Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix

Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix is the title of the Scorpio bootleg
released in late 1995 of the fabled "Judas" concert (Manchester May 17, 1966).
Reportedly, the source was a DAT tape mixed by Sony for possible
release as Vol. 4 & 5 of The Bootleg Series. The early bootlegs
of this concert were misattributed to Royal Albert Hall (May 26-27, 1966).
As a result, for years prior to the release of Guitars Kissing the location of
the Judas concert was much debated, as is what was said in the exchange between
Dylan and the audience after the cry of "Judas" came from the audience.

In April 1997 Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix (enhanced version)
came on to the market, along with several other Dylan bootleg titles.

In May 1998, bobdylan.com announced: "Coming later this year! The long-awaited
release of The Bootleg Series, vols. 4 and 5. This installment: the legendary
'Royal Albert Hall' concert, actually recorded at the Manchester Free Trade Hall
on May 17. 1966. This never-before-released (sic) complete concert recording
(acoustic and electric sets) will be released as a two-CD set with extensive liner notes
including an essay by Tony Glover and photographs of Bob Dylan and The Hawks."

LIVE 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert--The Bootleg Series, vol. 4
will be released on October 13, 1998.

Originally compiled: October 23, 1996
Last revised: October 11, 1998

---

Selective Index of Articles

Track list

Moe's review of Guitars Kissing

Dave Marsh's 1971 review of the Judas concert

EDLIS notes on Guitars Kissing

"Judas" cry and "Liar" retort

"Loud" or "Liar"?

Sourcing acoustic set

Joe Cliburn's pictorial of Guitars Kissing (on Flintcreek!)
Bill Glahn's review (February 1996) on BigO
Mark Brown's Orange County Register review (December 26, 1996)
Guitars Kissing Web J-card

---

Track List

Disc One [Acoustic]

1. She Belongs To Me
2. Fourth Time Around
3. Visions Of Johanna
4. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
5. Desolation Row
6. Just Like A Woman
7. Mr. Tambourine Man

Disc Two [Electric]

1. Tell Me Mama
2. I Don't Believe You
(She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
3. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
4. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
5. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
6. One Too Many Mornings
7. Ballad of a Thin Man
8. Like a Rolling Stone

---

From: Moe Magid (Lovinmj23@AOL.COM)
Subject: DEEP BENEATH THE WAVES vol 20
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 21:27:50 -0500

"Hello all Dylanheads. Don't you have lives???"
Sorry, guys, you'll have to excuse my wife. I just went up to kiss my kids goodnight and that is her idea of funny. I guess she knew I was getting ready to go down..........

"GUITARS KISSING & THE CONTEMPORARY FIX"
2CD (no label) complete acoustic show (Bob Dylan)
and electric show (Dylan & The Hawks) from Manchester,
UK Free Trade Hall 17 May 1966

Thump thumpthumpthump thumpthump thumpthump thumpthump........... That sound you are hearing are collective jaws dropping all over the world as this new double CD set is first thrust into the player and Dylan is "in your living room"..... opening his acoustic set with "She Belongs to Me" and closing six songs later w"Mr TMan". Far be it from me to describe/comment on this legendary show, I'll leave that to the experts. Suffice it to say that this first disk is everything we had hoped for, and more, and I seriously doubt that whenever Sony gets around to releasing it officially that they can improve on the sound quality. It easily exceeds, in all sound categories, anything that has preceded it. By the end of "Mr. Tambourine Man" you will be giving Jay Leno a run for his money in the jaw department. Aces all around for disk one - the acoustic set.

THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!. (loud ones, bones breaking....) Caution: before playing disk two (the electric set with the Hawks), please place a thick pillow (or two) beneath your already slackened jaw, as it will indeed crash to the floor. As we all know, "Tell Me Mama" opens things up and once again I reserve comment, other than to say this sounds so good it is scary. If you've never taken notice of this show before, you will now. Incredibly intense is the best I can come up with. I a-b'd it with the "A Week in the Life" and the "Royal Albert Hall" (for sound comparison) and there is no comparison. It blows 'em both away. The pre-release hoopla about the master tape source could very well be true, it's that good. The intro to "Baby, Let me Follow You Down" is goosebump material and "Ballad of a Thin Man" is from another world, it is frightening music (the good kind). I believe all questions of what Bob said after the "Judas" comment will be laid to rest after you hear this - to my ears it is clearly "You're a liar........you're a fucking liar." All eight electric tracks are amazing, and as I sit here listening to it all I can think of is how great a live version of "She's Your Lover Now" would have been on this set. Instead of pistol shots, the music that Dylan and the Hawks created that night were cannon blasts never heard before, and possibly not heard since that tour. I promised myself I would'nt ramble on, so I'll end it with this - "Just get it and see for yourself. The sound is so much improved it's like hearing a different show. The legendary status is much deserved, IMO."

Simply and beautifully packaged in a glossy gatefold sleeve w/silkscreen shot of BD on the front and back covers. Inner gatefold has a killer shot of BD in a checked suit, and each disk is individually packaged with a sleeve featuring a collage of Bob photos. Lastly, there is a fine little essay written by someone who obviously attended the show, ending with "....nobody ever made a more ominous sound than BD & the Hawks in the mid 60's. It was total menace, with no let up. Song followed song, the terrible intense wall of sound pushing further and further to the limits of sanity. It was magnificent." John Lennon said, "Rock & Roll, you should have been there." Don't I (we) wish.

Peace - Moe

---

From: MOE (dsc9bam@IMC210.MED.NAVY.MIL)
Subject: DEEP vol 20 addendum
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 12:55:51 +0500

In the appraisal of "Guitars Kissing & the Contemporary Fix," I noted that the quality of it easily outdistanced such previous releases as "Royal Albert Hall 1966" (Swinging Pig) and "A Week in the Life of Bob Dylan" (Gold Standard). Let me add that while the "Guitars Kissing...." renders the "RAH 1966" CD expendable, it does no such thing to the other. The Gold Standard release also included 6 additional tracks from venues other than Manchester Free Trade Hall (Sheffield & Liverpool immediately come to mind), so that one is still a keeper. These additional 6 tracks are from soundboard sources and are in excellent quality.

As for the acoustic set, the "Guitars Kiss...." also precludes the need for the Swingin' Pig release "Manchester Prayer" and any other previously released CDs featuring this material. There are several, I believe. When I have some time I'll try to put together a list of the expendables, unless someone else beats me to it.

Peace - Moe

---

Subject: Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix
From: Paul Wolfe (PSK@myna.com)
Date: 1996/05/10

Believe everything you have heard! Ohmigod, these discs are amazing. I've moved my copies of RAH and Looking Back to the basement. Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix, for those of you who do not know, is the recording of the complete Manchester, May 17, 1966 concert with the Hawks and is probably the most awesome live show EVER - by any artist!

Shuffle down to your local bootlegger, head down to the Village, order by mail.....whatever it takes, JUST GET THIS CD. I have not been able to pry it out of my disc player since receiving it yesterday.

E-mail me for further particulars.

Paul

P.S. Do I make myself perfectly clear?

