More from the Modern Bard

A Bob Dylan record appears three times on my list of albums to hear.  Two of them I have covered before: “Love and Theft” and Modern Times.  Both records were impressive to hear and allowed me to connect to a side of Dylan I had not really known.  Anyone that has heard Dylan knows his older stuff:  “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, etc.  They know of the songs he’s written for others or the songs of his that have been covered.  They know of his work with The Band.  They know the raspy voice with the acoustic guitar and harmonica.

The current Dylan is a modern day troubadour.  He continues to record and tour, continues to have something to say.  He still has the ability to tell stories of love, stories of loss, stories of death, and stories of joy.  His voice seems a little clearer now than it did when he was too busy evoking Woody Guthrie.  The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs is a compilation of unreleased studio and live tracks from his modern period (1989-2006) and is the next record on my review list.

#147 – Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs (Metascore = 86)

The first disc opens with an unreleased version of “Mississippi”.  This sounds like a demo version of the song, and it has that raw emotion of dealing with a failed relationship. A piano demo of “Dignity” reflects how close Dylan already was to the final recording and how powerful the song already was.  There is an alternate version of “Someday Baby” here which is not as good as the album version but for some reason makes me think it would be great if Robert Plant and Alison Krauss covered this.  It has that T-Bone Burnett sound to it that would feel appealing to their vocals.  Also this disc is “Born in Time”, a song that was left off of Oh Mercy but later covered by Eric Clapton on his Pilgrim (appropriate given the state that Clapton was in at the time he recorded that album).  Disc one overall is very strong, with some great versions of previously released songs and some interesting unreleased material.

Disc two opens with another version of “Mississippi”; this one isn’t as strong as the one on the first disc.  “32-20 Blues” follows up, a solo blues romp originally written by blues legend Robert Johnson.  “Series of Dreams” is a fascinating piece that was left off of the Oh Mercy record.  From online sources I found out that producer Daniel Lanois wanted to make a couple of changes to the song (specifically starting with the bridge of the song, but Dylan wasn’t willing to make the change).  The “Dignity” on this disc goes through a boogie romp.  This take of “Ain’t Talkin’” off of Modern Times is not markedly different from its official release but is still an excellent song.

In listening to these discs the listener gets to peak into the evolving world of Dylan and his music.  Songs that are known by their official release are quite often different on this set, which further shows the impressiveness of Dylan.  Much of the album has that country honky-tonk vibe; this seems to be the direction Dylan has chosen to take his music.  This is a direction that seems to suit his vocal and playing style well.  For the diehard Dylan fan, this set is ideal.  For the not-so-well-versed, I would recommend one of his official albums first before listening to this.