Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix

Selective Index of Articles

Track list

Moe's review of Guitars Kissing

Dave Marsh's 1971 review of the Judas concert

EDLIS notes on Guitars Kissing

"Judas" cry and "Liar" retort

"Loud" or "Liar"?

Sourcing acoustic set

1. Tell Me Mama
2. I Don't Believe You
(She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
3. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
4. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
5. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
6. One Too Many Mornings
7. Ballad of a Thin Man
8. Like a Rolling Stone

Subject: Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix
From: Paul Wolfe (PSK@myna.com)
Date: 1996/05/10

Shuffle down to your local bootlegger, head down to the Village, order by mail.....whatever it takes, JUST GET THIS CD. I have not been able to pry it out of my disc player since receiving it yesterday.

E-mail me for further particulars.

Paul

P.S. Do I make myself perfectly clear?

Subject: T'was 30 years ago today (Manchester 1966 review)
From: Paul Wolfe (PSK@myna.com)
Date: 1996/05/17

		*	*	*

(from CREEM Magazine, Vol 3, # 3, June 3, 1971)

By Dave Marsh

It is the most supremely elegant piece of rock ‘n' roll music I've ever heard. Seeking after virtuous sounds, constantly on the look-out for the lost chord and its derivants, the music that springs out most completely from that place where magic operates most nearly operates as a totality, Bob Dylan and the Hawks Live At Albert Hall, 1966 seems closest to what I'm after. Closer than even all the Rolling Stones live bootlegs or even Ya-Yes, perhaps even closer (though in a different way) than the brilliance I found in Live/Dead and Kick Out the Jams when they were released.

The extreme subtlety of the music is so closely interwoven with its majesty that they appear as one and the same. The first time I heard it, the effect was that of so many flashbulbs popping in my mind. Then the crusher: as Dylan and the Hawks tune their way into "Ballad of A Thin Man", a tension, intangible but definable for anyone who has ever seen great music performed in its live context, accrues, becomes almost unbearable and then is relieved by the most precisely perfect note from Robbie Robertson. A swoop of the purest finery, not all flash and filigree but something else, something so simple that it treads the thinnest edge of becoming merely mundane. Its B. B. King antecedents laid bare, it remains the most cosmic rush I've ever experienced from mere music, totally unadulterated by chemical...a pristine swoop, up and then down and then back up again, Robertson soaring on that single note to heights the significance of which the average guitarist couldn't begin to comprehend even if he were capable of playing them.

My response is that crystallization of everything that is rock'n'roll music, at its finest, was to allow my jaw to drop, my body to move, to leap out of the chair, to snap the recorder off and to run for my friend in the back of the house, unheeding the great Garth Hudson organ chords which follow and Dylan's supremely manic vocal, the friend being Robertson freak par excellence (and a damn fine guitarist in his own right). It is an experience that one desires simply to share, to play over and over again for those he knows thirst for such pleasure. If I speak in an almost worshipful sense about this music, it is not because I have lost perspective, it is precisely because I have found it, within music, yes, that was made five years ago. But it is there and unignorable.

It is royal music, as Greil Marcus put it on the phone this afternoon, made for some unknown, perhaps unborn king. Or even for a mere sad-eyed lady of the lowlands. Music that neither struts nor swaggers but still has the charisma that the best music has, the music that you keep coming back to for all the little reasons that none of us seems to be able to quite get down on paper.

Listen to the jest of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (and note how Robertson rocks his way out of that agony!), hear the Hawks and Dylan push Chicago blues to its very limits on "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat". Each musician as finely tuned to the other as any well-oiled rock'n'roll machine; yes, tight, but it is magic that lubricates the music, a magic that transcends "tightness" as a concept. Flowing with it, I believe it used to be called, and somehow more than that, too. More than anticipation, though that is an element and more than genius. The drive from which Dylan and the Hawks derive their energy is beyond mere traditional concepts, it defies criticism, precisely because that drive is criticism.

For the audience that was spectator and at the same time part of this supreme moment of rock creation was half in awe of it, true, but only half. The other half of the crowd hated this music with a vengeance, despise it, it was electric and they wanted no part of it. They weren't hesitant in letting Dylan know it, either. And as each tune wound into the next one, their hostility grew larger, their anger at the very enormity of this ultimate sacrilege - Bob Dylan, folk hero/messiah, supplanted by five scruffy rock and roll veterans - more vast.

Dylan, then, chose his tunes which were most nihilistic, most sarcastic, most bitter, most desperate for this audience: "Tell Me Mama" (with its enduring chorus: "I know that you know that I know that you know"), "Baby Let Me Follow You Down", "Tom Thumb's Blues", "One Too Many Mornings", which was always the cry of a herald, "Ballad of A Thin Man", "Like A Rolling Stone". "You know something's happening and you don't know what it ISSSS", Dylan hisses, Hudson rocking those Ray Charles-like chords so ominously behind him, "Doooo yoooou Mr. Joooooness". Mickey Jones, the drummer here, nearly knocks his kit over with a power rarely matched - by Watts and Moon alone, perhaps - Manuel and Danko merely THERE, solid, the way it was meant to be. Too much of this music is the way it was meant to be for easy belief. One take, you see, and that's it.

Then "Thin Man" concludes and the audience really begins to rave. "Judas" comes the cry and then a few scattered cheers. Silence, tuning noises...Dylan, "I don't believe you". More tuning scraps. Robertson's first guitar chords - "You're liars", Dylan reiterates, and then the ultimate answer. Manuel's piano tinkles the initial chords and then...Then the only answer possible under these circumstances. "Once upon a time you dressed so fine...". The energy is so there, so distinct even five years later that you can taste it, feel it surging in your veins because hindsight is once again more powerful than foresight, you were right and Dylan did know what he was doing. Rock‘n'roll, bless his soul.

Why Bob Dylan later turned his back on the majestic noise he created that night, why he then turned to the shoddy Tin Pan Alley stylings that he seems so enamored of now, is anybody's guess. New Morning may be a new direction but it compares not at all to this music.

