As you all may know from my big mouth or my Twitter, I am doing my dissertation on Bob Dylan and if you’ve ever followed any of the two years worth of Bob Dylan Fridays, you’ll probably be glad to see that I am doing this again once more. This is actually a new discovery, but the 1963 Banjo Tapes and the 1963 NYC Town Hall Show reflect a beautiful side of young Bob Dylan that I’m happy to share with you. The Banjo tape itself, filled with traditional songs and a Leadbelly cover, has never sounded better and is a beautiful must-have for any fan of fingerpicking Dylan. The NYC Town hall show, also filled with traditional songs and a few off his early albums, is also beautifully recorded and probably necessary for all young Dylan fans. Particularly engaging is the version of Who Killed Davey Moore in which Bob emotes beautifully via his voice. Download below:

Banjo Tape:
Lonesome River Edge
Back Door Blues
Bob Dylan’s Dream
You Can Get Her
Farewell
All Over You
Masters Of War
Keep Your Hands Off Her
Honey Babe
Goin’ Back To Rome
Stealin’

Town Hall:
Ramblin’ Through The World
Bob Dylan’s Dream
Tomorrow Is A Long Time
Bob Dylan’s New Orleans Rag
Masters Of War
Walls Of Red Wing
Hero Blues
Who Killed Davey Moore?
With God On Our Side

For our two year anniversary of Bob Dylan Friday’s we’ve got the continuation of last week’s Standing on The Waters from the 1984 tour stop in Brussels. Unlike the first disc, Disc 2 contains a much more hit oriented setlist from the 60s triad. Although it’s the same pretty good audience recording, the gem-studded setlist puts this ahead of the first disc. Standouts include a pretty faithful and beautiful third-person version of ‘Tangled Up In Blue, a stunningly nasally heartbreaking version of ‘Girl From The North Country‘ and a rollicking version of the rarely played ‘Tombstone Blues‘. This, as opposed to the first disc, is for everyone, not just collectors. Enjoy.

01 Masters of War
02 Ballad of a Thin Man
03 Simple Twist of Fate
04 Every Grain of Sand
05 Like a Rolling Stone
06 Tangled Up in Blue
07 Girl from the North Country
08 Love Minus Zero/No Limit
09 Tombstone Blues
10 Why Do I Have to Choose?

This weeks Bob Dylan Friday, #104, commemorates two years of my constantly posting Bob Dylan bootlegs. I never imagined in a million years that I would spend two years of my life collecting, listening, and falling ever deeper into the rabbit hole known as Bob Dylan’s catalogue, but I am so happy I did. It is with sadness that I have to report that I have about four Bob Dylan Fridays left, including this weeks. However, Bob Dylan Fridays will not come to a close. Firstly, I will be taking a hiatus for a few weeks when I’ve finished, to ensure that all previous Bob Dylan Fridays have working links and are hosted on our server. That’s gonna take a lot of time and energy, so whenever that is done, I will be back with Bob Dylan Fridays that chronicle a more personal look into how many Bob Dylan affects me with the combination of his music and lyrics. Consider this practice for my dissertation which I will begin in the fall with the working title of ‘Narrative Theory in Contemporary Pop Music with a Focus on Bob Dylan‘. I hope these prove to be as popular and insightful as BDFs have been over these two years, and of course, there will be mp3s from various sessions and stages of Bobs career. Thank you for your viewership and continued support of myself, but mainly for your appreciation of Bob Dylan’s music, undoubtedly the finest music ever created.

Find all Bob Dylan Fridays ranging from the embarrassing #1 through excellent #103 right here.

This bootleg, Standing on The Waters, is one I downloaded quite some time ago and can’t seem to find much info on now. What I do know, is that this was a product of the 1984 European tour, recorded beautifully in Brussels. Although it is not a soundboard recording, it is a fairly reputable audience recording. The organ heavy version of ‘Just Like A Woman‘ is particularly noteworthy, as well as the endearingly nasally version of ‘It Aint Me Babe‘. Another one, as we draw to a close on this experiment, for the collectors, but still worth a listen.

