NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Bob Dylan (album)

Bob Dylan is the eponymous debut album from American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released on March 19, 1962 on Columbia Records, when Dylan was 20 years old. It features two original compositions, the rest being old folk standards, and was produced by Columbia's legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who signed Dylan to the label. Image File history File links PetSounds 7/5/05 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A Studio Album is an album of regular studio recordings. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the performers, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes . ... John Henry Hammond (December 15, 1910 â€“ July 10, 1987) was a record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music, owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 4_stars. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, released May 27, 1963, was folk musician Bob Dylans second LP. This release established him as a songwriter of premier importance. ... An eponym is a person (real or fictitious) whose name has become identified with a particular object or activity. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Columbia Records is the oldest brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888, and was the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. ... John Henry Hammond (December 15, 1910 â€“ July 10, 1987) was a record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s. ...

Recording sessions

Dylan met John Hammond at a rehearsal session for Carolyn Hester on September 14, 1961, at the apartment shared by Hester and her then-husband, Richard Fariña. Hester had invited Dylan to the session as a harmonica player, and Hammond approved him as a session player after hearing him rehearse, with recommendations from his son, musician John Hammond Jr., and from Liam Clancy. Carolyn Hester (b. ... September 14 is the 257th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (258th in leap years). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Richard George FariÃ±a ( March 8, 1937 â€“ April 30, 1966 ) was an American writer and folksinger. ... John Hammond album cover John Paul Hammond (born November 13, 1942), also known as John Hammond Jr. ... Liam Clancy with his brothers Tom, and Pat plus Tommy Makem played together as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem Categories: Stub ...

Hammond later told Robert Shelton that he decided to sign Dylan "on the spot," and invited him to the Columbia offices for a more formal audition recording. No record of that recording has turned up in Columbia's files, but Hammond, Dylan, and Columbia's A&R director Mitch Miller have all confirmed that an audition took place. Journalist Robert Shelton was born June 28, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, and died December 11, 1995, in Brighton, England. ... Mitch Miller (born July 4, 1911) is remembered as one of the best-selling recording artists of the 1950s and early 60s. ...

On September 26, Dylan began a two-week run at Gerdes Folk City, second on the bill to The Greenbriar Boys. On September 29, an exceptionally favorable review of Dylan's performance appeared in the New York Times. The same day, Dylan played harmonica at Hester's recording session at Columbia's Manhattan studios. After the session, Hammond brought Dylan to his offices and presented him with Columbia's standard five-year contract for previously unrecorded artists. Dylan signed immediately. September 26 is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Greenbriar Boys were a seminal northern bluegrass music group who first got together in jam sessions in New Yorks Washington Square Park. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

That night, at Gerdes, Dylan told Shelton about Hammond's offer, but asked him to "keep it quiet" until the contract's final approval had worked its way through the Columbia hierarchy. The label's official approvals came quickly.

Studio time was scheduled for late November, and during the weeks leading up to those sessions, Dylan began searching for new material even though he was already familiar with a number of songs. According to Dylan's friend Carla Rotolo, "He spent most of his time listening to my records, days and nights. He studied the Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music, the singing of Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd, Rabbit Brown's guitar, Guthrie, of course, and blues...his record was in the planning stages. We were all concerned about what songs Dylan was going to do. I remember clearly talking about it." Carla Rotolo (b. ...

The album was ultimately recorded in two short afternoon sessions on November 20th and 22nd. Hammond later joked that Columbia spent "about $402" to record it, and the figure has entered the Dylan legend as its actual cost. Despite the low cost and short amount of time, Dylan was still difficult to record, according to Hammond. "Bobby popped every p, hissed every s, and habitually wandered off mike," recalls Hammond. "Even more frustrating, he refused to learn from his mistakes. It occurred to me at the time that I'd never worked with anyone so undisciplined before."

