Photo Credit: Xavier Badosa / CC by 2.0
Bob Dylan fans’ dreams come true this fall with a 27-CD boxed set of his 1974 tour and live recordings, with 417 previously unreleased tracks.
Long have Bob Dylan aficionados begged for a more complete record of his historic 1974 tour with the Band as his backing group, dubbing his live double album from that year, “Before the Flood,” as insufficient. So how much do you love Bob Dylan? How about 400+ tracks’ worth?
This fall, Sony Music releases “Bob Dylan — The 1974 Live Recordings,” a boxed set across 27 CDs of Dylan’s live performances from the tour, releasing on September 20 via Columbia/Legacy. The set features 417 previously unreleased tracks, plus a dozen tracks from L.A.’s Forum that were already included on “Before the Flood.”
Interestingly, there will not be a full release of the collection in vinyl form — such a release would entail at least 50 vinyl records. But Jack White’s Third Man Records will be issuing a condensed vinyl version, a three-LP set augmented by a 7-inch single, which will contain one specially selected version of each song performed on the tour that was not previously included on “Before the Flood.”
That version, a green-vinyl companion volume, will be called “The 1974 Live Recordings — The Missing Songs From Before the Flood.” Fans looking to secure a copy will need to sign up for Third Man’s quarterly Vault subscription service before July 31.
It’s worth noting that the 1974 live recordings CD set is not being marketed as part of the ongoing “Bootleg Series” Bob Dylan collections. These offer a “more selective overview” of his work during a certain period. Instead, the 27-CD collection is best compared to the 14-CD “Bob Dylan — The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings,” which came out in 2019. That release was also not part of the “Bootleg Series.”
The new 27-disc set, though a massive collection, still pales in comparison to “The 1966 Live Recordings,” the 36-disc set released in 2016. Needless to say, diehard fans of Bob Dylan will have plenty of music to sate their appetite in the coming months.
