DYLAN, BOB - CD
THE COMPLETE INFIDELS SESSIONS

LABEL:
WLR 2090
SOURCE:
: Discs 1-7: New York, Power Station 11th April-8th May 1983, Disc 8, Tracks 2-12: Wembley Stadium, London July 7th 1984; Track 12: Arena, Verona 23rd May 1984 broadcasted by Retequattro in Spring 1984; Tracks 13-14: Wilhelm Koch Stadion,Hamburg 31st May 1984; Track 15-16: Minestadio, Barcelona, 28th June 1984; Tracks 17-25: Sportpaleis, Rotterdam 4th June 1984, Tracks 26-37: Stade de l’Ouest, Nice 17th June 1984, tracks 38-41: Hall D’Alpexo, Grenoble 3rd July 1984.
FORMAT:
7CD and 1 DVD, black coated 500 limited numbered edition
RUNNING TIME:
76.37/78.13/74.25/72.55/44.52/49.12/73.59/2.08.
SOUND/SOURCE:
Stereo Soundboard except for Disc 8, Tracks 1-12: Stereo Audience, Track 17-41: Audience mono, Tracks 12,15,16: Soundboard stereo
PACKAGING:
Cardboard box with all discs in plastic sleeves and 8 pages booklet
 

The Complete Infidels Sessions WLR Box front

The Complete Infidels Sessions WLR Box back


SOUND 9 / PACKAGING 9 / PERFORMANCE 10

 
TRACK LIST:

Disc 1: 1-3: Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground, 4-6: Blind Willie McTell, 7-12: Neighbourhood Bully, 13: Clean Cut Kid, 14-15: Dark Groove, 16-17: Don't Fly Unless It’s Safe.

Disc 2: 1-3: Death Is Not The End, 4-10: Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight, 11-12: Foot Of Pride, 13-14: Julius And Ethel.

Disc 3: 1-5: I & I, 6-10: Jokerman, 11-14: License To Kill.

Disc 4: 1-2: Lord Protect My Child, 3-7: Man Of Peace, 8-9: Someone's Got Hold Of My Heart, 10-14: Sweetheart Like You.

Disc 5: 1-2: Tell Me, 3-4: This Was My Love, 5-9: Union Sundown.

Disc 6: 1-2: Sweetheart Rehearsals 1& 2.

Disc 7: Sweetheart Rehearsals 3.

Disc 8: 1. Martha Quinn Interview (on cover but not present), 2. Highway 61 Revisited, 3. A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall, 4. Like A Rolling Stone, 5. Mr.Tambourine Man, 6. It Ain't Me,Babe, 7. Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat, 8. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, 9. Tombstone Blues, 10. Senor, 11. The Times They Are A- Changing, 12. Blowing In The Wind,  Not on cover: 13. All Along The Watchtower, 14. Like A Rolling Stone, 15. Like A Rolling Stone, 16. Blowin' In The Wind,  Various Europe 1984 8mm Footage (song titles not on cover): 17. Highway 61 Revisited, 18. Just Like A Woman, 19. Maggie's Farm, 20. Tangled Up In Blue, 21. It Ain't Me,Babe, 22. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, 23. Highway 61 Revisited, 24. Tombstone Blues, 25. Forever Young, 26. All Along The Watchtower, 27. Just Like A Woman, 28. Maggie s Farm, 29. I And I, 30. License to Kill, 31. A Hard Rain s A Gonna Fall, 32. It s Alright, Ma I m Only Bleeding, 33. Simple Twist Of Fate, 34. Like A Rolling Stone, 35. Don t Think Twice, It s Alright, 36. The Times They Are A Changing, 37. Why Do I Have To Choose?, 38. Jokerman, 39. All Along The Watchtower, 40. I And I, 41. A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall.        

 
REVIEW:

This new box set presents the most extensive selection of outtakes from Bob Dylan Infidels Sessions, featuring Mick Taylor, Mark Knopfler, Sly & Robbie as mentioned on front cover.

