Here’s a live version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Masters of War,’ recorded in 1963 at Town Hall in New York City. This song appears in Martin Scorsese’s 2005 documentary No Direction Home and later on the Bootleg Series release of that film’s soundtrack.
Those who read my criticism of Jackson Browne’s overtly political songs might wonder why I’m not similarly dismissive of this track. And it’s a fair question.
You know the whole Bob Dylan bootleg thing has gotten out of control when I’m looking for a YouTube clip of today’s Random SOTD and I dig up at least four outtake versions, none of which appear to be the one I need.
Last year Dylan released an 18 CD set of every song recorded during the 1965-66 studio sessions that resulted in Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde.
Bob Dylan must have felt his ears burning.
Last weekend he learned that Fountains of Wayne was besting him (on a percentage basis) in the Random Weekend horse race. The week before that he was pitted against Bruce Springsteen in a death match over who’s had the more extraordinary career.
Guess he decided to chime in.
Volume 7 of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series is the companion soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s excellent Dylan documentary No Direction Home.
The album, like the film, traces Dylan’s development as an artist from his earliest days through his electric phase, culminating with the famous “Royal Albert Hall” concert where an angry fan yelled out “Judas!”
Exactly one week ago, I predicted a flood of Bob Dylan tracks on Random Weekends to match the onslaught of Elvis Costello. The two artists most represented in my music collection should, over time, be the two artists most represented in this series, no?
Well, here we go. And while it doesn’t seem fair that two songwriters who have had their own dedicated weekends (lasting close to a year in total) should dominate this one, I can’t feign disappointment over the selection of this alternate take of ‘Desolation Row’ culled from the No Direction Home soundtrack.
Meet Me In Montauk 