Bob Dylan Early Years Showcased on Two New Albums

 

Bob Dylan fans are about to get another window into the artist’s early years with the release of a new bootleg series album of early recordings and a box set of Dylan’s first eight LP albums.
Dylan’s The Bootleg Series Volume 9-The Witmark Demos and Bob Dylan-The Original Mono Recordings will be released Oct. 19 by Columbia Records. Save 10 percent by ordering through TheImproper. See below.
Both sets have been long sought by collectors and fans, according to the label.
The Witmark Demos features 47 Dylan songs recorded by the artist, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano.

The Bootleg Series Volume 9 – The Witmark Demos Track List:
Disc 1:
1. Man On The Street (Fragment)
2. Hard Times In New York Town
3. Poor Boy Blues
4. Ballad For A Friend
5. Rambling, Gambling Willie
6. Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
7. Standing On The Highway
8. Man On The Street
9. Blowin’ In The Wind
10. Long Ago, Far Away
11. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
12. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
13. The Death of Emmett Till
14. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
15. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
16. Quit Your Low Down Ways
17. Baby, I’m In The Mood For You
18. Bound To Lose, Bound To Win
19. All Over You
20. I’d Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
21. Long Time Gone
22. Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues
23. Masters Of War
24. Oxford Town
25. Farewell
Disc 2
1. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
2. Walkin’ Down The Line
3. I Shall Be Free
4. Bob Dylan’s Blues
5. Bob Dylan’s Dream
6. Boots Of Spanish Leather
7. Walls of Red Wing
8. Girl From The North Country
9. Seven Curses
10. Hero Blues
11. Whatcha Gonna Do?
12. Gypsy Lou
13. Ain’t Gonna Grieve
14. John Brown
15. Only A Hobo
16. When The Ship Comes In
17. The Times They Are A-Changin’
18. Paths Of Victory
19. Guess I’m Doing Fine
20. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
21. Mama, You Been On My Mind
22. Mr. Tambourine Man
23. I’ll Keep It With Mine

The recordings provide a window into Dylan’s growth as a songwriter. The tracks include early songs like “Man On The Street” and “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie” and social protest songs that made Dylan a folk hero.
He made the recordings for his first music publisher, Leeds Music, in January 1962, and for his second publisher, M. Witmark & Sons, between 1962 and 1964.
They include “Blowin’ In The Wind, “The Times They Are A Changin’” “Masters Of War” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
Dylan penned all of the songs before he was 24 years old.
Some 15 songs on The Witmark Demos were only recorded during the sessions and have never been released until now.
These include the plaintive “Ballad For A Friend,” the civil rights era-inspired “Long Ago, Far Away” and “The Death Of Emmett Till,” and the poignant “Guess I’m Doing Fine,” according to the label.
Many of the songs were popularized by other artists, including, Peter, Paul and Mary and Stevie Wonder (“Blowin’ In The Wind”), Judy Collins (“Tomorrow Is A Long Time”) and The Byrds (“Mr Tambourine Man”).
The Witmark Demos also features a deluxe booklet featuring in-depth liner notes by noted music historian Colin Escott, as well as rare photographs of Dylan during the same period.
The Original Mono Recordings is comprised of Bob Dylan’s first eight long-playing albums, reproduced from their first generation monaural mixes as the artist intended them to be heard: One channel of powerful sound, both direct and immediate.

The Complete Mono Recordings:

– Bob Dylan – 1962
– The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – 1963
– The Times They Are A-Changin’ – 1964
– Another Side Of Bob Dylan – 1964
– Bringing It All Back Home – 1965
– Highway 61 Revisited – 1965
– Blonde on Blonde – 1966
– John Wesley Harding – 1967

While stereo recordings had been available as early as the mid-1950s, mono was still the predominant – and often preferred – mode of recording and mixing by the top artists of the 1960s.
As a result, artists like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan devoted their attention to the mono mixes, leaving the stereo mixing process to studio engineers.
These eight albums span the artist’s self-titled debut in March 1962, through John Wesley Harding released on December 27, 1967.