Still, the fact that Bob Dylan and the Hawks possessed this magic does, indeed, place them forever among the ranks of rock's great. Dylan had a power that Mick Jagger only approaches, a power to make people think in whole new ways, a power that he used more consciously than anyone else before or since. No one is deserving of more praise.

You can't really write about it, you know. And there's only a slim chance that you can find the tape. It's not all that safe these days to trade tapes, and there's slight chance that any more Dylan bootlegs are going to appear. I've heard rumors but rumors they remain. We'll see. In the meantime, let's suggest something: If ever you hear, for a minute, that anyone knows where to get a copy of this music, make your move. Kick out all the jams to get it. Perhaps half its value is knowing that Columbia will probably never release it, at least not during Dylan's lifetime, though they possess the master.

But more than that, it is merely worth it to know that Dylan and the Hawks - Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Mickey Jones (on the basis of this tape one of the half dozen finest drummers in the history of rock) - once existed and played music meant for immortality. They did, they did it in a way that is so incomparable, and one's only wish that someone, someday will come up with something equally enthralling.

It's been a long time.

Subject: Jon Landau Review: 5/17/66
From: dyln61@ix.netcom.com (Bob Meyer)
Date: 1996/05/22

BOB DYLAN: ON THE ROAD, 1966
Royal Albert Hall

"Judas," shouts someone in the audience. Others call out their agreement. The guitar, by now in tune, starts into its pattern. The voice from the stage answers back, "I don't believe you!" The guitar continues and the voice adds, in its drugged drawl, "You're a liar." And then, with one fell swoop, the drums and the rest of the Band make their entrance, bringing with them the magical beginning of "Like a Rolling Stone." And now the voice cries out, defiantly-even mournfully-"Once upon a time, you dressed so fine,threw the bums a dime,in your prime, didn't you?"

For two years now there has been talk of these tapes of Dylan in concert with The Band, but only few had ever heard them. Now they have surfaced in Los Angeles on a bootleg entitled "Greatest White Wonder: The Royal Albert Hall Concert 1966." It contains eight songs from various periods in Dylan's career, all done in the style of Highway 61. The personnel is The Band, except that Mickey Jones replaces Levon Helm on drums.

Needless to say, the album is both musically great and an amazing path back into the temperament of the sixties. Listening to it, it isn't hard to remember Dylan on stage of the Donnally Memorial Theatre in Boston or at Forest Hills in New York standing toe to toe,eyeball to eyeball with Robbie Robertson between every verse of practically every song, while the guitarist played his fills. Nor is it hard to remember that long, lean,frail look that sometimes made you wonder what gave him the strength to stand up there in the first place, as he remembered the unbelievably complex lyrics to his unbelievably long songs, without ever faltering.

It isn't hard for me to remember the booing, the names, the insults he endured just to be standing there with an electric band. At a concert in Connecticut, someone called out, "You scumbag." Bob waited a second, smiled, and said, "ah, it ain't that bad." On this album the audience claps at the wrong time, claps rhythmically as if to deliberately throw his timing off. At the beginning of "One Too Many Mornings" he tells a completely psychotic story in a very low voice while the audience makes its noise. As they gradually lose their energy, he finds his and his voice gets louder, until, when they are almost completely silent he says plainly, "if you only wouldn't clap so hard." The audience applauds the statement.

Jon Landau-June 1971

From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
Date: 21 January 1997

Murcura (murcura@aol.com) wrote:
: "Steven Mazur (SAR)" (mazur@virtu.sar.usf.edu) wrote:
: >Bob, can you tell us if your copy of these
: > discs are also missing the matrix numbers?
: >
: >>Yes, the numbers on my copy have been scratched off with what 
: >>looks like some kind of tool.
: >>
: I just received my "Guitars Kissing" this week, and it too is just as has
: been described of this "new" version: no booklet, "Made in Yogoslavia",
: matrix numbers scratched off, etc. I've had this show on cassette and LP
: in the past, and the sound of these CDs is spectacular to my ears. Has
: heard the original issue has raved about? Another note: the applause fades
: out/in completely after "Baby Blue" during the acoustic set, and there is
: a noticeable edit just before "Judas!". Is this common to all booted
: versions of this show? Thanks!

No it is not. It is common to all Guitars Kissings. Edits are described below.

: Sean Murdock
: murcura@aol.com


EDLIS is  aware of six issues of this title. Please register
what you have with Joe

jcliburn@flintcreek.win.net

and send  photocopies, we  only have photocopies of a few of
the variants.

Here are EDLIS' rough notes if readers want to comment upon them and
suggest corrections...

--
Guitars Kissing  & The  Contemporary Fix  / Bob Dylan [& the
Hawks] [17 May 1966]
Insert and  spine title:  Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary
Fix
Disc title: "Free Trade Hall" Live
2 CDs
[Scorpio], 51766A, 51766E, [1995]
[Made in Italy]
SIAE [Societa  Italiana degli  Autori ed  Editori =  Italian
Society of Authors and Editors]
Stereo
Matrix: GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE: 51766E
Total Running Time: 93:56 (1 1/2 hours)

"Guitars Kissing  & The  Contemporary Fix"  is a  name taken
from Bob  Dylan's book  Tarantula, it  is the  title of  the
twenty-first section. The way the title is split between the
two inner  CD sleeves  suggests "Guitars  Kissing" refers to
the acoustic part of the concert "& The Contemporary Fix" to
the electric.  The  order  numbers  51766A  and  51766E  may
suggest Acoustic and Electric?

