Almost went to see Elvis, Cash and all the rest

[JohnK]

This has probably been discussed and answered before, so please forgive me if I'm repeating old questions, but...

Bobsboots states, concerning 'Almost went to see Elvis', that:

The first 12 songs, from Nashville, are wrongly identified on the cover as being from NY 1970. The sound quality is very good. The 1969 material includes Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Billy Wotten (guitars), Marshall Grant (bass), and W.S. Holland (drums). Produced by Bob Johnson, this session was three days after the 'Nashville Skyline' LP was recorded in the same studio, with different musicians. The 1970 material is available through the CBS Studios Reference Recording archives. It was produced by Bob Johnson as well. This session also produced the "If Not For You" version that was released on the official CBS LP 'The Bootleg Series 1-3" The musicians include George Harrison (guitar), Charlie Daniels (bass & backing vocals), Billy Mundi (drums), & *Bob Johnson (piano)


However, Olof reports that the session on May 1 1970 with George Harrison included tracks 1-12 from AWTSE. A look at Olof for May 3 1969 - the date given for tracks 1-12 in Bobsboots and inside the cover of AWTSE -reports a session for 'Self portrait' - not 'Nashville Skyline' - and doesn't include tracks 1-12. A glance back to February 17-18 1969 and the Dylan/Cash sessions during the recording of 'Nashville Skyline' doesn't include all the tracks 1-12 either.

Can anyone put me straight, please?

[William J. Clinton]

No apology required; that's exactly what this board is for.

Simple answer: Bobsboots is wrong. See the Field Records Guide entry, at

www.angelfire.com/wa/monicasdude/535.htm

for accurate information.

More complete answer: Bobsboots is wrong. In too many cases, the site uncritically reports information taken from discographies and articles that are decades old, including Greil Marcus' disastrously error-riddled late 1960's Rolling Stone article and Paul Cable's enthusiastic but gullible late 1970's "Unreleased Recordings" book. As far as I can tell, the site's entries have never been cross-checked against anything published since the late 1980's, including the last three editions of Dundas, Krogsgaard's "Recording Sessions" articles, or Heylin's "Recording Sessions" book.

"Almost Went To See Elvis" is a particularly egregious example of a fouled-up entry: the basic information (like that in hundreds of other Bobsboots pages) is cut-and-pasted from my Field Recordings Guide without credit; then, for reasons unexplained, incorrect information from the commercial boot's cover slips is substituted for the accurate source information. Even weirder, the Bobsboots description of the cover tracklist info doesn't match up to the actual slips, as shown at

www.bobsboots.com/CDs/a-27ib.JPG

And the producer/piano player is Bob _Johnston_, not Bob Johnson.

Forgive me if I sound cranky. It's not your fault; your question is perfectly reasonable.

Bill
#nosmileys

[JohnK]

Thanks, Bill, for that very complete answer. That makes a lot more sense. Should have looked at monicasdude, shouldn't I?