The Basement Tapes

Amazon.com essential recording:
The Basement Tapes can be heard as a manifesto for the '90s' underlying Americana agenda or as the greatest album never intended for commercial release. Homegrown 1967 recordings taped in the Band's fabled Big Pink hermitage in Saugerties, New York, many of the 24 songs resonated across American and English rock and folk long before their belated 1975 release through studio interpretations by the Byrds, Fairport Convention, Manfred Mann, Peter, Paul & Mary, and numerous other acolytes, as well as through myriad unauthorized bootlegs. Good as the covers were, Dylan and the Band rolled their own with an extraordinary coherence that sounds only more authentic in these rough-hewn, intimate, always musical performances, which dovetail with Dylan's stark John Wesley Harding and the Band's stunning debut, Music from Big Pink as well as the presciently lo-fi The Band. At a time when most rock culture was entranced with its post-atomic origins, these songs sounded timeless, plunging into pre-industrial folk, turn of the (20th) century barrelhouse and blues, and crackling, vintage rock & roll excursions with offhand verve and a thrilling disregard for what was hip. Time has only reinforced their visionary power. --Sam Sutherland

Disc 1:

1. Odds and Ends - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
2. Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast) - The Band, Bob Dylan
3. Million Dollar Bash - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
4. Yazoo Street Scandal - The Band, Bob Dylan
5. Goin' to Acapulco - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
6. Katie's Been Gone - The Band, Bob Dylan
7. and Behold! - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
8. Bessie Smith - The Band, Bob Dylan
9. Clothes Line Saga - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
10. Apple Suckling Tree - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
11. Please, Mrs. Henry - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
12. Tears of Rage - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan

Disc 2:

1. Too Much of Nothing - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
2. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
3. Ain't No More Cane - The Band, Bob Dylan
4. Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
5. Ruben Remus - The Band, Bob Dylan
6. Tiny Montgomery - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
7. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
8. Don't Ya Tell Henry - The Band, Bob Dylan
9. Nothing Was Delivered - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
10. Open the Door, Homer - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
11. Long Distance Operator - The Band, Bob Dylan
12. This Wheel's on Fire - Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan

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Customer Reviews

Rating: - A Great Album
I really love both Bob Dylan and The Band and have to say that this is a wonderful album to own... regardless if you are a fan. The music on this album is is great in that you won't hear a lot of repeats from other Bob or The Band albums. The songs are unique gems and the fact that there are two discs makes it twice as good. I strongly encourage anyone looking for a fantastic album to invest in this one.
Rating: - Lo and behold, this is a classic!
I listened to the Basement Tapes when the bootleg first appeared. That was wellover 30 years ago. Many of the lyrics have run through my head like gospels ever since.Sometimes they just pop up, or a situation happens and a line from one of these songs describes it perfectly.These are songs to interpret our lives, by which I mean that much of it is often filled with nonsense!Glorious nonsense! Henry and Mrs. Henry, Bessie, Moss, Nick, Jim, Katie, and Tiny Montgomery will be friends of mine for ... Read More
Rating: - Great remastering
This offhand masterpiece of downhome rock 'n' roll has greatly benefitted by the remastering which really brings out the Band's musical accompaniment.Highly recommended.
Rating: - terrible sounding compared to what's out there!
It would be nice if Columbia/Sony would go into the vaults, and take the master tapes and release the damn tapes. Instead they give you a manipulated fragment.

It's well worth trying to find or download " a tree with Roots". Not only does it have pretty much the complete basement tapes, but sound quality blows this release away. A more recent, "mixin' up the medicine" Neil Young's safety master is the best fidelity yet. keep in mind those are bootlegs. But what can one do, if the official ... Read More
Rating: - Necessary, but only scratches the surface
OK, I suppose this 1975 release was necessary, given the historical importance of the sessions and Dylan's reluctance to release them. Apparently, however, there was some re-recording done by Robertson and others to "clean up" the originals, plus the Band-only songs are mostly from totally different, much later sessions. Of course, being too much of a purist here is counterproductive anyway, as many of the songs most identified with the basement were actually recorded elsewhere, at places like ... Read More