Well packaged  gatefold black  cardboard sleeve with red and
white lettering  and a high contrast image of Bob Dylan with
acoustic guitar  wearing  the  very  large-patterned  hounds
tooth jacket,  individual paper  sleeves with  song listings
for each  CD (the  discs are inserted from the inside of the
fold, not  the outer  edge of  each wing), well presented, a
welcome addition  to the  Dylan corpus  undistributed by his
recording company,  or at  least only distributed out of its
back door...  On  the  back  cover  there  is  another  high
contrast image  of Bob Dylan, from the neck up, left quarter
profile.   He looks  pensive. When you open the gatefold, on
the left hand side is a photograph (not high contrast image)
of Bob  Dylan. He's  singing, playing a dark coloured Fender
Telecaster with  no rear  pickup cover. In the background is
bassist Danko,  with a  Fender bass. The inner sleeve on the
left, holding  the acoustic  side, has  a red  border on the
front and  four photographs  of Bob  Dylan, three  of  which
appear to  have been  taken at  the same  time and  a fourth
which appears  to be  more of a posed studio photograph. The
other inner sleeve is different. The front is mainly red. It
has a  photograph of  Dylan in  the studio  playing  guitar,
wearing sunglasses.  This photograph is segmented into eight
sections, with  the red  of the  sleeve colour  forming  the
bands between each section (like an ice cube tray). The disc
label for disc 1 has a white background with a 1966 era high
contrast, off-centered image of Bob Dylan in black. The disc
label for  disc 2  has the  same image,  but  with  a  black
background and  white image. Liner notes include a review of
the show and a first hand account from a fan:

"Manchester Free Trade Hall May 17, 1966
There's nothing  like a  little adrenaline  to enhance one's
appreciation of  an event.  By the  time Dylan  and the band
came onstage  I was  awash with the bloody stuff. I imagined
mayhem. The  piano-player, Richard  Manuel, was right beside
me. A  more sinister-looking fellow I never saw. As a matter
of fact, all the band looked like men who'd braved the fires
of hell  and emerged. Dylan's edgy aura hung over everything
and out  there at my feet was a surging mass of flesh-crazed
fans, howling,  cheering  and  screaming,  waiting  for  the
spark.

I don't think Dylan said anything. Just a glance at the band
and suddenly  the music  started.  I  never  heard  such  an
apocalyptic roar.  It took your breath away, like a squadron
of B-52's  in a cathedral. There was wicked crackling guitar
over a  vortex of sheer noise, with snatches of Captain Nemo
organ and mad piano occasionaly surfacing. Above it all, the
Dylan voice. Other writers have said it - nobody ever made a
more ominous  sound than Bob Dylan and the Hawks in the mid-
60's. It  was total  menace, with  no let-up.  Song followed
song, the terrible intense wall of sound pushing further and
further to the limits of sanity. It was magnificient."

(This is  taken from  the "biography  of The  Band",  Barney
Hoskins' Across  The  Great  Divide,  p. 122,  where  it  is
credited to  "Rick Sanders, a student working as a bodyguard
at the show.")

The generally circulating DAT before this came out on CD had
a different  fault to  the CD  source. The  CD has  a  split
second cut  from the  long harmonica solo towards the end of
Mr. Tambourine  Man (7) [7:22]. The early DAT in circulation
had a  cut from  the applause  fadeout at  the  end  of  Mr.
Tambourine Man.

Between a  rather vicious  Tell Me,  Momma (8)  and I  Don't
Believe You  (She Acts  Like We  Never  Have  Met)  (9)  the
harmonica begins  and Dylan  says, "This  is called  I Don't
Believe You.  It used  to be  like that and now it goes like
this". He  stamps his  foot four times and the harmonica and
the Hawks  "come in  with the sort of immediacy you get from
tipping a  whole table full of crockery and cutlery into the
sink all at once." - Paul Cable (1978).

Leopard-Skin Pill-Box  Hat (12) is introduced with: "This is
call, this  is called,  "Yes I...  This  is  uh,  [heard  on
circulating tapes  and on Royal Albert Hall 1966 [T-121] and
the like, but cut on this CD which begins mid-sentence with]
this is  called, "Yes  I See You Got Your Brand New Leopard-
Skin Pill-Box  Hat". [Guitar  pause,  many  shouts]  Man  in
audience (strong  English accent),  "[Remember] to  pick  up
your silver."  Woman  (angrily),  "Sit  down."  [Cheers  and
clapping] Robbie Robertson, "O.K. You boys pick it up, man."
Bob Dylan  laughs, "Heh." Robbie Robertson, "Gonna win them.
We've never  gambled." Bob  Dylan  laughs  nervously,  "Heh,
heh." Rhythmic  hand clapping,  shouting and whistling [with
further stage  voices in  the background, a section cut from
this CD] is broken up by "One, two, three" and the Hawks are
underway again.

Between Leopard-Skin  Pill-Box Hat  (12) and  One  Too  Many
Mornings (13) some of the audience follows the shouting with
slow hand  clapping, Dylan  mumbles into the microphone what
in retrospect  are clearly nonsense words and syllables, the
clapping abates  to catch  the  uncatchable  words,  and  he
continues, "...if  you only  just  wouldn't  clap  so  hard.
[Cheers, clapping]"

Oldham Evening  Chronicle -  25 May  1966:  "So the knockers
are all  stations go  again. I am referring to the fantastic
performance given  by Bob  Dylan at the Free Trade Hall last
Tuesday night...  I think  Bob put  his feelings over to the
knockers  just  great.  When  someone  shouted  out  to  him
'Judas!', he  just calmly went to the microphone and quietly
drawled 'Ya liar'..."

Between Ballad  Of A  Thin Man (14) and Like A Rolling Stone
(15) lies  this  famous  incident  where  a  member  of  the
audience yells out "Judas!". Applause and other shouts ["Hey
Mr genius  sings Dylan  songs!", "Boy!  Boy!", and the like]
are heard on circulating tapes and on Royal Albert Hall 1966
[T-121] and  the like,  but this  is a  twelve second cut on
this CD. Dylan responds, "I don't believe you... [Here again
this CD  has a  cut of indecipherable voices, this time just
four seconds.]  You're a  LIAR... Dylan  turns away from his
mike to  face the  drummer  Mickey  Jones  and  then  Robbie
Robertson says,  "Get fuckin'  loud!" followed by a wall-of-
sound no-holds-barred  crashing-cymbals rendition  of Like A
Rolling Stone. [Robbie Robertson is said to have said, "Quit
talking Bob." but not on the evidence of the tape.]