---

Subject: T'was 30 years ago today (Manchester 1966 review)
From: Paul Wolfe (PSK@myna.com)
Date: 1996/05/17

 * * *

[with the consent of Dave Marsh]

(from CREEM Magazine, Vol 3, # 3, June 3, 1971)

By Dave Marsh

It is the most supremely elegant piece of rock 'n' roll music I've ever heard. Seeking after virtuous sounds, constantly on the look-out for the lost chord and its derivants, the music that springs out most completely from that place where magic operates most nearly operates as a totality, Bob Dylan and the Hawks Live At Albert Hall, 1966 seems closest to what I'm after. Closer than even all the Rolling Stones live bootlegs or even Ya-Yes, perhaps even closer (though in a different way) than the brilliance I found in Live/Dead and Kick Out the Jams when they were released.

The extreme subtlety of the music is so closely interwoven with its majesty that they appear as one and the same. The first time I heard it, the effect was that of so many flashbulbs popping in my mind. Then the crusher: as Dylan and the Hawks tune their way into "Ballad of A Thin Man", a tension, intangible but definable for anyone who has ever seen great music performed in its live context, accrues, becomes almost unbearable and then is relieved by the most precisely perfect note from Robbie Robertson. A swoop of the purest finery, not all flash and filigree but something else, something so simple that it treads the thinnest edge of becoming merely mundane. Its B. B. King antecedents laid bare, it remains the most cosmic rush I've ever experienced from mere music, totally unadulterated by chemical...a pristine swoop, up and then down and then back up again, Robertson soaring on that single note to heights the significance of which the average guitarist couldn't begin to comprehend even if he were capable of playing them.

My response is that crystallization of everything that is rock'n'roll music, at its finest, was to allow my jaw to drop, my body to move, to leap out of the chair, to snap the recorder off and to run for my friend in the back of the house, unheeding the great Garth Hudson organ chords which follow and Dylan's supremely manic vocal, the friend being Robertson freak par excellence (and a damn fine guitarist in his own right). It is an experience that one desires simply to share, to play over and over again for those he knows thirst for such pleasure. If I speak in an almost worshipful sense about this music, it is not because I have lost perspective, it is precisely because I have found it, within music, yes, that was made five years ago. But it is there and unignorable.

It is royal music, as Greil Marcus put it on the phone this afternoon, made for some unknown, perhaps unborn king. Or even for a mere sad-eyed lady of the lowlands. Music that neither struts nor swaggers but still has the charisma that the best music has, the music that you keep coming back to for all the little reasons that none of us seems to be able to quite get down on paper.

Listen to the jest of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (and note how Robertson rocks his way out of that agony!), hear the Hawks and Dylan push Chicago blues to its very limits on "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat". Each musician as finely tuned to the other as any well-oiled rock'n'roll machine; yes, tight, but it is magic that lubricates the music, a magic that transcends "tightness" as a concept. Flowing with it, I believe it used to be called, and somehow more than that, too. More than anticipation, though that is an element and more than genius. The drive from which Dylan and the Hawks derive their energy is beyond mere traditional concepts, it defies criticism, precisely because that drive is criticism.

For the audience that was spectator and at the same time part of this supreme moment of rock creation was half in awe of it, true, but only half. The other half of the crowd hated this music with a vengeance, despise it, it was electric and they wanted no part of it. They weren't hesitant in letting Dylan know it, either. And as each tune wound into the next one, their hostility grew larger, their anger at the very enormity of this ultimate sacrilege - Bob Dylan, folk hero/messiah, supplanted by five scruffy rock and roll veterans - more vast.

Dylan, then, chose his tunes which were most nihilistic, most sarcastic, most bitter, most desperate for this audience: "Tell Me Mama" (with its enduring chorus: "I know that you know that I know that you know"), "Baby Let Me Follow You Down", "Tom Thumb's Blues", "One Too Many Mornings", which was always the cry of a herald, "Ballad of A Thin Man", "Like A Rolling Stone". "You know something's happening and you don't know what it ISSSS", Dylan hisses, Hudson rocking those Ray Charles-like chords so ominously behind him, "Doooo yoooou Mr. Joooooness". Mickey Jones, the drummer here, nearly knocks his kit over with a power rarely matched - by Watts and Moon alone, perhaps - Manuel and Danko merely THERE, solid, the way it was meant to be. Too much of this music is the way it was meant to be for easy belief. One take, you see, and that's it.

Then "Thin Man" concludes and the audience really begins to rave. "Judas" comes the cry and then a few scattered cheers. Silence, tuning noises...Dylan, "I don't believe you". More tuning scraps. Robertson's first guitar chords - "You're liars", Dylan reiterates, and then the ultimate answer. Manuel's piano tinkles the initial chords and then...Then the only answer possible under these circumstances. "Once upon a time you dressed so fine...". The energy is so there, so distinct even five years later that you can taste it, feel it surging in your veins because hindsight is once again more powerful than foresight, you were right and Dylan did know what he was doing. Rock'n'roll, bless his soul.

Why Bob Dylan later turned his back on the majestic noise he created that night, why he then turned to the shoddy Tin Pan Alley stylings that he seems so enamored of now, is anybody's guess. New Morning may be a new direction but it compares not at all to this music.

Still, the fact that Bob Dylan and the Hawks possessed this magic does, indeed, place them forever among the ranks of rock's great. Dylan had a power that Mick Jagger only approaches, a power to make people think in whole new ways, a power that he used more consciously than anyone else before or since. No one is deserving of more praise.

You can't really write about it, you know. And there's only a slim chance that you can find the tape. It's not all that safe these days to trade tapes, and there's slight chance that any more Dylan bootlegs are going to appear. I've heard rumors but rumors they remain. We'll see. In the meantime, let's suggest something: If ever you hear, for a minute, that anyone knows where to get a copy of this music, make your move. Kick out all the jams to get it. Perhaps half its value is knowing that Columbia will probably never release it, at least not during Dylan's lifetime, though they possess the master.

But more than that, it is merely worth it to know that Dylan and the Hawks - Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, Mickey Jones (on the basis of this tape one of the half dozen finest drummers in the history of rock) - once existed and played music meant for immortality. They did, they did it in a way that is so incomparable, and one's only wish that someone, someday will come up with something equally enthralling.

It's been a long time.

---

Subject: Jon Landau Review: 5/17/66
From: dyln61@ix.netcom.com (Bob Meyer)
Date: 1996/05/22

As requested, here is Jon Landau's review of the Bob Dylan concert 5/17/66 (the concert formally known as Royal Albert Hall). Any spelling or grammer errors are My fault. Enjoy:

BOB DYLAN: ON THE ROAD, 1966
Royal Albert Hall

"Judas," shouts someone in the audience. Others call out their agreement. The guitar, by now in tune, starts into its pattern. The voice from the stage answers back, "I don't believe you!" The guitar continues and the voice adds, in its drugged drawl, "You're a liar." And then, with one fell swoop, the drums and the rest of the Band make their entrance, bringing with them the magical beginning of "Like a Rolling Stone." And now the voice cries out, defiantly-even mournfully-"Once upon a time, you dressed so fine,threw the bums a dime,in your prime, didn't you?"

For two years now there has been talk of these tapes of Dylan in concert with The Band, but only few had ever heard them. Now they have surfaced in Los Angeles on a bootleg entitled "Greatest White Wonder: The Royal Albert Hall Concert 1966." It contains eight songs from various periods in Dylan's career, all done in the style of Highway 61. The personnel is The Band, except that Mickey Jones replaces Levon Helm on drums.

