(12) 9 stars This pirate recording duet with Joan Baez is live from the Forest Hills show
of August 17,
1963. It was released on the CDs Songs From Sing Out! and the Joan
Baez set Rare, Live & Classic
.© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(13) 10 stars. These recordings, from
Carnegie Hall October 26, 1963, are simply
perfection. Forget about the primitive equipment of the day argument.
These gems could have been digitally recorded in the studio last year
as
far as the quality goes. The performances are laid bare emotion. The
best of the best. The reason they are so good is that they were
released by Sony, so these are pirate recordings. prior to 2005,
the tracks did not circulate among collectors. "Bob Dylan Live At
Carnegie Hall 1963" was released that year as a promo
disc to the public, and there were various ways to obtain it in
different parts of the world by buying certain combinations of released
Dylan items.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(14) 8 stars. This is from the same 1963 Carnegie Hall
show, though not near the quality. Originally taken from an unreleased CBS
acetate, it is slightly muffled and spotted with white noise (acetate
pops). This same version has circulated for years in this same quality.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(15) 9 stars. Newly surfaced line recordings
from England's Royal Festival Hall on May 17, 1964.
Both quality and performance is incredible. As these were taken from
acetate, there is a little white noise, especially in the beginning of Eternal Circle.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(16) 10 stars. Perfect quality on this acoustic
version from the first Bringing
It All Back Home recording session recorded at Columbia's Studio A in New
York City. This was also available in the iTunes Collection.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(17) 9½ stars. Package states October 25,
1965, but this couldn't be correct. Nov. 30, 1965
was the second Blonde on Blonde
session in which this was recorded at least ten times. This is most
likely the date. Song is near perfect quality, although it is from
acetate and includes noise. That's easy to overlook. What's harder to
forgive is that at the very end of the three and a half minute song,
Dylan sneaks in "You gotta lotta nerve to say you are...". As he says
"lot" there is a digital transfer skip in the word. The track indicator
reads 3:22. A few seconds later and the song has ended.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(18) 9½-10
stars. The Blonde On Blonde sessions were
extensive. Recordings were made over a five month period that spanned 1965
and 1966, and were split between two cities. The
earlier sessions that yielded the previous song were in New York City.
This recording is from Feb. 15, 1966 at Columbia Music
Row Studio in
Nashville, Tennessee. This three minute instrumental contains
harp, but no vocal. It was recorded from an acetate, so a few white
noise pops can be heard.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
DISC TWO
(19) 8-8½ stars. This May 14, 1966
show from Liverpool has circulated for many years, and was taken from
the 1991 Supersound
bootleg CD release. It was long rumored to
be part of a planned official CBS
release, but it never happened. The mix is not perfect. The organ is a
bit loud to start with. Later the vocals become a bit loud and the mic
delivers a few 'P' pops. The song ends rather sloppily.
All things considered might be reason for it never appearing
officially.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(20) 7½-8 stars. This song is from the Woody Guthrie
Memorial Concert held in New York on January 20, 1968.
Therefore, it's a pirate
recording as
it was released on the 1970 Columbia album A Tribute to Woody Guthrie Part One.
It's now available on the Warner Brothers CD
release from which this track was taken. Interesting to note that
during the first keyboard solo the tempo jumps quite a bit. This is a
thing that happens to musicians at times, especially during solo when
adrenalin pumps a little harder. The tempo never falls back. During the
second guitar solo, the same thing happens. The tempo is now quite a
bit faster than the songs beginning, and it stays there.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(21) 10 stars. A
song from the basement tapes. A year before the sessions for Nashville
Skyline, this could easily be mistaken for being from those sessions
both in terms of quality and performance. The three and one half
minute song cuts in cold at "Kind favor I'd ask of you" The
instruments slowly stumble in. The vocals are clear and way up front
with a definite Nashville Skyline feel. Instruments include bass
guitar, harmonica, brush played snare drum, and autoharp. The autoharp
is the lead instrument and is well mixed from the beginning. Others are
a bit buried. All instrument volumes come up slowly and eventually all
are properly in the mix except for the autoharp which is now too loud.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(22) 7-8 stars. A song from the Johnny Cash / Bob
Dylan session on February 18, 1969. It was officially
released in two videos. 1979's JOHNNY CASH, THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC,
and 1984's THE
OTHER SIDE OF NASHVILLE, as well as being broadcast in a Johnny Cash Documentary. It starts in very nice quality,
but falls away somewhat in the middle. Most notable for the engineer introducing it as take one
of “A Thousand Miles Behind”, and for Bob and Johnny stumbling
almost comically in an attempt to end the song.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(23) 9 stars. This four and one half minute song from the May 1, 1970 New Morning session at NYC's
CBS studio is given new life with Bob's
matured voice and a happy feeling 3/4
time production with a bouncing bass line. Later the brush on snare is
blended in to give a definite waltz feel to the song. A package
highlight.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(24) 9-10 stars. Another package highlight is this
beautiful three minute Dylan and George Harrison duet. A 1971 studio rehearsal for the Madison Square
Garden Bangladesh concert on August 1, 1971. It was
officially released in 1972 in the movie THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH,
and came out on commercial video in 1983 and DVD
in 2005.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(25) 10 stars. I've never before heard
these
bizarre outtakes that were recorded at NYC's Record Plant in November 1971
during the Allen Ginsberg &
Friends sessions. The sound quality is incredible, but one listen
through of the performance should be enough to satisfy even the most
hardcore fan. Hard to believe, but in this surreal world, Bob is the
only one who sings on key.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(26) 10 stars.
