Bob Dylan bootleg recordings are unreleased performances by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, that have been circulated throughout the public without undergoing an official, sanctioned release. It is commonly misconceived that bootlegs are only restricted to audio, but bootleg video performances, such as the Dylan's 1966 film Eat the Document, which remains officially unreleased, are considered to be bootlegs. Dylan is generally considered to be the most bootlegged artist in rock history,[1] rivaled only by theGrateful Dead.
Due to his constant touring between 1988–present, and the fact that almost every show has been recorded, many of Dylan's illicit recordings come from the Never Ending Tour.[1]However, early taped performances by friends dating from the late 1950s, concerts, Newport Folk Festival shows, demo tapes, and studio outtakes provide a wide range of unreleased material to be bootlegged.
Early bootlegs[edit]
The first ever popular rock bootleg to appear on the black market was Dylan's Great White Wonder, a double album first coming to underground record stores in mid-1969, through a young bootleg label, "Trademark of Quality" (TMQ).[1] It contained a variety of material: several tracks coming from a hotel rehearsal in December 1961 (recorded by then-girlfriend Bonnie Beecher), Witmark publishing demos, an interview with Pete Seeger, studio outtakes from the Highway 61 Revisited sessions, songs recorded with The Band in the summer of 1967 in Woodstock, New York (which would become known as The Basement Tapes), and one live performance from a 1969 broadcast of The Johnny Cash Show.[2] As people began to buy the record, duplicates began to appear that were released by other young bootleg labels. These re-releases usually switched track listings, or just took a single record of the two, and released it under a different name. Generally, the quality of the recordings degenerated between different releases, because the songs were being copied from the same source many times over.
The release of the Great White Wonder gave birth to a fake bootleg that began as a gag concocted by editors at Rolling Stone magazine. The album, The Masked Marauders, was supposedly recorded during a jam session between Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. A review of the non-existent album ran in Rolling Stone on October 18, 1969. The write-up sparked numerous inquiries from readers, and a band was hired to record first some singles, then a full album. The album was released in November 1969 under a Warner Bros. subsidiary created as part of the stunt.
Stealin, which appeared later in 1969, began to compile more studio outtakes, with many tracks coming from the Highway 61 Revisited sessions of 1965, along with tracks that also appeared on Great White Wonder. It also included takes of songs that would eventually be released by Columbia via the official "Bootleg Series".[3] But this too began to be copied and re-released by different bootleg record labels, with sound quality suffering greatly between each copying.
1970 saw the first release of the "Royal Albert Hall" material, recorded May 17, 1966 at the Manchester Free Trade Hall, titled In 1966 There Was, which also contained tracks from a different concert on the tour.[4] Zimmerman Looking Back was released later that year, and contained the entire electric set played on May 17, 1966, as well as four songs from the acoustic set of a concert recorded in Ireland.[5] Over the years, many more labels began to release the electric set, generally using the phrase "Royal Albert Hall" in the title. In 1971, TMQ released just the electric set, titled GWW: Royal Albert Hall.[6] The acoustic set was generally overlooked by the pirates, until the entire concert was officially released by Columbia in 1998.
After the early 1970s, pirates continued to copy old material, along with releasing new studio outtakes and live shows. Dylan's Isle of Wight Festival performance was first bootlegged in 1970 as Isle of Wight, but the concert was incomplete. Eventually, the whole concert was available on illicit albums. Dylan's set at George Harrison's "Concert for Bangladesh" from 1971 soon appeared on bootlegs, such as Madison Square Garden and Bangla Desh, usually paired with part of Harrison's set.[7]
Dylan's 1974 tour with The Band also became a large source of the bootlegs. Mr. Cleen Records released Chicago in 1974, which included 10 songs from Dylan's second Chicago appearance that year. This is probably the first release of material from that tour.[8]
1976 saw the first release of Rolling Thunder Revue material, with Passed Over and Rolling Thunder, a double album that contained a variety of songs.[9] Almost the entire benefit show for Rubin "Hurricane" Carter on December 8, 1975, was released as Hurricane Carter Benefit, by the Singers Label.[10] Bootlegging Dylan continued to be prosperous throughout the rest of the 1970s, 80s, and beyond, with many hundreds of titles released.