Needless to say, the album is both musically great and an amazing path back into the temperament of the sixties. Listening to it, it isn't hard to remember Dylan on stage of the Donnally Memorial Theatre in Boston or at Forest Hills in New York standing toe to toe,eyeball to eyeball with Robbie Robertson between every verse of practically every song, while the guitarist played his fills. Nor is it hard to remember that long, lean,frail look that sometimes made you wonder what gave him the strength to stand up there in the first place, as he remembered the unbelievably complex lyrics to his unbelievably long songs, without ever faltering.

It isn't hard for me to remember the booing, the names, the insults he endured just to be standing there with an electric band. At a concert in Connecticut, someone called out, "You scumbag." Bob waited a second, smiled, and said, "ah, it ain't that bad." On this album the audience claps at the wrong time, claps rhythmically as if to deliberately throw his timing off. At the beginning of "One Too Many Mornings" he tells a completely psychotic story in a very low voice while the audience makes its noise. As they gradually lose their energy, he finds his and his voice gets louder, until, when they are almost completely silent he says plainly, "if you only wouldn't clap so hard." The audience applauds the statement.

Jon Landau-June 1971

---

From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
Date: 21 January 1997

 
Murcura (murcura@aol.com) wrote:
: "Steven Mazur (SAR)" (mazur@virtu.sar.usf.edu) wrote:
: >Bob, can you tell us if your copy of these
: > discs are also missing the matrix numbers?
: >
: >>Yes, the numbers on my copy have been scratched off with what 
: >>looks like some kind of tool.
: >>
: I just received my "Guitars Kissing" this week, and it too is just as has
: been described of this "new" version: no booklet, "Made in Yogoslavia",
: matrix numbers scratched off, etc. I've had this show on cassette and LP
: in the past, and the sound of these CDs is spectacular to my ears. Has
: heard the original issue has raved about? Another note: the applause fades
: out/in completely after "Baby Blue" during the acoustic set, and there is
: a noticeable edit just before "Judas!". Is this common to all booted
: versions of this show? Thanks!
 
No it is not. It is common to all Guitars Kissings. Edits are described below.
 
: Sean Murdock
: murcura@aol.com
 
EDLIS is aware of six issues of this title. Please register
what you have with Joe
 
jcliburn@bellsouth.net
 
and send photocopies, we only have photocopies of a few of
the variants.
 
Here are EDLIS' rough notes if readers want to comment upon them and
suggest corrections...
 
--
Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix / Bob Dylan [& the
Hawks] [17 May 1966]
Insert and spine title: Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary
Fix
Disc title: "Free Trade Hall" Live
2 CDs
[Scorpio], 51766A, 51766E, [1995]
[Made in Italy]
SIAE [Societa Italiana degli Autori ed Editori = Italian
Society of Authors and Editors]
Stereo
Matrix: GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE: 51766E
Total Running Time: 93:56 (1 1/2 hours)
 
"Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix" is a name taken
from Bob Dylan's book Tarantula, it is the title of the
twenty-first section. The way the title is split between the
two inner CD sleeves suggests "Guitars Kissing" refers to
the acoustic part of the concert "& The Contemporary Fix" to
the electric. The order numbers 51766A and 51766E may
suggest Acoustic and Electric?
 
Well packaged gatefold black cardboard sleeve with red and
white lettering and a high contrast image of Bob Dylan with
acoustic guitar wearing the very large-patterned hounds
tooth jacket, individual paper sleeves with song listings
for each CD (the discs are inserted from the inside of the
fold, not the outer edge of each wing), well presented, a
welcome addition to the Dylan corpus undistributed by his
recording company, or at least only distributed out of its
back door... On the back cover there is another high
contrast image of Bob Dylan, from the neck up, left quarter
profile. He looks pensive. When you open the gatefold, on
the left hand side is a photograph (not high contrast image)
of Bob Dylan. He's singing, playing a dark coloured Fender
Telecaster with no rear pickup cover. In the background is
bassist Danko, with a Fender bass. The inner sleeve on the
left, holding the acoustic side, has a red border on the
front and four photographs of Bob Dylan, three of which
appear to have been taken at the same time and a fourth
which appears to be more of a posed studio photograph. The
other inner sleeve is different. The front is mainly red. It
has a photograph of Dylan in the studio playing guitar,
wearing sunglasses. This photograph is segmented into eight
sections, with the red of the sleeve colour forming the
bands between each section (like an ice cube tray). The disc
label for disc 1 has a white background with a 1966 era high
contrast, off-centered image of Bob Dylan in black. The disc
label for disc 2 has the same image, but with a black
background and white image. Liner notes include a review of
the show and a first hand account from a fan:
 
"Manchester Free Trade Hall May 17, 1966
There's nothing like a little adrenaline to enhance one's
appreciation of an event. By the time Dylan and the band
came onstage I was awash with the bloody stuff. I imagined
mayhem. The piano-player, Richard Manuel, was right beside
me. A more sinister-looking fellow I never saw. As a matter
of fact, all the band looked like men who'd braved the fires
of hell and emerged. Dylan's edgy aura hung over everything
and out there at my feet was a surging mass of flesh-crazed
fans, howling, cheering and screaming, waiting for the
spark.
 
I don't think Dylan said anything. Just a glance at the band
and suddenly the music started. I  never heard such an
apocalyptic roar. It took your breath away, like a squadron
of B-52's in a cathedral. There was wicked crackling guitar
over a vortex of sheer noise, with snatches of Captain Nemo
organ and mad piano occasionaly surfacing. Above it all, the
Dylan voice. Other writers have said it - nobody ever made a
more ominous sound than Bob Dylan and the Hawks in the mid-
60's. It was total menace, with no let-up. Song followed
song, the terrible intense wall of sound pushing further and
further to the limits of sanity. It was magnificient."
 
(This is taken from the "biography of The Band", Barney
Hoskins' Across The Great Divide, p. 122, where it is
credited to "Rick Sanders, a student working as a bodyguard
at the show.")
 
The generally circulating DAT before this came out on CD had
a different fault to the CD source. The CD has a split
second cut from the long harmonica solo towards the end of
Mr. Tambourine Man (7) [7:22]. The early DAT in circulation
had a cut from the applause fadeout at the end of Mr.
Tambourine Man.
 
Between a rather vicious Tell Me, Momma (8) and I Don't
Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) (9) the
harmonica begins and Dylan says, "This is called I Don't
Believe You. It used to be like that and now it goes like
this". He stamps his foot four times and the harmonica and
the Hawks "come in with the sort of immediacy you get from
tipping a whole table full of crockery and cutlery into the
sink all at once." - Paul Cable (1978).
 
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (12) is introduced with: "This is
call, this is called, "Yes I... This is uh, [heard on
circulating tapes and on Royal Albert Hall 1966 [T-121] and
the like, but cut on this CD which begins mid-sentence with]
this is called, "Yes I See You Got Your Brand New Leopard-
Skin Pill-Box Hat". [Guitar pause, many shouts] Man in
audience (strong English accent), "[Remember] to pick up
your silver." Woman (angrily), "Sit down." [Cheers and
clapping] Robbie Robertson,"O.K. You boys kick it off, man."
Bob Dylan laughs, "Heh." Robbie Robertson, "Gonna win them.
We've never gambled." Bob Dylan laughs nervously, "Heh,
heh." Rhythmic hand clapping, shouting and whistling [with
further stage  voices in the background, a section cut from
this CD] is broken up by "One, two, three" and the Hawks are
underway again.
 
