From the Bobs Boots Review:
This release is an exhaustive labor of love collection of twenty six discs that attempts to capture every known 1966 recording of Dylan.
Special Features
It comes with a 100 page booklet, a copy of Dylan’s 1966 European tour program, and a slipcase-style outter box that houses three inner boxes. The inner boxes contain 13 unique slip covers that hold two discs each.
The Booklet
The booklet included with this title features the following information:
– Introduction by the folks at Vigotone
– Track listings (reproduced on each separate page)
– 1966 World Tour itinerary
– Bob Dylan’s 1966 Calendar [partial]
– Partial transcript of the Bob Fass radio show
– An article about the "hotel tapes" [from Clinton Heylin’s book]
– Information about Eat The Document
– Eat The Document: a scene by scene synopsis by Verily E. Weasel
– Some location listings for Eat The Document
– Eat The Document – The Meaning of the Title
– A transcript of two film reels from the Eat The Document archives [Dylan & Lennon]
– The Blonde On Blonde Sessionography
– Blonde On Blonde – Song By Song [from the 1966 Blonde On Blonde Songbook]
– Bob Dylan in Nashville; article from Hit Parader – October 1966
– Press About Bob Dylan and the World Tour [reviews]
– Press Conferences From Around The World [transcripts]
– The Accident; an article about Dylan’s 1966 motorcycle accident
– Live song index
– Thanks from the folks at Vigotone
Notes:
Below is the text from the back of the box and the introduction from the liner notes. Everything in this collection is in black and white. All of the scans are really gray scaled! Your monitor hasn’t blown a circuit!
The huge booklet that comes with this set has transcriptions of the radio broadcast, press conferences, and Eat The Document. It also includes a load of other articles about Dylan. All of the discs in the Jewels And Binoculars collection come in double jewel boxes, except disks 25 & 26 (VT-216/217) which come in a cardboard sleeve that resembles a gatefold vinyl record jacket.
Box Back Text
Herein on 26 CD’s are all the extant recordings of the Bob Dylan / Hawks 1966 World Tour (apart from those still locked away in the vaults), along with interviews, alternate studio performances and mixes, and even some informal hotel room recordings. In addition, this set contains an exact reproduction of the rare 1966 tour program as well as a 100 page book of text and photos documenting the tour and Bob Dylan in 1966.
The 1966 Dylan / Hawks World Tour is the stuff of legend. But unlike most legends from a bygone era, the goods are here to back this one up.
Liner Notes
The 1966 Dylan / Hawks World Tour is the stuff of legend. But unlike most legends from a bygone era, the goods are here to back this one up. Right here, in this boxed set. While knowing the historical context of these performances will no doubt increase the listener’s enjoyment of them, it’s not crucial to the understanding of why they are so exalted. All one needs to do is LISTEN.
Herein are all the extant recordings of that tour (apart from those still locked away in the vaults), along with interviews, alternate studio performances and mixes, and even some informal hotel room recordings. Even a cursory listen to them will reveal one clear truth — that Dylan was ON every night (and every day) in 1966. "On" both in terms of performing splendidly and his bringing his art to new levels, but also "on" in the sense that he was DYLAN (not Bob or Bobby, and surely not Robert Zimmerman) every single moment, on stage and off. From his biting put down of an Australian journalist ("are YOU successful?"), to his clever ways of dealing with audience hostility ("if you wouldn’t clap so hard") to his weary yet triumphant "thank yeeeeew" that ends the famed Manchester concert, he was INSIDE everything he did, with every ounce of his being.
Except for some brief flashes during the 1979/80 "Born Again" Tour, and a few magical nights of the "Never-Ending Tour", Dylan (or any other rock performer, for that matter) has never again achieved this level of intensity, or challenged his audience so greatly while not being pretentious, condescending or boring. It’s clear that the quality of the performances were in direct relationship with the hostility coming from the crowd, but it was more than that. Dylan just KNEW he was right about the quality of his music, and nothing could (or did) sway him. And even if Dylan’s motorcycle crash in the summer didn’t bring this era to a close, something else (burnout? drug OD?) WOULD have. Levels of brilliance of this sort are not designed to be maintained. But the residue is still with us. So listen up!
On the bad side:
There is not much new here. Though a fantastic set to be proud of owning… the reality is that there is just too much. It’s overkill to hear every version of every song from every night. The manufacturers choose to put one show per disc (or a long show on two separate discs. While this creates wonderful flow and progression, it also adds several more discs to the package. And of course, worst of all is the retail price of this behemoth. If you want all of the 1966 recordings, this is a prestigious way to own them. However, one might simply choose to obtain the discs that interest them most on CDr., and save enough money to make a car payment.