After Like  A Rolling  Stone (15)  we hear a very Dylanesque
"Thank you."  Hmmmm. Well  some say  he makes  it sound more
like "Fuck  you" but  I can  assure you  the word is "Thank"
whatever the intention...

"The show  actually took  place in Manchester but an amazing
bit  of   audience-and-artist  dialogue   (Audience  member:
"Judas!" Dylan  "I don't  believe you... you're a liar") was
taken from  the Albert  Hall  concert  days  later."  p. 12,
Biograph (1985).  Well you weren't expecting CBS to tell the
truth, were you?

Variants: A  1996 re-issue of the original release in a cardboard
gatefold sleeve cover with two cardboard sleeves holding the CDs.
No liner notes or pictures on the CDs.
A 1996  re-issue of  the original  release in  a 2-CD  jewel case
generally with  the same  artwork as  the original. The front and
back covers  are identical  to the  original. The inside cover on
the left is the same as the photograph side of the original inner
sleeve for  the acoustic  side (the  right inside cover under the
nesting CDs  is blank). The inside of the front insert when it is
spread open  is the  same as  the inside of the original gatefold
(picture of  Bob Dylan  in the  checked suit  with Danko  in  the
background on  the left and the concert review on the right). The
images used  on the CD labels are the same as the first issue but
the colours  are different, disc I: red on white background, disc
II: black  on white  background. The  matrix  numbers  and  track
timings are identical to the original.
A 1996  version  as  above  but  with  disc  I:  black  on  white
background, disc  II: white  on black background. These look just
like the  original issue  discs but have matrix numbers: 517 66A,
517 66 E
A 1996  version on  the label  "Disc Hits", "Made in Yugoslavia",
"Free Trade Hall", "For promotional use only". "1996 DPP". Beetle
logo. Front  and back  cover in  black and white on a heavy woven
single sheet paper. There are no notes, only the track listing on
the back  cover. At  the beginning  of disc  1 is the sound check
Just Like  Tom Thumb's  Blues (1:08)!  Cf T-041  (with this  same
track, but  "speed corrected").  So the  CD is  50:17. The matrix
numbers have been scraped off and are rough to touch.
A 1996  re-issue of  the original  release in  a black  cardboard
gatefold sleeve  cover with  red lettering,  with  two  cardboard
sleeves holding the CDs. "Bob Dylan & The Hawks" on the cover and
the spine,  with the  title "Guitars Kissing And The Contemporary
Fix". The  front cover  has the picture of Bob Dylan in a checked
suit with  Danko in  the background which was on the left side of
the inside  gatefold of  the original  release, the inside of the
gatefold when spread open is in black and white and has a picture
of a  pair of  Free Trade Hall Manchester Tito Burns presents Bob
Dylan tickets  on the  left hand side and the concert review from
the original  on the  right. Each  inner  sleeve  has  the  track
listing  for  its  CD  on  one  side  (unlike  the  original  the
"personnel" are  not listed) and a photograph of Bob Dylan on the
other side.  The picture on the acoustic inner sleeve is the same
picture of  Bob Dylan  in the  checked suit that graces the front
cover. The  picture on  the electric inner sleeve is of Bob Dylan
in shades  playing a  harmonica with  a microphone  cupped in his
hands; a  microphone on a stand is to his right and above that is
a hand holding another microphone. The CD labels are identical to
the 2-CD  jewel case  reissue (that is, the images used on the CD
labels are  the same  as the  first issue  but  the  colours  are
different, disc  I: red  on white  background, disc  II: black on
white background).  Like the  2-CD jewel  case reissue the matrix
numbers and track timings are identical to the original.
A  1996  re-issue  of  the  original  release,  but  lacking  the
individual paper sleeves.
A 1996  2-CD jewel  case pirate  of the  bootleg. Matrix: 601013X
SCO-8 IFPI  L602, 600993X SCO-9 IFPI L602. The total playing time
of each  disc is  within one  second of the original release, but
the individual track times vary considerably. There is a fault on
Desolation Row  [06:31] absent in the original release. The label
of disc  one has  a solid black background and is titled in white
print "The  Lampost Stands  with Folded  Arms". The label of disc
two is  the inverse,  that is  a white  background with the black
print title  "The Lampost  Stands With  Folded Arms". The inserts
appear to  be taken  from the  1996 gatefold sleeve reissue which
has "Bob  Dylan &  The Hawks" on the cover and the picture of Bob
Dylan in a checked suit with Danko in the background on the cover
(which was  on the  left side  of  the  inside  gatefold  of  the
original release).  The front  insert when opened is similar (but
of noticeably  lower Dylan  in a  checked suit  with Danko in the
background on the cover (which was on the left side of the inside
gatefold of  the original  release). The front insert when opened
is similar (but of noticeably lower quality) to the inside of the
1996 reissued gatefold (when spread open it is in black and white
and has  a picture  of a  pair of  Manchester tickets on the left
hand side and the concert review from the original on the right).
A 1996  2-CD pirate of the bootleg in a cardboard gatefold sleeve
cover with two cardboard sleeves holding the CDs. Matrix: 601013X
SCO-8 IFPI L602, 600993X SCO-9 IFPI L602.

Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
From: Jeff (DrJibe@MSN.COM)
Date: 1996/09/02

>Date:    Mon, 26 Aug 1996 12:42:48 -0500
>From:    Bob Meyer 
>Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
>
>After Months of searching I finally received "Guitars Kissing & The
>Contemporary fix" in the mail today. Having had the electric part of this
>show on vinyl for quite a long time, I was shocked at the quality of the
>sound. Wow Stereo!!!   To my surprise, it contains at the beginning  of
>disc #1 a 1:08 soundcheck of "Just like Tom Thumbs blues".  It is also on
>the label "DISC HITS"(no number). Label just reads "free trade hall" "For
>promotional use only".  Also on back cover says "Made in Yugoslavia".
>Front and back cover in black and white. Is this a pirate of the
>"original" bootleg?