An incredible find that helps to give this release validity. It's a
perfect quality (minus a few reel to reel tape squeaks) alternate vocal
/ acoustic guitar track from the 24 track master reel
used during the November 1973 sessions for Planet Waves.
The Band can be barely heard at certain times due to track bleed
through. A portion of the three and one half minute performance is an
incredibly rare listen of Dylan a'capella.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(27) 7 stars. Taken directly from the Renaldo & Clara
soundtrack, this is not notably good quality, not a notably
good performance, and not notably entertaining.
Thankfully, it is notably short.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(28) 8 stars.
This is one of only a couple performances of this rare song. Bob ends
it by saying "I'm sure that's going to be on our next album"... but it
was not to be. Most circulating copies of this song have been taken
from the CD Contract
With The Lord 1, that at 5:15, was mastered
too slow. This version has been corrected to the proper speed and time
of 4:35.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(29) 8½-9 stars. The only known performance /
recording of this song is from the final encore of April 19,
1980 at Massey Hall, Toronto. This is a line recording feed
from the board LYRICS
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(30) 7½ stars. This newly surfaced recording from the Rundown Studios in
October 1980 is the only known studio recording. It
starts out nearly inaudible, but quickly comes up. It seems more like a
through the air (open mic) recording than a direct line. It's quite
muffled, though Dylan's vocals get crisper as the recording goes on.
It's easily dismissible after the first listen as being a lower
quality, lesser performance. You owe it a few more listens. The
official lyrics are available at bobdylan.com, but some are quite
different than are recorded here. Most notably there are extra verses
here in this five and one half minute recording, and the turnaround has
been completely changed to:
I know we're not perfect, but then again so what
That ain't no reason to treat me like a slave and to treat you like a
slut
And it's just makin' me angry
Dylan has an incredible sense of timing to fit the words in. Some
are spoken in tune, and some are passionately spit out. The
phraseology, the lyrics, the spoken delivery, the bluesy feel, the
playful organ.. all told, one is put in mind of a a 1970's
performance of Russell Smith and The Amazing Rhythm Aces. Another
fascinating observation that I can now make only in retrospect, one can
easily see this song being written for his then back up singer of two
years, Carolyn Dennis. It is presumably her that can be heard buried a
few times in this recording affirming a few of Dylan's words. With the hindsight knowledge that
she would be his girlfriend and later his secret wife and
mother of his daughter, this song moves from an uninteresting ditty to
one of the most personal slices of Dylan's private life of this time
that he has ever uttered. When held up in this light, this song can
soon become an obsession that you can't walk away from.© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(31) 10 stars. Perfect quality rough mix
takes that have been line recorded. Recorded during the Spring of 1981,
these both seem to be the released versions prior to post mastering. before Shot Of
Love, The engineer can barely be herd introducing it as "take 20"
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(32) 10 stars. This is an official rarity,
as it was released as a B-side. This version is crystal clear and seems
to be from a tape source.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(33) 10 stars. This is a rough mix from the May 1981
Clover
Studio sessions that
is mainly notable for the cold ending.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(34) 10 stars. Fantastic reggae dub remix from Is it Rolling Bob?:
A Reggae Tribute to Bob Dylan
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(35) 8½ stars. A newly surfaced outtake from the Down In The
Groove sessions.
DISC THREE
(36) 6½ stars. Bob performs this Ira / George Gershwin tune live at the Brooklyn Academy Of
Music, NYC on March 11, 1987,
for the Gershwin Celebration (50th anniversary of
Gershwin's death). It was recorded through the air
from TV broadcast. This results in a muffled sound. It
has appeared in the same quality on several bootlegs including Hard To Find Vol 5
and You Don't Know Me .
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(37) 10 stars. This piano and vocal demo is an Oh Mercy outtake. Even though it
clocks in at just a minute and a half, it's perfect quality. It cuts
off cold after the line "... God is
one."
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(38) 10 stars. This is another two minute piano
demo that was made available on a promotional CD with
Chronicles. The vocals are far out front and much easier to hear than
on the released version.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(39) 9-10 stars. In March of 1990,
Dylan was recording at The Record Plant Studio in Los Angeles, California with the Was Not Was band / producers David
and Don at the Under The Red Sky sessions. The bass player for half of the
takes was
Randy Jackson of TV's American
Idol fame, and he can be heard on the first four tracks.
Red Sky has
always been an undeservedly panned album by fans and critics alike.
