Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series Vol. 8 to be released on Oct. 7

[BlueChair]

From today's The USA Today:

Bob Dylan reveals many facets on 'Tell Tale Signs'
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

The tunes, they are a-changin', and Bob Dylan fans will find the telltale signs on Tell Tale Signs, the long-rumored eighth installment of his Bootleg Series.
The two-CD, 27-song set, out Oct. 7, contains previously unreleased studio recordings, demos, alternate takes, live tracks and rarities spanning 1989 to 2006, a rich period that generated the lauded Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, Modern Times and Oh Mercy. A third 12-track disc is part of a limited-edition deluxe set in a hardcover slipcase with a book with photos of all of Dylan's singles. The 27-song version also will be issued in a limited-edition four-LP set.

Listeners will discover a wealth of fresh material and multiple versions of songs with altered lyrics, moods and styles.

"When Most of the Time came out on Oh Mercy, I thought it was such an achingly beautiful love song," says Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of A&R at Columbia/Legacy. "Now it's here as a folk version and something that sounds like Dylan with Brian Eno and The Edge. To hear the way the songs and lyrics develop is fascinating. Dylan comes across as a folk singer, a blues musician and a jazz artist."

Dignity appears as a truncated piano demo and in twangy rockabilly form. Series of Dreams undergoes a rewrite. Twin renditions of the bluesy Marchin' to the City serve as blueprints for 'Til I Fell in Love With You.

The newly unveiled Dreamin' of You, a free download at the just-overhauled bobdylan.com, bears lyrics that later fed other songs.

Also new to Dylan's canon are Red River Shore and Can't Escape From You, written for a film but never used. Miss the Mississippi was rescued from a long-shelved album with David Bromberg, and 32-20 Blues marks Dylan's only release of a Robert Johnson cover.

Among the rarities are the live The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore, eight-minute 'Cross the Green Mountain, The Lonesome River duet with Ralph Stanley and Ring Them Bells from Dylan's storied 1993 stint at the Supper Club in Manhattan. Those performances were filmed but never released.

"The songs and performances are of such strength and diversity, they will appeal to new fans and longtime fans," Berkowitz says, predicting the two-CD set will satisfy most appetites. "For some fans, there's never enough."

Here's the full track listing for Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs, the eighth edition of his highly anticipated Bootleg Series.

Disc 1

Mississippi (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
Most of the Time (alternate version, Oh Mercy)
Dignity (piano demo, Oh Mercy)
Someday Baby (alternate version, Modern Times)
Red River Shore (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
Tell Ol' Bill (alternate version, North Country soundtrack)
Born in Time (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
Can't Wait (alternate version, Time Out of Mind)
Everything Is Broken (alternate version, Oh Mercy)
Dreamin' of You (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
Huck's Tune (from Lucky You soundtrack)
Marchin' to the City (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
High Water (for Charley Patton) (live, Niagara, N.Y., 2003)

Disc 2

Mississippi (unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
32-20 Blues (unreleased, World Gone Wrong)
Series of Dreams (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
God Knows (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
Can't Escape From You (unreleased, December 2005)
Dignity (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
Ring Them Bells (live at the Supper Club, New York, 1993)
Cocaine Blues (live, Vienna, Va., 1997)
Ain't Talkin' (alternate version, Modern Times)
The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore (live, 1992)
Lonesome Day Blues (live, Sunrise, Fla., 2002)
Miss the Mississippi (unreleased, 1992)
The Lonesome River (with Ralph Stanley, from Clinch Mountain Country)
'Cross the Green Mountain (from Gods and Generals soundtrack)

Disc 3 (available in limited editions only)

Duncan and Brady (unreleased, 1992)
Cold Irons Bound (live, Bonnaroo Festival, June 2004)
Mississippi (unreleased version #3, Time Out of Mind)
Most of the Time (alternate version #2, Oh Mercy)
Ring Them Bells (alternate version, Oh Mercy)
Things Have Changed (live, Portland, Ore., 2000)A
Red River Shore (unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
Born in Time (unreleased version #2, Oh Mercy)
Tryin' to Get to Heaven (live, London, 2000)
Marchin' to the City (unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
Can't Wait (alternate version #2, Time Out of Mind)
Mary and the Soldier (unreleased, World Gone Wrong)

[verbal gymnastics]

Great stuff!

[BlueChair]

One of the tracks, "Dreamin' Of You," is available as a free download on bobdylan.com

[bambooneedle]

[BlueChair]

Guardian was nice enough to post a stripped-down version of "Mississippi"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/audio/2008/sep/19/1

[BlueChair]

You can hear the entire 2 CD version here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=95047293

NPR does it for us again!

[Who Shot Sam?]

I really like that version of "Mississippi".

[BlueChair]

Yeah... in keeping with past editions of The Bootleg Series, there's some cuts here that rival what was included on the albums in question. "Red River Shore" was a part of Dylan folklore, so it's nice to finally be able to hear it along with some of the other Time Out Of Mind outtakes.

I love the alternate version of "Someday Baby." I couldn't believe that Dylan got away with crediting himself as songwriter on all of the songs on Modern Times considering how a handful of them were note-for-note copies of old blues tunes, but presented in this arrangement "Someday Baby" stands alone.

"Born In Time" and "God Knows" are also great... presented in early, stripped-down versions unlike the overproduced ones from Under The Red Sky

[ReadyToHearTheWorst]

Just noticed that the 3xCD edition is £89.98 on Amazon (play have it for £99.99). That's £77 for the 3rd CD, and some pictures! Few can/will stump up for that, so download (a.k.a. theft) will be v. common.

In these circumstances, who is the pirate?

[martinfoyle]

Yeah, I spent a fortune on the No Direction Home set so I had no qualms about, ahem, acquiring a copy from the net. Haven't listened to it yet, I'm sure it's great.

[bambooneedle]

And apparently the third disc is THE disc to get... I'd like to buy the 2cd set now (and download the third) but I suspect this third disc edition controversy is just to help promote the fact that he's releasing TTS and that eventually the 3cd version (with 3cd booklet) will be easily available. They'll say, "Well, due to overwhelming public demand..." and make people who bought the 2cd box buy the 3cd box. My Bootleg Series collection wouldn't be complete without it. In the meantime I've been learning some Brazillian words like pesquisar and baixar.

[BlueChair]

And apparently the third disc is THE disc to get... I'd like to buy the 2cd set now (and download the third) but I suspect this third disc edition controversy is just to help promote the fact that he's releasing TTS and that eventually the 3cd version (with 3cd booklet) will be easily available. They'll say, "Well, due to overwhelming public demand..." and make people who bought the 2cd box buy the 3cd box. My Bootleg Series collection wouldn't be complete without it. In the meantime I've been learning some Brazillian words like pesquisar and baixar.

So far I'm enjoying Disc 2 the most, but I suspect that might change over time. I created a playlist called Bob Dylan 1989-2006 and threw Oh Mercy, Time Out Of Mind, Love & Theft, Modern Times and all three discs of Telltale Signs in there. It's a fun listen.

It's interesting... Dylan's voice may be more raspy and warbly now, but it comes across with a hell of a lot more passion than even his classic 1965-1966-era stuff, rivaling Blood On The Tracks