A total of seventeen songs were recorded, and five of the album's chosen tracks were actually cut in single takes ("Baby Let Me Follow You Down," "In My Time Of Dyin'," "Gospel Plow," "Highway 51 Blues," and "Freight Train Blues") while the master take of "Song For Woody" was recorded after one false start. The album's four outtakes were also cut in single takes.

The songs

By the time sessions were held for his debut album, Dylan was absorbing an enormous amount of folk material from sitting and listening to contemporaries performing in New York's clubs and coffeehouses. Many of these individuals were also close friends who also performed with Dylan, often inviting him to their apartments where they would introduce him to more folk songs. At the same time, Dylan was borrowing and listening to a large number of folk, blues, and country records, many of which were hard to find at the time. Dylan revealed in an interview in the documentary No Direction Home that he needed to hear a song only once or twice to learn it. DVD cover No Direction Home is a documentary by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and how he managed to make such a big impact in the 20th century. ...

The final album sequence of Bob Dylan features only two original compositions; the other eleven tracks are folk standards and traditional songs. Few of these were staples of his club/coffeehouse repertoire. Only two of the covers and both originals were in his club set in September of 1961. Dylan stated in a 2000 interview that he was hesitant to reveal too much of himself at first.

Of the two original songs, "Song For Woody" is the best known. According to Clinton Heylin, the original handwritten manuscript to "Song For Woody" bears the following inscription at the bottom of the sheet: "Written by Bob Dylan in Mills Bar on Bleeker Street in New York City on the 14th day of February, for Woody Guthrie." Melodically, the song is based on one of Guthrie's own compositions, "1913 Massacre," but it's possible Guthrie fashioned "1913 Massacre" from an even earlier melody; like many folk artists including Dylan, Guthrie would often adopt familiar folk melodies into new compositions. Guthrie was Dylan's main musical influence at the time of Bob Dylan's release, and indeed on several of the songs Dylan is apparently imitating Guthrie's vocal mannerisms. "Talkin' New York" references Guthrie's song Pretty Boy Floyd. This does not cite its references or sources. ...

Dylan takes an arranger's credit on many of the traditional songs, but a number of them can be traced to his contemporaries. For example, the arrangement of "House Of The Risin' Sun" was developed by Dave Van Ronk, who was close friend at the time. During his recording of "Baby Let Me Follow You Down," Dylan mentions the arranger, Eric Von Schmidt, whom he met in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Von Schmidt introduced the arrangement to Dylan as well as an arrangement for "He Was a Friend of Mine," which was also recorded for but omitted from Dylan's first album. The House of the Rising Sun is a United States folk song. ... Dave Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 â€“ February 10, 2002) was a folk singer born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York City, and was nicknamed the Mayor of MacDougal Street. ... Eric Von Schmidt was born May 28, 1931. ... He Was a Friend of Mine is a traditional folk song in which the singer laments the death of a profligate friend. ...

Dylan would leave most of these songs behind when he moved to the concert stage in 1963, but he performed "Man Of Constant Sorrow" during his first national television appearance in mid-1963 (a performance included on the 2005 retrospective No Direction Home). "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" would later return in a driving electric arrangement during his 1965 and 1966 tours with The Hawks; a live recording was included on Live 1966. The Band, circa 1969. ...

After 1966, Dylan performed only four songs from his debut album in concert, and only "Song To Woody" and "Pretty Peggy-O" would be heard with any frequency.

Outtakes

Four additional songs were recorded during the Bob Dylan sessions, of which three have been included on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991: Woody Guthrie's "Ramblin' Blues" (which remains unreleased), "House Carpenter," "He Was A Friend Of Mine," and another original composition, "Man On The Street." The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 is a compilation box set by Bob Dylan. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ...

