Bob Dylan, The Gaslight Tapes 1962 Label: Rattlesnake/RS 068 Audio Source: soundbard Lineage: Rattlesnake silver - ripped and tagged with XLD XLosslessDecoder - Flac Level 8 Number of Discs: 1 Artwork: included (@ 300 dpi PNGs) Total running time: 70m 05s Notes: Recorded at the Gaslight Cafe (New York, NY); October 1962 DEEP: A sublime listen in much improved quality, far superior to previous issues: brighter, quieter and more upfront. The tracklist speaks for itself. As essential an early Dylan piece as there is. Beautifuly packaged, with pages of rare early Dylan pics and an in-depth essay on the origin of the tapes. http://www.angelfire.com/wa/monicasdude/718.htm Gaslight Tapes 1962 source: Gaslight Cafe, NY 1962 Quality: 8½ stars Review: The Gaslight tape is an absolute 'must have' to any serious collection. It has been available as a quasi-legitimate European LP for many years, in several different packages. In 2001, this Rattlesnake title was released with the complete 2nd and 3rd Gaslight tape. The tracks have been EQ'd to create a wonderfully quiet and crisp sounding version. The hand colored photos create a beautiful package. http://www.bobsboots.com/CdS/cd-g35-R1.html Info: This is, without a doubt, the best early Dylan (pre-1964) live material I've ever heard. This is a must for any Dylan fan, and fortunately this material is widely available on CD (Italian import - check your local CD store for availability) and in very decent sound. (Update: Ten tracks from this tape are now officially available from Columbia through special arrangement with Starbucks.) The performances are all at the Gaslight Cafe, but the audience is barely in evidence. It could have been recorded on a slow night or possibly during a time when the club was closed to the public. The recording sounds very professional, so maybe this was an informal recording session. The audience can be heard during "Hard Rain" singing along, so maybe this was a private session of sorts (party tape?). Dylan seems to have left his harmonica holder at home because none of the songs on this tape feature his trademark harmonica at all. This actually adds to the greatness of the performances, I think, because it forced Dylan to attempt something interesting on the guitar during the spots where the harmonica breaks should fall. This is most evident on "Don't Think Twice" and "Cocaine", two songs where harmonica had been the dominant instrument. All the songs on this tape sound very unusual for this reason. Dylan is in exceptionally good voice throughout. Of special note is his vocal on "Barbara Allen", where (as has been noted by others) his voice sounds strangely like his Nashville Skyline voice of many years later. On "No More Auction Block" he manages to sound 100 years old and his singing from the viewpoint of an ex-slave is very convincing. The other blues and spirituals are equally impressive, my favorite being "West Texas", which features a very compelling guitar figure and an excellent blues vocal. But I think my very favorite song on the tape has to be "Handsome Molly". This is just an incredible song (not written by Dylan, btw) that never fails to move me. I also like "Barbara Allen", "Motherless Children", and "Moonshine Blues". Actually, there isn't one dead spot in this entire set. The original songs, many being heard possibly for the first time, are: "Hard Rain", "Don't Think Twice", "John Brown", "Hollis Brown" (hmmm, wonder if they're related :-), and if you insist "Rocks and Gravel", but I'm pretty sure that this song doesn't belong in the list of original Dylan songs. CDs: Live at the Gaslight 1962 [Columbia] (official release) The Gaslight Tapes [Laser] The Gaslight Tapes [Rattle Snake] (upgrade) Bob Dylan Rare Live Performances of the Sixties (Volume I & II) [Magic Music] The Laser disc is reported to be the world's first bootleg CD http://www.punkhart.com/dylan/tapes/62-gaslight2.html Tracklisting: 01 Hard Rain 6:41 02 Don't Think Twice 3:09 03 Black Cross (Joe Newman arr. by Lord Buckley) 4:00 04 No More Auction Block (Trad.) 2:55 05 Rocks and Gravel (Adapted from McGee/Carr) 4:58 06 Barbara Allen (Trad.) 7:49 07 Moonshine Blues (Trad.) 4:05 08 Motherless Children (Trad.) 3:11 09 Handsome Molly (Trad.) 2:46 10 John Brown 5:54 11 Ballad Of Hollis Brown 5:42 12 Kindhearted Woman Blues (Robert Johnson) 2:30 13 See That My Grave's Kept Clean (L Jefferson) 3:26 14 Ain't No More Cane (Huddie Ledbetter) 1:59 15 Cocaine (Trad. arr. Rev.Gary Davis) 2:57 16 Cuckoo Is A Pretty Bird (Trad.) 2:18 17 West Texas (cut) (Trad.) 5:37 Rip made with XLD Version 20080926 (93.3). Complete artwork included as 300 dpi PNGs. Torrent History: Originally seeded to TangledUpInTorrents by WilliamLee on October 30th 2008.