EDLIS Boot Advisory Agent

Subject: Guitars Kissing and Manchester Prayer
From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/07/19

Brian Kelly (bkelly@INDIGO.IE) wrote:
: For quite some time I've been listening to Manchester Prayer 
: secure in the knowledge that I was being transported to the 
: Free Trade Hall, Manchester, 1966.  But now I read in a reliable 
: and knowledgeable source  that Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, 
: and Mr. Tambourine Man are from the Royal Albert Hall, 27 May, 1966.  

The 1990 posting said:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "Free Trade Hall, Manchester 5/17/66" [sic]

     Bob Dylan and the Hawks [later The Band]. The first four cuts are
     from the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, 17 May 1966. The last three
     are probably  from the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, 27 May
     1966.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

: three corresponding tracks on Guitars Kissing... are previously
: uncirculated recordings!  Is this true... anybody?

The generally circulating DAT before this came out on CD had a different fault to the CD source. The CD has a split second cut from the long harmonica solo towards the end of Mr. Tambourine Man (7) [7:22]. The early DAT in circulation had a cut from the applause fadeout at the end of Mr. Tambourine Man.

Unobtrusive faults are introduced to tapes so that a company can better trace which copy leaked...

'Course with one of those fancy boards in your PC for editing DATs you can move a fault around so that the wrong dude gets blamed!

Oh office politics, what a riot, eh? :-)

And you thought forged e-mail was all your PC was good for.

                                                          Craig
--
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him!

Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
From: sscobie1@sol.uvic.ca (Stephen Scobie/Maureen Scobie)
Date: 1996/09/11

		*	*	*

Stephen

Subject: RAH "Liar" Retort: Help!?!
From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1995/11/23

EDLIS as an organisation dedicated to anarchistic principles always appreciates disnformation, so keep it coming. I love the way those who insist Levon Helm was there get so angry!

Of course I hear

Between Ballad Of A Thin Man (7) and Like A Rolling Stone (8) lies this famous incident where a member of the audience yells out "Jewess!" [referring to the fact Bob is wearing a dress]. Applause and other shouts ["...sing drilling songs?" "Shillelagh" and the like] are heard. Dylan responds, "I don't believe you... You're a FRIER, a fish frier... [Robbie Robertson says, "Cod [some hear God here] and chips, Bob." but not audibly on the tape] Dylan turns away from his mike to face the drummer Levon Helm, wearing his Mickey Jones mask, and says, "Fried in fuzzing lard, pickled onions all round, goo, goobah Judas, egg men!" followed by a wall-of-sound no-holds-barred crashing- cymbals rendition of Like A Roll and French Fried Potatoe.

Reality? Who really cares?

Boring bit, please ignore:
=================================================================
Oldham Evening  Chronicle -  25 May  1966:  "So the knockers
are all  stations go  again. I am referring to the fantastic
performance given  by Bob  Dylan at the Free Trade Hall last
Tuesday night...  I think  Bob put  his feelings over to the
knockers  just  great.  When  someone  shouted  out  to  him
'Judas!', he  just calmly went to the microphone and quietly
drawled 'Ya liar'..."

Between Ballad  Of A  Thin Man (14) and Like A Rolling Stone
(15) lies  this  famous  incident  where  a  member  of  the
audience yells out "Judas!". Applause and other shouts ["Hey
Mr genius  sings Dylan  songs!", "Boy!  Boy!", and the like]
are heard on circulating tapes and on Royal Albert Hall 1966
[T-121] and  the like,  but this  is a  twelve second cut on
this CD. Dylan responds, "I don't believe you... [Here again
this CD  has a  cut of indecipherable voices, this time just
four seconds.]  You're a  LIAR... Dylan  turns away from his
mike to  face the  drummer  Mickey  Jones  and  then  Robbie
Robertson says,  "Get fuckin'  loud!" followed by a wall-of-
sound no-holds-barred  crashing-cymbals rendition  of Like A
Rolling Stone. [Robbie Robertson is said to have said, "Quit
talking Bob." but not on the evidence of the tape.]

After Like  A Rolling  Stone (15)  we hear a very Dylanesque
"Thank you."  Hmmmm. Well  some say  he makes  it sound more
like "Fuck  you" but  I can  assure you  the word is "Thank"
whatever the intention...

Subject: "Judas"/"Liar" and Columbia tape
From: jcliburn@flintcreek.win.net (Joseph Cliburn)
Date: 1995/11/28

PDSpencer (pdspencer@aol.com) writes:
>I know it will be hard to rescue this thread for serious comment, 
>but: 
>
>There's actually a several second gap between "Judas" and Dylan's 
>"You're a liar". In between (and partially overlapped by "Judas") 
>someone shouts something almost as loud that sounds like it ends 
>with "...Dylan phenomenon!" Could Dylan have been responding to 
>that?

But, yes, I always thought that Dylan ("You're a liar") was replying to the second person.

>Interestingly enough, the newly circulating Columbia tape (the 
>version of that will presumably be released) cuts out those few 
>seconds in between.  Talk about conspiracy theories!

Conspiracy? You mean they've watergated the tapes? Deleted the expletives? Aack! (Curiously, my copy of the alleged Columbia tape has the whole thing. Is Richard Nixon's secretary in your tape tree?

Subject: Judas and the 'other' cry
From: Matthew Zuckerman (matthew.zuckerman@IAC-ONLINE.COM)
Date: 1995/11/28

>There's actually a several second gap between "Judas" and
>Dylan's "You're a liar". In between (and partially
>overlapped by "Judas") someone shouts something almost as
>loud that sounds like it ends with "...Dylan phenomenon!"
>Could Dylan have been responding to that?

From: DJ Le Marchant (qk37@DIAL.PIPEX.COM)
Subject: "Judas" - London v's Manchester
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 06:05:54 -0700

I met this drunk in a pub who, in exchange for a large whiskey, told me his story...

Apparently he actually was there at the concert. He couldn't wait for the end of the set and desperate for a drink, staggered off to the bar. Needless to say when he returned he couldn't find his place and called out for his friend, "Judas".

Once the applause started Judas was too embarrassed to cry out "Here I am". Naturally this tragic incident (he loved electric Bob) cemented his reliance on alcohol, but luckily for us gave us one of the great LRSs.

