Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album and soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | July 13, 1973 | |||
Recorded | January–February 1973 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 35:23 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Gordon Carroll | |||
Bob Dylan chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid | ||||
|
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is the twelfth studio album and first soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 13, 1973, by Columbia Records for the Sam Peckinpah film of the same name. Dylan himself appeared in the film as the character "Alias". The soundtrack consists mainly of instrumental music and was inspired by the movie itself. The album includes "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", which became a trans-Atlantic Top 20 hit.
Certified gold by RIAA, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid reached No. 16 in the US and No. 29 in the UK.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid scriptwriter Rudy Wurlitzer was a previous acquaintance of Dylan's, and asked him to provide a couple of songs for the movie. [1] Dylan performed "Billy" for director Peckinpah, who found the performance very moving and offered Dylan an acting part on the spot. [1] [2] The role he ended up getting was a character named Alias. [3] In November 1972, Dylan and his family moved to Durango, Mexico, where filming took place. [2] Filming lasted from late 1972 to early 1973. [4]
Dylan's first session for the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack was on January 20, 1973 at CBS Discos Studios in Mexico City. [5] The only song from that day that was included on the album was "Billy 7"; also recorded were multiple other takes of "Billy", and the outtakes "Under Turkey", "Billy Surrenders", "And He's Killed Me Too", "Goodbye Holly" and "Pecos Blues". [5] The following month, Dylan recorded two days at Burbank Studios in Burbank, California. The rest of the album's songs were recorded, as well as the outtakes "Sweet Amarillo" and "Rock Me Mama". [5]
The Mexico City session produced three notable outtakes: "Peco's Blues", an instrumental based on the traditional "What Does The Deep Sea Say?", the song "Goodbye Holly" and "Billy Surrenders". All three tracks were rejected but eventually bootlegged and unofficially released as Peco's Blues Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Outtakes in 1994. [6] Of the 24 tracks written and performed by Bob Dylan on the bootleg album, only 10 were released on the final studio album. The remaining 14 songs have not been officially released. [6] [7]
In February 1973, during the second of the Burbank sessions, Bob Dylan recorded 19 songs for the album. Among them were "Sweet Amarillo" and "Rock Me Mama," recorded twice as "Rock Me Mama (1)" and "Rock Me Mama (2)". [8] According to Ketch Secor of the Nashville band Old Crow Medicine Show, Bob Dylan attributed the lyrics of "Rock Me Mama" to Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup who in turn attributed them to Big Bill Broonzy. [9]
Both "Rock Me Mama" and "Sweet Amarillo" were eventually completed and recorded by the Nashville band Old Crow Medicine Show, who credited Bob Dylan as co-writer. "Wagon Wheel" was released in 2004 (and subsequently covered by many other artists, including Darius Rucker) and "Sweet Amarillo" was released in 2014. [10]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [11] |
Christgau's Record Guide | C+ [12] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [13] |
Entertainment Weekly | C+ [14] |
MusicHound Rock | 1/5 [15] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [16] |
Most critics at the time responded unfavorably. Robert Christgau graded it a "C" in Creem , described the album as "two middling Dylan songs, four good original Bobby voices, and a lot of Schmylan music". [17] Jon Landau wrote in Rolling Stone that "it is every bit as inept, amateurish and embarrassing as Self Portrait . And it has all the earmarks of a deliberate courting of commercial disaster, a flirtation that is apparently part of an attempt to free himself from previously imposed obligations derived from his audience." [18]
The album spawned a significant hit in "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", which would be covered by acts such as Eric Clapton and Guns N' Roses. Years later, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" endured as a popular favorite among critics and fans as well as a concert staple, with its inspirational tone and lyrics regarding impending death.
After Peckinpah completed his own cut of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid , MGM re-cut the film without his input, removing several significant scenes and re-shuffling most of Dylan's music in the process. [19] [20] Peckinpah's film was released to mixed reviews. [21] Years later, critical re-evaluation of Peckinpah's film would lead many to regard it as one of his major works, a revisionist view aided by the restoration of Peckinpah's original cut in 1984.
After witnessing firsthand Peckinpah's battles with MGM, Dylan had his own problems with Columbia Records. After years of minimal activity, Dylan had lost Columbia's patience, and when negotiations for a renewed contract began in 1972, the label (except for Clive Davis) had little interest in being generous. "Early in 1973 I finally did conclude negotiations for a new contract with Bob," wrote Clive Davis in his autobiography. Davis had been a longtime supporter of Dylan's, but he had been the victim of a corporate coup. While finalizing the details of Dylan's contract, Davis was fired by CBS president Arthur Taylor on May 29. Dylan testified on Davis's behalf in a well-publicized civil trial held in July 1975. In the meantime, the incident soured Dylan's relationship with CBS, convincing him to sign with David Geffen's fledgling Los Angeles-based label Asylum Records.
