Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Bob Dylan & The Band: A Tree With Roots 1 & 2 (The Genuine Basement Tapes Remastered)

I don't know if there is any need to go and explain what the basement tapes are (btw, after dylan's famous motorbike accident -probably an exaggereted one- his Bobness himself decided to take some time for himself, some time in the country -Woodstock was the place, just playin' round with The Band some old american music -some would call it Americana these days- and improved some new tunes, the most of it in a totally free way, with no push whatsover), but the fact is, and this has to be stated clear, the basement tapes which later got to be released through Sony were never intended to be for the public audience and, more important to us, they were just the tip of the iceberg.
Meaning there were loads of songs (and songs and songs...) left in Dylan's archives (want me to name one? The stuning "I'm not there", which gave the name for Todd Haynes's bizarre biopic last year), and all of that soon came out labelled as "Genuine basement tapes", a 5 CDs collection full of interesting material though not lacking flaws(i.e. the recording quality being the major one, and then, well, maybe too many takes or some not-so interesting short bits or sketches of songs, but hey, de gustibus...).
So what is "A Tree With Roots" then?
Quite easy to tell: the same genuine tapes, remastered, but with an order which kind of tries to make some sense out of the mass of pretty random music compositions. All of it compressed in a 4 volumes edition, and here am I giving you the first two (what'll you find in these? I'd say some little gems like Lock your door, Bonnie ship the diamond, or Dylan and the Band covering Bells of rhymney...but these are just some of my faves, and there are 58 in here, so knock yourself off and your own ones). And wait for 3 & 4 (with Going to Acapulco, the now famous I'm not there and the very core of the basement tapes, I'd say)

Want to to know more on ATWR? Check this page here (for the complete tracklist, the story and some notes). Or wiki for the whole story behind the basement tapes.

Enjoy, enjoy.
Next (ça va sans dire): Vol. 3 & 4.

A Tree With Roots Vol. 1 (New Link)
A Tree With Roots Vol. 2

11 comments:

bob said...

sharebee is no good.

brujo said...

Hi ,no trouble downloading vol 2 but no luck with vol 1 it keeps refreshing with more adds and no link ,brujo

glyphjockey said...

brujo and bob are correct

Anonymous said...

Agree with Bob, Brujo & Lex. Volume1 won't show the link through Sharebee.
Vol.2 is AWESOME though. Many thanks!
Please, please fix link to Vol.1 or I may cry "Tears of Rage".

Anonymous said...

Thank you - but please could you re-up vol. 1 to Megaupload? Thank you!

houseinrlyeh aka Denis said...

Same here, too. Well, sharebee just isn't trustworthy anymore, it seems.

Mar said...

thank you for these! # 2 is kaput though now, would be greatful for a re-up

Mar said...

Hey this is fantastic thanks for sharing! Disc 2 has expired though, would be greatful for a re-up

ted1079 said...

please,a repost of disc 2????

thanks

Bobby Lou Cash said...

I know it's been 2 years since you posted this, but is there anyway you could reload disc 2. I just had my official album of the basement tapes stolen yesterday, and I was heart broken until I found out about a tree with roots. I've loved the other three discs so far. Thanks for your help.

Phil said...

Love these tapes - a superb historical record