1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Jokerman
3. All Along the Watchtower
4. Just Like a Woman
5. Maggie’s Farm
6. I and I
7. License to Kill
8. Imagination
9. Mr. Tambourine Man
10. It Ain’t Me, Babe
11. It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

As we near the inevitable end of my two year long experiment that is Bob Dylan Fridays, most of the bootlegs end up being things that insane collectors like myself would like, rather than a person whose casually into Bob Dylan, and the 102nd edition is no different. Hard to Find is a collection of essentially random tracks from the 70s to the 90s. Key tracks are a stripped down (compared to versions played during this time) version of ‘Girl of the North Country‘ and a jazzy and muddled but beautiful version of ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece‘. This is definitely left to completists, but can be rewarding for all.

01 It Ain’t Me Babe
02 People Get Ready (Curtis Mayfield)
03 One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
04 Masters Of War
05 Precious Angel
06 Don’t Start Me Talkin’ (Sonny Boy Williamson)
07 License To Kill
08 Why Do I Have To Choose (Willie Nelson)
09 Every Grain Of Sand
10 Girl Of The North Country
11 I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine
12 Mr Tambourine Man
13 Love Minus Zero/No Limit
14 Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)
15 Man Gave Names To All The Animals
16 When I Paint My Masterpiece
17 Restless Farewell
18 Silvio

This collaboration between Bob Dylan and Neil Young and The Band for the S.N.A.C.K Benefit held at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium in 1975 is a hit and miss type live recording. The inherent fucking up of Bob’s vocals is evident on some songs, but when it comes together — it’s really a thing of beauty and with the artists on stage, it should be mind blowing. The spirited and powerful version of ‘I Want You’ is pretty breathtaking, as is the heartbreaking harmonica solos and country twang on ‘Knockin’ on Dragon’s Door. This is probably another one for the exclusive collector, but it is a great addition for any Bob Dylan/Neil Young/The Band fan.

01Are You Ready for the Country
02 Ain’t That a Lot of Love
03 Lookin’ for a Love
04 Loving You (is Sweeter than Ever)
05 I Want You
06 The Weight
07 Helpless/Knockin’ on the Dragon’s Door
08 Will the Circle be Unbroken

Welcome to the 100th edition of my most favourite column that I’ve ever written in my life, Bob Dylan Fridays. This Friday I bring to you, the rarest of the rare, the Hardest to find: Hard To Find, Volume 4: Lost Diamonds. There are some duds here, but the excellent parts are completely worthwhile downloads. The David Letterman Show version of ‘Forever Young‘ has a certain nasal melancholy about it, rather than the upbeat and vibrant album version; the 1996 version of good buddy Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire is about as good as it gets. But the real gem, and the applicable one to my current life is the version of ‘One Irish Rover from Fleadh Festival in Finsbury Park 1993. Just this past weekend, I saw Bob Dylan in Finsbury Park for another Irish festival, Feis Festival, but he was the most dynamic performer that I have ever seen. Nobody in the world has ever almost brought me to tears by playing harmonica. That is all. Get this.

01 Forever Young (David Letterman Show)
02 Hard Times (Live) [28 Apr 93, Willie Nelson Tri]
03 I Shall Be Released [22 May 94, The Great Mus]
04 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Live) [5 Jul 96, Italy]
05 Real Real Gone [Dublin 12 Apr1995]
06 Ring Of Fire [1996]
07 Ring Them Bells [22 May 94, The Great Music Hall]
08 Foreign Window (Live) [27 Jun 89, Athens]
09 Got Love If You Want It
10 Important Words
11 Most Of The Time (Single Edit)
12 Mr. Tambourine Man (Live) [24 Feb 90, Roy Or]
13 Old Rock’N'Roller (Live) [3 Jul 90, Hamburg]
14 One Irish Rover (Live) [12 Jun 93, Fleadh Festi…]
15 One Irish Rover (Live) [27 Jun 89, Athens]
16 People Putting People Down (Live) [6 Jun 91, R…2]
17 Tupelo Honey (Live) [6 Feb 91, Belfast]
18 It Ain’t Me Babe (Live) [31 Jul 86, Tacoma, WA]

This Bob Dylan Friday is for all y’all that love the latter Bob recordings, from the late 90s. This 1998 show from The Garde Arts Center in New London, Connecticut is a superb audience recording. Bob’s vocals are strong and not completely raspy. Although it features mostly Time Out Of Time material, which obviously is amazing, but I’m more concerned with the spectacular version of ‘Absolutely Sweet Marie‘, which was played extremely infrequently. The second disc features material from the El Rey Theatre show of the same time, which concerns me more than this, but this is still excellent for collectors.