All tracks written by Bob Dylan.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Main Title Theme (Billy)" (instrumental) | 6:07 |
2. | "Cantina Theme (Workin' for the Law)" (instrumental) | 2:57 |
3. | "Billy 1" | 3:57 |
4. | "Bunkhouse Theme" (instrumental) | 2:17 |
5. | "River Theme" | 1:30 |
Total length: | 16:48 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Turkey Chase" (instrumental) | 3:34 |
2. | "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" | 2:32 |
3. | "Final Theme" (instrumental) | 5:23 |
4. | "Billy 4" | 5:04 |
5. | "Billy 7" | 2:10 |
Total length: | 18:43 |
Chart (1973) | Position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [22] | 28 |
United Kingdom (Official Charts Company) [23] | 29 |
United States (Billboard) [24] | 16 |
Blood on the Tracks is the fifteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 20, 1975, by Columbia Records. The album marked Dylan's return to Columbia Records after a two-album stint with Asylum Records. Dylan began recording the album in New York City in September 1974. In December, shortly before Columbia was due to release the album, Dylan abruptly re-recorded much of the material in a studio in Minneapolis. The final album contains five tracks recorded in New York and five from Minneapolis.
Highway 61 Revisited is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 30, 1965, by Columbia Records. Having until then recorded mostly acoustic music, Dylan used rock musicians as his backing band on every track of the album, except for the closing track, the 11-minute ballad "Desolation Row". Critics have focused on the innovative way Dylan combined driving, blues-based music with the subtlety of poetry to create songs that captured the political and cultural chaos of contemporary America. Author Michael Gray has argued that, in an important sense, the 1960s "started" with this album.
Blonde on Blonde is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as a double album on June 20, 1966, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions began in New York in October 1965 with numerous backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing band, the Hawks. Though sessions continued until January 1966, they yielded only one track that made it onto the final album—"One of Us Must Know ". At producer Bob Johnston's suggestion, Dylan, keyboardist Al Kooper, and guitarist Robbie Robertson moved to the CBS studios in Nashville, Tennessee. These sessions, augmented by some of Nashville's top session musicians, were more fruitful, and in February and March all the remaining songs for the album were recorded.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his self-titled debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, this album represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary words to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions. It opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, written for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Released as a single two months after the film's premiere, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 10 in several countries. The song became one of Dylan's most popular and most covered post-1960s compositions, spawning covers from Eric Clapton, Guns N' Roses, Randy Crawford and more.
Self Portrait is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 8, 1970, by Columbia Records.
Planet Waves is the fourteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 17, 1974, by Asylum Records in the United States and Island Records in the United Kingdom.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a 1973 American revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Rudy Wurlitzer, and starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Barry Sullivan, Jason Robards, Slim Pickens and Bob Dylan. The film is about an aging Pat Garrett (Coburn), hired as a lawman by a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid (Kristofferson).
Down in the Groove is the 25th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 30, 1988 by Columbia Records.
Under the Red Sky is the 27th studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 10, 1990, by Columbia Records. It was produced by Don Was, David Was, and Dylan.
Sara Dylan is an American former actress and model who was the first wife of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In 1959, Noznisky was wed to magazine photographer Hans Lownds, during which time she was known as Sara Lownds.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Generally regarded as one of the greatest songwriters ever, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60 year career. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.
I'm Not There is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Todd Haynes, and co-written by Haynes and Oren Moverman. It is an unconventional biographical film inspired by the life and music of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's public personas: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw. A caption at the start of the film declares it to be "inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan"; this is the only mention of Dylan in the film apart from song credits, and his only appearance in it is concert footage from 1966 shown during the film's final moments.
"Bob Dylan's Dream" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1963. It was recorded by Dylan on April 24, 1963, and was released by Columbia Records a month later on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
"Wagon Wheel" is a song co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show. Dylan recorded the chorus in 1973; Secor added verses 25 years later. Old Crow Medicine Show's final version was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013. The song has been covered numerous times, including charting versions by Nathan Carter in 2012 and Darius Rucker in 2013.
The Basement Tapes is the sixteenth album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his second with the Band. It was released on June 26, 1975, by Columbia Records. Two-thirds of the album's 24 tracks feature Dylan on lead vocals backed by the Band, and were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, in the lapse between the recording and subsequent release of Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding, during sessions that began at Dylan's house in Woodstock, New York, then moved to the basement of Big Pink. While most of these had appeared on bootleg albums, The Basement Tapes marked their first official release. The remaining eight songs, all previously unavailable, feature the Band without Dylan and were recorded between 1967 and 1975.
"Watching the River Flow" is a blues rock song by American singer Bob Dylan. Produced by Leon Russell, it was written and recorded during a session in March 1971 at the Blue Rock Studio in New York City. The collaboration with Russell formed in part through Dylan's desire for a new sound—after a period of immersion in country rock music—and for a change from his previous producer.
"John Wesley Harding" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that appears as the opening track on his 1967 album of the same name.
"Mama, You Been on My Mind" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Written in 1964 during a trip to Europe, the song dealt with his recent breakup with his girlfriend, Suze Rotolo. Dylan first recorded the song in June of that year during a session for his album Another Side of Bob Dylan. However, the song was not included on the album, and Dylan's version remained unreleased until 1991. In total, in the 1990s and 2000s four versions were put out on Dylan's Bootleg Series of releases, including two live performances with Joan Baez from 1964 and 1975.