Tag Archives: Bootleg Series

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Song of the Day #797: ‘Mr. Tambourine Man (Live)’ – Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s “Royal Albert Hall” concert (which actually took place at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall) is one of those seminal moments in music history that has gone down as legend. Think The Beatles’ or Elvis’ first appearances on Ed Sullivan’s stage, or Dylan’s own electric coming out at the Newport Folk Festival.

The “Royal Albert Hall” show was just one stop on that year’s tour, but the shout of “Judas!” by a fan toward the end of the show turned this particular show into an encapsulation of the atmosphere that surrounded Dylan as he embarked on this new leg of his career.

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Song of the Day #783: ‘If You See Her, Say Hello (Demo)’ – Bob Dylan

For me, the biggest highlight of Volumes 1-3 of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series are the New York versions of a few Blood On the Tracks songs.

As the story goes, Dylan recorded the whole album in New York then decided at the last minute that he wasn’t happy with some of the tracks and laid down new versions in Minneapolis. Those Minneapolis recordings are the songs we all know and love from the finished album.

But the New York tracks, largely acoustic versions of such classics as ‘Tangled Up in Blue,’ ‘Idiot Wind,’ ‘You’re a Big Girl Now’ and Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts,’ are equally revelatory. In fact, on the whole I think I prefer those original versions to the songs on the official release.

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Song of the Day #777: ‘Santa Fe’ – Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3 was the first box set I ever bought, and remains one of only two I own. I’ve always viewed box sets as extravagant purchases, the musical equivalent of buying a solid gold hat. Paying $50+ for something that won’t even fit on the shelf alongside your other CDs? No, thank you.

But the promise of this first set of bootleg recordings — 58 tracks spanning Dylan’s earliest days to his most recent — was too much to pass up. So I laid down my hard-earned cash and cradled that package like a newborn.

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Song of the Day #776: ‘Let Me Die In My Footsteps’ – Bob Dylan

So after last week’s look at Bob Dylan’s 2009 Christmas album, I now jump 47 years back in time to a 1962 track that a young Dylan recorded for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan but wound up not including on the album.

Dylan’s Bootleg Series, which includes eight released volumes and a ninth due next month, is an extraordinary supplement to his catalog of live and studio albums. Dylan has treasure troves of unreleased material, much of which tops his official output, and it’s a treat to see those songs so lovingly resurrected.

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Song of the Day #180: ‘Red River Shore’ – Bob Dylan

bobbydyalnTen Best Songs of 2008 – #2

It might not be exactly fair to list a Bob Dylan song that was written at least a dozen years ago among my best 2008 songs, but last year was ‘Red River Shore’s first release on an album ( Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8) so I think it qualifies.

Dylan’s latest bootleg collection has enough wonderful “new” material to fill a proper album, and the fact that his discards are this good is a pretty telling fact about America’s greatest songwriter. Love him or hate him (and I know plenty of people on both sides), you can’t deny that he’s a unique and prolific talent.

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