Commonly bootlegged recordings[edit]
The Minnesota Hotel Tapes[edit]
There are three tapes that are commonly referred as the "Minnesota Tapes": the Minnesota party tape, and the two Minnesota hotel tapes. The first was recorded sometime in May 1961, while the last two were recorded in December of that same year. The earliest tape was recorded by Dylan's girlfriend at the time, Bonnie Beecher, while the other two were recorded by friend Tony Glover.[11] Several songs from these tapes appeared on the original Great White Wonder. They have forever been distributed across various bootlegs throughout the years, but the most complete collection was released in 1994 as The Minnesota Tapes. This collection includes both tapes in their entirety, spread across three CDs.[12]
The Gaslight Café Recordings[edit]
Several tapes of Dylan performing at the Gaslight have long been circulating among collectors, although it is not known when the first bootlegs containing them were produced. However, in 2005, Columbia Records released Live at the Gaslight 1962, which contained ten of the seventeen songs from one of these tapes. Dylan originals include "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", and an unreleased song called "John Brown".[11]
Witmark and Broadside demos[edit]
When Dylan decided to lodge his compositions with publisher Witmark Music, it became his duty to record demos of his recent compositions. Over 1963-1964, Dylan recorded over forty songs for his publishers, in his publisher's office, usually accompanying himself on piano or guitar.[11][13] Many songs were never returned to on any of Dylan's albums, such as "The Death of Emmett Till", "All Over You", and "Walkin' Down the Line". A two-CD set compiling the known forty-one of these demos was released in 1994. Thecomplete Witmark demos were officially released by Columbia Records in 2010.
Dylan also recorded songs for the folk magazine Broadside, so they could be transcribed and possibly published.[14] Again, many of these compositions were overlooked when it came time to record an album. 1995 saw the release of many of these songs on a compilation called "Broadside". It also included three songs from a Broadside radio show, and three from the march on Washington D.C.[15]
The Newport Folk Festival: 1963-65[edit]
Dylan's performances at the 1963, '64, '65, and later 2002 Newport Folk Festival have all been recorded and widely distributed. While being recorded professionally by both cameras and by a PA system during the '60s performances,[16] Dylan's 2002 concert was recorded by an off-mike audience member.[17] The 1965 festival was marked by the fact that he "went electric", much to the chagrin of folk purists. This event's recording circulated long before "Maggie's Farm", the first song played at the concert, was released onvolume seven of the Bootleg Series in 2005. Film of Dylan's conversion to electric music, as well as performances from 1963 and 1964, were released on The Other Side of the Mirror. Dylan's 2002 performance has, to this date, remained unreleased.
1966 World Tour[edit]
Many of the shows given on Dylan's 1966 World Tour were recorded by audience members, or officially recorded by CBS, which led to a vast archive of concert recordings. The early parts of the tour, taking place in the United States, contained "Positively Fourth Street" and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit", and "To Ramona" in the set list.[18] However, these songs were dropped as Dylan and the Hawks traveled to different locations. The electric portions were usually intense, with Dylan nearly screaming into the microphone. An official release of the long-bootlegged "Royal Albert Hall" concert finally appeared in 1998 as the fourth volume of the Bootleg Series.
The "Basement Tapes" sessions[edit]
Dylan and the Band had come to Woodstock in 1967, with the intent to shoot further scenes for the documentary Eat the Document, but their focus soon reverted to music.[19]Using equipment borrowed from Peter, Paul and Mary, Dylan and the Band began to record a vast variety of music in the basement of the Band's rented house, near Woodstock. Over the ensuing months, over 100 songs were recorded, many of them written by Dylan himself.
Only the heavily edited official version of The Basement Tapes, as well as the release of the song "I'm Not There" to promote the film of the same name, offer a legal alternative to the many bootleg versions of these sessions. Material recorded in these sessions appeared on the original Great White Wonder album, and have been re-appearing ever since on bootlegs. So far, the most complete version is White Bear's A Tree with Roots, which contains 108 tracks from the "Basement" sessions.[20]
However, three songs from these sessions have not surfaced in complete form: "Even if it's a Pig Part I and II" (written by The Band), "Wild Wolf" (Dylan), and "Can I Get A Racehorse?". "Even if it's a Pig Part I" circulates in incomplete form.
