Music

Bob Dylan is releasing a 36-CD set of his 1966 electric tour

by Jeremy Mersereau

It’s inarguable that Bob Dylan was and is one of the most vital and groundbreaking popular musicians of the twentieth century, but still, does even a living legend like Dylan warrant the purchase of a massive 36-CD box set? Only you, and your wallet, can decide.

Our suggestion: no, do not spend money on 36 CDs in the year 2016.

Digital though? Only you can decide. Pfft, like any Dylanite worth their No Direction Home Blu-ray and old bandana isn’t gonna drop whatever it takes to get 36 more versions of “Visions of Johanna.” I mean, this monstrosity is already out, so the market is there.

Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings is a huge, exhaustive 36-CD box set of Dylan’s legendary 1966 tour, and it’s due for release on November 11th. The box set includes all the shows during which Dylan clashed with his wispy folk audiences over his divisive decision to play the cool guitar and not the lame one.

The collection features the bulk of Dylan’s live shows across that tumultuous year, most of which are drawn from his European performances, with a smattering of U.S. and Australian dates. It was only a year earlier when Dylan made the switch to electric guitars and amps at the Newport Folk Festival, for which he was lustily booed by a crowd for whom the sound of amplified chords was too intense. Or maybe they were saying, ‘more, more,’ as per Dylan’s keyboardist Al Kooper in 2004’s The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan. Hans Moleman: “I was saying moo-ore”.

“The intensity of Bob’s live performances and his fantastic delivery of these songs in concert add another insightful component in understanding and appreciating the musical revolution Bob Dylan ignited some 50 years ago,” Sony Music Legacy Recordings president Adam Block said in a statement about the forthcoming release.

[H/T The Daily Mail]