To commemorate 30 years since the release of Dylan's first Columbia album, a marathon tribute concert was held at New York's Madison Square Garden, with a galaxy of stars and voices from the past taking part. The cumulative effect of this tribute was staggering, revealing just how much truly great Dylan material there is to choose from all of his periods. A firm nucleus of the three surviving members of Booker T. & the MG's, plus G.E. Smith on guitar and Jim Keltner and Anton Fig on drums, anchors the bands, and most of the stars…
On July 1, 1968, The Band's landmark debut album, Music from Big Pink, seemed to spring from nowhere and everywhere. Drawing from the American roots music panoply of country, blues, R&B, gospel, soul, rockabilly, the honking tenor sax tradition, hymns, funeral dirges, brass band music, folk, and rock 'n' roll, The Band forged a timeless new style that forever changed the course of popular music. Fifty years later, the mythology surrounding Music from Big Pink lives on through the evocative storytelling of its songs including "The Weight," "This Wheel's On Fire," "Tears of Rage," and "To Kingdom Come," its enigmatic cover art painted by Bob Dylan, the salmon-colored upstate New York house – 'Big Pink' – where The Band wrote the songs, and in myriad descendant legends carried forth since the album's stunning arrival.
Volume 1 & 2 Various Artist collection from German BMG Ariola. 39 different cover version of Bob Dylan Songs.
Recorded on New Year's Eve 1971/72, this was the Band's last gig for a year and a half. Allen Toussaint was brought in again to write horn arrangements for many of the Band's classics. The results were inspired. Highlights are many, but of particular note are a cover of the Four Tops's "Baby Don't Do It" and a live recording of a track that had earlier been relegated to B-side status only, "Get up Jake." [AMG]
As for the years 1962, 1963 and 1964, Sony also released for 1969 an extremely limited "50th Anniversary Collection" with unpublished recordings of Bob Dylan. The goal is not to lose the copyright on these recordings in Europe.
Masterpieces is a compilation album by Bob Dylan. The 3-LP set was released in Japan and Australia in anticipation of his 1978 tour. Primarily a greatest hits collection spanning Dylan's career up that point, the album features three previously unreleased tracks, including "Rita May", "George Jackson" and a unique (1962) outtake version of "Mixed Up Confusion". It also includes a live performance of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" from Dylan's 1966 World Tour, which was first released as the B-side of his "I Want You" single in 1966 and later appeared on Self Portrait. Masterpieces was reissued on CD in 1991 by Sony Music (Cat. No. 4624489), but is no longer in print.
Let face it… The Band brought new life to U.S. musical expression in the 60's after the British invasion. Across the Great Divide: continues that legacy. These're some of my favorite listening pieces, and as a longtime Band fan, I think matches the feel and diversity of "Americana roots" music that "The Band" brought to the ears of the world via North America. May these cuts carry on this traditional inspiration for musicians and music lovers everywhere.