Dylan, Lanois and a Mud Boy

[John D. Baldwin]

Copyright, 1997, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. This electronic
copy is posted with permission granted to John David Baldwin.
Notice: This story may not be copied, downloaded or reproduced in any
form or medium without express, written permission from The Commercial
Appeal.

SESSIONS WITH DYLAN COMPLETE MUD BOY'S RESUME
by Bill Ellis

(Memphis Commercial Appeal, Saturday, 2/8/97)

Bob Dylan was back in the studio recently and he took a Mud Boy with
him.

Dylan spent 11 days last month at Criteria Studios in Miami, Fla.,
cutting new music that may or may not end up on an album. Invited
along for the sessions was Memphis producer and pianist Jim Dickinson,
who had never worked with Dylan before.

"It's not that I've done everything, but I have done nearly everything
that I wanted to that mattered to me (except) that," says Dickinson,
who has played with Ry Cooder, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones.
Lately, he had worked with Johnny Cash on the Dead Man Walking
soundtrack and is now remixing material by the Radiators for a Legacy
reissue.

Dylan and session producer Daniel Lanois (of U2 fame) adopted an odd
approach in the studio, according to Dickinson, assembling three bands
"all playing at once." There was one bass player, but everything
else was multiple, including three drummers. Among the players were
drummer Jim Keltner and Texas Tornados keyboardist Augie Myers, who
"played one whole song in the wrong key," recalls Dickinson. "And it
worked!"

Dylan didn't allow his players much comfort in the studio. They
didn't get to play their main instrument, or if they did, it was
competing with the sound of several other musicians playing the same
instrument.

"Nobody was getting to do their thing," notes Dickinson, who played
Wurlitzer instead of piano. "That was the point. Who knew what was
going to happen? It really could have gone in any direction."
Dickinson is quick to add, "Some of it was so good, I can't imagine he
won't use it."

One myth Dickinson found untrue was Dylan's rumored nonchalance and
haphazard approach to recording. Not only was Dylan always in
control, he was far more normal than expected. No substance abuse was
detected, including alcohol, which Dylan gave up two years ago,
according to conversations Dickinson had with Dylan's touring band.

Says Dickinson, "Anyone who says Bob Dylan is crazy is stupid. 'Cause
he knew exactly what was going on all the time, and he was the only
person who did."

Dylan talked to Dickinson about the blues, musicians from Sid Selvidge
to Sleepy John Estes, and Memphis, where he recalled playing at the
legendary folk club the Bitter Lemon on the 1960s. Much to
Dickinson's surprise, Dylan knew of him through underground band Mud
Boy & the Neutrons (with Selvidge, Jimmy Crosthwait and the late Lee
Baker). "I said, 'You can't possibly know about Mud Boy.' He said,
'Ah yeah, sure, that great band nobody can find.'"

Dickinson may have had a few misgivings about the sessions but he
found no fault in Dylan's new material, which he thinks is as good as
anything since Dylan's 1964 folk masterpiece, "The Times They are
a-Changin'."

"He told his manager five years ago he'd never write anymore songs,"
says Dickinson. "The world had enough Bob Dylan songs and it was
going to get confusing." According to Dickinson, Dylan got snowed in
at his Minnesota home a few years ago and ended up with a new batch of
tunes that went unrecorded until Dylan noticed how many young people
were attending his concerts. "He decided a new audience deserved new
songs."

Dylan's new songs? They're steeped in Americana, says Dickinson,
somewhat dark and bluesy with quotes from other folk tunes. One song
is 17 minutes with no solos. "The manager asked him if he was going
to do a short version, and he said 'That is the short version,'"
recalls Dickinson. Another song called Red River Shore uses pump
organ and accordion. Several others are about Mississippi.

Dickinson remembers Lanois and Dylan butting heads a few times.

Lanois tried to get Dylan to go acoustic for one song. He even
suggested that the Voice of a Generation sit around on couches and
strum the guitar for ambience. Dylan's response: "I don't want to do
that... I've already done that... I do that at home."

On another song, Lanois wanted Dylan to sing in a higher register.
Dylan refused and the session ended, though not before Dylan dropped
an aside into the microphone: "Yeah, if I had paid more attention to
what people told me about my singing, I might have had a career!"

(I would like to thank The Commercial Appeal and Mr. Bill Ellis for
their permission to use the above article. Please read the disclaimer
preceding the article if you have not already done so.)

J.D.B.

[Frederick Sall]

In <3308D2...@tiac.net> "John D. Baldwin" <jbal...@tiac.net>
writes:

>
>Copyright, 1997, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. This electronic
>copy is posted with permission granted to John David Baldwin.
>Notice: This story may not be copied, downloaded or reproduced in any
>form or medium without express, written permission from The Commercial

>Appeal.
>
>SESSIONS WITH DYLAN COMPLETE MUD BOY'S RESUME
>by Bill Ellis
>
>(Memphis Commercial Appeal, Saturday, 2/8/97)
>
>Bob Dylan was back in the studio recently and he took a Mud Boy with
>him.
>
>Dylan spent 11 days last month at Criteria Studios in Miami, Fla.,
>cutting new music that may or may not end up on an album. Invited
>along for the sessions was Memphis producer and pianist Jim Dickinson,

>who had never worked with Dylan before.
>

The last time I spoke to Jim Dickinson (a very generous person and
great musician who knows a tremendous amount about music) was about a
year ago and he specifically mentioned then that he really wanted to
work with Dylan (whom he called the greatest white singer ever). He
told me that twice before he had been slated to record with Dylan but
the sessions had been cancelled or not materialized.

