Contact!

If you have information, or a rare recording, email me at:

skippingreels@collector.org

Sunday 19 April 2015

Great Music Experience 1994

The Great Music Experience was a concert starring Japanese and international musicians staged at the eighth century Buddhist temple of Tōdai-ji, in Nara, Japan in May 1994. The concert, held over three nights (May 20 - May 22) and partly backed by UNESCO, took place in front of the world's largest wooden building, housing the largest Buddha statue in the world.

UNESCO hoped that the event would be the first of seven annual concerts that would take place at some of the world's architectural treasures - the sites it had in mind included the Pyramids, China's Forbidden City and the Taj Mahal - but nothing came of the idea.

Bob Dylan performed on all 3 nights. Olof Björner lists the following -

May 18 Rehearsal for The Great Music Experience
========================================
Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan

1. Ring Them Bells

Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal) backed by Phil Palmer (guitar),
"Wix" Vickens (keyboards), Pino Paladino (bass), Jim Keltner
(drums) and The Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Michael Kamen.

Broadcast in the TV program THE GREAT MUSIC EXPERIENCE COUNTDOWN,
May 22, 1994 in over 50 countries all over the world.

Stereo TV broadcast, 1 minute.

May 20 The Great Music Experience, first day
=====================================
Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan

1. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
2. I Shall Be Released
3. Ring Them Bells
4. I Shall Be Released

1-3 Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal) backed by Phil Palmer (guitar),
"Wix" Vickens (keyboards), Pino Paladino (bass), Jim Keltner
(drums) and The Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Michael Kamen.

4 Bob Dylan (guitar & backup vocal) in the grand finale with all
participating artists, among them Joni Mitchell, Jon Bon Jovi,
Richie Sambora, Ry Cooder, Roger Taylor and the members of INXS
and X Japan.

Stereo audience recording, 25 minutes.

May 21 The Great Music Experience, second day
======================================
Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan

1. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
2. I Shall Be Released
3. Ring Them Bells
4. I Shall Be Released

1-3 Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal) backed by Phil Palmer (guitar),
"Wix" Vickens (keyboards), Pino Paladino (bass), Jim Keltner
(drums) and The Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Michael Kamen.

4 Bob Dylan (guitar & backup vocal) in the grand finale with all
participating artists, among them Joni Mitchell, Jon Bon Jovi,
Richie Sambora, Ry Cooder, Roger Taylor and the members of INXS
and X Japan.

4 broadcast in the radio and TV program THE GREAT MUSIC EXPERIENCE
COUNTDOWN, May 22, 1994 in over 50 countries all over the world.

4 stereo FM and TV broadcast.

Stereo audience recording, 25 minutes.

May 22 The Great Music Experience, second day
======================================
Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan

1. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
2. I Shall Be Released
3. Ring Them Bells
4. I Shall Be Released

1-3 Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal) backed by Phil Palmer (guitar),
"Wix" Vickens (keyboards), Pino Paladino (bass), Jim Keltner
(drums) and The Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Michael Kamen.

4 Bob Dylan (guitar & backup vocal) in the grand finale with all
participating artists, among them Joni Mitchell, Jon Bon Jovi,
Richie Sambora, Ry Cooder, Roger Taylor and the members of INXS
and X Japan.

1-3 broadcast in the radio and TV program THE GREAT MUSIC
EXPERIENCE COUNTDOWN, May 22, 1994 in over 50 countries all over
the world.

4 broadcast in the radio and TV program THE GREAT MUSIC
EXPERIENCE COUNTDOWN, May 29, 1994 on BBC in the UK.

1 released in Scandinavia on CD single Columbia COL 660942 2,
December 15, 1994.

Stereo FM and TV broadcast, 25 minutes.



YOUTUBE VIDEO

Producer Tony Hollingsworth had suggested that the first night was a 'dress rehearsal', so I had assumed that it wasn't professionally recorded, as no footage was used -


"The first of the three live shows was performed for an invited audience. It was, in a sense, a dress rehearsal for the following two nights, the last of which would be broadcast. As it turned out, a dress rehearsal was very much needed. The production moved far too slowly – lasting four hours against the scheduled broadcast slot on the third night of three hours.

“The change-over between artists was very slow and much of the production work was slow, partly because of language problems, with the people directing being English and the crews Japanese. But the songs also were too long: I’d asked everyone to do four minutes, but they would do six minutes. That’s what musicians do. They are hopeless at cutting it short.

“Although I pushed people like mad, it was clear to me it wasn’t going to work.” After a hard night and day’s work, the second night was faster, but still 30 minutes too long.

