DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 12:40 PM

Bert Wheedon, with Larry Adler on harmonica maybe?

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: Declan
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:25 PM

Could be that Dylan was prepared to be adventurous with his guitar style in the studio where he had the luxury of practice time and as many takes as he needed to get things right. In Newport in front of an audience and being filmed for posterity he may have resorted to a simpler guitar style that was less risky in terms of getting things completely wrong.

Also given that the sound equipment, mikes, amplifiers etc were a lot more primitive in those days he may have wanted to make an impact with his guitar playing. Subtelty could well be lost if the reporduction was not good. Although the sound on the recording of Newport seemed OK, the sound in the 'house' may not have been the best - particularly as the 'house' seems to have been outdoors a lot of the time.

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:29 PM

I'm not sure about "Freewheelin'", but I am just about dead sure that when they recorded the first album it was just Bob and his guitar, standing in front of a couple of microphones. It was recorded very quickly. He never liked doing many takes on a song, and I don't either. You just lose the freshness.

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: PoppaGator
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:40 PM

For the record, I believe Bob plays the guitar (or one of the guitars, in cases where there are one or more backing musicians) on all his recordings. He has never been a hotshot "lead" guitarist, but he became a very good acoustic-guitar self-accompanyist very early on, well before his "discovery" and the recording of his first album.

In the Scorcese documentary, there's an interview with Tony Glover, who recalls being astounded by the great and sudden improvement in Bob's playing over the short period of time between his move to New York and his first visit back to Dinkytown, Minneapolis. ("It was as though he had sold his soul at the crossroads, like Robert Johnson," or words to that effect.)

(I also, by the way, believe that William Shakespeare wrote all those plays and sonnets...)

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: fat B****rd
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 03:39 PM

Larry Adler, surely not. Max Geldray or Tommy Reilly. Isn't it common knowledge that Bruce Langhorne layed on a lot of BD's early recordings ?.

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: Little Hawk
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 06:42 PM

No, Bruce generally "layed" sometime after the recording sessions were over. They don't allow that sort of thing during recording an album. It would be highly unprofessional. Only Frank Zappa would put up with crazy shit like that.

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: PoppaGator
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 02:19 AM

Bruce Langhorne's contributions are credited on the record labels and sleeves, and for a few of those earlier years he was the only other guitar player in the studio besides Bob, so his playing is very easy to discern. (In most cases, he's playing electric with Bob on acoustic, so there's little doubt about who's playing what.)

With the release of Highway 61 and then Blonde on Blonde, there were multiple guitar players listed in the credits and a much more complex instrumental mix, so then it became harder (well, impossible really) to recognize the players.

Nowadays, I can recognize Robbie Robertson's instrumental "voice" easily enough, and can hear him clearly at various times during B on B. But back when the album first came out, I had no idea who any of those guys were, and often wondered about the guitar players and the guitar playing.

Subject: RE: DYLAN NIGHT - Embarassing Moments
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 08:47 AM

Whether or no Bob played guitar on Girl of the North Country, it's a beautiful example of a lilting and soulful fingerstyle guitar. The recorded version is different to the live performance as shown on Youtube, mainly down to use of a beautiful chord, what I call a suspended Bm7 (not, I'm sure, it's correct chord name!).   The notes in the chord are E, B, Gb, G, D, E or if you prefer the numbers:
0;2;4;0;3,0
Does anyone know the correct name for this chord please?
Richard Thompson's "Beeswing" also features this chord, and it certainly enhances the song.
Also, he keeps his pinky on the top E string on 3rd fret so it rings out during both G and C chords.
Thanks to Wee-little-drummer for opening the discussion on this Dylan track – it's a song I sang & played (very crudely) back in 1965 when I first played guitar, and I've started playing it again; it's good to get the ears concentrating hard again!