Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am very pleased with the decisions and care that Sony has made in putting together this Basement Tapes Complete collection. Too often record companies aim these releases to the lowest common denominator and not the avid fan or completist. Admittedly Dylan has more completist fans than most artists. First off the packaging. The box measures 8 1/2" x 8 1/4" x 1 1/2" and acts as a slipcase for 2 books. The first contains the 6 cd's, along with 3 essays. The most interesting essay to me was 9 pages by Clinton Heylin detailing the stories of tracking down the various reels and recordings that make up this set. Since he was allowed to play in the big boys' clubhouse Heylin is on his best behavior, not that there would be much to complain about here. His piece is thorough and entertaining. The other book contains photographs by Elliott Landy, the definitive photographer of Dylan and The Band in this era, along with various pictures of tape reels, 45 RPM sleeves, magazine covers and the like. This book is a beautiful companion to this set. As for the music (all 6 hours and 35 minutes) - we are told that this represents absolutely all existing, listenable songs from these sessions. I was skeptical of that at first. How would we know if they were telling the truth? Suppose there were some fragments or lesser quality recordings that they held back just because the quality was low and they didn't want to release more than 6 discs? Well, I believe them now because a few of these songs are pretty bad in recording quality. Which they cop to when they list disc 6 as a bonus disc "of historic importance but very poor sonic quality". I don't think disc 6 will get much in the way of repeated plays from me, but there a few songs on there that are loose and hilarious despite the poor recordings. I think we can safely say that, because of the warts and all nature of this release, that we now have everything. For those of us who already have the, up until now, definitive cd bootlegs (like A Tree With Roots) does this sound better? I think so, but not always dramatically. I have a 1 CD bootleg called Mixin' Up The Medicine, supposedly made from the so called Safety Tape, and that sounds wonderful to me. I'm not sure if the official set does better than that. You have to remember that recording quality runs the gamut here from barely listenable to full sounding and nearly perfect. There are 30 new songs here that even the most avid of collectors don't have. Unfortunately 11 of them appear on the poor sounding 6th disc. There are some good songs on that disc but I was put off a bit by the recording quality. These 30 songs are certainly worth getting excited about if you are a Dylan completist. I wouldn't say that there are any new Dylan classics here but there is much to be enjoyed. I particularly like Ain't No More Cane, Wild Wolf and a gorgeous version of One Too Many Mornings with the first part sung by Richard Manuel. If you are debating with yourself whether to spring for the expensive complete set or the inexpensive 2 cd set you should probably just get the 2 cd set. You already know whether you need this or not (I knew there was no way I could pass on this). If you only have the official Basement Tapes released in 1975 there is much treasure in the 2 cd Raw release and you won't have to wade through the dross. You would still get amazing songs like Sign On The Cross, I Shall Be Released, Get Your Rocks Off, and the perfect I'm Not There, in addition to classics like This Wheel's On Fire and Tears of Rage. But there is something very cool about owning the whole thing and having this beautiful package sitting on your shelf. And settling in for some completely genuine music made in a relaxed setting by a few very talented artists with nothing at all to prove.