Thursday, June 3, 2010

Tell Tale Signs

Yup, the bootleg part 8 from the Dylan canon of lost treasures.

Mississippi, Red River Shore, Cross the Green Mountain each either unheard of different from the actual album version, but nonetheless interesting recording.

Dylan is fascinating not just what he writes, but how he records and thru that process, reinvents the song along the way. Take Born in Time, good as it was on Under the Red Sky, is infinitely better on the Oh Mercy sessions. This is the version presented here and used by Clapton for his own album.

And it is a wonderful gem, mystical poetry musing on a woman (what else?) that defies explanation. And the multiple versions of Mississippi, is an evolution of a classic. But the folky blues spareness of the first version works best, haunting, spooking like Robert Johnson vibe.

And the live recordings that round this collection also baffles. Ring them bells from the supper club sessions show just how brilliant those concerts were, but yet only this has been released officially while the bootlegs are better documented on this event.

And also the 2 recordings from the Bromberg sessions is interesting to say the least.

Yup, there are a lot of gems to be discovered and rediscovered.

From Oh Mercy to Modern Times, these outtakes are anything but discards. And who else has so much treasure in their trash bins?