Never Ending Tour[edit]
Since 1988, Dylan has toured consistently every year, performing nearly 100 shows every single year. His constant and seemingly ceaseless schedule was dubbed the "Never Ending Tour" by a reporter. A vast number of the shows have been recorded by audience members, and many have been released on bootleg CD. Very few recordings from the tour have been officially released; many have been single songs only, but entire concerts have been made available to the general public.
See also[edit]
- The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 – Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969-1971)
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete
Deus ex machina (Latin: [ˈdeʊs ɛks ˈmaː.kʰɪ.naː]: /ˈdeɪ.əs ɛks ˈmɑːkiːnə/ or /ˈdiːəs ɛks ˈmækɨnə/;[1] plural: dei ex machina) is a calque fromGreek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanês theós), meaning "god from the machine".[2] The term has evolved to mean a plot devicewhereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Depending on how it is done, it can be intended to move the story forward when the writer has "painted himself into a corner" and sees no other way out, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or as a comedic device.
Origin of the expression[edit]
The term was coined from the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a machine is used to bring actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine could be either a crane (mechane) used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought actors up through a trapdoor. Preparation to pick up the actors was done behind the skene. The idea was introduced by Aeschylus and was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. Although the device is associated most with Greek tragedy, it also appeared in comedies.[3]
Ancient examples[edit]
Aeschylus used the device in his Eumenides, but it was with Euripides that it became an established stage machine. More than half of Euripides' extant tragedies employ a deus ex machina in their resolution, and some critics claim that Euripides, not Aeschylus, invented it.[4] A frequently cited example is Euripides' Medea, in which the deus ex machina, a dragon-drawn chariot sent by the sun god, is used to convey his granddaughter Medea, who has just committed murder and infanticide, away from her husband Jason to the safety and civilization of Athens. In Alcestis, the eponymous heroine agrees to give up her own life in order to spare the life of her husband, Admetus. At the end, Heracles shows up and seizes Alcestis from Death, restoring her to life and to Admetus.
Aristophanes' play Thesmophoriazusae parodies Euripides' frequent use of the crane by making Euripides himself a character in the play and bringing him on stage by way of themechane.
The effect of the device on Greek audiences was a direct and immediate emotional response. Audiences would have a feeling of wonder and astonishment at the appearance of the gods, which would often add to the moral effect of the drama.[5]
Modern theatrical examples[edit]
Shakespeare used the device in As You Like It, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale.[6] It was also used in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera where the author uses a character to break the action and rewrite the ending as a reprieve of the hanging of MacHeath. Both in Shakespeare's and Gay's plays the deus ex machinahappens with breaking the dramatic illusion often in the form of an episodic narrator exposing the play itself and laying bare the author. This is different from the use of the deus ex machina in the ancient examples with the ending coming from a participant in the action in the form of a god. It is natural for the gods to be considered participants and not outside sources because of their privileged position and power. It is these attributes that allow the Greek gods to believably wrap up and solve the series of events.[7]
During the politically turbulent 17th and 18th centuries, the deus ex machina was sometimes used to make a controversial thesis more palatable to the powers of the day. For example, in the final scene of Molière's Tartuffe the heroes are saved from a terrible fate by an agent of the compassionate, all-seeing king — the same king that held Molière's career and livelihood in his hands.[8]
Plot device[edit]
Aristotle was the first to use deus ex machina as a term to describe the technique as a device to resolve the plot of tragedies.[3] It is generally deemed undesirable in writing and often implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The reasons for this are that it does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic (although it is sometimes deliberately used to do this) and is often so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though perhaps more palatable, ending.[9]
Examples[edit]
In the novel Lord of the Flies the rescue of the savage children by a passing navy officer (which author William Golding called a "gimmick") is viewed by some critics as a deus ex machina. The abrupt ending conveys to the audience the terrible fate which would have afflicted the children (in particular Ralph) if the officer had not arrived at that moment.[10]
J. R. R. Tolkien coined the term eucatastrophe to refer to a sudden turn of events that ensures the protagonist does not meet some impending fate. He also referred to the Great Eagles that appear in several places in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as "a dangerous 'machine'."[11] Some critics have argued that eucatastrophe, and in particular the eagles, exemplify deus ex machina. For example, they save Frodo and Sam from certain death on Mount Doom in The Return of the King.[12][13] Others contend that the two concepts are not the same, and that eucatastrophe is not merely a convenience, but is an established part of a fictive world in which hope ultimately prevails.[14]
Deus ex machina was also used by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist, when in the very peak of climax, Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Agnes, and therefore Oliver's aunt and she marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, allowing Oliver to live happily with his saviour, Mr. Brownlow.[15]
Criticism[edit]
The deus ex machina device has many criticisms attached to it, mainly referring to it as inartistic, too convenient, and overly simplistic. On the other hand, champions of the device say that it opens up ideological and artistic possibilities.[16]
Ancient criticism[edit]
Antiphanes was one of the device's earliest critics. Antiphanes believed that the use of the "deus ex machina" was a sign that the playwright was unable to properly manage the complications of his plot. ‹See Tfm›
Another critical reference to the device can be found in Plato's dialogue Cratylus, 425d, though it is made in the context of an argument unrelated to drama.
