Bob Dylan is set to release "The 1974 Live Recordings," a monumental 27-disc, 431-track box set featuring 417 previously unreleased live tracks from his 1974 tour with The Band, marking his return to touring after an eight-year hiatus.
The set includes 133 newly mixed recordings, a never-released version of "Forever Young," and new liner notes by Elizabeth Nelson.
Third Man Records will release a condensed 3xLP box set called "The 1974 Live Recordings - The Missing Songs From Before The Flood," focusing on songs not included in the earlier "Before The Flood" live album from the same tour.
The 1974 tour coincided with the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War's end, prompting a desire for nostalgic entertainment, and Dylan felt pressure as a generational spokesperson during that time.
The 27-disc box set will retail for $129.98 and be released on September 20. It is available for purchase at Rough Trade for $125 and on Amazon for $129.
The boxed set does not include sets performed by the Band without Dylan, disappointing some fans. The release is not part of Dylan's "Bootleg Series," similar to the 2019 Rolling Thunder Revue recordings release.
Professional recordings of all 40 shows from the tour have been locked away for 50 years due to European copyright law. A quirk in the law has prompted their release now, hinting at the potential for future official excavation of unreleased studio material by Dylan.
The Bootleg Series, launched in 1991, includes previously unreleased songs from Dylan's career, filling gaps left by discarded songs and bringing forth rare recordings like the Royal Albert Hall concert and the Basement Tapes.
Dylan is currently on tour as part of Willie Nelson's Outlaw Music Festival, and Treble has a feature on Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde for interested readers.
Sources: Radio Rock, 102.9 The Buzz, KARE 11, Live for Live Music, Hot Press, Super Deluxe Edition, American Songwriter, Billboard, Ultimate Classic Rock, Head Topics, Treble Zine, Brooklyn Vegan, Rolling Stone, Variety, Consequence.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq.
