The Bob Dylan Bootleg Series: A Totally Subjective Retrospective (finale) The Rock n Roll Curmudgeon Rides Again/ by Mike Jurkovic
I’m willing to accept that many of you have opposing reasons for this installment of a totally subjective retrospective being the last. Some of you I’m sure are breathing a sigh of relief that the end is but paragraphs away. Others, that I might actually offer a bit of insight into possible future bootleg sets should Dylan and his most trusted continue to keep on keeping on. Capitalism demands they keep on. But who knows.
There’s more out there than you’d think and quite possibly what Dylan’s posse are willing to admit or sift through. And before I prattle on, a special thanks: This final installment would not be as complete as it is if not for the formidable Dylanology of my dear friend and Dylanologist Robert Fino. A man among men as they say.
Here goes:
Bootleg Series Vol. 23: Hibbing Winters:Becoming Dylan: This 2-disc set could include anything from the The Minnesota Tapes, recorded in various apartments from ’60-’61.“Candy Man,” “This Land Is Your Land,” “Poor Lazarus,” “Death Don’t Have No Mercy.”
Bootleg Series Vol. 24: Taking New York: This multi-disc set could be a treasure trove of early live recordings: River Side Church, 7/61, The Gaslight 9/61, Carnegie Hall 11/61, Gerde’s Folk City, 4/62; various known radio broadcasts: Oscar Brand’s Folk song Festival, WNYC 10/29/61, Cynthia Gooding’s Folksingers Choice, WBAI, 1/62; private apartment recordings, and studio outtakes/alternates from Bob Dylan and various sessions with Harry Belafonte, Carolyn Hester, and Victoria Spivey.
Bootleg Series Vol. 25: Beyond Freewheelin’: include the previous released outtakes then go live to the Gaslight, October ’62, Carnegie Hall, 62, The Bear, 4/5, Stud Turkel’s Wax Museum, WFMT, 4/63, (“Hard Rain,” John Brown”) and The Finjan Club, Montreal July 62 (there were reportedly only fifty people in the club but this is one of the great early recordings, including “Let Me Die In My Footsteps,” “The Death of Emmett Till,” “Blowin’ In. The Wind,” “He Was a Friend of Mine.” and the BBC’s Madhouse On Castle Street, 1/63, etc.
Authors Note: The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 covers a lot of this ground from the demo standpoint. So too does The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall.
Bootleg Series Vol. 26: A Generation Speaks, July 63-December 64: Town Hall, April 63, Newport ’63 & ’64, Brandeis University, ’63, Forest Hills, 63 & 64, March on Washington, 63.
For shits n giggles, throw in highlights from the Times They Are A-Changin’ and Another Side of Bob Dylan sessions.
Authors Note: For sure brevity and the sheer fact that so much has been released from 1965-1971, let us skip ahead to 1974.
Bootleg Series Vol. 27: Storming America: Tour ’74: Barely six weeks long, Bob and Band made a helluva lot of noise. And money. You could include the November ’73 Planet Waves sessions here for good measure.
Bootleg Series Vol 28: Desiring: Rolling Towards Guam ‘75: Outtakes and alternates from Desire, the long pirated “People Get Ready” from the never fully realized film Renaldo & Clara. Guam was the name given to the Rolling Thunder Revue’s backing musicians by bassist Rob Stoner, and those rehearsals, including live performances (that resulted in the TV broadcast, Hard Rain) would be fun for completists.
And while we’re on the subject of films and TV broadcasts, how about Bootleg Series Vol. 29:
Dylan Goes to the Movies and include performances and outtakes from previously mentioned Renaldo & Clara, Hard Rain, Pat Garrett, Don’t Look Back, Eat the Document, Masked and Anonymous, Heart of Fire, etc.
Bootleg Series Vol 30: Live Around the World 78 – 82: There is a veritable trunk full of great concert recordings from this period of change that does not include the regurgitation of Bob Dylan at Budokan.
Bootleg Series Vol 31: A Scattering of Maps: Here is where we just go with the odds and ends like the 1992 Chicago sessions with David Bromberg. Sessions with David Alvin and whatever else might be out there that has escaped the collector’s gaze.
Bootleg Series Vol 32: Petty and The Dead 86 – 87: You could if you wanted to make two separate volumes, but for brevity let us just consider performances and rehearsals of Bob’s time on the road with Petty and The Heartbreakers and the Grateful Dead.
And let us call it wrap with:
Bootleg Series Vol 33: The Never Ending Tour: Yeah, indeed. Great band. Great Music. Just too much great stuff to gather under one roof. The Supper Club, Beacon Theatre, Paris, Britain. So many revelatory recordings from the early 90’s through to the ongoing Rough and Rowdy Ways tour.
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Mike Jurkovic is a frequent contributor to Lightwood as a music critic and creative writer. He has numerous publications in a variety of forms and is one of the creators of CALLING ALL POETS, a small press and reading series (live and zoom) in the Hudson Valley. Read his other works here on Lightwood by entering his name on our Search Button.
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