Side A
Artist	Song
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	One Man's Loss
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Bonnie Ship the Diamond
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Down on Me
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I'm Alright
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	People Get Ready
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I Can't Come in with a Broken Heart
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	The King of France
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Under Control
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Ol' Roisin the Beau
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Belshazzar
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I Forgot to Remember to Forget
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Still in Town
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Big River
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Folsom Prison Blues
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I'm a Fool for You
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Next Time on the Highway
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Tupelo
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Aroun'
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	See You Later, Alligator
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Tiny Montgomery
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I'm Your Teenage Prayer
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Four Strong Winds
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	The French Girl [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Joshua Gone Barbados
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I'm in the Mood
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	All American Boy
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Santa Fe
Side B
Artist	Song	Buy
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Sign on the Cross
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Don't Ya Tell Henry
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Million Dollar Bash [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I'm Not There (1956)
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Please Mrs. Henry
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Lo and Behold [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Too Much of Nothing [take one]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	This Wheel's on Fire
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	You Ain't Going Nowhere [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	I Shall Be Released
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Tears of Rage [take three]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Open the Door, Homer [take one]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Nothing Was Delivered [take one]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Goin' to Aculpoco
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Odds and Ends [take two]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Get Your Rocks Off
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Clothesline Saga (Answer to Ode)
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	Apple Suckling Tree [take one]
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	WIldwood Flower
Bob Dylan & the Hawks	All You Have to Do is Dream

Comment:

This one's for Gerry McDonald, based on an e-mail exchange that we had several years ago: my version of the Basement Tapes, pulled from the "unofficial" five-disc set that's been around for awhile now (and that inspired Greil Marcus and, most recently, Sid Griffin, to pen full-length books on its contents). I put this together in November and have been holding off on posting it until I could take the time to write some "real" liner notes, but, as you can see, I decided to just go ahead. :-) (Those might still come someday, but the more I thought about it, the clearer it became to me that I'd have nothing more profound to say on the subject as to *why* these recordings were unbelievably great--and my favorite Dylan product, to boot--than either Greil or Sid or any other schlepp who has attempted to tackle the topic.)A couple of quick notes, however:1) I used both the Sid Griffin book (Million Dollar Bash--read immediately) and Clinton Heylin's The Recording Sessions to painstakingly assemble these recordings as closely as can possibly be ascertained to the chronology in which they were recorded. The first disc, as is readily apparent (and with the notable exception of the amazing "Tiny Montgomery"), is mostly comprised of informal (yet strangely haunting) covers and off-the-cuff tunes, whereas the second disc contains more of the "meat" upon which this material's reputation is based. (That's not to say that I prefer one disc to the other, though--they're just different.)2) In every case where there were multiple takes of a track, I agreed with the choices of Robbie Robertson & Co. in terms of the "best" version and, as such, the takes are the same as those that have been officially released over the years. What's *not* the same is the sound of the performances, as the released versions were collapsed into artificial mono with added reverb and, in some cases, overdubs recorded by the Band in 1975. These are the original, unvarnished recordings as engineered by Garth Hudson in 1967 (or at least that's my understanding of it, not having been alive at that time or in the Band at any point in time).3) Lastly, despite the fact that these tracks are infused with a legendary, indefinable "Americana," Bob Dylan is the only American musician on all but the last two tracks (when Levon Helm was at last coaxed to return to the fold and join the fledgling Band at Big Pink). As a result, many of these songs--even the rockers--feature no drums whatsoever (although Richard Manuel and--in the case of "Apple Suckling Tree," at least--Robbie Robertson filled the drum stool very capably and uniquely when such things were required).

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