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By Tony Attwood
I wonder if you have ever realised just how many tracks there are on Bootleg Series volumes 1-3 1961-1991. The answer, to save you digging out your copy or looking up on the internet is 22 plus 20 plus 16 across the three disks: 58 in all.
And somehow I feel many of the gems therein have been forgotten – forgotten because Bob hasn’t played them in concert or the arrangements changed over time, or indeed because of course the gems are squeezed in between other highly regarded tracks. And indeed we must admit there are so many tracks which most of us do want to be preserved, not just because they are Bob’s work, but we wouldn’t necessarily think of playing them, just to get the day going, or as an example of Bob’s work we wanted to show off to a non-Bob-enthusiast. Yet there they are – beautiful songs in interesting arrangements… just sitting there waiting to be played once more.
Such was the discussion we were having yesterday, when listening to one of the three CDs from the first bootleg package, and the question was quite reasonably put, “OK how many really good tracks are there on that trilogy?” Or pua another way, if we were reducing that triple album down to a single CD of the best of Bootleg 1-3, could we really find say 18 standout tracks?
Actually we struggled – but it helped pass the evening and it was a lively discussion. And there was a real benefit – in that it took us back to some older Dylan songs that we hadn’t necessarily played for a long time.
And that in turn struck me as being of value in itself. In fact all the songs on this little article are to be found on that famous first “bootleg” album. Some of which I must admit I have not sat down and listened to properly for ages,l although I should have done…
But I must add a note – for I the recordings here are not always the recordings from that first collection – the it is the songs that I am referring to, not the specific recordings. In fact just for clarity perhaps I can add that I don’t ever make recordings on CD tracks to put here – my view is that if the track is freely available on the internet, there is no harm to Bob’s copyright by me putting a link to it. But I don’t create videos myself. That might not seem to make much sense, but it feels right to me.
So here we go….
I’d listen to that recording just for the line about the fact that by the time Willie had finished playing he “owned the whole damn town”. And he was a good guy.
Indeed with this track, and with some of the other songs here I simply couldn’t understand how I could have not played them for so long, as they have been a part of my life since I first heard the tracks, such as….
But mostly, I am focussed on the lesser remembered tracks, not things like “Times they are a changing”. Instead songs like, “Mama you’ve been on my mind.”
Although breaking my rule about “less well known songs”, I was particularly fascinated to listen to take 1 of Subterranean Homesick Blues with its subtle variations (such as the chord change). It’s not a particularly great recording but it shows how close to the final version Bob had got by the time he brought the song to the studio.
But sometimes the song really is different at this early stage before Bob had got to the version we eventually heard as the formal release. No where more so I think that with
“Like a Rolling Stone (Take 4, Rehearsal)”
I am not in any way suggesting these are better than the final version we were offered on the albums when they came out, but since I have no wandered away from my original reason for writing this piece perhaps I can add that sometimes I do find extra insights in the songs from these earlier recordings.
I could go on and on of course, but really my point is to suggest that if you have a rather dull afternoon or evening heading your way there are worse things to do than listen to some of Bob’s outtakes. Here are two more to round off my selection…
Series of Dreams (Studio Outtake – 1989)
That’s nine tracks – enough to keep me going for a couple of days. As for which album I value the most, I seem to have lost track of that. But that is what happens when I start playing Bob’s old tracks.