A simple twist of fate...

DJ

Subject: Contemporary answer to an old question?
From: (MCLENDIN@esoc.esa.de)
Date: 1996/02/08

For info below are timings from the last drum chord of 'ballad of a thin man'

                                                 RAH      GK&CT
Laughter                                          17
'Like You'                                        19        7
'Judas!'                                          20        8
cheers                                            21        9
 (inaudible)
'..genius(?)...Dylan song'                        29
 (inaudible)
' I don't believe you!'                           36       20
 (inaudible)
' You're a Liar!'                                 47       31
' Play F-ing loud!'                               53       36
 
 
 so looks like 2 cuts of 12 secs and 4 secs?      Mike C

Subject: GKATCF - More Judas
From: hughe@hhcl.com (Hugh Eaton)
Date: 1996/07/19

Man in audience - Remember your? silver (this word very clear)

Woman - Sit down

Robertson, to Dylan - Gonna pick it up?

Robertson - We never stumble

Dylan laughs

Has sombody thrown money on stage, the thirty pieces of silver?

Perhaps Robertson's comment refers to Dylan picking up the money? Does
anyone else hear this or have an interpretation?

Subject: Re: GKATCF - More Judas
From: John Howells (howells@sgi.com)
Date: 1996/07/19

Hugh Eaton wrote:
> 
> 
> Perhaps Robertson's comment refers to Dylan picking up the money? Does
> anyone else hear this or have an interpretation?

I always assumed he meant pick up the tempo.

Subject: GKATCF - More Judas
From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/07/26

The EDLIS file on this differs a bit, what do others hear?
You boys pick it up, man? Gambled?

Give it another listen.

============================================================================

Man in audience (strong English accent): [Remember] to pick up your silver.

Woman (angrily): Sit down.

[Cheers and clapping] 

Robbie Robertson: O.K. You boys pick it up, man.

Bob Dylan laughs: Heh.

Robbie Robertson: Gonna win them. We've never gambled.

Bob Dylan laughs nervously: Heh, heh. 

============================================================================

From: John Bauldie (bauldie@MAIL.BOGO.CO.UK)
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 14:29:30 +0000

>>Moe wrote:

>>Derek Keough hears the Dylan response to "Judas"  ('66 live LARS) as:

>>    "Get fucking loud."

>>Funny, I always hear - "You're a liar. You're a fucking liar."

>>Others hear that?

**************************************************************
John Bauldie                                     The Telegraph
bauldie@mail.bogo.co.uk
**************************************************************

From: John Howells (howells@sgi.com)
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 12:20:44 -0700

		*	*	*

He was telling the band to play as loud as possible (especially the drummer) in order to hurt the audience's ears!

-- 

                                                           John Howells
                                                        howells@sgi.com
                                         http://reality.sgi.com/howells

From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: 22 Oct 1996 15:27:33 GMT

I like a lively thread on trivia, it is wonderful.

Or should I say puffins, cat among the puffins, they don't eat pigeons in Norway, do they?

I think it is time for a vote on this one:

[ ] I hear, "Get fucking loud" on my high quality hi fi with a good DAT
    tape A-B-ed to one of my copies of Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary 
    Fix (51766A, 51766E, 1995, GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE: 
    51766E) 

[ ] I hear, "Play fucking loud" but I am generally carelss, make mistkes,
    and I took wagonloads of acid to improve my doors of perception in the
    19, um, not sure when, definitely 19somethings, definitely 19th century
    sometime... I listen on a cassette tape in my camper van, with my doog.

[ ] I hear, "You're a fucking liar", my hearing aid is of very high quality,
    and for a longtime pensioner I have much more experience than you 
    youngin's what never saw Woody live, did yah? My ears are still 
    ringing from the last concert where Ben Taylor used me to shield
    himself from the speaker bank. Was that Montreal? Monty rules. 
    I mean vinyl, ok.

[ ]  Don't know.

[ ]  Don't care.

[ ]  Other. 

[ ]  Mirror/Mere/Veneer/Van Gogh/Matt/Finnish.

[ ]  Lutefisk

[ ]  I wanna see the dogs again, and the feet, and all the old really
     offensive stuff, please. But not the nasal stuff, that tongue was 
     too gross.

[ ]  I work for Sony. I don't think anyone on the present staff has ever
     heard any Bob Dylan. It was a very long time ago. Shall I put you 
     back to reception or do you want to talk to the guy in Maintenance/ 
     Rubbish/Back Door again today?

From: BREAZEAL@ukcc.uky.edu
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 96 18:50:55 EDT

Craig Jamieson (rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk) writes:
 
>I think it is time for a vote on this one:
>
>[X] I hear, "Get fucking loud" on my high quality hi fi with a good DAT
>    tape A-B-ed to one of my copies of Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary
>    Fix (51766A, 51766E, 1995, GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE:
>    51766E)

I still prefer, "You're a fuckin' liar," however.

While at it, I noticed (as others have reported) that the "Guitars Kissing" version edits out some lusty comments from the audience following the famous "Judas" cry from the audience. At least these additional cries are much less clear and distinct on the Guitars Kissing cd than on the other two sources.

Though I can hear the cries in question, I cannot understand them, since they appear to be spoken in a language with which I am unfamiliar (Her Majesty's English?). Perhaps those closer to the Thames -- or the Cam -- can provide a transcript? If'n you'd be so kind, that is.

DanB

Subject: Guitars Kissing Sourced Again
From: hughe@hhcl.com (Hugh Eaton)
Date: 1996/07/17

		*	*	*

There is a reasonable amount of documentation about these tapes, but it is very confusing. In a 1984 interview in the Telegraph, Pennebaker states that all concerts from Stockholm onwards were recorded, in their entirety, by his crew. The crew being him and Howard Alk as cameramen. This was for Eat The Document, not Don't Look Back BTW. He also says he had a sound man, but is a bit vague, and thinks that actually Jones Alk recorded the sound. Dylan also had a soundman, he says, Bob Alderman, who was supposed to be recording all the concerts on sync tape, but none of the tapes had a sync track on them, which made it difficult to dub the sound onto the film. The rest of the interview is a bit contradictory. Pennebaker says most of his recordings weren't of the concerts but dialgoue for scenes in the film. He also says that he gave all the tapes to Dylan. Later he says that his tapes are in his vault. So, it's safe to say that most concerts were recorded by Penebaker, but the location of these recordings is unknown - by me anyway.

