The 1966 Live Recordings

This is Bob Dylan at his very best, period. I encourage all fans of Dylan, be it serious, hardcore fans or the more casual listener to purchase this box set while you can. It's absolutely fantastic! The box set contains 36 CD's and at a cost of under $100, that's an incredible value. This deluxe box set, though not numbered is one of the very finest releases in the superb Bob Dylan Sony/Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings Bootleg Series. This box set corresponds to the 2 CD Bootleg Series Volume 4 release "The Royal Albert Hall Concert" and the exact same recording of that truly historic concert taped on May 17, 1966 in Manchester, England is included in this set. The Box itself though housing 36 CD's is very compact, resembling a cube unlike the older, traditional large bulky box sets. Really nice..1966 saw the close of Bob Dylan's first cycle of music just prior to his motorcycle accident in July of that year. His finest work up to this time (tracks from the landmark albums "Bringing It All Back Home," "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde On Blonde") were performed on this tour which saw quite a lot of pandemonium over his recent transition to all electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. Amazon's referencing of Dylan transitioning to "surrealistic electric poet" in the 1965/66 period is aptly quite accurate and very well put. He did after all, go on to later win the Nobel Prize For Literature.. Most appropriate. The Hawks (later The Band in the 70's) perform at maximum intensity and the quality of the recordings, though not always perfect are for the most part, excellent.The original recordings are a combination of Soundboard Recordings, Audience Recordings and official recordings from Columbia Records Mobile as Bob Dylan was considering releasing a live album at this time. The Columbia Records Mobile recordings are superb and even the Soundboard Recordings are quite good. The Audience Recordings are obviously of lesser quality though their inclusion does allow this set to present every performance from Bob Dylan's 1966 shows. Every known recording from Dylan's now legendary 1966 tour covering the U.S.,UK, Europe and Australia are included in this box set. Of all the Dylan live recordings out there from the early/mid 60's thru today, these are the prime ones though lets not forget his mid 70's live performances and the later tours with Tom Petty in the mid late 80's. Of course the culmination of all this incredible music winds up at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert in 1992. It just keeps on going. Thank you, Mr. Dylan.This set is unreleased Dylan at his very best second only to "The Cutting Edge 1965-1966" The Bootleg Series Volume 12 deluxe box set released in 2015 and the "More Blood, More Tracks" The Bootleg Series Volume 14 deluxe box set released in 2018. Both of these latter two box sets are comprised of unreleased studio recordings and are nothing short of amazing.This live chronicle covering virtually every show from 1966 is awesome. The above referenced studio tracks box sets along with this massive 1966 collection covers Bob Dylan at his cutting edge best. This is the Dylan that broke all the rules in pop music and redefined the live venue for.all that came after. Definitive. A must own!

It Could Even Be Like a Myth - Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings (Early thoughts)Writing about BOB DYLAN: THE 1966 LIVE RECORDINGS is a daunting task; after all, so much has already been said, and with the mammoth, monumental 36-CD official release of all extant concerts, the 1966 record is as complete as it will get. It’s impossible to do justice to this set after one full listening. This is something that will take a year or two of intensive study and is not for novice Dylan fans, whom it would likely drive bonkers. (Released the week of the presidential election, it’s as if Bob knew what was coming and gifted us something to take our minds off President Trump, though “Desolation Row” sure provides a stark reminder of where we stand.) The set lists - aside from a scorching “Positively Fourth Street” in Australia - are unvarying, and to many ears, one concert is probably no different from another. As any seasoned Dylan fan will tell you, though, this is nonsense. The songs might remain the same, the arrangements the same, but Dylan emphasizes different words, and for me, the difference in some sets is as clear as night and day.I’ll start with saying that in a vacuum, these are all historic and great concerts. and the differences are more of degree than kind. I could take my least favorite set from both the acoustic and electric portions, and if it were all that existed, I’d no doubt worship at its altar. That, however, is not the case. We have an embarrassment of riches to choose from, and artists, even geniuses like Bob Dylan, have days where they aren’t feeling it as much as others. I’ll take Bob Dylan going through the motions over just about anyone else at his or her very best, but when Bob’s into it - when he’s seemingly possessed as he was during the acoustic portions of Birmingham and Sheffield - the results are hypnotic and give me goosebumps. Those sets are filled with “listen to the way he sings that line” moments, again and again. I hear "Mr. Tambourine Man" and think if EVERYONE listened - really listened - to this song world peace would be possible. There are at least five “holy s***” performances of “Visions of Johanna” (including Edinburgh and the aforementioned Birmingham and Sheffield), which leave you scratching your head about why the considerably less wondrous May 26 Royal Albert Hall version was selected for BIOGRAPH.The two concert halves form a whole that’s more than the sum of their parts, but really, the acoustic and electric portions couldn’t be more different, and an acoustic set standing out one night didn’t necessarily mean the electric half would. It’s understandable because they are two different worlds. The acoustic portion is otherworldly, transporting you to somewhere beyond time. Bob has talked about how one of his primary goals when making music is to stop time. For seven songs, night after night, he did just that. Crowds listened mostly in rapt attention. There was no booing. It is a holy, spiritual experience. When listening to word perfect performances of "Visions of Johanna," "Desolation Row," and "Mr. Tambourine Man," it strikes me that Bob Dylan could very well have been awarded a Nobel Prize in 1966 and makes the backlash to his receiving it a half century later seem silly, indeed.Anything spiritual vanishes the moment the Band breaks into “Tell Me Momma,” with a performer on the ledge and about to go over the edge. (Royal Albert Hall, night two, May 27, is Bob’s last concert before the motorcycle crash. After that, silence.) The electric set takes place in a different world, one of lust and vengeance, of mixed up medicine, of rock ’n roll. I can see Bob totally feeling the spiritual side one night and not so much the rock side (as perhaps in Sheffield). On other nights, maybe he can’t wait to break out the electric guitar, and the acoustic set is done as a duty (as perhaps in Royal Albert Hall, night one).The increasing hostility to the electric half as the tour went on seems to have inspired Bob to even greater performances. The defiant artist, spitting fire, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues," "Ballad of a Thin Man," "Like a Rolling Stone," singing songs that could all be in one way or another messages to the Mr. Joneses in the audience (e.g., “She” in “I Don’t Believe You” could be the fans). Live music recording was in its infancy in 1966, so the electric results are sometimes somewhat muffled and not as clear as the acoustic sets, but it’s obviously great rock ’n roll, with the Band getting tighter and tighter as the tour went on, straight through the extraordinary Albert Hall electric sets. The interaction is all there, including Bob’s comic asides, like when he’d assure the audience that he was playing folk or protest songs, or his insistence that “Visions of Johanna” isn’t a drug song and that it’s “just vulgar to think so.” Although there are boos and catcalling, it’s clear throughout the tour that the vast majority were applauding and appreciative of the music. Glasgow is another stand out, with what might be a contender for best ever live performance of “One Too Many Mornings,” and of course Manchester is here with the “Judas” exchange and what could be a word of advice for fans fifty years on: “Play f---ing loud."