Bob Dylan
Genuine Bootleg, Vol. 4
Manufacturer / Catalog No.
Scorpio 94-14-01/02/03
Re-release 1999

Disc one

Rangers Command (1)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (2)
Midnight Special (3)
It Makes A Long Time Man Feel Bad (4)
Baby Please Don’t Go (5)
Ballad Of The Gliding Swan (6)
James Alley Blues (7)
Lone Time Gone (8)
Only A Hobo (9)
Not The Cough Song (10)
Hard Rain (11)
Troubled And I Don’t Know Why (12)
Ballad Of Hollis Brown (13)
Boots Of Spanish Leather (13)
North Country Blues (13)
Seven Curses (14)
Eternal Circle (15)
Mr. Tambourine Man (15)
Outlaw Blues (16)
Please Crawl Out Your Window (17)
Keep It With Mine (18)

Disc two

Tell Me Mama (19)
Ain’t Got No Home (20)
See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (21)
One Too Many Mornings (22)
Song To Woody (23)
If Not For You (24)
Put My Money Down (25)
For You Oh Babe For You (25)
Going Going Gone (26)
What Will You Do When Jesus Comes (27)
No Man Righteous (28)
I Will Love Him (29)
Let’s Keep It Between Us (30)
Shot Of Love (31)
In The Summertime (31)
Let It Be Me (32)
Groom’s Still Waiting At The Altar (33)
I And I (34)
Side Walks Fences And Walls (35)

Disc three

Soon (36)
Ring Them Bells (37)
Dignity (38)
2 X 2 (39)
Born In Time (39)
Wiggle Wiggle (39)
TV Talkin’ Song (39)
Unbelievable (39)
Under The Red Sky (39)
Polly Vaughn (40)
Catskill Serenade (40)
Miss The Mississippi (40)
Sloppy Drunk (40)
You Belong To Me (41)
Anyway You Want Me (42)
Lawdy Miss Clawdy (42)
Money Honey (42)
Money Honey II (42)
I Can’t Get You Off My Mind (43)
Return To Me (44)
Red Cadillac And A Black Moustache (45)
Tell Old Bill (46)
A Change Is Gonna Come (47)
Take Me Out To The Ballgame (48)

DISC ONE

(1) 5½ stars. Cynthia Gooding’s recording from Gerdes Folk City (not her apartment) on September 29, 1961. The entire recording is muffled (as if the mic were hidden under a sweater. However this is as good a quality as I’ve heard.

(2) 8½ stars. The Bonnie Beecher tape from Minneapolis, Minnesota 12/ 22/61. Very nice quality.

(3) 10 stars. The first time I’ve ever heard this Harry Belafonte outtake. The quality is great, but the performance is flawed. Dylan plays harp, and in this version it’s extra loud and continuous.

(4) 7 stars. Cynthia Gooding’s 1961 radio show. The harp is too loud, and the vocals are not loud enough.

(5) 10 stars. Freewheelin’ outtake from April 25, 1962. Same version as iTunes’ Bob Dylan – The Collection.

(6) 6½ stars. This was recorded in late December of 1962 for the BBC television program ”Madhouse on Castle Street”. As Bob was then an unknown artist, there was no thought of keeping the taped performance, and it was discarded. Dylan’s earlier chance bookstore meeting of Hans Fried, prompted Fried to record Dylan on the show. He used a mid 1950’s model Baird reel-to-reel tape recorder, and held the mic to the TV speaker. This result is a very good though slightly muffled one minute mono version of a macabre song co-written by Dylan and the play writer Evan Jones.

(7) 9 stars for the guitar, as the mic was positioned directly in front of it. The vocals range from inaudible at songs beginning to an eventual 7-8 stars. This Richard Brown song was recorded September 1962 at the New York home of friends Eve and ‘Mac’ McKenzie.

(8) 7½ – 8 stars Another outing from one of the several McKenzie tapes. This one has good mic placement to capture guitar and vocal fairly evenly. One ring of the telephone is heard halfway through.

(9) 8½ – 9 stars for another great McKenzie recording. Bob plays and sings the first verse and course beautifully, but then forgets the next verse. He pauses and fumbles with the guitar before coming back strong with the second and third verses and courses. Eve McKenzie is heard making a couple of positive comments.

