Bob Dylan – Buried Treasure
There is such a wealth of works by Bob, its a little hard to get around to listening to it all. And I don’t mean just the stuff major record labels have released. There are zillions of unofficial works, bootlegs and whatnots floating around these days. Going back to 1960.
I’ve managed to go through a lot of this, and am continually struck by how much really, really strong stuff there is out there that is not been released officially. Or in some cases, maybe it has, but is hidden somewhere in Columbia’s bootleg series, which is just a mish-mash.
Columbia has muddied the meaning of “bootlegs”. In fact, bootlegs came into existence because of Dylan. The first bootleg was “Great White Wonder” (for the solid white album cover), that featured odds and ends floating around at the time. This album was illegally produced and sold under the counter at record stores and “head shops”, and reportedly sold over a million copies — which is astounding considering the time and how it was sold. It wasn’t until the ’90s that Columbia decided to cash in on these, and released many of the better quality ones.
Anyway GWW kicked off an era with many bootlegs from Bob and others. Bob probably had at least 10 himself, including Blind Boy Grunt, John Birch Society Blues, The Basement Tapes, The Kindest Cut, and Talkin Bear Mountain. The raw material used for these bootlegs is now circulating around the Internet for one and all.
Suggested listening from among these hidden treasures.
- I Was Young When I Left Home
- Its Hard to be Blind
- Candy Man (traditional)
- Remember Me (a very early Willie Nelson cover)
- He was a Friend of Mine
- Hard Times in New York Town
- Rocks and Gravel
- Stealin’
- Long Time Comin’ (and a Long Time Gone)
- Blind Willie McTell
- Golden Loom
- VD City