Given their significant musical impact, it’s hard to believe that The Basement Tapes were never really intended for commercial release. The sessions, which took place in the spring and summer of 1967, were responsible for not only a shift in direction Bob Dylan’s music, but also in the official formation of The Band. While the double-album didn’t hit stores until 1975, fragments had been circulating for years on an unofficial release known as the Great White Wonder (which is credited as the first notable rock bootleg), and bands like The Byrds, Peter Paul & Mary and Fairport Convention all recording tunes that would later appear on the official release.
On September 25, Down In The Flood,