(10) 9 stars This McKenzie recording is instrumental. It’s unclear as to whether this two minute recording is the beginning of a song, or simply Dylan showing off some of his impressive guitar work. The first 45 seconds is a slow 4/4 delta blues that rolls around the tempo to create other time signatures. Bob then slips into a Chet Atkins style of slow finger picking for 15 seconds. He speeds the tempo up until he looses it. The final minute morphs into a slow version of what would later become Suze until the tape runs out.

(11) 9 stars Bob performs a seven minute version of the song that he had played a few days earlier at the Carnegie Hall Hootenanny on September, 22 1962. It’s still months before the official recording. Bob makes an early misstep, but the song comes off quite well.08

(12) 9 stars This pirate recording duet with Joan Baez is live from the Forest Hills show of August 17, 1963. It was released on the CDs Songs From Sing Out! and the Joan Baez set Rare, Live & Classic

(13) 10 stars. These recordings, from Carnegie Hall October 26, 1963, are simply perfection. Forget about the primitive equipment of the day argument. These gems could have been digitally recorded in the studio last year as far as the quality goes. The performances are laid bare emotion. The best of the best. The reason they are so good is that they were released by Sony, so these are pirate recordings. prior to 2005, the tracks did not circulate among collectors. “Bob Dylan Live At Carnegie Hall 1963” was released that year as a promo disc to the public, and there were various ways to obtain it in different parts of the world by buying certain combinations of released Dylan items.

(14) 8 stars. This is from the same 1963 Carnegie Hall show, though not near the quality. Originally taken from an unreleased CBS acetate, it is slightly muffled and spotted with white noise (acetate pops). This same version has circulated for years in this same quality.

(15) 9 stars. Newly surfaced line recordings from England’s Royal Festival Hall on May 17, 1964. Both quality and performance is incredible. As these were taken from acetate, there is a little white noise, especially in the beginning of Eternal Circle.

(16) 10 stars. Perfect quality on this acoustic version from the first Bringing It All Back Home recording session recorded at Columbia’s Studio A in New York City. This was also available in the iTunes Collection.

(17) 9½ stars. Package states October 25, 1965, but this couldn’t be correct. Nov. 30, 1965 was the second Blonde on Blonde session in which this was recorded at least ten times. This is most likely the date. Song is near perfect quality, although it is from acetate and includes noise. That’s easy to overlook. What’s harder to forgive is that at the very end of the three and a half minute song, Dylan sneaks in “You gotta lotta nerve to say you are…”. As he says “lot” there is a digital transfer skip in the word. The track indicator reads 3:22. A few seconds later and the song has ended.

(18) 9½-10 stars. The Blonde On Blonde sessions were extensive. Recordings were made over a five month period that spanned 1965 and 1966, and were split between two cities. The earlier sessions that yielded the previous song were in New York City. This recording is from Feb. 15, 1966 at Columbia Music Row Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. This three minute instrumental contains harp, but no vocal. It was recorded from an acetate, so a few white noise pops can be heard.

DISC TWO

(19) 8-8½ stars. This May 14, 1966 show from Liverpool has circulated for many years, and was taken from the 1991 Supersound bootleg CD release. It was long rumored to be part of a planned official CBS release, but it never happened. The mix is not perfect. The organ is a bit loud to start with. Later the vocals become a bit loud and the mic delivers a few ‘P’ pops. The song ends rather sloppily. All things considered might be reason for it never appearing officially.

(20) 7½-8 stars. This song is from the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert held in New York on January 20, 1968. Therefore, it’s a pirate recording as it was released on the 1970 Columbia album A Tribute to Woody Guthrie Part One. It’s now available on the Warner Brothers CD release from which this track was taken. Interesting to note that during the first keyboard solo the tempo jumps quite a bit. This is a thing that happens to musicians at times, especially during solo when adrenalin pumps a little harder. The tempo never falls back. During the second guitar solo, the same thing happens. The tempo is now quite a bit faster than the songs beginning, and it stays there.

