Bob Dylan And The Band - 1975 - The Basement Tapes (2012) SACD rip at, 24 bits, 88.2 KHz

The official release of The Basement Tapes -- which were first heard on a 1968 bootleg called The Great White Wonder -- plays with history somewhat, as Robbie Robertson overemphasizes the Band's status in the sessions, making them out to be equally active to Dylan, adding in demos not cut at the sessions and overdubbing their recordings to flesh them out. As many bootlegs (most notably the complete five-disc series) reveal, this isn't entirely true and the Band were nowhere near as active as Dylan, but that ultimately is a bit like nitpicking, since the music here (including the Band's) is astonishingly good. The party line on The Basement Tapes is that it is Americana, as Dylan and the Band pick up the weirdness inherent in old folk, country, and blues tunes, but it transcends mere historical arcana through its lively, humorous, full-bodied performances. Dylan never sounded as loose, nor was he ever as funny as he is here, and this positively revels in its weird, wild character. For all the apparent antecedents -- and the allusions are sly and obvious in equal measure -- this is truly Dylan's show, as he majestically evokes old myths and creates new ones, resulting in a crazy quilt of blues, humor, folk, tall tales, inside jokes, and rock. The Band pretty much pick up where Dylan left off, even singing a couple of his tunes, but they play it a little straight, on both their rockers and ballads. Not a bad thing at all, since this actually winds up providing context for the wild, mercurial brilliance of Dylan's work -- and, taken together, the results (especially in this judiciously compiled form with its expert song selection, even if there's a bit too much Band) rank among the greatest American music ever made. (AllMusic)

Track list: 01 - Odds And Ends 02 - Orange Juice Blues (Blues For Breakfast) 03 - Million Dollar Bash 04 - Yazoo Street Scandal 05 - Goin' To Acapulco 06 - Katie's Been Gone 07 - Lo And Behold! 08 - Bessie Smith 09 - Clothes Line Saga 10 - Apple Suckling Tree 11 - Please, Mrs. Henry 12 - Tears Of Rage 13 - Too Much Of Nothing 14 - Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread 15 - Ain't No More Cane 16 - Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood) 17 - Ruben Remus 18 - Tiny Montgomery 19 - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere 20 - Don't Ya Tell Henry 21 - Nothing Was Delivered 22 - Open The Door, Homer 23 - Long Distance Operator 24 - This Wheel's On Fire

Personnel: Bob Dylan - Acoustic Guitar, Piano & Vocals Robbie Robertson - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Drums & Vocals Richard Manuel - Piano, Drums, Harmonica & Vocals Rick Danko - Electric Bass, Mandolin & Vocals Garth Hudson - Organ, Clavinette, Accordion, Tenor Sax & Piano Levon Helm - Drums, Mandolin, Electric Bass & Vocals

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