THE BOOTLEG SERIES, VOLS. 1-3 (RARE AND UNRELEASED) 1961-1991
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 is a compilation box set by Bob Dylan, issued on Columbia Records. It is the first installment in the Dylan bootleg series. Released in 1991 to satisfy enormous demand for Dylan’s much-bootlegged unissued material, it contains rarities and unreleased works from the sessions for 1962’s eponymous debut Bob Dylan to 1989’s Oh Mercy. Of the 58 total tracks, 45 are session outtakes from recording sessions for Dylan studio albums. Of the remaining 13 tracks, one is an outtake from the session for the “George Jackson” single of 1971, two are further releases from the Basement Tapes sessions of 1967, five are live recordings, and five are demo records, three of the latter being later duplicated on Volume 9 of the series. (More from Wikipedia)
Two of his songs (Ron Franklin writes all of his own material) basically quote Bob Dylan. One is the death-obsessed “Do Not Wait Till I’m Laid ’Neath the Clay”; this song is reminiscent of early Dylan songs like “Fixin’ to Die” and “In My Time of Dyin’” on his first album, Bob Dylan, and the fantastic “Let Me Die in My Footsteps” that was intended for inclusion on his second, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (the song was finally released officially on The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991).
(January 2012)
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Bob Dylan once wrote a poem as a tribute to this folk music giant. Titled “Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie”, Dylan recited it once at a concert – specifically, at the Town Hall in New York City on April 12, 1963 according to Wikipedia. I have it on one of my Dylan bootleg albums, and it is also included in what is probably the biggest bootleg product of all time, the 10-LP box set Ten of Swords (1986). The first legitimate release is on The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 (1991).
(March 2015)
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I will have more to say about Bob Dylan bootleg albums in a future post(s), but I will mention in passing that Dylan has released a staggering amount of his older music in a variety of formats, including but not exclusively in The Bootleg Series. When Dylan agreed to start doing this, he secured an agreement from the record company that was non-negotiable: The recording quality has to be good no matter what. The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 was released in 1991 and includes a live version of “Who Killed Davey Moore”. I had to play it several times to be sure but finally concluded that it is the same live performance included on John Birch Society Blues, even though the difference in the sound of the two recordings is dramatic. Even so, I am happy to have both of them; I was never dissatisfied with the quality of “Who Killed Davey Moore” as it appears on John Birch Society Blues. A new volume in this series, The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981 about Dylan’s Christian albums, was released in November 2017.
(September 2017)
