The Basement Tapes Complete, a six-disc collection of recordings of original tracks and covers, which Rolling Stone calls “the birth of lo-fi”* – was released in early November 2014. Six discs are undeniably too much for just one reviewer to handle, so the duties were divided between writers Craig Wright and Emerson Malone.
 
Emerson Malone: Craig, we’re listening to the Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11. These are tracks that were recorded on reel-to-reel tape decks and kept in a box for the last four decades. We’re talking about 140 songs, all recorded by Bob Dylan and the Band (then known as the Hawks), in 1967 after Blonde on Blonde and just before recording John Wesley Harding. But what’s the difference between this and the 1975 The Basement Tapes release?
Craig Wright: The 1975 Basement Tapes featured only certain selections of these recordings. This is the complete collection of every recording Bob Dylan and the Band created during their time in the house known as “Big Pink” outside Woodstock, New York while Dylan recovered from a serious motorcycle crash.
EM: We have six discs here, so what would you say are some of the common elements that you sense from all these recordings?
CW: For a handful of songs, Dylan and the Band were clearly just enjoying themselves and using the power of music to help Dylan recover mentally from his accident. Lots of songs have audible laughing in the background where it is clear that these recordings were just for fun. One key point I noticed is at the end of “Love is Only Mine,” Dylan blandly asks, “What key haven’t we played in yet?”
EM: That just speaks to how much they’d already recorded. Some of my favorite parts are when they banter and goof around, like on “Bourbon Street” when Dylan says, “Ah, play it pretty now, boys,” and Rick Danko erupts into a noisy trombone solo. What are some of your favorite selections?
CW: Personally, I enjoy seeing the progression of songs, so I really like the first half of disc four, in which multiple takes of the same song are presented back to back including three takes of “Tears of Rage.” “Goin’ to Acapulco” is another favorite. But this isn’t even everything that was written at the time. What’s your take on Lost on the River, by The New Basement Tapes? This is the companion album to this bootleg release – it has recordings from Elvis Costello, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons), Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes). Plus, it’s produced by T. Bone Burnett.
EM: I thought a lot of covers were great and really, really well made. At times it feels very obvious they’re covers, but in other instances, like James’s and Costello’s tracks, they really breathe new life into the songs. I recommend it.
CW: It is nice to see that his music is still relevant so long after it was recorded. The fact that these recordings are even out, even if it’s 47 years later, is important for the history of music. This is the work of a musician in his absolute prime.
Emerson’s review:
The comprehensive release of the Basement Tapes is important purely as a musical artifact. Like Craig said, this is some serious Dylan-core being released in 2014. This compilation has a lot going on: weird, alternate versions of a lot of Dylan originals (like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “It Ain’t Me, Babe”), multiple takes of several tracks (songs like “Quinn the Eskimo”), covers (like Bob Nolan’s “Cool Water” and even Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”) and stuff that was probably never really intended to get out to the public, (“See You Later Allen Ginsberg” or “Bourbon Street.”) It’s well worth the listen.
Craig’s review:
Bands like Guided By Voices have jumpstarted their careers based on lo-fi recording techniques, but back in the ’60s, it was unheard of for professionals to intentionally record with poor quality. Sure, early records didn’t have the best quality, but they were still recorded in professional studios. As Emerson mentioned, it feels as if a lot of these songs were never intended to be heard by the public. Luckily, the quality of the songs are higher than that of the recording technology. Although it may feel like a daunting task to make it through all six and a half hours of music, these serve as either the next step for the die-hard Dylan fan, but would also be an appropriate introduction to Dylan’s music for new listeners.
Follow Emerson Malone on Twitter @allmalone
Follow Craig Wright on Twitter @wgwcraig