Bob Dylan - The 1974 Live Recordings - New 431-Track Collection - Out Sept 20 via Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings

Article Contributed by Shore Fire Media | Published on Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release The 1974 Live Recordings on Friday, September 20, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bob Dylan’s return to touring that year. Featuring all professionally recorded shows from the artist’s 1974 performances backed by The Band, the collection will be available as a deluxe box set across 27 CDs. The 1974 Live Recordings offers fans 417 previously-unreleased Bob Dylan live tracks – including 133 recordings newly mixed from 16-track tape, and every single surviving soundboard recording – along with new liner notes by journalist and critic Elizabeth Nelson.

In conjunction with The 1974 Live Recordings, Third Man Records has announced the September release of The 1974 Live Recordings - The Missing Songs From Before the Flood, a 3-LP / 1 x 7-inch set culled from the same recordings, featuring hand selected versions of every song Bob Dylan recorded that was not included on the original 1974 live album. Pressed exclusively on colored vinyl, the set will be available through The Vault, Third Man's direct-to-customer mail order service.

Pre-orders for The 1974 Live Recordings begin today:  https://BobDylan.lnk.to/1974LiveRecordings

Preview The 1974 Live Recordings with a previously unreleased performance of “Forever Young,” live in Seattle, Feb 9, 1974 (afternoon show) available here: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/ForeverYoung_1974 

Bob Dylan’s 1974 Tour marked his first time touring live in eight years and reunited him with The Band - who had become widely renowned in their own right since backing the artist nearly a decade earlier. Booked into arenas for the first time ever, Bob Dylan and The Band performed 30 dates in 42 days (often playing two sets per day) before an average audience of 18,500 - helping set a new standard for what rock concerts could look and sound like. And in front of those crowds, they brought an energy that Rolling Stone’s Ben Fong-Torres described as “searing and soaring, unified and precise…excellent in itself.” Music critic Robert Christgau compared the sound to Bob Dylan “running over his old songs like a truck.”

Tour ‘74 kicked off January 3, 1974, at Chicago Stadium - the largest indoor arena in the world at the time it was built - with a tense and combative rip through ultimate deep-cut “Hero Blues,” an acoustic-gone-electric outtake from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan sessions, that he had scarcely performed before - or since. Additional rarities - like a wildly-reinvented “Ballad Of Hollis Brown,” “Song to Woody” (not performed since 1962) and Planet Waves outtake “Nobody ‘Cept You” - would be well received in the tour’s first nights. “We were booed off of every stage in Europe,” The Band’s Robbie Robertson recalled to Newsweek of their previous run together. “What happened tonight in Chicago is so reassuring for us.”

The reception wasn’t the only thing that had changed since Bob Dylan and The Band last toured together in 1966. Since then, The Band had released six LPs, played Woodstock and other famous stages, and recorded a series of historic sessions with Bob Dylan - from The Basement Tapes to Planet Waves. For his part, Bob Dylan had effectively retired from the road altogether following a 1966 motorcycle accident, yet was still “widely regarded as the most influential and significant star in the last 10 years of American popular music,” according to The New York Times.

Though they might not have known it at the time, Bob Dylan and The Band were at the vanguard of a new era. Tour ‘74 would help create the template for the major rock tour, and codify many of its shared experiences - from the sight of audiences holding up lighters en masse (as captured in the iconic cover image for Before The Flood), to the bright flash of the house lights during a show’s signal moment, in this case their performance of “Like A Rolling Stone.” Likewise many songs performed live for the first time on Tour ‘74 - “All Along The Watchtower,” “Forever Young” and the show’s eventual opener-and-closer “Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)” - would take on a life of their own.

At the outset, the 1974 Tour was captured on a stereo soundboard mix, on both 1⁄4” tape and cassette. By tour’s end, Asylum Records’ David Geffen had commissioned recordings on multitrack tape, the standard at the time, for eventual release on Before the Flood. The 1974 Live Recordings includes it all - the cassettes and 1⁄4” tapes, and the shows that were recorded on 16-track tape, newly-mixed for this collection.

Tracklist:

DISC 1

January 3, 1974 – Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL

1. Hero Blues

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Tough Mama

4. It Ain’t Me, Babe

5. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

6. All Along the Watchtower

7. Song to Woody

8. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

9. Nobody ‘Cept You

10. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

11. Forever Young

12. Something There Is About You

13. Like a Rolling Stone

14. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 2

January 4, 1974 – Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL

1. Hero Blues

2. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

3. It Ain’t Me, Babe

4. Tough Mama

5. Ballad of a Thin Man

6. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

7. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

8. The Times They Are A-Changin’

9. Love Minus Zero/No Limit

10. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

11. Nobody ‘Cept You

12. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

13. Maggie’s Farm

DISC 3

January 6, 1974 (Afternoon) – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