Between Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (12) and One Too Many
Mornings (13) some of the audience follows the shouting with
slow hand clapping, Dylan mumbles into the microphone what
in retrospect are clearly nonsense words and syllables, the
clapping abates to catch the uncatchable words, and he
continues, "...if you only just wouldn't clap so hard.
[Cheers, clapping]"
 
Oldham Evening Chronicle - 25 May 1966: "So the knockers
are all stations go again. I am referring to the fantastic
performance given by Bob Dylan at the Free Trade Hall last
Tuesday night... I think Bob put his feelings over to the
knockers just great. When someone shouted out to him
'Judas!', he just calmly went to the microphone and quietly
drawled 'Ya liar'..."
 
Between Ballad Of A Thin Man (14) and Like A Rolling Stone
(15) lies this famous incident where a member of the
audience yells out "Judas!". Applause and other shouts ["Hey
Mr genius sings Dylan songs!", "Boy! Boy!", and the like]
are heard on circulating tapes and on Royal Albert Hall 1966
[T-121] and the like, but this is a twelve second cut on
this CD. Dylan responds, "I don't believe you... [Here again
this CD has a cut of indecipherable voices, this time just
four seconds.] You're a LIAR... Dylan turns away from his
mike to face the drummer Mickey Jones and then Robbie
Robertson says, "Get fuckin' loud!" followed by a wall-of-
sound no-holds-barred crashing-cymbals rendition of Like A
Rolling Stone. [Robbie Robertson is said to have said, "Quit
talking Bob." but not on the evidence of the tape.]
 
After Like A Rolling Stone (15) we hear a very Dylanesque
"Thank you." Hmmmm. Well some say he makes it sound more
like "Fuck you" but I can assure you the word is "Thank"
whatever the intention...
 
"The show actually took place in Manchester but an amazing
bit of audience-and-artist dialogue (Audience member:
"Judas!" Dylan "I don't believe you... you're a liar") was
taken from the Albert Hall concert days later." p. 12,
Biograph (1985). Well you weren't expecting CBS to tell the
truth, were you?
 
Variants: A 1996 re-issue of the original release in a cardboard
gatefold sleeve cover with two cardboard sleeves holding the CDs.
No liner notes or pictures on the CDs.
A 1996 re-issue of the original release in a 2-CD jewel case
generally with the same artwork as the original. The front and
back covers are identical to the original. The inside cover on
the left is the same as the photograph side of the original inner
sleeve for the acoustic side (the right inside cover under the
nesting CDs is blank). The inside of the front insert when it is
spread open is the same as the inside of the original gatefold
(picture of Bob Dylan in the checked suit with Danko in the
background on the left and the concert review on the right). The
images used on the CD labels are the same as the first issue but
the colours are different, disc I: red on white background, disc
II: black on white background. The matrix numbers and track
timings are identical to the original.
A 1996 version as above but with disc I: black on white
background, disc II: white on black background. These look just
like the original issue discs but have matrix numbers: 517 66A,
517 66 E
A 1996 version on the label "Disc Hits", "Made in Yugoslavia",
"Free Trade Hall", "For promotional use only". "1996 DPP". Beetle
logo. Front and back cover in black and white on a heavy woven
single sheet paper. There are no notes, only the track listing on
the back cover. At the beginning of disc 1 is the sound check
Just Like  Tom Thumb's Blues (1:08)! Cf T-041 (with this same
track, but "speed corrected"). So the CD is 50:17. The matrix
numbers have been scraped off and are rough to touch.
A 1996 re-issue of the original release in a black cardboard
gatefold sleeve cover with red lettering, with two cardboard
sleeves holding the CDs. "Bob Dylan & The Hawks" on the cover and
the spine, with the title "Guitars Kissing And The Contemporary
Fix". The front cover has the picture of Bob Dylan in a checked
suit with Danko in the background which was on the left side of
the inside gatefold of the original release, the inside of the
gatefold when spread open is in black and white and has a picture
of a pair of Free Trade Hall Manchester Tito Burns presents Bob
Dylan tickets on the left hand side and the concert review from
the original on the right. Each inner sleeve has the track
listing for its CD on one side (unlike the original the
"personnel" are not listed) and a photograph of Bob Dylan on the
other side. The picture on the acoustic inner sleeve is the same
picture of Bob Dylan in the checked suit that graces the front
cover. The picture on the electric inner sleeve is of Bob Dylan
in shades playing a harmonica with a microphone cupped in his
hands; a microphone on a stand is to his right and above that is
a hand holding another microphone. The CD labels are identical to
the 2-CD jewel case reissue (that is, the images used on the CD
labels are the same as the first issue but the colours are
different, disc I: red on white background, disc II: black on
white background). Like the 2-CD jewel case reissue the matrix
numbers and track timings are identical to the original.
A 1996 re-issue of the original release, but lacking the
individual paper sleeves.
A 1996 2-CD jewel case pirate of the bootleg. Matrix: 601013X
SCO-8 IFPI L602, 600993X SCO-9 IFPI L602. The total playing time
of each disc is within one second of the original release, but
the individual track times vary considerably. There is a fault on
Desolation Row [06:31] absent in the original release. The label
of disc one has a solid black background and is titled in white
print "The Lampost Stands with Folded Arms". The label of disc
two is the inverse, that is a white background with the black
print title "The Lampost Stands With Folded Arms". The inserts
appear to be taken from the 1996 gatefold sleeve reissue which
has "Bob Dylan & The Hawks" on the cover and the picture of Bob
Dylan in a checked suit with Danko in the background on the cover
(which was on the left side of the inside gatefold of the
original release). The front insert when opened is similar (but
of noticeably lower Dylan in a checked suit with Danko in the
background on the cover (which was on the left side of the inside
gatefold of the original release). The front insert when opened
is similar (but of noticeably lower quality) to the inside of the
1996 reissued gatefold (when spread open it is in black and white
and has a picture of a pair of Manchester tickets on the left
hand side and the concert review from the original on the right).
A 1996 2-CD pirate of the bootleg in a cardboard gatefold sleeve
cover with two cardboard sleeves holding the CDs. Matrix: 601013X
SCO-8 IFPI L602, 600993X SCO-9 IFPI L602.

---

Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
From: Jeff (DrJibe@MSN.COM)
Date: 1996/09/02

 
>Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 12:42:48 -0500
>From: Bob Meyer 
>Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
> 
>After Months of searching I finally received "Guitars Kissing & The
>Contemporary fix" in the mail today. Having had the electric part of this
>show on vinyl for quite a long time, I was shocked at the quality of the
>sound. Wow Stereo!!! To my surprise, it contains at the beginning of
>disc #1 a 1:08 soundcheck of "Just like Tom Thumbs blues". It is also on
>the label "DISC HITS"(no number). Label just reads "free trade hall" "For
>promotional use only". Also on back cover says "Made in Yugoslavia".
>Front and back cover in black and white. Is this a pirate of the
>"original" bootleg?

The original does not have a 1:08 soundcheck of "Just like Tom Thumbs blues". However the 2CD Sings the Body Electric begins with a 1:28 version (the 20 seconds can be accounted for at begin and end) which has some pops/crackles and level changes. It continues with pops/crackles in the first 5 songs found of The Contemporary Fix (this is the title of the acoustic disc and Guitars Kissing is the title of the electric disc).

EDLIS Boot Advisory Agent

---

Subject: Guitars Kissing and Manchester Prayer
From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/07/19

 
Brian Kelly (bkelly@INDIGO.IE) wrote:
: For quite some time I've been listening to Manchester Prayer 
: secure in the knowledge that I was being transported to the 
: Free Trade Hall, Manchester, 1966. But now I read in a reliable 
: and knowledgeable source that Desolation Row, Just Like A Woman, 
: and Mr. Tambourine Man are from the Royal Albert Hall, 27 May, 1966. 

