The voice of cashing in.

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Gob
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The voice of cashing in.

Post by Gob »

Bob Dylan has rerecorded his classic protest song Blowin’ in the Wind for the first time since it was tracked in July 1962. The new version is the debut release for Ionic Original, a new analogue format developed by Dylan’s long-term collaborator T Bone Burnett.

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It is also highly exclusive: Ionic will produce one-of-a-kind aluminium discs painted with lacquer that features “a spiral etched into it by music”. Only one copy of the Dylan recording will be released, and is set to be auctioned by Christie’s in London on 7 July. It is expected to sell for between £600,000 and £1m.

Dylan recorded the new version of Blowin’ in the Wind last year, produced by Burnett. “Sixty years after Bob first wrote and recorded Blowin’ in the Wind, he is giving us a new recording of his song,” Burnett said in a press release. “One that is both deeply relevant for our times and resonant with decades of the artist’s life and experience.”

Blowin’ in the Wind was released on Dylan’s second studio album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, in May 1963. He had begun playing it a year earlier in Greenwich Village venues and first published the lyrics in Pete Seeger’s Broadside magazine, which was dedicated to folk and topical songs.

In June 1962, the lyrics were published again in Sing Out! magazine accompanied by comments from Dylan reiterating the points made in the song:

There ain’t too much I can say about this song except that the answer is blowing in the wind. It ain’t in no book or movie or TV show or discussion group ... But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know ... and then it flies away.

It became an anthem of the civil rights movement, admired by artists including Mavis Staples and Sam Cooke, and a modern hymn of sorts, frequently performed in churches.

Critic Janet Maslin described it as one of the songs that established Dylan as “the voice of his generation – someone who implicitly understood how concerned young Americans felt about nuclear disarmament and the growing civil rights movement: his mixture of moral authority and nonconformity was perhaps the most timely of his attributes.”

Ionic Originals claims to be the first major new format in analogue music reproduction in more than seven decades, since the development of the polyvinyl disc replaced shellac records. Peter Klarnet, a senior specialist at Christie’s, called Blowin’ in the Wind “one of the most important songs written in the last century … I very much share T Bone Burnett’s passion for the sonic excellence of analog sound.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/ ... es-auction
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Burning Petard
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Burning Petard »

"he is giving us a new recording of his song," That stretches the meaning of 'give' -- one copy for more money than I will ever see.

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Big RR
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Big RR »

I don't begrudge him that money, it's his song and performance; and the record company is making a lot more on it (they always do).

FWIW, I'd like to hear it, but doubt I'd buy it.

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Joe Guy
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Joe Guy »

Blowing Cash in the Wind....

How many versions must one man have
Before you call him a fan?
How many formats must one man possess
before he can hear the right sound?
Yes and how many tech companies must one man own
Before he can afford this one song?

The answer my friend
Is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

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BoSoxGal
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by BoSoxGal »

Didn’t Dylan just sell his portfolio for many many millions? Just how expensive is his lifestyle?

Release the damn song for all of us fans to enjoy - life is fucking bleak these days we need things to celebrate!

Greed is a twisted thing that takes root even in the idealistic and turns them into something to be ashamed of in old age.
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Bicycle Bill
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Bicycle Bill »

BoSoxGal wrote:
Sat May 28, 2022 1:59 am
Greed is a twisted thing that takes root even in the idealistic and turns them into something to be ashamed of in old age.
I assume that means all your legal work is now being done pro bono?
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Big RR
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Big RR »

I'm not sure it's greed, and I'm pretty sure Ionic will likely get a pretty good cut of the sale price; but FWIW, I don't think I would even buy a low priced CD of a new recording--I'd rather listen to the original on vinyl. It's kind of like listening to most of the icons of my youth--the Stones, the Who, etc.; it's more sad than anything else. there's plenty of good original recordings (and new presses of them), so why settle for a pale imitation? I it was for charity or a political movement, I might buy it, but otherwise I am not all that interested.

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Long Run
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Long Run »

Big RR wrote:
Fri May 27, 2022 10:59 pm
I don't begrudge him that money, it's his song and performance; and the record company is making a lot more on it (they always do).
Exactamundo. If you don't want to buy it, don't. I imagine a lot of people will buy it, but many (nearly everyone here?) will not. He sings old songs at concerts and gets paid. Why not issue new recorded versions of old classics.

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BoSoxGal
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by BoSoxGal »

Several of you are missing the point. He is issuing a single recording which will sell for more than half a million dollars and it will not be available to the public.

If he issued the song for sale to all his fans at usual single song price, I’m sure he’d make as much or more. But he’s choosing to make it available to only one very wealthy individual. Given Dylan just sold his catalog for something like $300 million, you’d think he could offer some joy to regular folks.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Big RR
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Big RR »

BSG--that may be the case, but somehow I think it will eventually be released, although the Buyer at Christies will have the first (and possibly only) disc in ionic format. Since,as you stated, he would be likely to make more by releasing it as a CD or downloadable song, limiting the sale to a single buyer doesn't make a lot of sense. It seems more like it's just a publicity stunt to get Ionic some recognition.

Now why someone would buy a new recording when the song sung by him in his prime is available (and remastered as I recall), I don't know; but, again, I have no real interest in hearing him attempt to recreate what already exists. But, as the adage says, there is an ass for every seat.

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Econoline
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Re: The voice of cashing in.

Post by Econoline »

Big RR wrote:
Wed Jun 01, 2022 6:26 pm
Now why someone would buy a new recording when the song sung by him in his prime is available (and remastered as I recall), I don't know
^^^^^^^^^^THIS.

Even if you didn't mind his voice when he was in his 20s (I am one who didn't and still doesn't mind it, but I know many others HATED it even then)...it's a whole 'nother thing to have to listen to the voice of Dylan in his 70s/80s.

Fortunately, he's always been a *MUCH* better songwriter (a real genius IMO) than a singer...and there are great cover versions of most of his best songs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qjZxhf23jM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FlSP0wsF5U

ETA: and if you really want to hear an 80-year-old guy singing a Dylan song, there's this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC7vJQ8G7qQ
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