Dickinson is an amazing producer in his own right; without denigrating
anybody else's efforts, I would love to hear him produce a Dylan album
on his own. Sure glad he got to work with Dylan in any case.

Freddy Sall

[Murcura]

>SESSIONS WITH DYLAN COMPLETE MUD BOY'S RESUME
>by Bill Ellis
>
>(Memphis Commercial Appeal, Saturday, 2/8/97)
>
>Bob Dylan was back in the studio recently and he took a Mud Boy with
>him.

<<snip>>

This is cruel ... just cruel. To read such tantalizing news while knowing
full well this music may never see the light of day ... it's almost
*painful*. I mean, a 17-minute song, for crissakes?! Three bands at once?
This is the kind of magical chaos he hasn't attempted since "Desire". I'm
getting giddy even while doubting it all.

Then again, I remember reading a big cover story in Rolling Stone about
how Bob had steeped himself in the blues again and was recording his
rockingest album since the Highway 61 days. A month later, "Knocked Out
Loaded" was released.

As much as I love hearing new details, the anxiety of knowing *something*
is almost worse than the anxiety of knowing *nothing*. All I want is a
firm release date!

*****************************
Sean Murdock
mur...@aol.com

[Seth Kulick]

In article <3308D2...@tiac.net>, John D. Baldwin <jbal...@tiac.net> wrote:
>Copyright, 1997, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. This electronic
>copy is posted with permission granted to John David Baldwin.
>Notice: This story may not be copied, downloaded or reproduced in any
>form or medium without express, written permission from The Commercial
>Appeal.
>

>SESSIONS WITH DYLAN COMPLETE MUD BOY'S RESUME
>by Bill Ellis

Thanks for posting this. This was a great read.

>

>On another song, Lanois wanted Dylan to sing in a higher register.
>Dylan refused and the session ended, though not before Dylan dropped
>an aside into the microphone: "Yeah, if I had paid more attention to
>what people told me about my singing, I might have had a career!"

So this comment exists on tape somewhere. I can only hope this magical
moment will be heard by the outside world.

>
>
>(I would like to thank The Commercial Appeal and Mr. Bill Ellis for
>their permission to use the above article. Please read the disclaimer
>preceding the article if you have not already done so.)
>
>J.D.B.

--
------------------------------------------------------------
Seth Kulick "There are no kings inside the
University of Pennsylvania gates of Eden" - Bob Dylan
sku...@linc.cis.upenn.edu http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~skulick/home.html

[John H. Zureick]

In article <5ecl1s$j...@netnews.upenn.edu>,

Seth Kulick <sku...@muzungu.cis.upenn.edu> wrote:
>In article <3308D2...@tiac.net>, John D. Baldwin <jbal...@tiac.net> wrote:
>>Copyright, 1997, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. This electronic
>>copy is posted with permission granted to John David Baldwin.
>>Notice: This story may not be copied, downloaded or reproduced in any
>>form or medium without express, written permission from The Commercial
>>Appeal.
>>
>>SESSIONS WITH DYLAN COMPLETE MUD BOY'S RESUME
>>by Bill Ellis
>
>Thanks for posting this. This was a great read.
>
>>
>
>>On another song, Lanois wanted Dylan to sing in a higher register.
>>Dylan refused and the session ended, though not before Dylan dropped
>>an aside into the microphone: "Yeah, if I had paid more attention to
>>what people told me about my singing, I might have had a career!"
>
>So this comment exists on tape somewhere. I can only hope this magical
>moment will be heard by the outside world.

The comment I liked was about the 17 minute song--"that is the short version".
So true. I remember first hearing "Desolation Row". That song was about
a four day version. Once the needle reached the end of the track I would
just get up and stick it right back at the beginning!

I won't say the same about Dylan's long versions of "Sad Eyed" and
"God on our Side" . In fact, I think "God" would have been a lot better
with a few verses dropped and others combined. Keep the Judas verse,
drop the Russian verse, combine a few of the earlier verses being sure
to include "guns in their holsters", "Made to memorize", "the reason
for fighting I never did get". Well, that's my version anyway.

Another song which fits into this 17 minute short version theory is
"She's your lover now". I swear, everytime Bob says "Huh" I think I've
been listening for about 30 seconds and would be happy to go on listening
for months and months if only the song would continue.

[Sandy Ramer]

Great piece!!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am finding it more and more
difficult to wait for this new material. Getting more real every day.
Now, if it just disappears in a puff of stale air and Bob and/or Sony
never come through, maybe somebody better track down that Dickenson. :-)

Sandy Ramer