There are some true gems on the album as well as in this collection. Born In Time, for example, is
simply an overlooked masterpiece. Not only is it poetic genius, but Bob
uses perhaps the sexiest voice that he has ever recorded with. This
outake is a continuation of that same voice. Under The Red Sky is another song
that people don't get for some reason. It's as darkly and masterfully a
woven fairy-tale as any of those of the Grimm Brothers. Not a lot of
lyric changes here, but Bob was unsure if the tape was rolling. At
forty seconds in he asks "Are you
taking (taping) this?" At 3:30 of the four minute song Dylan simply says "That's it" to signify the end of
the vocals. Wiggle Wiggle has
never been one of my favorites, but there are a few alternate lines
here. There are several different lyrics, lines, and verses on TV Talkin’ Song, another song with
some powerful words. 2 X
2 contains different lines as well, to rhyme with each number,
and Unbelievable contains
several different lines including an entirely different final verse.
These recordings were also notable for the rare celebrity cameo
appearances including David
Crosby on background Vocals, Elton John - piano on 2
X 2 / Bruce Hornsby on piano and
Robben Ford - guitar on Born In Time
and TV
Talkin’ Song / Slash playing guitar for Wiggle Wiggle / Al Kooper at the
keyboards on Unbelievable and
Don Was on bass with George Harrison playing slide guitar for Under
The Red Sky.
Overall, these are some very nice finds, and represent yet another
package highlight.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(40) 7½ stars. In June of 1992
Dylan rented Acme
Recording Studio in Chicago, Illinois to record a contractual album for
Sony, and hired David
Bromberg to produce, and Bromberg's band to play. There was an album
worth of material recorded before Bob left for tour in Europe. When Bob
returned home to California he began recording acoustic songs in his
home studio with intent of adding a few to the album. The acoustic
cover songs kept flowing, and eventually overtook the project. The
acoustic songs were released as Good as I Been to You, and the Bromberg sessions, for some
mysterious reason, have never seen the light of day save for these
previously circulating four tracks.
Polly Vaughan is an old Irish folksong that was brought to the US
by The Dillards in the early 1960's,
but it was more of a bluegrass song. Dylan's arrangement and lyrics
seems to be his own. Catskill
Serenade was written by David
Bromberg. Miss The
Mississippi And You was written and recorded by Bill Halley in 1932.
Many artists (mostly country) have recorded it since. The 1954
Jimmy Rogers
recording of Sloppy Drunk was
the inspiration for this track, but Dylan has slowed it down, and
changed the beat & lyrics.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(41) 10+ stars. This song is incorrectly
identified on the package as If You
Belonged To Me, which is a Traveling
Wilburys tune.
Actually, this is the 1940's
song written by Chilton Price and copyrighted in 1952 by her and Pee Wee King. It was
recorded by Sue
Thompson, and a few weeks later covered by Patti Page. This version was recorded at
Dylan's Malibu home studio in August of 1992 during the
Good As I Been To You sessions. It was released on the
soundtrack to Oliver Stone's Natural
Born Killers, and this track was lifted directly from that CD,
making it a pirate
track. There is movie dialog from Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson at songs end
that soundtrack
producer Trent Reznor
blends into the next track, The Trembler by Duane Eddy. On this track,
the editors do a sloppy job of editing. You hear the final guitar note,
but Harrelson's words are chopped in two.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(42) 8 stars (averaged). These previously unheard tracks
were recorded at Sony Music Studios, NYC on September 30,
1994. Evidently, Anyway You Want Me (Schroeder/Owens),
Lawdy, Miss
Clawdy (Lloyd Price),
and Money Honey (Jesse Stone) were to be used for
some type of Elvis tribute that never happened. Twenty seconds into Anyway You Want Me we get to hear
the famous Dylan cough. Lawdy Miss
Clawdy is a very rough mix that starts and ends roughly as well,
but the vocals are crisp and way out front. Money Honey is yet another
rough mix, but in this one the vocals are buried to far in the mix. Money Honey II is a completely
different take that has been sped up a few beats per minute. The
musicians are attempting to polish the song, and the mix is proper,
making it seem that this is the one that would be more likely to be
considered for release.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(43) 10+ stars. Another pirate
track taken from
the currently available 2001 Hank Williams tribute release
entitled Timeless.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(44) 10+ stars. Bob performs an incredibly
tender version of this classic Dean Martin tune, and even pulls off the
Italian verses without a hitch. This pirate
track is from
season two of The Sopranos.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(45) 10+ stars. This is a pirate
track that was
released on a 2001 various artists tribute to Sam
Phillips' history changing Memphis based label called Good Rockin'
Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records. Bob pulls out a
passionate rock-a-billy performance that's a highlight to the package.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(46) 10+ stars. This is one of the versions
that was recorded for the North
Country soundtrack. Bob's dark and breathy performance lends an
air of doom and gloom and bares little resemblance to the old
traditional song that Dave Van Ronk
sang. There is a bad edit at 5:22 that adds an ending
tag.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(47) 6½ stars. This classic Sam Cooke song was performed in 2004 at the Apollo
Theater and was broadcast on TV. This is a through the
air mic recording from TV.
© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
(48) 10+ stars. The twenty fourth track on
disc three is not listed on the package. It's Bob in a fifteen second
poem about Nelly Kelly before singing this thirty second ditty
a'capela. It's taken from Bob's Theme Time Radio show about baseball.© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
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© 2008
CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
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