01 Absolutely Sweet Marie
02 Not Dark Yet
03 Cold Irons Bound
04 I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
05 Can’t Wait
06 Silvio
07 The Times
08 Love Minus Zero/No Limit (acoustic)
09 Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
10 Million Miles
11 This Wheel’s On Fire

Well well well, coming up on our two year anniversary here at Bob Dylan Friday and I’m still not done celebrating Bob’s birthday quite honestly. 70 years old! After living the way he did, and that pesky little heroin addiction in 1966, that came out right before his birthday — this is a fucking miracle. Uncut Magazine, probably in an attempt to be more culturally relevant, decided to release one of the weirdest ever Bob Dylan Birthday compilations, but you can find it below with some NRBW favorites like Wanda Jackson and Muddy Waters. Enjoy. And have a shot on Bobby this weekend. Of alcohol of course.

01 The Tune Weavers – Happy, Happy Birthday Baby
02 Robyn Hitchcock – Not Dark Yet
03 Wanda Jackson – Let’s Have A Party
04 Kathy Young – Happy Birthday Blues
05 North Mississippi All-Stars – Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
06 Buddy Knox – Party Doll
07 Sufjan Stevens – Happy Birthday
08 June Tabor Oyster Band – All Tomorrow’s Parties
09 Danny Schmidt – Buckets of Rain
10 Muddy Waters – Young Fashioned Ways
11 The Innocence Mission – Happy Birthday
12 Drive-By Truckers – Lisa’s Birthday
13 The Crests – 16 Candles
14 Hank Williams – Next Sunday Darlin’ Is My Birthday
15 Okkervil River – Your Past Life Is A Blast
16 Soweto Gospel Choir – Forever Young

What a beautiful day today is, y’all. 70 years ago, although unfortunately I don’t know exactly what time, one of the greatest individuals to ever have been born and created art, or done anything ever was born. Bob Dylan has had an incredible impact upon me and so many other people, and in fact, two years ago in late April, early May, I started doing Bob Dylan Friday’s which is probably the culmination of the first twenty three years of my life. So, I wanted to share my favorite Bob Dylan bootleg, and the best for anyone who wants to further delve into Dylan, even if it’s really daunting. Enjoy.

Dimestore Medicine was one of the first bootlegs of Bob Dylan’s that I came across. Although it’s not very rare, and all of these tracks are contained on other bootlegs as well — it’s one of the most classic brilliant bootlegs that exists. Packed to the brim with rare alternative versions, notably, the first ever rap ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues‘ and my second favorite Bob Dylan song ‘From A Buick 6‘. This bootleg introduced me to the non-album-but-still-classic ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window‘ which went on to be covered by Jimi Hendrix (albeit not as successfully as some other cover you might have heard of). There’s also the inclusion of a alternative version of ‘Tombstone Blues‘ that has backup singers during the chorus and it sounds amazing. If I haven’t convinced you yet, there’s early versions of songs that would end up on Highway 61 Revisited as well. I think, perhaps, if there is a crown jewel in this collection, it might be the first version of ‘Visions of Johanna‘, arguably the best song that has ever been written. This version although not as thin and wild as the album version, somehow winds up breaking my heart every single time I hear it. On a personal note, everyone knows how much Bob Dylan means to me and I think without this bootleg I would be in a very different spot musically. I just remember so fondly how excited I was to listen to each and every one of these songs and they’re all very, very special.

Disc one
Phantom Engineer (1)
Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence (1)
I Wanna Be Your Lover (2)
Please Crawl Out Your Window (3)
If You Gotta Go Go Now (4)
I Don’t Want To Be Your Partner (2)
She’s Your Lover Now (5)
Visions Of Johanna (6)
Desolation Row (7)
From A Buick Six (3)
Jet Pilot (2)
Number One (3)
Lunatic Princess Revisited (1)
Midnight Train
Please Crawl Out Your Window (7)
Visions Of Johanna (6)
Tombstone Blues (3)
Queen Jane Approximately (3)
Like A Rolling Stone (1)

Disc two
Subterranean Homesick Blues (4)
You Don’t Have To Do That (4)
I’ll Keep It With Mine (4)
It’s All Over Now Baby Blue (4)
Love Minus Zero (4)
She Belongs To Me (4)
To Ramona (4/30/65, Sheffield) (8)
Hattie Carroll (5/10/65, London) (8)
It Ain’t Me Babe (5/10/65, London) (8)
IAON Baby Blue (5/10/65, RAH, London) (8)
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (9)
It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)(9)