(21) 10 stars. A song from the basement tapes. A year before the sessions for Nashville Skyline, this could easily be mistaken for being from those sessions both in terms of quality and performance. The three and one half minute song cuts in cold at “Kind favor I’d ask of you” The instruments slowly stumble in. The vocals are clear and way up front with a definite Nashville Skyline feel. Instruments include bass guitar, harmonica, brush played snare drum, and autoharp. The autoharp is the lead instrument and is well mixed from the beginning. Others are a bit buried. All instrument volumes come up slowly and eventually all are properly in the mix except for the autoharp which is now too loud.

(22) 7-8 stars. A song from the Johnny Cash / Bob Dylan session on February 18, 1969. It was officially released in two videos. 1979’s JOHNNY CASH, THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC, and 1984’s THE OTHER SIDE OF NASHVILLE, as well as being broadcast in a Johnny Cash Documentary. It starts in very nice quality, but falls away somewhat in the middle. Most notable for the engineer introducing it as take one of “A Thousand Miles Behind”, and for Bob and Johnny stumbling almost comically in an attempt to end the song.

(23) 9 stars. This four and one half minute song from the May 1, 1970 New Morning session at NYC’s CBS studio is given new life with Bob’s matured voice and a happy feeling 3/4 time production with a bouncing bass line. Later the brush on snare is blended in to give a definite waltz feel to the song. A package highlight.

(24) 9-10 stars. Another package highlight is this beautiful three minute Dylan and George Harrison duet. A 1971 studio rehearsal for the Madison Square Garden Bangladesh concert on August 1, 1971. It was officially released in 1972 in the movie THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH, and came out on commercial video in 1983 and DVD in 2005.

(25) 10 stars. I’ve never before heard these bizarre outtakes that were recorded at NYC’s Record Plant in November 1971 during the Allen Ginsberg & Friends sessions. The sound quality is incredible, but one listen through of the performance should be enough to satisfy even the most hardcore fan. Hard to believe, but in this surreal world, Bob is the only one who sings on key.

(26) 10 stars. An incredible find that helps to give this release validity. It’s a perfect quality (minus a few reel to reel tape squeaks) alternate vocal / acoustic guitar track from the 24 track master reel used during the November 1973 sessions for Planet Waves. The Band can be barely heard at certain times due to track bleed through. A portion of the three and one half minute performance is an incredibly rare listen of Dylan a’capella.

(27) 7 stars. Taken directly from the Renaldo & Clara soundtrack, this is not notably good quality, not a notably good performance, and not notably entertaining. Thankfully, it is notably short.

(28) 8 stars. This is one of only a couple performances of this rare song. Bob ends it by saying “I’m sure that’s going to be on our next album”… but it was not to be. Most circulating copies of this song have been taken from the CD Contract With The Lord 1, that at 5:15, was mastered too slow. This version has been corrected to the proper speed and time of 4:35.

(29) 8½-9 stars. The only known performance / recording of this song is from the final encore of April 19, 1980 at Massey Hall, Toronto. This is a line recording feed from the board LYRICS

(30) 7½ stars. This newly surfaced recording from the Rundown Studios in October 1980 is the only known studio recording. It starts out nearly inaudible, but quickly comes up. It seems more like a through the air (open mic) recording than a direct line. It’s quite muffled, though Dylan’s vocals get crisper as the recording goes on. It’s easily dismissible after the first listen as being a lower quality, lesser performance. You owe it a few more listens. The official lyrics are available at bobdylan.com, but some are quite different than are recorded here. Most notably there are extra verses here in this five and one half minute recording, and the turnaround has been completely changed to:I know we’re not perfect, but then again so whatThat ain’t no reason to treat me like a slave and to treat you like a slut
And it’s just makin’ me angry
Dylan has an incredible sense of timing to fit the words in. Some are spoken in tune, and some are passionately spit out. The phraseology, the lyrics, the spoken delivery, the bluesy feel, the playful organ.. all told, one is put in mind of a a 1970’s performance of Russell Smith and The Amazing Rhythm Aces. Another fascinating observation that I can now make only in retrospect, one can easily see this song being written for his then back up singer of two years, Carolyn Dennis. It is presumably her that can be heard buried a few times in this recording affirming a few of Dylan’s words. With the hindsight knowledge that she would be his girlfriend and later his secret wife and mother of his daughter, this song moves from an uninteresting ditty to one of the most personal slices of Dylan’s private life of this time that he has ever uttered. When held up in this light, this song can soon become an obsession that you can’t walk away from.