Of these four, the most celebrated is perhaps "House Carpenter," the final song recorded for Bob Dylan. A new rendition of the 16th century Scottish ballad "The Daemon Lover," Clinton Heylin wrote that it was "the most extraordinary performance of the sessions, as demonically driven as anything Robert Johnson put out in his name." Though it was a favorite at the time in folk circles, Dylan apparently never played "House Carpenter" in any documented performance. This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

An alternate version of "House Of The Rising Sun," heavily overdubbed with electric instruments in 1964, was later included on the Highway 61 Interactive CD-ROM. The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ...

Aftermath

Bob Dylan did not receive much acclaim until many years later. "These debut songs are essayed with differing degrees of conviction," writes NPR's Tim Riley, "[but] even when his reach exceeds his grasp, he never sounds like he knows he's in over his head, or gushily patronizing...Like Elvis Presley, what Dylan can sing, he quickly masters; what he can't, he twists into his own devices. And as with the Presley Sun sessions, the voice that leaps from Dylan's first album is its most striking feature, a determined, iconoclastic baying that chews up influences, and spits out the odd mixed signal without half trying." NPR logo For other meanings of NPR see NPR (disambiguation) National Public Radio (NPR) is a private, not-for-profit corporation that sells programming to member radio stations; together they are a loosely organized public radio network in the United States. ... Elvis Aron Presley (January 8, 1935 â€“ August 16, 1977), often known simply as Elvis and also called The King of Rock n Roll or simply The King, was an American singer, musician and actor. ...

However, at the time of its release, Bob Dylan received little notice, and both Hammond and Dylan were soon dismissive of the first album's results. According to Shelton, who pseudonymously wrote the liner notes, Dylan approached him only a month following the album's sessions and told him that his liner notes were better than the record. Dylan would continue to express his disappointment with his debut album to the present day.

The album did not initially sell well either, and Dylan was for a time known as "Hammond's Folly" in record company circles. Mitch Miller, Columbia's chief of A&R at the time, said US sales totaled about 2500 copies. It would remain his only release to not chart at all in the US, though it eventually made the UK charts in 1965, reaching #13. Mitch Miller (born July 4, 1911) is remembered as one of the best-selling recording artists of the 1950s and early 60s. ... Template:Needs more detail In the music industry, artist and repertoire (A&R) refers to the division of a record label that is responsible for scouting and developing talent. ...

Despite the album's poor performance, financially it wasn't disastrous. The album was very cheap to record, and at the time, folk albums in general sold very modestly.

On December 22nd, 1961, a month to the day after Bob Dylan's final session, Dylan was in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he and his friend Tony Glover paid a visit to their friend, Bonnie Beecher. Dylan held an informal session at her apartment, performing twenty-six songs which were recorded by Glover on a reel-to-reel tape recorder. Often known by a misnomer, the "Minneapolis hotel tape" would soon enter private circulation, providing a thorough look at Dylan's musical potential only a month after recording his debut album. A larger and far more diverse selection of songs, they were all recorded the night of the 22nd in roughly two and a half hours. This article is about the city in Minnesota. ... Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Area Ranked 12th - Total 87,014 sq mi (225,365 kmÂ²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 400 miles (645 km) - % water 8. ...

Among the songs recorded that night were the harrowing, racially-charged morality tale "Black Cross," Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go" (in which Dylan displays his growing skills at bottleneck guitar), the pentecostal "Wade in the Water," Dylan's own reinterpretation of the traditional "Nine Hundred Miles" (retitled "I Was Young When I Left Home" and later issued on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack ), the traditional "Poor Lazarus," a Memphis Jug Band arrangement of the traditional "Stealin'," another rewritten folk song called "Hard Times In New York Town" (based on the traditional "Hard Times in the Country Working on Ketty's Farm"), and the John Lomax discovery "Dink's Song." (According to Clinton Heylin, Lomax first heard the song "in 1904 when, across the Brazos river from Texas A&M College, he heard a lady called Dink sing her song." First published in Folksong USA, Dylan's 'hotel' recording would later be included on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack.) John Avery Lomax (September 23, 1867 - January 26, 1948) was a pioneering musicologist and folklorist. ...

