Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes
| Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes | |
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| Studio album by The New Basement Tapes | |
| Released | November 11, 2014 |
| Recorded | March 2014, Capitol Studios |
| Genre | Blues rock, folk rock, country rock, psychedelic rock |
| Length | 74:00 |
| Label | Electromagnetic Recordings / Harvest |
| Producer | T Bone Burnett |
Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes is an album produced by T Bone Burnett featuring a collective of musicians recording under the moniker The New Basement Tapes—Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford.
The album consists of a series of tracks based on recently uncovered lyrics handwritten by Bob Dylan in 1967. Probably written in the period between his motorcycle accident (July 29, 1966) and the first recordings in the spring of 1967 in the "Red Room" in Dylan's house, where the first recordings of The Basement Tapes took place. The album was released November 11, 2014 in both a standard 15-track release and a "Deluxe Version" featuring 20 tracks.
The album cover image is a photograph by Jacob Riis titled "Mullen's Alley". It was taken in New York City in 1888.
In early May 1967, Dylan told reporter Michael Iachetta: "Songs are in my head like they always are, but they are not going to get written down until some people come forth and make up for some of the things that had happened", probably referring to his conflict with his manager Albert Grossman. During the period in which he started recording with The Hawks, Dylan changed his writing habits and wrote his text directly on a typewriter.
Dylan's publisher contacted Burnett regarding the box of handwritten lyrics that had been found, dating back to Dylan's Basement Tapes days, and asked if he had any interest in doing something with them. As soon as Burnett was assured that Dylan was on board with the project, he agreed to it. Burnett selected his band based on their talent and collaborative style, as well as their interest as "musical archaeologists". Each member of the group was sent the collection of lyrics, and each arrived at recording session with a selection of tunes, some having set only some of the lyrics, others having set all of them. Not wishing to encourage competition, the group decided to record all the tunes, including multiple settings of the same lyrics. Of the resulting 40 tracks, 20 are included on the present album.
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