(31) 10 stars. Perfect quality rough mix takes that have been line recorded. Recorded during the Spring of 1981, these both seem to be the released versions prior to post mastering. before Shot Of Love, The engineer can barely be herd introducing it as “take 20”

(32) 10 stars. This is an official rarity, as it was released as a B-side. This version is crystal clear and seems to be from a tape source.

(33) 10 stars. This is a rough mix from the May 1981 Clover Studio sessions that is mainly notable for the cold ending.

(34) 10 stars. Fantastic reggae dub remix from Is it Rolling Bob?: A Reggae Tribute to Bob Dylan

(35) 8½ stars. A newly surfaced outtake from the Down In The Groove sessions.

DISC THREE

(36) 6½ stars. Bob performs this Ira / George Gershwin tune live at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music, NYC on March 11, 1987, for the Gershwin Celebration (50th anniversary of Gershwin’s death). It was recorded through the air from TV broadcast. This results in a muffled sound. It has appeared in the same quality on several bootlegs including Hard To Find Vol 5 and You Don’t Know Me .

(37) 10 stars. This piano and vocal demo is an Oh Mercy outtake. Even though it clocks in at just a minute and a half, it’s perfect quality. It cuts off cold after the line “… God is one.”

(38) 10 stars. This is another two minute piano demo that was made available on a promotional CD with Chronicles. The vocals are far out front and much easier to hear than on the released version.

(39) 9-10 stars. In March of 1990, Dylan was recording at The Record Plant Studio in Los Angeles, California with the Was Not Was band / producers David and Don at the Under The Red Sky sessions. The bass player for half of the takes was Randy Jackson of TV’s American Idol fame, and he can be heard on the first four tracks. Red Sky has always been an undeservedly panned album by fans and critics alike. There are some true gems on the album as well as in this collection. Born In Time, for example, is simply an overlooked masterpiece. Not only is it poetic genius, but Bob uses perhaps the sexiest voice that he has ever recorded with. This outake is a continuation of that same voice. Under The Red Sky is another song that people don’t get for some reason. It’s as darkly and masterfully a woven fairy-tale as any of those of the Grimm Brothers. Not a lot of lyric changes here, but Bob was unsure if the tape was rolling. At forty seconds in he asks “Are you taking (taping) this?” At 3:30 of the four minute song Dylan simply says “That’s it” to signify the end of the vocals. Wiggle Wiggle has never been one of my favorites, but there are a few alternate lines here. There are several different lyrics, lines, and verses on TV Talkin’ Song, another song with some powerful words. 2 X 2 contains different lines as well, to rhyme with each number, and Unbelievable contains several different lines including an entirely different final verse. These recordings were also notable for the rare celebrity cameo appearances including David Crosby on background Vocals, Elton John – piano on 2 X 2 / Bruce Hornsby on piano and Robben Ford – guitar on Born In Time and TV Talkin’ Song / Slash playing guitar for Wiggle Wiggle / Al Kooper at the keyboards on Unbelievable and Don Was on bass with George Harrison playing slide guitar for Under The Red Sky. Overall, these are some very nice finds, and represent yet another package highlight.

(40) 7½ stars. In June of 1992 Dylan rented Acme Recording Studio in Chicago, Illinois to record a contractual album for Sony, and hired David Bromberg to produce, and Bromberg’s band to play. There was an album worth of material recorded before Bob left for tour in Europe. When Bob returned home to California he began recording acoustic songs in his home studio with intent of adding a few to the album. The acoustic cover songs kept flowing, and eventually overtook the project. The acoustic songs were released as Good as I Been to You, and the Bromberg sessions, for some mysterious reason, have never seen the light of day save for these previously circulating four tracks. Polly Vaughan is an old Irish folksong that was brought to the US by The Dillards in the early 1960’s, but it was more of a bluegrass song. Dylan’s arrangement and lyrics seems to be his own. Catskill Serenade was written by David Bromberg. Miss The Mississippi And You was written and recorded by Bill Halley in 1932. Many artists (mostly country) have recorded it since. The 1954 Jimmy Rogers recording of Sloppy Drunk was the inspiration for this track, but Dylan has slowed it down, and changed the beat & lyrics.

