You have written a very astute examination of the New Basement Tapes project - thank you for sharing your views. The group that created the album performed a one-off concert just after the release of the disc. That concert had some of the energy (and synergy) that was missing from the official release. Perhaps it should have been released instead.
Thanks. I have seen there are videos of that show. I'll seek them out. This is a good point about the energy level. Had the band been brought together for some shows before the recording sessions, that might have addressed the stilted performances on the album. I'd argue that the overly-reverential songwriting was a bigger problem, but this certainly would have helped the better songs here.
You have written a very astute examination of the New Basement Tapes project - thank you for sharing your views. The group that created the album performed a one-off concert just after the release of the disc. That concert had some of the energy (and synergy) that was missing from the official release. Perhaps it should have been released instead.
Thanks. I have seen there are videos of that show. I'll seek them out. This is a good point about the energy level. Had the band been brought together for some shows before the recording sessions, that might have addressed the stilted performances on the album. I'd argue that the overly-reverential songwriting was a bigger problem, but this certainly would have helped the better songs here.