapes

The Basement Tapes
Studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band
Publication (s)	June 26, 1975
Label (s)	Columbia
Genre (s)	Rock , folk , blues , country
Title (number)	24
running time	76:41
occupation	Bob Dylan - vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards Rick Danko - bass, mandolin, violin, vocals Levon Helm - drums, mandolin, bass, vocals Garth Hudson - organ, piano, accordion, saxophone Richard Manuel - piano, harmonica, drums, vocals Robbie Robertson - lead guitar, drums, vocals
production	Bob Dylan and The Band
chronology Blood on the Tracks (1974) The Basement Tapes Desire (1976)

The Basement Tapes is the title of a 1975 studio album by Bob Dylan and The Band .

History of origin

Bob Dylan had an accident on July 29, 1966 near his home with his motorcycle, a 500 cc Triumph Tiger 100 (built in 1964), and sustained back injuries after a driving error. After his recovery, the members of his backing band The Band (Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko) moved to the vicinity of Woodstock . They rented a house in West Saugerties in February 1967, which they called "Big Pink" because of the exterior paintwork. The five musicians and various guests met in the basement of the house between June and October 1967 to spontaneously and informally make music together at jam sessions .

"Big Pink", West Saugerties, New York

Garth Hudson initially installed sound recording equipment consisting of a borrowed two-track tape recorder, stereo mixers and 4 microphones. This resulted in between 7 and 15 tracks per day, initially classic rock and folk material, and later around 30 new Dylan compositions. Not all sessions were recorded on tape. The recording quality was poor even for the conditions at the time, because none of the participants had the knowledge of a sound engineer or music producer and the acoustics of the living rooms were not suitable for music recordings. A total of 105 titles were created without seriously considering publication. After the end of the sessions in October 1967, a demo tape with 14 recordings was extracted, copyrighted via the music publisher Dwarf Music (owned by Dylan and his manager Albert Grossman ) and offered to other musicians as demos.

Publication by other artists

First, the folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary picked up the Dylan composition Too Much of Nothing and released the song in November 1967, but was only able to occupy 35th place on the pop charts. The British pop band Manfred Mann selected Mighty Quinn and finally recorded the title on November 2, 1967 after disagreeing with various takes . When released on January 12, 1968, this version became the number one hit in many countries, including Great Britain and Germany. It has been sold over 2 million times worldwide, making it the most successful title among basement tapes . The song also appeared on the Manfred Mann record Mighty Garvey! , which came on the market on June 28, 1968. On April 2, 1968, the Dylan-experienced Byrds released You Ain't Goin 'Nowhere , but only penetrated to 74th place. The British, jazz-oriented band Julie Driscoll , Brian Auger & The Trinity picked up This Wheel's on Fire in June 1968 and brought the song to number 5 on the British charts.

Bootleg LP and official LP

In the meantime, these hits made it known to the professional world and the public that unpublished tape recordings from the cellar ("basement tapes") existed. Because on June 22, 1968 the editor of the music magazine Rolling Stone , Jann S. Wenner , published a cover story about the recordings withheld from the public under the heading “Dylan's Basement Tape Should be Released”. The original recordings of the Basement Tapes , classified by Jann S. Wenner as demo recording, were circulated as the first bootleg in rock history under the name Great White Wonder (double LP) from July 1969 , which is said to have made 350,000 copies. However, the illegal pressing with 23 tracks also contained interviews and songs that had nothing to do with the basement tapes . The official Columbia double LP The Basement Tapes was not released until June 26, 1975, but it was quite sketchy (e.g. without Mighty Quinn ) and also contained a number of tracks that had not been made in the legendary Basement. Bob Dylan sings 16 of the 24 songs, with members of The Band singing the remaining eight songs. The album was able to place in the US LP chart at number 7, but did not develop the strong demand that had been expected due to the great interest.

Contents of the official double LP / CD

LP 1 / CD 1:

1. Odds and Ends - 1:43
2. Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast) - 3:40
3. Million Dollar Bash - 2:30
4. Yazoo Street Scandal - 3:26
5. Goin 'to Acapulco - 5:25
6. Katie's Been Gone - 2:49
7. Lo and Behold! - 2:43
8. Bessie Smith - 4:17
9. Clothesline Saga - 2:56
10. Apple Suckling Tree - 2:47
11. Please, Mrs. Henry - 2:31
12. Tears of Rage - 4:17

LP 2 / CD 2:

1. Too Much of Nothing - 3:00
2. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread - 2:14
3. Ain't No More Cane ( Traditional ) - 3:57
4. Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) - 2:06
5. Ruben Remus - 3:11
6. Tiny Montgomery - 2:51
7. You Ain't Going Nowhere - 2:39
8. Don't Ya Tell Henry - 3:12
9. Nothing Was Delivered - 4:22
10. Open the Door, Homer - 2:47
11. Long Distance Operator - 3:38
12. This Wheel's on Fire - 3:55

More compilations

The range of compilations with the "basement material" is vast. The Band also released material from the sessions on the LP Music from Big Pink in July 1968 , a total of 11 tracks. Among them was the Dylan composition I Shall be Released , with 41 versions the most frequently covered title of the Basement Tapes . On October 25, 1990 the labels Wild Wolf and Scorpio (re-released 1999) released The Genuine Basement Tapes , a 5-CD, almost complete collection of the recordings from 1967, again as a bootleg (“unofficial release”). They were original recordings, with no professional remixes or overdubs afterwards . It contains 2 versions of The Mighty Quinn . The second version had already appeared on the album Biograph (November 7, 1985).

On March 31, 2009, a remastered version of the 1975 double album was released.

Finally, on November 4, 2014, The Basement Tapes Complete in Dylan's Bootleg Series was the first official release of the Basement recordings. In contrast to the 1975 double album, the 139 tracks contained on the 6 CDs dispense with overdubs and are in stereo, whereas in 1975 they were downmixed to mono. The eight tracks by The Band without Dylan, which were written long after the basement sessions and mixed with the 1975 release by Robbie Robertson, are missing here.

Web links

• Review, cast & chart positions at Allmusic (English)
• The Basement Tapes Homepage of The Band

Individual evidence

1. ^ Nigel Williamson, The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan , 2006, p. 67
2. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 265
3. ↑ Wordpress with the article
4. ↑ David Schwartz, Strange Fixation: Bootleg Sound Recordings Enjoy the Benefits of Improving Technology ( Memento from October 19, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
5. ^ Daniel Martin, Discography about Great White Wonder ( Memento from January 2, 2003 in the Internet Archive )