This has been EDLIS' opinion for more than five years as readers of rec.music.dylan will recall. It was no secret and the insert's info was never trusted...

The 1990 posting said:

 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 "Free Trade Hall, Manchester 5/17/66" [sic]
 
 Bob Dylan and the Hawks [later The Band]. The first four cuts are
 from the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, 17 May 1966. The last three
 are probably from the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, 27 May
 1966.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
: three corresponding tracks on Guitars Kissing... are previously
: uncirculated recordings! Is this true... anybody?

Welllllll, there is uncirculating and uncirculating... ;-)

The generally circulating DAT before this came out on CD had a different fault to the CD source. The CD has a split second cut from the long harmonica solo towards the end of Mr. Tambourine Man (7) [7:22]. The early DAT in circulation had a cut from the applause fadeout at the end of Mr. Tambourine Man.

Unobtrusive faults are introduced to tapes so that a company can better trace which copy leaked...

'Course with one of those fancy boards in your PC for editing DATs you can move a fault around so that the wrong dude gets blamed!

Oh office politics, what a riot, eh? :-)

And you thought forged e-mail was all your PC was good for.

 
 Craig
--
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him!

---

Subject: Another "Guitars Kissing ..?"
From: sscobie1@sol.uvic.ca (Stephen Scobie/Maureen Scobie)
Date: 1996/09/11

 * * *

Some time ago I received, through the usual anonymous circles, a tape of what was purported to be the Sony mix for Bootleg Series 4&5. At the very end of that tape, after the famous LARS, after Dylan's ironic "thankyou," as the crowd noise faded away, you suddenly heard "God Save the Queen." I remember, back in those years when the National Anthem was played at the end of everything, even movies, how at the end of a show or a film people would rush to get out of the theatre and not have to stand still through the lugubrious rendering of the anthem. (Of course you could continue walking out, but you stood the risk of getting whacked over the head by an umbrella wielded by an indignant monarchist.) So the inclusion of it at the end of this tape struck me as a great laugh, and an unexpectedly witty gesture from Sony. However, the anthem is not included on my copy of GKCF. Does this mean that GKCF comes from a different tape source than the Sony mix? Or do the bootleggers just not have a sense of humour?

Stephen

---

Subject: RAH "Liar" Retort: Help!?!
From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1995/11/23

I know that UseNet News is hardly a medium of truth, so if you prefer your mythological Dylan then trust your ears and judgement and enjoy Levon's drumming! But don't read on, the EDLIS file has stood boringly unchallenged for many years now, it's nice to have fresh views... :-)

EDLIS as an organisation dedicated to anarchistic principles always appreciates disnformation, so keep it coming. I love the way those who insist Levon Helm was there get so angry!

Of course I hear

Between Ballad Of A Thin Man (7) and Like A Rolling Stone (8) lies this famous incident where a member of the audience yells out "Jewess!" [referring to the fact Bob is wearing a dress]. Applause and other shouts ["...sing drilling songs?" "Shillelagh" and the like] are heard. Dylan responds, "I don't believe you... You're a FRIER, a fish frier... [Robbie Robertson says, "Cod [some hear God here] and chips, Bob." but not audibly on the tape] Dylan turns away from his mike to face the drummer Levon Helm, wearing his Mickey Jones mask, and says, "Fried in fuzzing lard, pickled onions all round, goo, goobah Judas, egg men!" followed by a wall-of-sound no-holds-barred crashing- cymbals rendition of Like A Roll and French Fried Potatoe.

Reality? Who really cares?

 
Boring bit, please ignore:
=================================================================
Oldham Evening Chronicle - 25 May 1966: "So the knockers
are all stations go again. I am referring to the fantastic
performance given by Bob Dylan at the Free Trade Hall last
Tuesday night... I think Bob put his feelings over to the
knockers just great. When someone shouted out to him
'Judas!', he just calmly went to the microphone and quietly
drawled 'Ya liar'..."
 
Between Ballad Of A Thin Man (14) and Like A Rolling Stone
(15) lies this famous incident where a member of the
audience yells out "Judas!". Applause and other shouts ["Hey
Mr genius sings Dylan songs!", "Boy! Boy!", and the like]
are heard on circulating tapes and on Royal Albert Hall 1966
[T-121] and the like, but this is a twelve second cut on
this CD. Dylan responds, "I don't believe you... [Here again
this CD has a cut of indecipherable voices, this time just
four seconds.] You're a LIAR... Dylan turns away from his
mike to face the drummer Mickey Jones and then Robbie
Robertson says, "Get fuckin' loud!" followed by a wall-of-
sound no-holds-barred crashing-cymbals rendition of Like A
Rolling Stone. [Robbie Robertson is said to have said, "Quit
talking Bob." but not on the evidence of the tape.]
 
After Like A Rolling Stone (15) we hear a very Dylanesque
"Thank you." Hmmmm. Well some say he makes it sound more
like "Fuck you" but I can assure you the word is "Thank"
whatever the intention...

---

Subject: "Judas"/"Liar" and Columbia tape
From: jcliburn@bellsouth.net (Joseph Cliburn)
Date: 1995/11/28

 
PDSpencer (pdspencer@aol.com) writes:
>I know it will be hard to rescue this thread for serious comment, 
>but: 
> 
>There's actually a several second gap between "Judas" and Dylan's 
>"You're a liar". In between (and partially overlapped by "Judas") 
>someone shouts something almost as loud that sounds like it ends 
>with "...Dylan phenomenon!" Could Dylan have been responding to 
>that?

The entire interval from "Judas!" through "Play f*****g loud" is about 35 sec. After the "Judas!" cry there is a rumble through the audience that evolves into a cheer. The second shouter really lets lose in verbose mode. I've never been able to discern dirt for words here. Much of my hearing loss is attributed to countless hours spent with the volume at 10, the headphones on, & the Judas episode playing over & over...

But, yes, I always thought that Dylan ("You're a liar") was replying to the second person.

 
>Interestingly enough, the newly circulating Columbia tape (the 
>version of that will presumably be released) cuts out those few 
>seconds in between. Talk about conspiracy theories!

Or it might mean that the "Judas!" heckler was a plant. Perhaps he showed up at all the UK dates as part of Dylan's entourage. This could mean that the "newly circulating Columbia tape" is of some other date than the generally accepted Manchester 17 May 66 concert. This horribly confuses everything!

Conspiracy? You mean they've watergated the tapes? Deleted the expletives? Aack! (Curiously, my copy of the alleged Columbia tape has the whole thing. Is Richard Nixon's secretary in your tape tree?

---

Subject: Judas and the 'other' cry
From: Matthew Zuckerman (matthew.zuckerman@IAC-ONLINE.COM)
Date: 1995/11/28

 
>There's actually a several second gap between "Judas" and
>Dylan's "You're a liar". In between (and partially
>overlapped by "Judas") someone shouts something almost as
>loud that sounds like it ends with "...Dylan phenomenon!"
>Could Dylan have been responding to that?

-
I've always heard this second, fainter cry as "Go home, you big pillock, go home!" Just in case 'pillock' is not a common form of abuse in the States, my OED defines the word thus: "1.=pillicock. 2. a stupid person, fool. Frequently used as a term of mild abuse." Since 'pillicock' is defined as: "1. The penis. 2. Used as a term of endearment, esp. for a young boy." I imagine that stupid person was the desired message.