Aristotle criticized the device in his Poetics, where he argued that the resolution of a plot must arise internally, following from previous action of the play:[18] ‹See Tfm›
Aristotle praised Euripides, however, for generally ending his plays with bad fortune, which he viewed as correct in tragedy, and somewhat excused the intervention of a deity by suggesting that "astonishment" should be sought in tragic drama:[19] ‹See Tfm›
Such a device was referred to by Horace in his Ars Poetica (lines 191–2), where he instructs poets that they should never resort to a "god from the machine" to resolve their plots "unless a difficulty worthy of a god's unraveling should happen" [nec deus intersit, nisi dignus uindice nodus inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona laboret].[20]
Modern criticism[edit]
Following Aristotle, Renaissance critics continued to view the deus ex machina as an inept plot device, although it continued to be employed by Renaissance dramatists.
Towards the end of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche criticized Euripides for making tragedy an optimistic genre via use of the device, and was highly skeptical of the "Greek cheerfulness", prompting what he viewed as the plays' "blissful delight in life".[21] The deus ex machina as Nietzsche saw it was symptomatic of Socratic culture, which valued knowledge over Dionysiac music and ultimately caused the death of tragedy:[22] ‹See Tfm›
Nietzsche argued that the deus ex machina creates a false sense of consolation that ought not to be sought in phenomena.[23] His denigration of the plot device has prevailed in critical opinion.
In Arthur Woollgar Verrall's publication, Euripides the Rationalist (1895), he surveyed and recorded other late 19th century responses to the device. He recorded that some of the critical responses to the term referred to it as 'burlesque', 'coup de théâtre', and 'catastrophe'. Verrall notes that critics have a dismissive response to authors who deploy the device in their writings. He comes to the conclusion that critics feel that the deus ex machina is evidence of the author's attempt to ruin the whole of his work and prevent anyone from putting any importance on his work.[17]
However, other scholars have looked at Euripides' use of deus ex machina and described its use as an integral part of the plot designed for a specific purpose. Often Euripides' plays would begin with gods, so it is argued that it would be natural for the gods to finish the action. The conflict throughout Euripides' plays would be caused by the meddling of the gods and therefore would make sense to both the playwright and the audience of the time that the gods would resolve all conflict that they began.[24] Half of Euripides' eighteen extant plays end with the use of deus ex machina, therefore it was not simply a device to relieve the playwright of the embarrassment of a confusing plot ending. This device enabled him to bring about a natural and more dignified dramatic and tragic ending.[25]
Other champions of the device believe that it can be a spectacular agent of subversion. It can be used to undercut generic conventions and challenge cultural assumptions and the privileged role of tragedy as a literary/theatrical model.[16]
Some 20th-century revisionist criticism suggests that deus ex machina cannot be viewed in these simplified terms, and contends that the device allows mortals to "probe" their relationship with the divine.[26] Rush Rehm in particular cites examples of Greek tragedy in which the deus ex machina serves to complicate the lives and attitudes of characters confronted by the deity while simultaneously bringing the drama home to its audience.[26] Sometimes, the unlikeliness of the deus ex machina plot device is employed deliberately. For example, comic effect is created in a scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian when Brian, who lives in Judea at the time of Christ, is saved from a high fall by a passing alien space ship.[27]
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