After decades of waiting, Bob Dylan is finally giving fans an official release of the legendary complete Basement Tapes sessions with The Band from 1967.
The Basement Tapes Complete will make up the 11th edition of Dylan’s Bootleg Series, which has been ongoing since 1993. The series features rare and previously unreleased material from Dylan’s vaults and, considering the length of Dylan’s career, there is a never-ending amount of material to work with. Just last year, the 10th edition in the series featured unreleased material from 1969 to 1971.
As most Dylan fans know, after he changed the shape of music with his first three electric records, Dylan withdrew from the music industry after his 1966 motorcycle accident. While he recovered, he enlisted The Band and they recorded dozens of songs. Some never saw the light of day, others made it onto the abbreviated 1975 album The Basement Tapes and still others were recorded by The Band and other artists.
Some of the best known songs from the sessions include “I Shall Be Released,” “The Mighty Quinn,” “This Wheel’s On Fire” and “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.”
Of course, some recordings have been released illegally on bootlegs. The new release, due on Nov. 4, will be the first official release of many of these tracks.
As with the 1969-1971 set from last year, there will be three editions. An abbreviated two-disc set will include highlights, while a deluxe six-disc package will include all the recordings. Finally, vinyl release of the highlights package will be released.
The full tracklist can be found at BobDylan.com.
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