1. Ballad of Hollis Brown

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. It Ain’t Me, Babe

5. Tough Mama

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. To Ramona

11. Mama, You Been on My Mind

12. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

13. Nobody ‘Cept You

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

16. Forever Young

17. Something There Is About You

18. Like a Rolling Stone

DISC 4

January 6, 1974 (Evening) – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. It Ain’t Me, Babe

5. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

12. Song to Woody

13. Mr. Tambourine Man

14. Nobody ‘Cept You

15. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

16. Forever Young

17. Something There Is About You

18. Like a Rolling Stone

19. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 5

January 7, 1974 – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. It Ain’t Me, Babe

5. I Don’t Believe You

(She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. Just Like a Woman

11. Girl from the North Country

12. Wedding Song

13. Nobody ‘Cept You

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 6

January 9, 1974 – Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. It Ain’t Me, Babe

5. It Take a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. Just Like a Woman

11. Girl from the North Country

12. Wedding Song

13. Nobody ‘Cept You

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 7

January 11, 1974 – Montreal Forum, Montreal, Canada

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Nobody ‘Cept You

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 8

January 14, 1974 (Afternoon) – Boston Gardens, Boston, MA

1. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. It Ain’t Me, Babe

5. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Just Like a Woman

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 9

January 15, 1974 – Capital Centre, Largo, MD

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Wedding Song

13. Just Like a Woman

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 10

January 16, 1974 – Capital Centre, Largo, MD

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. One Too Many Mornings

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Nobody ‘Cept You

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 11

January 17, 1974 – Coliseum, Charlotte, NC

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Just Like a Woman

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 12

January 19, 1974 (Afternoon) – Hollywood Sportatorium, Hollywood, FL

1. All Along the Watchtower

2. Ballad of Hollis Brown

3. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

4. The Times They Are A-Changin’

5. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

6. Gates of Eden

7. Just Like a Woman

8. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

9. Forever Young

10. Something There Is About You

11. Like a Rolling Stone

12. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 13

January 21, 1974 – The Omni, Atlanta, GA

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Just Like a Woman

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 14

January 22, 1974 – The Omni, Atlanta, GA

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. Ballad of Hollis Brown

8. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

9. The Times They Are A-Changin’

10. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

11. Gates of Eden

12. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue

13. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

14. Forever Young

15. Something There Is About You

16. Like a Rolling Stone

17. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 15

January 26, 1974 (Afternoon) – Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Just Like a Woman

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 16

January 26, 1974 (Evening) – Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Just Like a Woman

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Something There Is About You

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

DISC 17

January 30, 1974 – Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. All Along the Watchtower

5. Ballad of Hollis Brown

6. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door – released on Before the Flood

7. The Times They Are A-Changin’

8. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

9. Gates of Eden

10. Just Like a Woman

11. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – Incomplete

12. Forever Young

13. Something There Is About You

14. Like a Rolling Stone

15. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

16. Blowin’ in the Wind

DISC 18

January 31, 1974 (Afternoon) – Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

1. All Along the Watchtower

2. Ballad of Hollis Brown

3. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

4. The Times They Are A-Changin’

5. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

6. Gates of Eden – Incomplete

7. Forever Young

8. Highway 61 Revisited – released on A Musical History (The Band)

9. Like a Rolling Stone – Incomplete

DISC 19

January 31, 1974 (Evening) – Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower – Incomplete

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

12. Gates of Eden

13. Just Like a Woman

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Highway 61 Revisited

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

19. Blowin’ in the Wind

DISC 20

February 9, 1974 (Afternoon) – Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, WA

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. All Along the Watchtower

5. Ballad of Hollis Brown

6. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

7. She Belongs to Me

8. The Times They Are A-Changin’

9. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

10. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

11. Wedding Song

12. Forever Young

13. Highway 61 Revisited

DISC 21

February 9, 1974 (Evening) – Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, WA

1. The Times They Are A-Changin’

2. Just Like a Woman

3. Wedding Song

4. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

5. It’s All Right, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

6. Forever Young

7. Highway 61 Revisited

8. Like a Rolling Stone

9. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

10. Blowin’ in the Wind

DISC 22

February 11, 1974 (Afternoon) – Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA

1. All Along the Watchtower

2. Ballad of Hollis Brown

3. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

4. She Belongs to Me

5. The Times They Are A-Changin’

6. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

7. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

8. Wedding Song

9. Forever Young

10. Highway 61 Revisited

11. Like a Rolling Stone – Incomplete

12. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

13. Blowin’ in the Wind

DISC 23

February 11, 1974 (Evening) – Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine)

2. Lay, Lady, Lay

3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

5. It Ain’t Me, Babe

6. Ballad of a Thin Man

7. All Along the Watchtower

8. Ballad of Hollis Brown

9. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

10. The Times They Are A-Changin’

11. Just Like a Woman

12. Gates of Eden

13. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right – Incomplete

14. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

15. Forever Young

16. Highway 61 Revisited – Incomplete

17. Like a Rolling Stone

18. Maggie’s Farm

19. Blowin’ in the Wind

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