For those interested in going deeper there is the deluxe edition, The Basement Tapes: Complete, which represents every recording that could be salvaged including a number recently discovered from the so-called “Red Room” recordings. The Basement Tapes Raw represents the best of these recordings. Now, 47 years later, those questions can be answered. Is it the released album? Are there hidden reels? Exactly what do the original recordings sound like? Even more volumes of bootlegs are released. A controversy arises over what the real basement tapes actually are. But in some ways, this only whets the appetite among a large group of Dylan fans that want to hear everything recorded in that basement. The record is an instant success, topping the charts at number one. In the end they revamp 16 songs and record 8 new ones without Dylan. They collapse Hudson’s original 1967 wide-pan stereo recordings into mono and add additional instrumentation and vocals recorded by The Band in an attempt to make the recordings sound more like a finished product. Robbie Robertson, along with engineer Rob Fraboni, takes the lead. An underground industry forms around them.Įventually, in 1975, Dylan and The Band cede to demand and release an official Basement Tapes album. By 1969, the first bootleg of the modern rock’n’roll age appears, called Great White Wonder an album compiling selections from the basement recordings as well as tracks that had slipped through the net of Dylan’s career thus far. Jann Wenner echoes their sentiments in a front-page article in Rolling Stone. What Dylan doesn’t imagine is that all these songs create a public demand to hear the originals.Īs early as 1968, fans clamor for their release.
Cover versions come immediately: Peter, Paul & Mary Ian & Sylvia Manfred Mann Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger The Byrds – all within the first six months.
Hudson edits together a 14 song tape which is couriered to Dylan’s publisher. In the process, the tapes keep running and more reels are recorded – warm-ups and jam sessions never meant to see the light of day. His real focus is on creating demos to hand over to his music publishing company so that other artists can record the songs. Although a lot of music is recorded, none of it is planned for new Dylan releases. Eventually, former Hawk Levon Helm joins them and adds some distinctive drumming and singing on some final tracks. For the next year they return to the basement regularly to record - adding and subtracting, refining and discarding.
The nascent Band, still on retainer from Dylan’s cancelled tour, begins recording a series of demos with Dylan, first at his house in a den dubbed “The Red Room” and then later that spring in the basement of the big pink house.īetween March and September, Garth Hudson is pressed into action and records nine reels of tape full of new songs – originals, country, folk and rockabilly classics as well as song sketches that will never be completed. Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson move into a house on 100 acres, which they dub “Big Pink.” Guitarist Robbie Robertson joins them, also moving nearby. He invites a few members of his touring group (formerly known as The Hawks – soon to be known as The Band) to come help out. Bob Dylan, recovering from a motorcycle accident, has moved his family up to Byrdcliffe, New York, where he is editing a film about his 1966 tour. Winter, Ulster County in upstate New York, about a two-hour drive from Manhattan.