Bob Dylan - No Direction Home: The Bootleg Series, Volume 7

Rare and unreleased Dylan music is one of my little fetishes. The Bootleg Series has thus been, of course, a Godsend, a source of pure and unadulterated joy in my life. The latest installment addresses the time period we just can't get enough of: his first recordings up through his trio of electric albums (Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisted, and Blonde on Blonde).

The real joy of the collection is, of course, the extra material from his electric period. The first Bootleg Series release, Volumes 1-3, skimped on this period of time, devoting only part of the second disc (only about a half dozen tracks) to those vital years. For No Direction Home, the first disc is devoted to his earliest recordings and his acoustic folk era, drawing on unreleased songs, alternate versions, and live cuts of familiar songs. As always, Dylan completely recasts the mood and feeling often very familiar songs: he speeds them up, slows them down, alters time signatures, and totally reworks lyrics and vocal inflection to achieve a complete reimaging of the songs. The perfect example is his cover of "Man of Constant Sorrow." He coverd the song on his debut album, but the version presented here is totally different. I actually didn't recognize the song at first.

The treat comes on the second disc, which is given over to alternate and live takes on songs that should--by now--feel almost too familiar. But the reworkings of classic tracks such as "Tombstone Blues," "Desolation Row," and "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" are all phenomenal. "Desolation Row" and "Stuck Inside of Mobile" in particular are actually superior in these alternate versions than in the official album versions.

In essence, No Direction Home offers up more of the same high-quality rarities we've come to expect from The Bootleg Series. There's not a bad cut on the entire collection, and it even throws in a few songs we've never heard before: the first disc opener, "When I Got Troubles," was recorded before Dylan even had a recording contract, and it sounds totally unlike anything else he'd ever done (it's like an early rock and roll song done only on an acoustic guitar). It's a fantastic set, and a definite must-have for any Dylanophile.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Bob Dylan, "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Alternate Take)"