Now letıs move to May 1996 Record Collector, and Heylinıs analysis of the 1966 recordings. Amongst the live recordings in Sonyıs vaults are at least four complete 1966 concerts, although he doesnıt say which ones. He also says that most concerts were recorded in mono on a Nagra machine by Pennebakerıs soundman, Robert Van Dyke, for the purpose of dubbing the film soundtrack. Columbia didnıt start to record the concerts until Sheffield, 16 May. These were recorded using a three track machine. Now if thatıs the case, then Columbia, if they recorded all subsequent shows, would have Sheffield 16, Manchester 17, Glasgow 19, Edinburgh 20, Newcastle 21, and RAH 26&27. Paris 24, was recorded by a French radio station, but never broadcast. We donıt know if Columbia recorded it too. Heylin then lists all known circulating 66 soundboards. These include Sheffield, Manchester, Edinburgh and the RAH shows. so this give s him at least four shows, with room for more. But we donıt know if the source is Columbia or Pennebaker.

My conclusions from this are that Pennebakerıs soundman was Robert Van Dyke, not Jones Alk, who recorded all concerts on a mono Nagra as a reference sound track for the film, which would then be replaced by the three track recordings. Whether this mono recording was sourced from a mic on stage or an output from the desk I donıt know, but I would favour the latter. The acoustic half of Guitars Kissing sounds like mono, because the sound stage sounds so narrow, but I donıt think itıs Pennebakerıs recording. Itıs most likely Columbiaıs, with track 1 audience, track 2 guitar, track 3 vocal. This wouldnıt give any stereo separation unless guitar and vocals were split. Which thankfully they arenıt. The electric half has track 1 audience, and Dylan and Band spilt over tracks 2 and 3 to give a stereo image.

As the electric half is all stereo, it all has to be from Columbiaıs three track tapes, not Pennebakerıs. True there is one edit, at 7.04 on Thin Man, just prior to ³Judas² but the recording of LARS that follows is clearly from the same source. A final point. Heylin discusses a 10min version of Tambourine Man from Sheffield saying what a wonderful performance it is and that the Sheffield show is much better than Manchester. But in his list of tapes, only Pill Box Hat and One Too Many Mornings are shown to exist from Sheffield. So whereıs Tambourine Man from?

From: roger_ford@southglos.gov.uk (Roger Ford)
Subject: Guitars Kissing - acoustic half
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 21:11:26 GMT

It seems to be generally accepted that the three-track tapes made on Columbia's behalf by the London firm IBC were used as the source for both acoustic and electric halves of Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix; and the correspondence on RMD has covered pretty meticulously the bits edited out of the original recording, particularly in the electric half. But no-one, as far as I can see, has commented on the strange goings-on in "Visions Of Johanna" and "Desolation Row", where it appears that sections of Pennebaker's recording from the Nagra machine have been spliced in.

The IBC recording of the acoustic half does have a very narrow stereo soundstage (one man and his guitar!) but it still has a definite stereo ambience. It also has its own tonal characteristic which is quite noticeably different from the various other Columbia-sourced 1966 acoustic-half recordings, which have all been in mono and have presumably all been taken from the Nagra recordings. In these the sound is distinctly less professional; the guitar is more trebly and upfront, and the vocal more distant, perhaps because the recordings were made with different, and differently-mixed, microphones.

(Four microphones, two for vocal and two for guitar, appear to have been used during the acoustic half of the Manchester concert - see the photographs on pages 163-165 of John Bauldie's "The Ghost Of Electricity". Most other photos which can be identified with specific concerts on this tour - Copenhagen and Paris, for example - only show two microphones; presumably the extra pair at Manchester were IBC's.)

For a good illustration of the difference in sound between the IBC and Nagra recordings, try comparing the stereo "Baby Blue" on "Guitars Kissing" with the mono recording of that song from the same concert on "Biograph". Now, put "Guitars Kissing" back on, and listen through headphones to the last verse of "Visions Of Johanna"; at 7:12, after "conscience explodes", you'll hear the sound change from typical stereo IBC to typical mono Nagra. This lasts until the applause comes in at the end of the song, where it reverts to stereo.

In "Desolation Row" the insert lasts from the beginning of the first harmonica break (8:51), through the last verse, up to the beginning of the second harmonica break at 10:35. The difference is harder to detect on the harmonica passages, but if you skip between the last two sung verses the difference is quite clear.

A degree of speed adjustment seems to have been necessary between the IBC and Nagra tapes in order to accomplish these splices with consistent musical pitch, and while the insert in "Desolation Row" sounds pretty well spot on to me, in "Visions of Johanna" they didn't quite get it right. For some reason the resulting discrepancy in pitch seems more detectable by ear if you jump backwards from the insert to a bit earlier in the verse. For more objective proof, try tuning the first string of a guitar to match the top note of one of the chords during the mono insert; then play this note alongside the same chord earlier in the song, and you'll find your guitar sounds slightly sharp. In other words, the insert is playing a bit too fast relative to the rest of the recording. As to which (if either) is the correct pitch, that's a subject for further research. Supposedly the bootleggers corrected the pitch of the tape as a whole (see Bill Glahn's review via the EDLIS archive), but I'm not convinced.

Now, why did Sony make these edits? What was wrong with these passages in the IBC recording? My first thought was that maybe Dylan made a couple of vocal or guitar slips during the Manchester performance and that Sony had actually spliced in sections of the same songs from a different concert; but a comparison with the apparently unedited Manchester "Visions of Johanna" as found on the Gelston acetate recordings (all taken from the mono Nagra tapes, I would say) confounds this theory. (It's not possible to make this comparison on "Desolation Row", as the acetate doesn't have the latter part of the song at all, so it remains an outside possibility that this insert is indeed from another concert.)