---

From: DJ Le Marchant (qk37@DIAL.PIPEX.COM)
Subject: "Judas" - London v's Manchester
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 06:05:54 -0700

I'm happy to confirm it was Manchester.

I met this drunk in a pub who, in exchange for a large whiskey, told me his story...

Apparently he actually was there at the concert. He couldn't wait for the end of the set and desperate for a drink, staggered off to the bar. Needless to say when he returned he couldn't find his place and called out for his friend, "Judas".

Once the applause started Judas was too embarrassed to cry out "Here I am". Naturally this tragic incident (he loved electric Bob) cemented his reliance on alcohol, but luckily for us gave us one of the great LRSs.

A simple twist of fate...

DJ

---

Subject: Contemporary answer to an old question?
From: (MCLENDIN@esoc.esa.de)
Date: 1996/02/08

Well, I finally got to listen to 'Guitars kissing and the contemporary fix' Fully expecting to find out if Dylan was responding to the cry of 'Judas' with 'I don't believe you' or if some other cry from the audience had provoked him - but what do I hear? The tape has been cut compared to the RAH version! So still no answer! - is this a Sony marketing ploy - buy bootleg series 4 & 5 for the answer?

For info below are timings from the last drum chord of 'ballad of a thin man'

 
 RAH GK&CT
Laughter 17
'Like You' 19 7
'Judas!' 20  8
cheers 21 9
 (inaudible)
'..genius(?)...Dylan song' 29
 (inaudible)
' I don't believe you!' 36 20
 (inaudible)
' You're a Liar!'  47 31
' Play F-ing loud!' 53 36
 
 
 so looks like 2 cuts of 12 secs and 4 secs? Mike C
 

---

Subject: GKATCF - More Judas
From: hughe@hhcl.com (Hugh Eaton)
Date: 1996/07/19

More detailed listening to the electric set shows more of the "Judas" taunt, just before Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat. This is what I can make out:

 
Man in audience - Remember your? silver (this word very clear)
 
Woman - Sit down
 
Robertson, to Dylan - Gonna pick it up?
 
Robertson - We never stumble
 
Dylan laughs
 
Has sombody thrown money on stage, the thirty pieces of silver?
 
Perhaps Robertson's comment refers to Dylan picking up the money? Does
anyone else hear this or have an interpretation?

---

Subject: Re: GKATCF - More Judas
From: John Howells (howells@sgi.com)
Date: 1996/07/19

 
 
Hugh Eaton wrote:
> 
> 
> Perhaps Robertson's comment refers to Dylan picking up the money? Does
> anyone else hear this or have an interpretation?
 
I always assumed he meant pick up the tempo.

---

Subject: GKATCF - More Judas
From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/07/26

 
The EDLIS file on this differs a bit, what do others hear?
You boys pick it up, man? Gambled?
 
Give it another listen.
 
============================================================================
 
Man in audience (strong English accent): [Remember] to pick up your silver.
 
Woman (angrily): Sit down.
 
[Cheers and clapping] 
 
Robbie Robertson: O.K. You boys pick it up, man.
 
Bob Dylan laughs: Heh.
 
Robbie Robertson: Gonna win them. We've never gambled.
 
Bob Dylan laughs nervously: Heh, heh. 
 
============================================================================

---

From: John Bauldie (bauldie@MAIL.BOGO.CO.UK)
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 14:29:30 +0000

 
>>Moe wrote:
 
>>Derek Keough hears the Dylan response to "Judas" ('66 live LARS) as:
 
>> "Get fucking loud."
 
>>Funny, I always hear - "You're a liar. You're a fucking liar."
 
>>Others hear that?

I've certainly always heard it as "You're a liar. You're a fucking liar." The instruction to play or get "fucking loud" never did make any kind of sense to me. I mean, they were playing pretty fucking loud anyway, and what were they supposed to do - turn the amps up to eleven? "Right, Bob, we'll get fucking loud now, so we will . . ."

 
**************************************************************
John Bauldie The Telegraph
bauldie@mail.bogo.co.uk
**************************************************************

---

From: John Howells (howells@sgi.com)
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 12:20:44 -0700

 * * *

I always used to hear it as a slurred "you're a fucking liar" too, but when it was suggested otherwise, I can no longer hear anything else BUT "get fucking loud". Truth is, I always heard that first "get" but didn't know how "get fucking liar" could make any sense. Now I do.

He was telling the band to play as loud as possible (especially the drummer) in order to hurt the audience's ears!

 
-- 
 
 John Howells
 howells@sgi.com
 http://reality.sgi.com/howells

---

From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: 22 Oct 1996 15:27:33 GMT

Woooowheeee KarlErik that was a real cat you put among the pigeons there!!!

I like a lively thread on trivia, it is wonderful.

Or should I say puffins, cat among the puffins, they don't eat pigeons in Norway, do they?

I think it is time for a vote on this one:

 
[ ] I hear, "Get fucking loud" on my high quality hi fi with a good DAT
 tape A-B-ed to one of my copies of Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary 
 Fix (51766A, 51766E, 1995, GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE: 
 51766E) 
 
[ ] I hear, "Play fucking loud" but I am generally carelss, make mistkes,
 and I took wagonloads of acid to improve my doors of perception in the
 19, um, not sure when, definitely 19somethings, definitely 19th century
 sometime... I listen on a cassette tape in my camper van, with my doog.
 
[ ] I hear, "You're a fucking liar", my hearing aid is of very high quality,
 and for a longtime pensioner I have much more experience than you 
 youngin's what never saw Woody live, did yah? My ears are still 
 ringing from the last concert where Ben Taylor used me to shield
 himself from the speaker bank. Was that Montreal? Monty rules. 
 I mean vinyl, ok.
 
[ ] Don't know.
 
[ ] Don't care.
 
[ ] Other. 
 
[ ] Mirror/Mere/Veneer/Van Gogh/Matt/Finnish.
 
[ ] Lutefisk
 
[ ] I wanna see the dogs again, and the feet, and all the old really
  offensive stuff, please. But not the nasal stuff, that tongue was 
 too gross.
 
[ ] I work for Sony. I don't think anyone on the present staff has ever
 heard any Bob Dylan. It was a very long time ago. Shall I put you 
 back to reception or do you want to talk to the guy in Maintenance/ 
 Rubbish/Back Door again today?

---

From: BREAZEAL@ukcc.uky.edu
Subject: '66 LARS - Loud or Liar
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 96 18:50:55 EDT

 
Craig Jamieson (rcj10@cam.ac.uk) writes:
 
>I think it is time for a vote on this one:
> 
>[X] I hear, "Get fucking loud" on my high quality hi fi with a good DAT
> tape A-B-ed to one of my copies of Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary
> Fix (51766A, 51766E, 1995, GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE:
> 51766E)

In the interests of science, I just a/c/ded the versions of this off (1) Ten of Swords lp no. 10; (2) Swingin' Pig "Albert Hall" cd; (3) "Guitars Kissing" [version 3, I think!]. As one who always thought he clearly and distinctly heard "you're a fuckin' liar," it pains me to confess that this experience has shaken me from my Cartesian dream. "Get fuckin' loud!" comes through on all three -- especially "Guitars Kissing."

I still prefer, "You're a fuckin' liar," however.