But Hollingsworth had a trick up his sleeve. He was having the second night filmed anyway as a back-up for the third night. It was a trick he’d learned in producing The Wall in Berlin, when the power had failed during the broadcast performance and he was able to use footage from the dress rehearsal. So, at Todai-ji, he had booked an overnight edit at the on-site production facilities in case the second evening was not fast enough. He edited the last five-eighths of the second-night show down to the required size, cutting out the walk-ons and walk-offs and, where it was possible, editing the songs by taking out the middle.

Then came the third and final evening. “We started broadcasting live and continued to do so for the first three-eighths of the show.” He had told only three people what he was going to do – head of TV production Sandy Phone, head of transmission Dick Allott and head of radio distribution Steven Saltzman: “I’ve edited the back end of the show and at a certain point we’re going to use my tape instead of the live event to ensure we end on time.” He told no one else – “the crew and the artists would not have liked it.”

“We went into the transmission truck and put the tape in, and at the appropriate time – during the applause between songs – we told the transmissions editor to fade the tape between the two. We were no longer broadcasting live. Dick and I felt so happy we’d pulled it up. We could relax.”



However, I have some additional information from another source:

"All three nights were indeed recorded. It was necessary to use 3 recording trucks to achieve enough inputs on the mixing consoles. I had 3 consoles in my truck alone and the master fader for the live feed. over 200 microphones were on stage! to record the material there were 3 48trk Sony recorders in sync. Although the first night was a kind of rehearsal in preparation for the satellite live all three were recorded. Rough mixes were made at the time for production to DAT."

This was further supported by another source:

"My memory may be hazy...I thought we recorded all three...they were all recorded to sony digital 48 track...As far as I know they were never mixed or worked on."

Of course, 'A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall' was released as a bonus track on a version of the CD single for 'Dignity' on 1994, but aside from the broadcast tracks, none of the other nights performances have surfaced as soundboard recordings in their entirety - so none of the first night and the first three tracks from the second. I have no idea what happened to the DAT masters - I assume they were handed over to Sony / Jeff Rosen after the shows. However, I did discover that the London-based production company still retains both audio and video of the entire unedited production from all three nights, plus rehearsals, in their archive.


The 'Dignity' CD single from 1994.

2015 update

I've been off of the site for a LONG time (mainly because I forgot my password) so there are a few updates coming.

Regarding some of the earlier blog entries, you may notice that several of the items listed have now come into circulation, and mainly due to the changes in copyright law that came into effect in 2012 (see this blog entry) rahter than the more 'traditional' method of a leak. This seems to be the way things happen now, and I'm sure nobody has any particular complaints. The main point of being an enthusiast or collector or fan or whatever you wish to call it, is that you enjoy LISTENING to the music, and hearing something new is always welcome, offically or unoffically.

Since my last stint of blogging (2012!) we've seen the following released:



- Isle Of Wight 1969 Soundboard (official, as part of 'The Bootleg Series 10' Deluxe Edition)

- Royal Festival Hall 1964 Soundboard (Official, as part of the 'Copyright Extension' collection for 1964)

- (More or less) Everything from The Basement Tapes (Bootleg Series 11)

which were all featured on this blog, as well as other stuff such the 1964 Eric Von Schmitt tape.



There's still plenty in the vaults though, and I will try to continue to note any informatino that comes my way in the future...

Copyright Extension Collections 1962 - ???

The law in Europe regarding how long copyright on an audio recording can remain in copyright without being published was recently revised (from Directive 2006/116/EU to Directive 2011/77/EU), and the total amount of copyright protection was extended from 50 to 70 years. This ONLY covers published recordings.


"The term in Directive 2006/116/EC[5] is 50 years after publishing the performance, or 50 years after the performance if it is not published"



The consideration then has to be whether there is a "Full on" commercial release of some of this stuff or if it comes out via these annual EU releases. I assume this has prompted the release of the complete Basement Tapes (which would have lost copyright for the unreleased material in 2017 - just three years away) and the vague talk of a complete Blonde On Blonde multi- disc set. Consider that the Basement Tapes set comes despite earlier claims from Sony that they were done with Bootleg Series releases from the 1960's.

There has been some talk on various sites (not just Dylan) that the record companies should 'degrade' the sound for these releases, or (as in the case of the Beatles) not release anything at all and let the stuff go out of copyright or that the copyright law is a 'disaster' for the companies. Similarly, it's been suggested that Sony should or will only release material that has already been bootlegged (an illogical argument since it means non-bootlegged material goes out of copyright) and would rather lose copyright on 'secure' stuff than allow people such as myself (lowly fan) to hear it. This doesn't take into account the fact that there are many people who know a guy who knows a guy who worked at the record company etc...and they are sitting on tapes of stuff you've never heard of. Usually it's fear of the law that stops this stuff coming into wider circulation. Suddenly a tape from 1965 becomes public domain et voila...the holder has the right to release it, commercially if he or she desires. That situation, to my mind, is far damaging to the artist's catalog and reputation if suddenly there are 'Live 1965' audience recordings being legitimately sold on Amazon.com alongside 'Highway 61 Revisited' due to this 'protection gap' law.

