Dylan’s New ‘Bootleg’ to Feature Unearthed Live Show
Bob Dylan‘s forthcoming Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos
will come with a notable bonus, if you buy the set from Amazon: A previously unknown live recording of Dylan. Taped May 10th, 1963 at Brandeis University’s First Annual Folk Festival, the tape sat in the archives of Rolling Stone co-founder Ralph Gleason’s collection for over forty years. “It had been forgotten, until it was found last year in the clearing of the house after my mother died,” says Ralph’s son Toby Gleason. “It’s a seven inch reel-to-reel that sounds like it was taped from the mixing disc. A collector/dealer associate of the family said ‘This might be worth something to the Dylan office’ and we sold it to them last year.”
Photos: See classic shots of Bob Dylan from the 1960s
Dylan has been releasing Bootleg Series concerts for twelve years, but this is the first time a previously uncirculated show has hit the market. Gleason has no idea how his father — who died in 1975 — came into possession of the tape, which was first reported by the online Dylan fanzine Isis. “My father had nothing to do with that Brandeis show,” he says. “I suspect he got the tape from Bob himself or from one of the people in Bob’s organization. My father was one of the nationally credited writers that wrote about Bob the most, and they became close.” The disc won’t be sold in stores, but will be delivered to everyone who buys the eight-disc Mono Recordings box set or the next Bootleg Series through Amazon.
The ninth volume of the Bootleg Series
is devoted to 1960’s demos that Dylan recorded for Witmark and Leeds Publishing. “The set begins with folk songs you’ve never heard of, like ‘Man On The Street’ and ‘Hard Times In New York Town,’” a source close to the Dylan camp tells Rolling Stone. “It ends with very scratchy piano demos for ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ and ‘I’ll Keep In With Mine,’ which was given to Nico.” A CD/DVD set of Dylan’s famous 1993 stand at New York’s Supper Club was nearly released instead of the Witmark Demos. “I decided I liked the story of the Witmark Demos better than the Supper Club,” says the source. “That will definitely come out on CD and DVD sometime soon, though.”
Photos: Preview Bob Dylan’s major new art show
Meanwhile, many other Dylan projects are percolating. We asked our source about the documentary of Dylan’s 1975/76 Rolling Thunder Revue, which has been in development for years. “We’re still working on it,” says the source. “I hope it comes out in the next couple of years.” After it does finally come out, the Dylan camp plans on releasing a series of Bootleg Series DVDs. “We’ll put out the [1976] Hard Rain TV special,” the source says. “We have other TV special we’ll put out after that.” A giant box set of the complete Blonde on Blonde sessions is also being considered. “When Bob recorded he did it like a jazz guy, where all the versions of the songs are very different from each other,” says the source. “I’d love to release a set where you hear the whole takes and everything else. That would just for the super-fans.” Less likely to see the light of day: a sequel to Dylan’s acclaimed 2004 book Chronicles Vol. 1. “I hope there’s another one,” the source says. “That’s all I can say. If it was planned I’d tell you.”
Live: Brandeis University, 1963
“Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance” (Incomplete)
“Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”
“The Ballad of Hollis Brown”
“Masters of War”
“Talkin’ World War Three Blues”
“Bob Dylan’s Dream”
“Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues”