There was something about Midwestern-born rockers on the CBS Records roster making stops at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Japan. In 1979, Columbia issued not one but two live albums from the Tokyo venue, both simply titled At Budokan. While the one by Cheap Trick essentially made them stars in their home country, a double album of rearranged hits from Bob Dylan sharply polarized fans and critics.

Now, on November 17, the Dylan camp is re-examining the artist's time in Japan with a brand-new box set showcasing two of the sets from Budokan in full. The Complete Budokan 1978 offers four CDs of Dylan and his band's sets on February 28 and March 1, 1978, with 36 of the 58 tracks released for the first time and everything newly remixed from the original 24-track analog tapes. (In a simple, delightful twist of fate, the remix was done by the sets' original recording engineer, Tomoo Suzuki, supervised by the album's original Japanese product manager, Heckel Sugano.) The luxe 12" x 12" packaging features a 60-page book offering new liner notes by Edna Gundersen, unpublished images of Dylan in Japan and replicas of original posters, flyers, tickets and other vintage paper goods. A double LP, Another Budokan, will be available the same day, offering 16 of the unreleased tracks on vinyl, packaged in a gatefold jacket with obi and a four-panel liner notes insert. (An 8LP version of the full box will only be available in Japan.)

Dylan's tour of Japan and Australia in early 1978 followed a year of personal setbacks, including some bitter custody battles, the negative reception to his film Renaldo and Clara, and reflection after the death of Elvis Presley. With Japanese promoters expecting sets drawn from Dylan's era-defining '60s material, the iconoclastic songwriter still elected to do things his way, assembling a new band that included guitarist Steven Soles, bassist Rob Stoner and violinist/mandolinist David Mansfield - both holdovers from Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue - plus keyboardist Allan Pasqua, guitarist Billy Cross, former King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace, percussionist Bobbye Hall and a trio of female backing vocalists.

Some of their arrangements of classic Dylan songs surprised and galvanized listeners; the album soon became a domestic release after fan demand, but some critics were left cold by the new approach to this material, comparing the arrangements to a Las Vegas show in concert reviews and damning them on record. ("I believe this double LP was made available so our hero could boast of being outclassed by Cheap Trick, who had the self-control to release but a single disc from this location," Robert Christgau sniffed.) After the tour wrapped up in Australia, most of the band (except for Stoner, who'd be replaced by Presley's bassist Jerry Scheff) would record Street-Legal, one track of which ("Is Your Love in Vain?") was heard in both Budokan sets. By the tour's end, Dylan would take steps toward pursuing less earthly matters - but the reputation of Bob Dylan At Budokan has only grown among fans, leading to this comprehensive revisit of the original album, 45 years after its recording.

Both CD and vinyl sets will be available November 17 and can be pre-ordered below.

The Complete Budokan 1978 (Columbia/Legacy, 2023)

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

All tracks recorded live at Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan.
* denotes previously unreleased. + released on Another Budokan 2LP set
All others released on CBS/Sony 40AP 1100-1 (JP), 1978/Columbia PC2 36067 (U.S.), 1979)

CD 1-2/LP 1-4: February 28, 1978

1. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall * +
2. Repossession Blues * +
3. Mr. Tambourine Man *
4. I Threw It All Away *
5. Shelter from the Storm
6. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
7. Girl from the North Country *
8. Ballad of a Thin Man * +
9. Maggie's Farm *
10. To Ramona * +
11. Like a Rolling Stone * +
12. I Shall Be Released *
13. Is Your Love in Vain? *
14. Going, Going, Gone *

1. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) *
2. Blowin' in the Wind * +
3. Just Like a Woman *
4. Oh, Sister *
5. Simple Twist of Fate
6. You're a Big Girl Now *
7. All Along the Watchtower * +
8. I Want You *
9. All I Really Want to Do *
10. Tomorrow is a Long Time * +
11. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
12. Band Introductions *
13. It's Alright Ma, (I'm Only Bleeding)
14. Forever Young
15. The Times They Are A-Changin'

CD 3-4/LP 5-8: March 1, 1978

1. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall *
2. Love Her with a Feeling * +
3. Mr. Tambourine Man
4. I Threw It All Away * +
5. Love Minus Zero/No Limit *
6. Shelter from the Storm *
7. Girl from the North Country * +
8. Ballad of a Thin Man
9. Maggie's Farm
10. One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)
11. Like a Rolling Stone
12. I Shall Be Released
13. Is Your Love in Vain?
14. Going, Going Gone

1. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) * +
2. Blowin' in the Wind
3. Just Like a Woman
4. Oh, Sister
5. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met) * +
6. You're a Big Girl Now * +
7. All Along the Watchtower
8. I Want You
9. All I Really Want to Do
10. Knockin' on Heaven's Door
11. The Man in Me * +
12. Band Introductions *
13. It's Alright Ma, (I'm Only Bleeding) *
14. Forever Young * +
15. The Times They Are A-Changin' *