Basement Tapes Complete

THEY SHALL BE RELEASED: On 11/4, Columbia/Legacy will set free the mother lode: The Basement Tapes Complete, all 138 recordings, including 30 that have never been previously issued. We’re referring to the legendary 1967 Woodstock sessions involving Bob Dylan and The Band (who then went by the ironic moniker The Crackers), the bulk of which took place in Big Pink. Two dozen of these performances—including the original versions of such classics as “I Shall Be Released,” “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” “Tears of Rage,” “Too Much of Nothing” and “This Wheel’s on Fire”—have been available since 1975 as a double album (somewhat doctored up by producer Robbie Robertson), but as spellbinding as the original version of The Basement Tapes is, this six-disc package of the unvarnished original performances swallows it up. Can’t wait to get lost in it. (8/27a)