Bob Dylan New York Sessions 1974-1975 contains a newly found tape of his sessions with Bette Midler in October, 1975 which produced her cover of “Buckets Of Rain.” The publisher says: “It opens with some upgrades of the original Blood On The Tracks sessions from September 1974, and progresses chronologically through some early Desire sessions, winding up to the main event: almost half an hour of never-heard October 1975 session outtakes of the recording of Bette Midler’s cover of ‘Buckets Of Rain’ with Dylan, which would show up on her Songs For The New Depression album the following January. The disc runs close to 80 minutes and the front cover features a seldom-seen shot of Dylan and Midler during the sessions.”
Bob Dylan New York Sessions 74 – 75
September 16 1974
1) Idiot Wind – take 6, overdubbed on Oct 8 Test Pressing
2) Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts- Take 1 Test Pressing
September 17 1974
3) You’re A Big Girl Now – Take 2 Upgrade to Biograph Version
September 19 1974
4) If You See Her Say Hello – Take 1 Test Pressing
5) Tangled Up In Blue – Take 2 or 3 Test Pressing
Studio E Columbia Studios N.Y.C. 14 July 1975
6) Rita Mae
Studio E Columbia Studios N.Y.C. 20 July 1975
7) Hurricane
Secret Sound Studios N.Y.C. Oct 75
8) Bob Dylan / Bette Midler Buckets Of Rain sessions (Uncirculated tape ) 27 Mins
9) Buckets Of Rain (Finished Version ) released in 1976 on Songs For The New Depression
5 Comments
It’s sad that its mainly Bob and Bette flirting,while the musical content is interesting but also minimal.
it sounds like those Blood On The Tracks songs have been taken from acetate but slightly less noisy than the often booted acetate tracks of yesteryear .. The Bette Middler session is akin to listening to the Nagra tapes from the Beatles “Get Back / Let It Be” sessions.
i have only given this CD a cursory listen but i’m sure the full review on CMR will shed some light on it all.
I’d be very interested to know what kind of upgrades have been made to the Blood On The Tracks songs, and whether the source of these is another copy of the test pressing itself, or original tapes.
I would have posted more info this morning if I had it. I just got the details in and posted above. We’ll have a copy of this in soon and we’ll have a detailed review of the disc.
Please let us know the tracklist, when you have the time, gsparaco
This could be the sensation of the decade….unless it’s just a repackage of previously know material. Dylan of 1974-1975 can only be compared to / measured against Dylan of 1965-1966.