It's a good time to be a Bob Dylan fan. The end of August saw the release of two sets of previously unreleased recordings from the music legend, and a Martin Scorsese-directed documentary entitled No Direction Home: Bob Dylan is set to air Sept. 26 to 27 on PBS. The DVD of the film will be released Sept. 20. So really, it's a rather expensive time to be a Dylan fan.
The first of the recordings is a soundtrack album to the film, being released as part of the ongoing Bootleg Series of rare Dylan recordings. However, in contrast to the last three installments, which consist solely of live material, No Direction Home (volume seven) is a combination of live numbers and alternate takes of familiar Dylan tunes. This results in a somewhat mixed bag. Some, such as a revved-up version of It Takes a Lot to Laugh
It Takes a Train to Cry are fascinating, but others, such as a take of Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again mainly serve to show why the final versions made it on their respective albums.
The live stuff is what makes this a must-buy for Dylan fans. A raucous version of Maggie's Farm from the Newport Folk Festival is a standout; it is the sound of rock music being changed forever. There's also a great rendition of Ballad of a Thin Man
which unfortunately suffers from poor sound quality.
The other CD, Live at the Gaslight 1962
is a collection of 10 Dylan performances at the legendary Greenwich Village hangout. This is only available at Starbucks Coffee locations. This decision, along with his Victoria's Secret ad, seems to be the portent of another, very commercial side of Dylan.
The Gaslight songs were not recorded with the best equipment in the best conditions; some songs end quite suddenly and background noise is audible. Well, they're not meant to be studio recordings, so it isn't that big of a deal.
Among the tunes on this album are excellent renditions of A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall and Don't Think Twice
It's All Right. The latter song was unfinished at the time of the recording, and it's interesting to hear Dylan hum or simply strum to fill in the parts that he hadn't come up with lyrics for yet. The other songs are more traditional folk tunes tinged with blues and country-western sensibilities; fans of Uncle Tupelo should recognize Moonshiner among them.
All in all, both CDs are highly recommended, but mainly to hardcore Dylan fans; more casual listeners would do better to pick up one of his other albums.
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Ben Saylor
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