The sessions started from 11th April through 8th May 1983 at New York Power Station Studios and have been released officially apart on the album itself and following singles (including the European only release of Union Sundown/Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground), and 4 songs on the Bootleg Series vol. 1-3 (
"Someone’s Got Hold Of My Heart", "Tell Me", "Lord Protect My Child", "Foot Of Pride"). Also on 30th May 1988 from the album Down in the Groove it was released the single "Death Is Not The End". On many bootlegs too: Down in the Flood by German Jokerman label, reissued as Outfidels; then Sweetheart Sessions that was a combined effort from TMOQ and TAKRL (the first to present a whole side with 7 takes of "Sweetheart Like You", Last Infidels Outtakes by Icecream, Clean Cuts by GIR, a 2LP on coloured vinyl called Seven Days. Some tracks also on Empire Burlesque Outtakes, others on Real Cuts at Last (2LP) and on Power Efficient Engine, then last year by a reborn TMOQ Rough Cuts came out again on colour vinyl. On compact disc Infidels Sessions a 2CD set by Reference Rec.,Alternate Infidels on digipack, Down in the Flood that was a copy of the old vinyl album, Clean Cuts, Rough Cuts, Friend to the Martyr, One More Layer of Skin from Hollow Horn, Surviving in a Ruthless World (this should have been the album title) just in 2008. As for the London Wembley Stadium show was already released on DVD as Live at Wembley Stadium 1984 and 11 tracks on Real Live by WOW. This release puts together most of the known sessions works together with longer jams and probably will be remembered as the final word on them; what is interesting is that the songs are placed together usually with the most primitive version at the beginning and the latest developed one at the end, so showing the real advancement through different arrangements. Sound is very good with some hiss at times but most of the songs come out clear and enjoyable. Disc 1 opens with three versions of Willie Nelson's "Angel's Flying Too Close To The Ground" but the best tracks are undoubtedly the takes of "Blind Willie McTell" that display all the harmonic power of this song either acoustic or electrically played, while "Neighborood Bully" is a pretty repetitive musical effort with an uninspired riff. More interesting is a 6.47 minutes version of "Clean Cut Kid” with nice expressive guitar from Knopfler and Taylor. Here we have 2 versions of "Dark Groove" and "Don't Fly Unless It's Safe" both instrumentals first time out to my knowledge.

Disc two opens with 3 takes of the poignant "Death Is Not The End" sung with Clydie King followed by 7 versions of "Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight" that showcase the brilliant essential guitar solos by Mick Taylor who, together with Knopfler, fuels "Julius And Ethel" with some nice rhythmic work. Both guitarist gets the hot spot alternately on the 5 versions of "I And I" from Disc 3 while the first two outtakes of "Jokerman" show a prominence of   Robbie Shakespeare whose bass seems too fast for the song's pace.

Disc 4 opens with probably the best performance from Taylor on "Lord Protect My Child" on the first take displaying his tasty style with few but appropriate frills. "Man Of Peace" first versions are dominated instead by Alan Clark keyboards in a monochord style, from the fifth version however more space is given to guitars with an electric solo on that and an acoustic solo on the following version. The 4 versions of "Sweetheart Like You" here are finished songs, contrary to what is on Discs 6 & 7 that have a complete report of how that song gets created. We can hear band members chat, laugh and jam together during their time in the studio.  

Disc 5 is the shortest of the lot and presents various songs that, like on the 2nd take of "Tell Me" have a background chorus accompanying Dylan lyrics and counter pointing his singing. Taylor shines as usual on the first songs while "Union Sundown" is a pretty repetitive tune in all its five appearances despite a good rhythmic guitar and Clydie King's vocals. Disc 6 has two segments that are the same up to 22. minutes, then the second one lasts another 6 extra minutes. Disc 7 is very interesting but should chronologically have been before Disc 6 which is its continuation. Despite of too much buzzing noise in the background and some 'dead air' in the studio we can hear Dylan that starts playing the harp on a famous instrumental ("Oh Susannah") before launching in a series of tests of "Sweetheart Like You" trying to find the right key in which playing it, the song in its primitive version with different lyrics too. The last disc is a DVD copy from Real Live another DVD from WLR that came out awhile ago with part of Wembley 84 performance, taken from the back of the stage with the taper at first threatened by somebody to leave the stage in 30 seconds (but he stayed), images are good although a bit shaky especially when confrontation arises. It is interesting to see the performers and the audience at the same time, unfortunately the audio soundtrack is very low in volume; from "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat" on Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Chrissie Hynde come to the stage and on "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" Van Morrison too rendering the stage very crowded and footage historically important as it is shot very close. On "The Times They Are A Changing" the guitar solos are from Santana,Clapton and Taylor in order while even the last song "Blowin In The Wind" is played electrically with all the guests in attendance; the remaining part of the DVD is just a lot of assembled 8 mm. films from the 84 European Tour.

All in all this is a nice box with valuable outtakes from the Infidels sessions that would wet the appetite of the many Dylan and Taylor fans whose collaboration lasted just for over a year.

 

 


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May 18, 2009 - 12:05:29 AM


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