While at it, I noticed (as others have reported) that the "Guitars Kissing" version edits out some lusty comments from the audience following the famous "Judas" cry from the audience. At least these additional cries are much less clear and distinct on the Guitars Kissing cd than on the other two sources.

Though I can hear the cries in question, I cannot understand them, since they appear to be spoken in a language with which I am unfamiliar (Her Majesty's English?). Perhaps those closer to the Thames -- or the Cam -- can provide a transcript? If'n you'd be so kind, that is.

DanB

---

Subject: Guitars Kissing Sourced Again
From: hughe@hhcl.com (Hugh Eaton)
Date: 1996/07/17

 * * *

Perhaps we should start a new group alt.conspiracy.1966 recordings? While Manchester Prayer may contain some non Manchester recordings, the electric half is all from one source, not a mixture of Pennebaker and Columbia recordings.

There is a reasonable amount of documentation about these tapes, but it is very confusing. In a 1984 interview in the Telegraph, Pennebaker states that all concerts from Stockholm onwards were recorded, in their entirety, by his crew. The crew being him and Howard Alk as cameramen. This was for Eat The Document, not Don't Look Back BTW. He also says he had a sound man, but is a bit vague, and thinks that actually Jones Alk recorded the sound. Dylan also had a soundman, he says, Bob Alderman, who was supposed to be recording all the concerts on sync tape, but none of the tapes had a sync track on them, which made it difficult to dub the sound onto the film. The rest of the interview is a bit contradictory. Pennebaker says most of his recordings weren't of the concerts but dialgoue for scenes in the film. He also says that he gave all the tapes to Dylan. Later he says that his tapes are in his vault. So, it's safe to say that most concerts were recorded by Penebaker, but the location of these recordings is unknown - by me anyway.

Now let¹s move to May 1996 Record Collector, and Heylin¹s analysis of the 1966 recordings. Amongst the live recordings in Sony¹s vaults are at least four complete 1966 concerts, although he doesn¹t say which ones. He also says that most concerts were recorded in mono on a Nagra machine by Pennebaker¹s soundman, Robert Van Dyke, for the purpose of dubbing the film soundtrack. Columbia didn¹t start to record the concerts until Sheffield, 16 May. These were recorded using a three track machine. Now if that¹s the case, then Columbia, if they recorded all subsequent shows, would have Sheffield 16, Manchester 17, Glasgow 19, Edinburgh 20, Newcastle 21, and RAH 26&27. Paris 24, was recorded by a French radio station, but never broadcast. We don¹t know if Columbia recorded it too. Heylin then lists all known circulating 66 soundboards. These include Sheffield, Manchester, Edinburgh and the RAH shows. so this give s him at least four shows, with room for more. But we don¹t know if the source is Columbia or Pennebaker.

My conclusions from this are that Pennebaker¹s soundman was Robert Van Dyke, not Jones Alk, who recorded all concerts on a mono Nagra as a reference sound track for the film, which would then be replaced by the three track recordings. Whether this mono recording was sourced from a mic on stage or an output from the desk I don¹t know, but I would favour the latter. The acoustic half of Guitars Kissing sounds like mono, because the sound stage sounds so narrow, but I don¹t think it¹s Pennebaker¹s recording. It¹s most likely Columbia¹s, with track 1 audience, track 2 guitar, track 3 vocal. This wouldn¹t give any stereo separation unless guitar and vocals were split. Which thankfully they aren¹t. The electric half has track 1 audience, and Dylan and Band spilt over tracks 2 and 3 to give a stereo image.

As the electric half is all stereo, it all has to be from Columbia¹s three track tapes, not Pennebaker¹s. True there is one edit, at 7.04 on Thin Man, just prior to ³Judas² but the recording of LARS that follows is clearly from the same source. A final point. Heylin discusses a 10min version of Tambourine Man from Sheffield saying what a wonderful performance it is and that the Sheffield show is much better than Manchester. But in his list of tapes, only Pill Box Hat and One Too Many Mornings are shown to exist from Sheffield. So where¹s Tambourine Man from?

---

From: roger_ford@southglos.gov.uk (Roger Ford)
Subject: Guitars Kissing - acoustic half
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 21:11:26 GMT

I know I'm a bit slow off the mark here, but maybe a few readers are still interested in this one.

It seems to be generally accepted that the three-track tapes made on Columbia's behalf by the London firm IBC were used as the source for both acoustic and electric halves of Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix; and the correspondence on RMD has covered pretty meticulously the bits edited out of the original recording, particularly in the electric half. But no-one, as far as I can see, has commented on the strange goings-on in "Visions Of Johanna" and "Desolation Row", where it appears that sections of Pennebaker's recording from the Nagra machine have been spliced in.

The IBC recording of the acoustic half does have a very narrow stereo soundstage (one man and his guitar!) but it still has a definite stereo ambience. It also has its own tonal characteristic which is quite noticeably different from the various other Columbia-sourced 1966 acoustic-half recordings, which have all been in mono and have presumably all been taken from the Nagra recordings. In these the sound is distinctly less professional; the guitar is more trebly and upfront, and the vocal more distant, perhaps because the recordings were made with different, and differently-mixed, microphones.

(Four microphones, two for vocal and two for guitar, appear to have been used during the acoustic half of the Manchester concert - see the photographs on pages 163-165 of John Bauldie's "The Ghost Of Electricity". Most other photos which can be identified with specific concerts on this tour - Copenhagen and Paris, for example - only show two microphones; presumably the extra pair at Manchester were IBC's.)

For a good illustration of the difference in sound between the IBC and Nagra recordings, try comparing the stereo "Baby Blue" on "Guitars Kissing" with the mono recording of that song from the same concert on "Biograph". Now, put "Guitars Kissing" back on, and listen through headphones to the last verse of "Visions Of Johanna"; at 7:12, after "conscience explodes", you'll hear the sound change from typical stereo IBC to typical mono Nagra. This lasts until the applause comes in at the end of the song, where it reverts to stereo.

In "Desolation Row" the insert lasts from the beginning of the first harmonica break (8:51), through the last verse, up to the beginning of the second harmonica break at 10:35. The difference is harder to detect on the harmonica passages, but if you skip between the last two sung verses the difference is quite clear.

A degree of speed adjustment seems to have been necessary between the IBC and Nagra tapes in order to accomplish these splices with consistent musical pitch, and while the insert in "Desolation Row" sounds pretty well spot on to me, in "Visions of Johanna" they didn't quite get it right. For some reason the resulting discrepancy in pitch seems more detectable by ear if you jump backwards from the insert to a bit earlier in the verse. For more objective proof, try tuning the first string of a guitar to match the top note of one of the chords during the mono insert; then play this note alongside the same chord earlier in the song, and you'll find your guitar sounds slightly sharp. In other words, the insert is playing a bit too fast relative to the rest of the recording. As to which (if either) is the correct pitch, that's a subject for further research. Supposedly the bootleggers corrected the pitch of the tape as a whole (see Bill Glahn's review via the EDLIS archive), but I'm not convinced.

Now, why did Sony make these edits? What was wrong with these passages in the IBC recording? My first thought was that maybe Dylan made a couple of vocal or guitar slips during the Manchester performance and that Sony had actually spliced in sections of the same songs from a different concert; but a comparison with the apparently unedited Manchester "Visions of Johanna" as found on the Gelston acetate recordings (all taken from the mono Nagra tapes, I would say) confounds this theory. (It's not possible to make this comparison on "Desolation Row", as the acetate doesn't have the latter part of the song at all, so it remains an outside possibility that this insert is indeed from another concert.)

