''The 1966 Live Recordings'' is a 36-CD boxset of live recordings from the 1966 Live Tour by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, released on

Legacy Records In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

in November 2016. It includes every known recording from the tour, including audience tapes. Most of the set was unreleased at that point and some tapes never circulated before.

Background

''The 1966 Live Recordings'' was released as a way to prevent the recordings from legally entering the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

in Europe, in a similar fashion to '' The 50th Anniversary Collection'' (1962), ''

The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963 ''The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963'' is the second Bob Dylan collection released by Sony Music to prevent the recordings from legally entering the public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no ex ...

'', and '' The 50th Anniversary Collection 1964''. Studio sessions from 1965 and 1966 were released as part of '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 12'' (with the live recordings from 1965 offered as digital download for the purchasers of the Collector's Edition).

Promotion

The set was announced on September 27, 2016, the track " Tell Me, Momma" was uploaded the next day on YouTube for promotion, and the release was supported by a 12-minute documentary. 'The Untold Story Behind The Recordings' finally gave full recognition to the pioneering work of Richard Alderson, who recorded the European concerts; most of the concert filming was, moreover, done by

Howard Alk Howard Alk (25 October 1930 – January 1982) was a Chicago, Illinois-based filmmaker, and an original co-founder of The Second City theater troupe. In the 1960s he began to work in film with the Chicago Film Group, filming and directing document ...

, with only a few concerts partially filmed by

D. A. Pennebaker Donn Alan Pennebaker (; July 15, 1925 – August 1, 2019) was an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of direct cinema. Performing arts and politics were his primary subjects. In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci ...

Other releases

The concert from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

(Discs 19 and 20) was previously released in 1998 as part of '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 4''. A concert from the boxset (London, 26 May 1966 - Discs 28 and 29) was released separately in November 2016 under the title ''The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert''. Additionally, the 13 April 1966 show in Sydney (discs 1 and 2) was released as an Australia-only limited edition double LP under the title ''Live in Sydney 1966''.

Reception

''The 1966 Live Recordings'' currently maintains a 93% positive ("Universal acclaim") rating at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. Jesse Jarnow from Pitchfork said, "A classic tour from start to finish, the set’s only drawbacks owe more to the format than the music", praising the great performances but insisting on the repetition of the same setlist, though noting that the repetitive setlists could be seen as a "feature, not a bug."

Track listing

All songs written by

except " Baby, Let Me Follow You Down". All tracks in mono except CBS Records recordings (Discs 17, 19, 20, 28, 29, 30 and 31) which are in stereo.

Musicians

: acoustic guitar,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, harmonica,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

lead vocal The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

* Robbie Robertson: electric guitar *

Rick Danko Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. During ...

: bass, background vocal *

Garth Hudson Eric "Garth" Hudson (born August 2, 1937) is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for rock group the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was a ...

: organ *

Richard Manuel Richard George Manuel (April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986) was a Canadian singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, best known as a pianist and one of three lead singers in The Band, for which he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and ...

: piano *

Mickey Jones Mickey Jones (June 10, 1941 – February 7, 2018) was an American musician and actor. He played drums with acts such as Trini Lopez and Bob Dylan, with whom he played on his 1966 world tour. He became a founding member of The First Edition ...

: drums * Sandy Konikoff: drums (before March 26, 1966) Musicians per Olof Bjorner.Bjorner (August 7, 2000
Arie Crown Theater, Chicago, November 26, 1965
Bjorner's Still on the Road. Retrieved July 20, 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1966 Live Recordings, The 2016 live albums Bob Dylan live albums Columbia Records live albums