Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks - NYC sessions

Finally tracked down a copy of Blood on the Tapes, a Dylan boot from a few years ago that presents the NYC recording sessions for Dylan’s famous Blood on the Tracks album in chronological order, although, in all fairness, it’s technically a “boot/pirate” hybrid since half of the tracks have been officially released. Of particular interest is the inclusion of great sounding recordings from the original BOTT test pressing of 5 songs that were later re-recorded in Minneapolis after Dylan reportedly got cold feet about them at the 11th hour. The original takes of 4 of these tracks have never been officially released before. But, "wait," you say, "I've got Biograph and The Bootleg Series. Don't they have the original 'New York' versions of some or all of the BOTT tracks that were re-recorded in Minneapolis?" In a word, no.

Here’s the skinny...

BOB DYLAN ~ Blood on the Tapes

1	If You See Her Say Hello		ALT		TBS
2	Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts	TP						NR
3	Call Letter Blues			OT	TBS
4	Idiot Wind	TP						NR
5	Tangled Up in Blue		ALT		TBS
6	You're a Big Girl Now	TP				BIO
7	Shelter From the Storm		ALT				JM
8	If You See Her Say Hello	TP						NR
9	Tangled Up in Blue	TP						NR
10	Up to Me			OT		BIO
11	Idiot Wind		ALT		TBS

All tracks recorded September 1974 – Columbia Studios – NYC

1-5: 9/16/74
6-7: 9/17/74
8-11: 9/19/74

2,4,6,8,9 = TP: from original BOTT test pressing (see note below)
1,5,7,11 = ALT: alternate version
3,10 = OT: outtake
1,3,5,11= TBS: appeared on The Bootleg Series
6,10 = BIO: appeared on Biograph
7 = JM: first officially appeared on Jerry McGuire soundtrack
2,4,8,9 = NR: not officially released yet

NOTE: "If You See Her Say Hello," "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts," "You're a Big Girl Now," "Idiot Wind," and "Tangled Up in Blue" were re-recorded in Minneapolis in December 1974 for inclusion on the final version of BOTT after Dylan evidently became dissatisfied with some of the results from the original NYC sessions. The original NYC versions of these 5 songs did appear on test pressings of BOTT that started circulating in late 1974 and were quickly withdrawn. These test pressings are undoubtedly amongst the most valuable Dylan collectables in existence, worth even more than the withdrawn original versions of Freewheelin’ (fortunately, a copy of the BOTT test pressing was dubbed and subsequently booted almost immediately; these old boots are the source for the test pressing tracks on Blood on the Tapes). Although the officially released The Bootleg Series collection purportedly contains "original" versions from the September NYC sessions of 3 of the 5 re-recorded songs (“If You See Her, Say Hello,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Idiot Wind”), these are in fact alternate versions; the takes used were different than those appearing on the original test pressing (the differences are especially notable for "Idiot Wind" – compare the 2 quite different vocal deliveries on 4 & 11; a strong argument can be made that the take used for The Bootleg Series is inferior to the one found on the test pressing). An alternate version of "Lily" hasn't emerged yet, so the recording of "You're a Big Girl Now" that appears on Biograph remains the only official release of any of the actual takes that appeared on the original test pressing for these 5 songs, contrary to what's stated (or implied) by Dylan's official historians.

“Call Letter Blues” and “Up to Me” are outtakes from the NYC BOTT sessions.

“Shelter From the Storm” wasn’t re-recorded in Minneapolis (i.e. the version on BOTT is from the NYC sessions) but an alternate NYC version did belatedly appear in the soundtrack for the movie Jerry McGuire.


To recap the variations of the 5 songs that were later re-recorded in Minneapolis:

Blood on the Tracks (final released version): songs re-recorded in Minneapolis in late 1974: “If You See Her, Say Hello,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Idiot Wind," "You're a Big Girl Now," "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts." Original NYC versions -- and takes -- appeared on a circulated test pressing in 1974.

The Bootleg Series: alternate NYC versions - different takes from the original BOTT test pressing: “If You See Her, Say Hello,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Idiot Wind.” Original BOTT test pressing versions available on various boots, including Blood on the Tapes.

Biograph: original NYC version - same take as BOTT test pressing: “You’re a Big Girl Now”

Alternate NYC version still unreleased / uncirculated: “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.” Original NYC version available only on the original BOTT test pressing and subsequent boots.

(Thanks to Clinton Heylin and his invaluable book about Dylan's studio recordings, Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions, 1960-1994. Lord knows, Heylin has a "strong" voice; you will very likely disagree with some -- or many -- of his opinions. But this is still an essential work for even semi-serious Dylanologists.)

"New" Dylan archival recording unearthed?

Amongst Dylan geeks, "Minnesota Party Tape" has always referred to a May 1961 session at the Mpls. apartment of one Bonnie Beecher, one of many women who fell under Bob's spell in his formative years (note how I'm not using the word "groupie"). Recent mentions of the May '61 "Party Tape" session in reference to a newly donated tape at the MN History Center are clearly in error.

The "new" tape in question appears to be very similar to this one:

http://www.punkhart.com/dylan/tapes/60-sep.html

although the published tracklisting of the "new" tape reference a few songs that haven't appeared on any previous tracklistings of this session. Clinton Heylin dates this session to September 1960 and places the location at "Hugh Brown's apartment - Minneapolis" (presumably this is the apartment in Dinkytown, about 2 miles from where I'm typing right now, referred to in recent articles). Like the May '61 "Party Tape," this 9/60 session - referred to in some circles as the "Minnesota University Tape" - is in circulation. If the "new" tape everyone is talking about is in fact from the 9/60 session, the rarity ascribed to it by pundits in recent days has been vastly overstated.

This article:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050113/cgth041_1.html

offers this tracklisting of the "new" tape:

Blues Yodel No. 8 (aka Muleskinner Blues)
Come See Jerusalem
San Francisco Bay Blues
I'm a Gambler
Talkin' Merchant Marine
Talkin' Hugh Brown
Talkin' Lobbyist
Red Rosey Bush
Johnny I Hardly Knew You
Jesus Christ
Streets of Glory
K.C. Moan

In Heylin's reference book, he lists 9 of these songs for the 9/60 session, omitting "Come See Jerusalem," "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Talkin' Lobbyist." His list includes "Talkin' Inflation Blues" and "Talkin' Columbia," which aren't on the above list (note: the titles of many of these Woody Guthrie "talking blues" songs are a confusing mess).

Whether this "new" tape is an upgrade - in quantity and/or quality - of the 9/60 "University" tape or something completely different remains to be heard. I'm gonna try and head over to the MN History Center next week and find out for myself. To me, it seems rather unlikely that two informal sessions from the same timeframe would be virtually identical, save for a few song titles.

One thing I can tell you, a lot of these informal Dylan sessions took place here in Mpls in 59-62, many of them recorded semi-professionally on high quality reel-to-reel recorders that seemed to be ubiquitous in folk circles back then. Some of them have leaked out over the years (one of the very first rock boots, "Great White Wonder," featured a big chunk of the Dec. 61 "Minnesota Hotel Tape") while others remain tucked away in shoeboxes and attics. When I worked with Tony Glover (old Dylan pal, local radio DJ and one of the leaders of the '60s folk/blues revival) back in the early 80s, he spoke of literally hundreds of hours of stuff from this period that was stashed away. He would be one to know; he taped a lot of it himself, including the aforementioned "Hotel Tape."