Clearly, then, the IBC tape of the first half of the concert has some breaks or other technical faults, and it seems to me that Sony's engineers have given up half way through trying to sort them out. There's the curious fade out and fade in between "Baby Blue" and "Desolation Row", which others have commented on; even if the source tape had a break here for some reason, why would Sony not have edited the applause seamlessly together? Add to this the fact that the first four songs, before the break, are considerably louder than the last three songs, to the point of slight distortion. Does this really seem like a product ready for release?

My guess is that the complete Manchester concert was chosen for the next Bootleg Series release both because of the genuine bootleg fame of the second half and also because it's generally the best (or the least stoned) performance of the shows recorded by IBC. They did a nice remastering job on the electric half, then started out on the process of patching up the tapes of the first half to a professional standard, and sent out promo copies before they'd finished. Maybe the truth is that the project was then cancelled because of these technical problems, and not because Dylan went off the idea or Sony's commercial motivation passed, or whatever. Or maybe there's now a fully tidied up version just sitting there waiting . . .

Roger Ford

---

Subject: Street Legal Blood on the Tracks,Bootleg Series
From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/09/04

 
chris greenhalgh (cgreenhalgh@grilib.demon.co.uk) wrote:
: Secondly, does anyone know when the further issues of the Bootleg series 
: is being, if ever, released.

Sony did release volumes 4 & 5 of The Bootleg Series, but they used the back door method and called it Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix. It is now Bob's best selling album of all time, so thanks Sony for doing the master tapes and then generously sending them out the back door like that. 'Course with four editions out it is hard to know if you're buying a bootleg or a pirate of a boot!

Or did you mean The Genuine Bootleg Series? If you meant that then The Genuine Bootleg Series Take 2 is out.

: Finally,is the Bobmeister releasing any further work in the
: : foreseeable future.

Bob is not releasing albums at the rate he was at this time last year, but even if you have all 500 of his present CDs there are always several new Dylan albums each month.

 
  Craig
--
Front door shut back door too
Blinds pulled down whatcha gonna do
Gotta step it up and go, yeah go
Can't stand the past, swear you gotta step it up and go...

---

Subject: Guitars Kissing etc.
From: jared41@aol.com (Jared41)
Date: 1996/02/16

I thought the new Machester May 17 66' boot, "Guitars Kissing and the Contemporary Fix", had a interesting name and was wondering where it can from and figured someone just though it one day as a good title. Then I was flipping through my copy of Tarantula the other day with a friend and figured out where it came from (I still don't understand a thing in there). Then I came across a poem titled "Guitars Kissing and the Contemporary Fix" to my surprise. I didn't really look over the poem yet, but I thought it was pretty interesting and a coincidence that I found it. I'm just curious, did anyone else know about this yet? See-ya later

Jared

(Jared41@aol.com)

P.S. There section in Tarantula with Black Nite Crash in the title in about 10 poems, isn't that a name of a bootleg company?

---

Subject: Manchester Free Trade Hall to be Hotel!
From: Alan Fraser (100437.2552@compuserve.com)
Date: 1996/09/12

Yesterday the Halle Orchestra, Britain's oldest Symphony Orchestra, moved out of their former home, the Manchester Free Trade Hall, scene of 2 of Bob's finest 60s concerts, May 7th 1965 (Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears) and May 17th 1966 (Guitars Kissing, etc.).

The Halle have moved to the newly-built Bridgewater Hall, supposed to have Europe's finest acoustics in a concert hall. A colleague of mine sings in the Halle Choir, and was there last night at the Hall's inaugural concert. Unfortunately, this means the Free Trade Hall is no longer needed, and I'm told it is to become a hotel, by which I assume they'll knock down this fine Victorian building and put up a modern monstrosity (bit difficult to convert a concert hall to bedroom accommodation)!

Just thought I'd share my sadness at the loss of a fine building with such great Bob associations.

Alan

---

Subject: Re: Sunrise of the Heart, Pt.1(long)
From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/07/19

 
Subject: Sunrise of the Heart, Pt.1(long)
From: "Andreas, Margaret A" (U0A75@WVNVM.WVNET.EDU)
Message-Id: (vmail32.1996may29.142927.u0a75@wvnvm.wvnet.edu)
 
>What a scene! Out in the country, the Sun was sparkling on the
>Spring green. The Parking Lot of Star Lake was a carnival of
>color and music--Dylan's music blasting from almost every car
>stereo! And there must have been at least 5,000 cars! With
>Dylan music coming from all of them! Well, it felt like heaven
>to me. The car in back of us had some music that sounded like
>that "Guitars Kissing" I'd heard so much about. Wow. Grins
>all around when I expressed my appreciation for it.

Hey, if there were 5,000 cars playing Guitars Kissing in just one place how many do you think were pressed?

Has everyone asked at their local police station if there are confiscated copies which can be exchanged for a donation to the police benevolent fund? If nothing is on display just ask the officer on duty if they have rare live imports under the counter? And wink.

---

Subject: Big Brother, Dylan, and You (longish)
From: rcj10@cam.ac.uk (Craig Jamieson)
Date: 1996/04/16

 
Matthew Mulcahy (mulcahma@lanmail.shu.edu) wrote:
: Stewart Berlocher wrote:
: > OK, sorry about the dramatic subject line, but there are a 
: > couple of recent developments concerning Usenet that I 
: > thought might be of interest I do think this may be something 
: > to be concerned about. It is precisely the reason tape trees 
: > etc on usenet or mailing lists could be a problem. Whether it 
: >would ever come to this or not, it is conceivable that Sony,
: the gov't, ASCAP or BMI could initiate some legal action, perhaps 
: racketeering or conspiracy (never sure who with, of course) to violate 

Oh racketeering please! It sounds really good. Would add kudos to a CV.

1997: Extradited to USA on racketeering charges.

What exactly is it? Wanna get this right! Isn't making a racket making a loud noise, an uproar, a din? Now let's see, if I turn up the volume, reach for thisssss, yes, Guitars Kissing & The Contemporary Fix / Bob Dylan [& the Hawks] [17 May 1966], [No label], 51766A, 51766E, [1995], GZ GB 1633 SIAE: 51766A, GZ GB 1632 SIAE: 51766E.

WELLLLLLL, IT'S LOUD ENOUGH, BUT HOW WILL I HEAR THEM WHEN THEY RING THE DOORBELL? :-)

 Craig
--
He still waits for me
Constant, on the sly.
He wants to turn me in
To the F.B.I.
Me, I romp and stomp,
Thankful as I romp,
Without freedom of speech ___________________
I might be in the swamp (<$$$$$$>#####<::::::>)
 . . . _/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\_ . . . \
 .( . . /~ ___ ___ ~\ . . .
 ( . . .~ /o o\ /o o\ ~. . )
 ()\/_____ \_~_/ \_^_/ _____\/() . . ).
 ( .-'' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ``-. ...
 . . . .-~  __________________ ~-. . /
 . ..`~~/~~~~~~~~~~~~TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT~~~~~~~~~~~~\~~' . ) .
 . .| | | #### #### || | | | [] | | | || #### #### | | | .
 ( ;__\|___________|++++++++++++++++++|___________|/__;. .
 . (~~====___________________________________====~~~)
 ( . .. \------_____________[FBI/SONY]__________-------/ .. . )
 . | || ~~~~~~~~ || |
 . \_____/ \_____/
 
 =========================================================================

---