Though only a few selections from the Minneapolis hotel tape would ever be officially released, all twenty-six songs have been heavily bootlegged and celebrated by the likes of Greil Marcus, a music critic who wrote about the recordings in Rolling Stone Magazine. As Heylin writes, some of these songs gave "an all-important clue as to how [Dylan] might mold traditional melodies and sensibility to his own worldview." This would come on full display when Dylan began work on his next album a year later; by then, both his reputation and his stockpile of original songs would have grown considerably. Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. ... This article is about the magazine. ...

Track listing

Jesse Fuller with fotdella Jesse the Lone Cat Fuller (1896-January 30, 1976) was a once well-known American one-man-band musician, best known for his song San Francisco Bay Blues. He was born in Jonesboro, Georgia near Atlanta. ... Talkin New York is the second song on Bob Dylans first album. ... The Soggy Bottom Boys singing Man of Constant Sorrow in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Man of Constant Sorrow is a traditional American folk song. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Bukka White album cover Bukka White (or Booker T. Washington White, probably born November 12, 1909, near Houston, Mississippi died February 26, 1977) was a delta blues guitarist and singer. ... The Bonnie Lass o Fyvie is a Scottish folk song about a thwarted romance between a soldier and a girl. ... Curtis Jones is an electronic and house music singer, songwriter and producer born April 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois. ... Baby, Let Me Follow You Down is a folk song written in the late 1950s by blues guitarist Eric Von Schmidt. ... Eric Von Schmidt was born May 28, 1931. ... Dave Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 â€“ February 10, 2002) was a folk singer born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York City, and was nicknamed the Mayor of MacDougal Street. ... ... Song to Woody was written by Bob Dylan and appears in his first self-titled album. ... See That My Grave Is Kept Clean is a classic blues song written by Blind Lemon Jefferson. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