(41) 10+ stars. This song is incorrectly identified on the package as If You Belonged To Me, which is a Traveling Wilburys tune. Actually, this is the 1940’s song written by Chilton Price and copyrighted in 1952 by her and Pee Wee King. It was recorded by Sue Thompson, and a few weeks later covered by Patti Page. This version was recorded at Dylan’s Malibu home studio in August of 1992 during the Good As I Been To You sessions. It was released on the soundtrack to Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers, and this track was lifted directly from that CD, making it a pirate track. There is movie dialog from Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson at songs end that soundtrack producer Trent Reznor blends into the next track, The Trembler by Duane Eddy. On this track, the editors do a sloppy job of editing. You hear the final guitar note, but Harrelson’s words are chopped in two.

(42) 8 stars (averaged). These previously unheard tracks were recorded at Sony Music Studios, NYC on September 30, 1994. Evidently, Anyway You Want Me (Schroeder/Owens), Lawdy, Miss Clawdy (Lloyd Price), and Money Honey (Jesse Stone) were to be used for some type of Elvis tribute that never happened. Twenty seconds into Anyway You Want Me we get to hear the famous Dylan cough. Lawdy Miss Clawdy is a very rough mix that starts and ends roughly as well, but the vocals are crisp and way out front. Money Honey is yet another rough mix, but in this one the vocals are buried to far in the mix. Money Honey II is a completely different take that has been sped up a few beats per minute. The musicians are attempting to polish the song, and the mix is proper, making it seem that this is the one that would be more likely to be considered for release.

(43) 10+ stars. Another pirate track taken from the currently available 2001 Hank Williams tribute release entitled Timeless.

(44) 10+ stars. Bob performs an incredibly tender version of this classic Dean Martin tune, and even pulls off the Italian verses without a hitch. This pirate track is from season two of The Sopranos.

(45) 10+ stars. This is a pirate track that was released on a 2001 various artists tribute to Sam Phillips’ history changing Memphis based label called Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records. Bob pulls out a passionate rock-a-billy performance that’s a highlight to the package.

(46) 10+ stars. This is one of the versions that was recorded for the North Country soundtrack. Bob’s dark and breathy performance lends an air of doom and gloom and bares little resemblance to the old traditional song that Dave Van Ronk sang. There is a bad edit at 5:22 that adds an ending tag.

(47) 6½ stars. This classic Sam Cooke song was performed in 2004 at the Apollo Theater and was broadcast on TV. This is a through the air mic recording from TV.

(48) 10+ stars. The twenty fourth track on disc three is not listed on the package. It’s Bob in a fifteen second poem about Nelly Kelly before singing this thirty second ditty a’capela. It’s taken from Bob’s Theme Time Radio show about baseball.

Review from original uploader:
This new three disc Scorpio release is an extensive one to review. The package aesthetics are a royal treat. A nicely done box houses a booklet that contains beautiful images and extensive historical information along with the three discs. Each disc comes in its own cardboard sleeve with a great looking photo on the front and the track list on the back. Each disc is beautifully silk screened to include the front cover of its individual sleeve. This is a massive effort as far as packaging. As for content, There are some incredible gems here, but there are also a few pirates and several previously released boots that are collected here due to their relative obscurity. As just a brief overview, the set covers the span of Dylan’s career, in chronological order, in much the same fashion as its predecessors. A lot of emphasis, of course, is placed on the 1960’s. Disc one contains 1960’s songs that are continued over to Disc two. Blended in are about a dozen others, half from the 1970’s and half from the 1980’s. One incredible highlight that I overlooked for the first few listens is Let’s Keep It Between Us. The final disc is divided between the 1980’s and the 1990’s, and includes some treats. Despite a few short comings, this package is a true labor of love effort, and you’ll be proud to add it to your collection
Manufacturer / Catalog No.
Scorpio

Released:
2008

Quality:
8-9 stars
Note: There is such a wide range of sonic quality that we have listed each song individually below.

Bob’s Boots ref #
BB-f20
Special thanks to Lincoln Park Mark
Thanks to Tiny Montgomery for scans
© 2008 CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.coms