Clearly, then, the IBC tape of the first half of the concert has some breaks or other technical faults, and it seems to me that Sony's engineers have given up half way through trying to sort them out. There's the curious fade out and fade in between "Baby Blue" and "Desolation Row", which others have commented on; even if the source tape had a break here for some reason, why would Sony not have edited the applause seamlessly together? Add to this the fact that the first four songs, before the break, are considerably louder than the last three songs, to the point of slight distortion. Does this really seem like a product ready for release?

My guess is that the complete Manchester concert was chosen for the next Bootleg Series release both because of the genuine bootleg fame of the second half and also because it's generally the best (or the least stoned) performance of the shows recorded by IBC. They did a nice remastering job on the electric half, then started out on the process of patching up the tapes of the first half to a professional standard, and sent out promo copies before they'd finished. Maybe the truth is that the project was then cancelled because of these technical problems, and not because Dylan went off the idea or Sony's commercial motivation passed, or whatever. Or maybe there's now a fully tidied up version just sitting there waiting . . .

Roger Ford

Subject: Street Legal Blood on the Tracks,Bootleg Series
From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/09/04

chris greenhalgh (cgreenhalgh@grilib.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: Secondly, does anyone know when the further issues of the Bootleg series 
: is being, if ever, released.

Or did you mean The Genuine Bootleg Series? If you meant that then The Genuine Bootleg Series Take 2 is out.

: Finally,is the Bobmeister releasing any further work in the
: : foreseeable future.

Bob is not releasing albums at the rate he was at this time last year, but even if you have all 500 of his present CDs there are always several new Dylan albums each month.

                                                          Craig
--
Front door shut back door too
Blinds pulled down whatcha gonna do
Gotta step it up and go, yeah go
Can't stand the past, swear you gotta step it up and go...

Subject: Guitars Kissing etc.
From: jared41@aol.com (Jared41)
Date: 1996/02/16

Jared

(Jared41@aol.com)

P.S. There section in Tarantula with Black Nite Crash in the title in about 10 poems, isn't that a name of a bootleg company?

Subject: Manchester Free Trade Hall to be Hotel!
From: Alan Fraser (100437.2552@compuserve.com)
Date: 1996/09/12

The Halle have moved to the newly-built Bridgewater Hall, supposed to have Europe's finest acoustics in a concert hall. A colleague of mine sings in the Halle Choir, and was there last night at the Hall's inaugural concert. Unfortunately, this means the Free Trade Hall is no longer needed, and I'm told it is to become a hotel, by which I assume they'll knock down this fine Victorian building and put up a modern monstrosity (bit difficult to convert a concert hall to bedroom accommodation)!

Just thought I'd share my sadness at the loss of a fine building with such great Bob associations.

Alan

Subject: Re: Sunrise of the Heart, Pt.1(long)
From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/07/19

Subject:      Sunrise of the Heart, Pt.1(long)
From:         "Andreas, Margaret A" (U0A75@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU)
Message-Id:   (vmail32.1996may29.142927.u0a75@wvnvm.wvnet.edu)

>What a scene!  Out in the country, the Sun was sparkling on the
>Spring green.  The Parking Lot of Star Lake was a carnival of
>color and music--Dylan's music blasting from almost every car
>stereo!  And there must have been at least 5,000 cars!  With
>Dylan music coming from all of them!  Well, it felt like heaven
>to me.  The car in back of us had some music that sounded like
>that "Guitars Kissing" I'd heard so much about.  Wow.  Grins
>all around when I expressed my appreciation for it.

Has everyone asked at their local police station if there are confiscated copies which can be exchanged for a donation to the police benevolent fund? If nothing is on display just ask the officer on duty if they have rare live imports under the counter? And wink.

Subject: Big Brother, Dylan, and You (longish)
From: rcj10@cus.cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/04/16

Matthew Mulcahy (mulcahma@lanmail.shu.edu) wrote:
: Stewart Berlocher wrote:
: > OK, sorry about the dramatic subject line, but there are a 
: > couple of recent developments concerning Usenet that I 
: > thought might be of interest I do think this may be something 
: > to be concerned about.  It is precisely the reason tape trees 
: > etc on usenet or mailing lists could be a problem. Whether it 
: >would ever come to this or not, it is conceivable that Sony,
: the gov't, ASCAP or BMI could initiate some legal action, perhaps 
: racketeering or conspiracy (never sure who with, of course) to violate 

1997: Extradited to USA on racketeering charges.

What exactly is it? Wanna get this right! Isn't making a racket making a loud noise, an uproar, a din? Now let's see, if I turn up the volume, reach for thisssss, yes, Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix / Bob Dylan [& the Hawks] [17 May 1966], [No label], 51766A, 51766E, [1995], GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE: 51766E.

WELLLLLLL, IT'S LOUD ENOUGH, BUT HOW WILL I HEAR THEM WHEN THEY RING THE DOORBELL? :-)

                                                           Craig
--
He still waits for me
Constant, on the sly.
He wants to turn me in
To the F.B.I.
Me, I romp and stomp,
Thankful as I romp,
Without freedom of speech ___________________
I might be in the swamp (<$$$$$$>#####<::::::>)
      .      .     .  _/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\_   .       .   .   \
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             ()\/_____   \_~_/          \_^_/    _____\/()   .    .  ).
  (         .-''      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     ``-.  ...
  .  . . .-~              __________________              ~-.  .    /
   .   ..`~~/~~~~~~~~~~~~TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT~~~~~~~~~~~~\~~'    . ) .
      . .| | | #### #### || | | | [] | | | || #### #### | | | .
     (   ;__\|___________|++++++++++++++++++|___________|/__;.   .
       .  (~~====___________________________________====~~~)
   ( .  .. \------_____________[FBI/SONY]__________-------/ ..  .     )
           .  |      ||         ~~~~~~~~       ||      |
   .           \_____/                          \_____/
 
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