References

Categories: 1962 albums | Bob Dylan albums | Columbia Records albums | Self-titled debut albums | Eponymous albums Journalist Robert Shelton was born June 28, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois, and died December 11, 1995, in Brighton, England. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author, musician and poet who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. ... The Freewheelin Bob Dylan, released May 27, 1963, was folk musician Bob Dylans second LP. This release established him as a songwriter of premier importance. ... The Times They Are a-Changin is the third album by Bob Dylan, released in 1964 by Columbia Records and produced by Tom Wilson. ... Another Side of Bob Dylan, released August 8, 1964, is an album of original songs by Bob Dylan. ... Bringing It All Back Home is an album of original songs by American musician Bob Dylan, released on March 22, 1965. ... Highway 61 Revisited, widely regarded as one of the greatest albums ever, was the sixth album released by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. ... Blonde on Blonde is the seventh album by rock legend Bob Dylan, released by Columbia Records in 1966. ... John Wesley Harding is an album of original songs by Bob Dylan, produced by Bob Johnston and released on December 27, 1967. ... Nashville Skyline is an album by Bob Dylan, released in 1969. ... Self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh A portrait is a painting, photograph, or other artistic representation of a person. ... New Morning was released in October 1970 by Bob Dylan, only four months after the controversial Self Portrait. ... Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is a soundtrack album released by Bob Dylan in 1973 for the Sam Peckinpah film of the same name. ... Dylan is a Bob Dylan album, released on Columbia Records in 1973 , which compiles outtakes drawn mostly from Dylans New Morning sessions in the spring of 1970. ... Planet Waves (1974) is an album by Bob Dylan, and was recorded with The Band at Village Recorder in Los Angeles during three different sessions in November 1973. ... Blood on the Tracks is a 1975 album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. ... The Basement Tapes are a series of recordings by North American folk-rockers Bob Dylan and The Band, recorded in mid-1967. ... Desire is an album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on the Columbia Records label in 1976. ... Street Legal can refer to: Street Legal, a 1978 album by Bob Dylan Street Legal, a Canadian television show that ran from 1987 to 1994 Street Legal, a New Zealand television series. ... Slow Train Coming was Bob Dylans first album after he openly became a born again Christian. ... Saved was Bob Dylans first album of the 1980s, and his 24th overall. ... The SMiLE of its day? ... â€¹The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Empire Burlesque is a 1985 album release by Bob Dylan. ... Knocked Out Loaded is a 1986 album release by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. ... // Down in the Groove Down in the Groove is a 1988 album release by Bob Dylan. ... Oh Mercy is rock legend Bob Dylans twenty-sixth studio album, released in 1989 by Columbia Records. ... Under the Red Sky is a 1990 album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. ... Good as I Been to You is a traditional folk music album made by Bob Dylan in 1992. ... World Gone Wrong is the twenty-ninth studio album (according to the list below)by Bob Dylan, released in 1993 by Columbia Records. ... Time Out of Mind is Bob Dylans critically-acclaimed comeback album, released in 1997. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Modern Times is Bob Dylans 32nd studio album, released on August 25, 2006 by Sony BMG. Musically, Modern Times continued Love and Thefts tendency toward classic blues, rockabilly and pre-rock balladry, with some noticeable differences in approach. ... Before the Flood is the title of a 1974 live album by Bob Dylan and The Band. ... Hard Rain is a live album by American musician Bob Dylan, captured during the second, and less successful leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue. ... Bob Dylan At Budokan is an audio recording taken from two different shows on February 28 and March 1, 1978. ... Real Live is a live album by Bob Dylan. ... Dylan & The Dead (1989) is a live album by Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead recorded in July 1987 during the much-touted tour of the same name. ... The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration is a live double-album release in recognition of Bob Dylans 30 years as a recording artist. ... MTV Unplugged is Bob Dylans 1995 unplugged release, recorded and issued at the peak of that formats popularity. ... Live at The Gaslight 1962 is a single CD release including ten songs from early Bob Dylan performances at the Gaslight cafe in New York Citys Greenwich Village. ... The Concert For Bangla Desh is a live triple album and double DVD by George Harrison and celebrity friends performed in aid of the homeless Bengali refugees of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. ... Bob Dylans Greatest Hits (1967) was the first compilation album released by Bob Dylan. ... Bob Dylans Greatest Hits Vol. ... Masterpieces was released in Japan and Australlia in anticipation for Bob Dylans 1978 tour. ... Biograph is a collection of Bob Dylan tracks, both rare and popular, that was released in 1985. ... Bob Dylans Greatest Hits Volume 3 is the third official compliation album by Bob Dylan, released in 1994. ... The Essential Bob Dylan is the fourth official compilation by Bob Dylan, released as a double-CD set in 2000. ... The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 is a compilation box set by Bob Dylan. ... Dont Look Back (sic) is a 1967 documentary film by D.A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylans 1965 concert tour of England. ... Eat the Document is a rarely exhibited documentary of Bob Dylans 1966 tour of England with the Hawks. ... Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a 1973 film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson. ... Renaldo and Clara is a surrealist movie, by and starring Bob Dylan. ... Originally written by Scott Richardson, Hearts of Fire was rewritten by Joe Eszterhas because the studio felt that Richardson was, in their eyes, a baby writer and not experienced enough to take on the responsibility of a starring vehicle for Bob Dylan. ... Masked and Anonymous is a 2003 film written and directed by Seinfeld writer Larry Charles. ... DVD cover No Direction Home is a documentary by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and how he managed to make such a big impact in the 20th century. ... Tarantula is an experimental novel by Bob Dylan, written early in his musical career. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... // Albums Singles U.S. / North American releases 12/1962 Mixed Up Confusion / Corrina, Corrina A-side later included on the 1997 revised Biograph; B-side uncompiled 7/1963 Blowin In The Wind / Dont Think Twice from The Freewheelin Bob Dylan 4/1965 Subterranean Homesick Blues / She Belongs To Me...

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