a fascinating look at early Dylan through his 1963 Carnegie Hall Concert

In his somewhat sparse annotation accompanying this four record set, annotator Professor Sean Wilentz wisely doesn’t attempt to explain how Robert Zimmerman became Bob Dylan, which was a good call since the more you dig, the more inexplicable it becomes. Even Dylan, when Ed Bradley interviewed him about his autobiographical book "Chronicles, Volume One" for the television news feature show formerly known as "60 Minutes", admitted he doesn’t fully understand how he came to write much of that early, career defining output, nor, he added, did he think he was capable in 2004 when the book was released, of writing anything remotely approaching the power and glory of that early material.

Instead of a written explanation, the generously visually annotated set tells the story "entirely through recordings made during those formative years", including unreleased concert performances, uncirculated studio outtakes and even Dylan performing in friends’ apartments, among other never before heard performances along with eavesdropping conversations with friends and fellow musicians, climaxing with songs, some previously unreleased, from his 1963 sold-out Carnegie Hall performance October 26th, 1963 when he was 22 years old, two and a half years after he arrived in New York City.

While the Carnegie crowd could be considered among the still small number of Dylan insiders, not long afterwards, one of the songs on *The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan" released six months earlier would become a civil rights anthem when Peter, Paul & Mary released its version of "Blowin’ in the Wind". Nationwide, the "ragamuffin"’s star *(as The New York Times called him") was rapidly rising.

The set begins with the 15 year old singing "Let the Good Times Roll" at a music shop in St. Paul MN. A bit over 4 years later in February 1961 he’s singing "Remember Me" (a Scotty Wiseman song Willie Nelson had a hit with in 1976) at a home in East Orange, NJ close to where Woody Guthrie had been hospitalized and where Dylan also performed in a small club where he had a bad experience. His speed rap is hilarious.

By side’s end, November 1961 he’s recording at Columbia Records Studio A, having been signed by John Hammond in a deal otherwise known around the label as "Hammond’s Folly".

On the 20th he performs a previously unreleased outtake of the traditional folk song "He Was A Friend of Mine". The side ends with a November 22nd outtake of Woody Guthrie’s "Ramblin’ Round". Two years later on that day Kennedy was assassinated and two years after that The Byrds re-worded the song to make it about the assassination. How creepy would it have been had Dylan recorded his version on the 22nd instead of the 20th?

All of this vibrant musical and cultural activity took place in Greenwich Village and the set, in music and visuals, puts the listener into that long ago dissipated scene— "...likely the only place where these things could have happened", according to the Producers’ Note that opens the full sized 23 page ephemera filled booklet—something co-producer Steve Berkowitz is well known for providing Bootleg Series buyers, . This box’s booklet, printed on thick stock, is filled with great period pieces including concert advertising, Dylan photos from 1958 and beyond, including striking full page black and white portraits, and in-performance shots. The ones from Studio A and Carnegie Hall are most striking.

Criticism? Well, the hype sticker claims "42 rare and previously unreleased performances", when in fact the entire box consists of 42 tracks, and 13 have previously been released (though a few were only on the super-limited "Copyright Extension" set The 50th Anniversary Collection)—and my tally may be off because I found it difficult to understand the single and double asterisks.

In fairness to the endeavor, they are released here as part of an essential narrative. The Carnegie Hall performance of "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" makes its debut here—among the many songs the audience would hear for the first time and not again performed by Dylan according to the notes, but The Byrds’ later version in Turn! Turn! Turn! was definitive. Dylan introduced "The Times They Are A Changin’" at the concert, as the annotation notes, but it was omitted from the concert tracks here, which is too bad.

Obviously this set is for Dylan obsessives/completists and for those who want to attempt to understand how Zimmerman became Dylan. As Wilentz writes in the annotation, the set "...vivifies the by-now clichéd image of young Dylan as a sponge or piece of blotting paper, soaking up influences....". Usually, when you squeeze a saturated sponge all the comes out is what went in. Not with Dylan!

There are almost always surprises to be found within these "The Bootleg Series" boxes. On this one is a live performance of "Dusty Old Fairgrounds" recorded live on April 12th, 1963 at Town Hall. The only other performance of that I know of was on an album by a Youngstown, Ohio based group Blue Ash on its debut album *No More, No Less—*now considered a "power pop" classic, which it was!

The executive producer was Paul Nelson, then an A&R exec at Mercury Records also involved in The New York Dolls, which he’d signed to the label. The Minnesota native and co-founder with Dylan of the folk revival magazine The Little Sandy Review. They perhaps were roommates for a short time in a Dinkytown apartment.

Whatever the case, Nelson knew the song "Dusty Old Fairgrounds" and suggested Blue Ash record it, which they did, producing a rousing, meaningful version of the song, which you can listen to here:

Music Specifications

Catalog No: 19802913001

Pressing Plant: Memphis Record Pressing (or other GZ affiliate)

SPARS Code: ADA

Speed/RPM: 33 1/3

Weight: 140 grams

Size: 12"

Channels: Mono

Source: various

Presentation: Box Set