Personally, I don't get these arguments - this stuff, while it might seem like the Holy Grail to collectors in some cases, is in reality just alternate takes or material recorded for projects that never materialized. It's not gold dust or uncut diamond. The 'value' is greatly over-estimated by collectors who are used to being drip-fed releases and assume outtakes and alternate takes are guarded in a vault by men with machine guns...the law isn't unreasonable - if you've sat on something for 50 years, the likelihood is that it's not really of great commercial value. So why not let hardcore fans hear this stuff and at least you can retain copyright in the future. Everyone wins.

The copyright law as it stands makes perfect sense, and I don't think the record companies are losing out because of it. They've had 50 years to put this stuff out commercially and they haven't done so. So I think it's reasonable that these minor fan-centered releases continue to come out annually.


I will be looking forward to the 1965 set.



(Photo pilfered from Geir Olsen on Facebook)
Recently (April 2015), what appears to be a Warner Brothers publishing acetate was auctioned on eBay, selling for $500. Here's a photo:
This was the eBay description: A Real Rare Item!! BOB DYLAN - MR. TAMBOURINE MAN 45rpm Acetate! One sided as photos show. An early to mid 1970's publishing acetate. Plays with no skips, voice and guitar come through wonderfully, but the disc is "acetate noisy". There are a few tiny marks possibly paint that had been wiped or blotted off before it could harden, so it doesn't produce any skips or horrible pops. None of the metal plate is showing through. A couple of small paint spots and water marks on label. Only a few were made and only a few made it out from WB Music. The other important fact is that this is an edited version of the song which runs over five minutes. This Version is 3:50! In the U.K., Dylans' Songbook (sheet music) was published by Warner Brothers Music in the '70's. This came from Warner Brothers in the U.S. A real gem!

Thursday 14 June 2012

Some Royal Festival Hall 1964 images







Research on the 'Royal Festival Hall 1964' show..and the Isle Of Wight 1969

...a bit of information has come to light regarding firstly the 1964 'Royal Festival Hall' show and the Isle Of Wight recording.

 This was apprently recorded on 4 quarter inch reels, I'm told that it was very likely recorded by Pye by their main engineer Ray Prickett who had joined Pye in 1963. (Ray would be best known to most as the engineer on Petula Clark's hit "Downtown") Pye were somewhat/somehow involved in the recording of the 1969 Isle Of Wight festival as well, with involvement from Bob Auger, who was employed by Pye at the time. However, my source the Pye mobile truck was not used, contrary to what Elliot Mazer has said previosuly, as the regular mobile crew were certainly not involved. In this case it seems that Bob Auger was requested specifically by the artist/management. Mazer says "At the Isle Of Wight, we used the Pye mobile and the engineer was Bob Auger. Glyn Johns and I were in the truck with Bob." Either Mazer's recollection is wrong, or the truck was rented out (or something similar) for the specific purpose of recording Bob Dylan. My source states - " I did work on the Pye Mobile unit throughout 1969, but we did not record the 1969 I.O.W festival. My diary shows we did no work on those dates.." This has been further varified by a second source - "I agree...the 1969 IOW was not recorded by Pye." Bob Auger sadly passed away some years ago.

The 1970 IOW festival master tapes are in the hands of a particular individual, who says he neither recorded nor handled any material from the 1969 festival. Ray Prickett, I believe is still alive and has worked in recent years with another former Pye engineer, Jed Kearse. I have unfortunately been unsucessful in finding contact details for either of these individuals.

 The Pye building near Marble Arch, London changed hands in 1989 after the company liquidated and has since been demolished. Some of the reels of tapes are in the hands of former employees, the location of the rest is unknown but they I'm told they could've gone to Universal or Sony in a batch aquisition.
 I'm still convinced that a line recording of the complete Royal Festival Hall 1964 show is in the private collection of a former engineer somewhere in the u.k...If anyone has further details or can assist in any way drop me an email at skippingreels@collector.org

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Isle Of Wight 1969 line recording?

One of the first official releases of any Bob Dylan concert came in the form of the Isle Of Wight tracks included on 'Self Portrait' in 1969. Nothing else has ever surfaced from this recording - that's 42 years and counting!

Does this exist in Columbia's vaults? Or in some private collection somewhere...?




There is absolutely no recording information about this show available. We've all seen the photos of Bob Dylan surrounded by a multitude of microphones (recording from the soundboard)...obviously there was more than one recording going on there, but apart from the audience recordings nothing has ever surfaced.

Presumably, Glyn Johns was involved in the recording since he's creditied with engineering on Self Portrait, and is obviously the only Englishmman credited on the album.

More information needed!

skippingreels@collector.org