"Searching For A Gem"

Bob Dylan's Officially Released Rarities and Obscurities

Audio: 1962

All the songs listed in the Official Rarities section are cross-referenced by song title in these alphabetical pages.
A-E F-J K-O P-S T-Z

Home ] Up ] [ 1962 ] 1963 ] 1964 ] 1965 ] 1966 ] 1967 ] 1968 ] 1969 ]

This yearly page now contains only the main Rarities List! Mono Albums plus 7" Singles & EPs (up to 1976) are now here, and Stereo Promotional Items (Albums and Singles) are now here. All Honourable Mentions are now here. Because of the complexity of this page full details of the three principal entries for 1962 (the Harry Belafonte "Midnight Special" album, the Carolyn Hester self-titled Columbia album and Bob's first single of Mixed Up Confusion) are now here:

1962 Harry Belafonte ] 1962 Carolyn Hester ] 1962 Mixed Up Confusion ]

If you have any entries to add to the list or additions/corrections to existing entries, please let me know! Please note I cannot value your Dylan rarities - see the Mission page for reasons why. Contact the dealers on my Trading page for assistance!

Revised: 28 October, 2024.


Entries separated by a blue line contain the same rarities. Titles in red are not available on a currently released Bob Dylan CD (for these see bobdylan.com )

Key to symbols used:
Links to other World Wide Web pages -
Links to email addresses -
Performances currently available on commercial CD are marked by (these are the ones that count as obscurities rather than as rarities)


"Life" magazine, USA, Feb 2012


Harry Belafonte - "The Midnight Special" - mono/stereo vinyl albums, RCA Victor LPM 2449 (USA/Canada)/RCA Victor LSP 2449 (USA), recorded Feb 1962, released Mar 1962(?):
Bob's first album Bob Dylan was recorded in Nov 1961, and also released in Mar 1962, see Mono Album Releases and International Albums (Regular). This was for years thought to be Bob's first commercial recording session, and is dated variously between Jun and Dec 1961 by Krogsgaard, Dundas and Heylin. However, documentation found in 2001 in the RCA vaults along with the tapes dates the session definitively as having been recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, on the later date of 2 Feb 1962.
Thanks to Dr. Hanns Peter Bushoff for information about the RCA recording session. The songbook of the album has photos from the recording session, but Bob is not pictured.

HBmonoLP.jpg (20335 bytes)
RCA Victor LPM 2449 (USA mono) - scan by Hans Seegers
R-0001M Midnight Special (Huddie Ledbetter "Lead Belly") - Bob plays harmonica for Harry Belafonte on the title track of his 1962 RCA album (mono version)

R-0001 Midnight Special (Huddie Ledbetter "Lead Belly") - Bob plays harmonica on the title track of Harry Belafonte's The Midnight Special album (stereo version also on The Midnight Special EP)
This stereo version was also released on a 4 track "living stereo" EP (shown below)
.

Full details of all worldwide mono and stereo releases of this album are now here.

Thanks to Hans Seegers for information and scans.

HBstereo1LP.jpg (17944 bytes)
RCA Victor LSP 2449 (USA "Living Stereo") - front scan by Hans Seegers

Various Artists - "Columbia April Demonstration Record" - stereo promo compilation LP, Columbia XSM 55655-6 (USA), Apr 1962:


Columbia XSM 55655 (USA) - Side 1 scan by Pea Hicks (includes Bob)
R-0353 Medley: Talkin' New York; Fixin' To Die; Gospel Plow from Bob Dylan (Columbia CL 1779/CS 8579, released Mar 1962)

This stereo sampler LP is in a plain white sleeve and has white Columbia promo labels. It has no catalogue number, but the record matrix numbers are: Side 1 - XSM 55655-1A, Side 2 - XSM 55656-1A. The Side 1 label identifies Bob's songs as being from Freewheeling, which had at one time been the provisional title for Bob Dylan, despite the fact it had been released a month before this promo with the replaced title. The stereo and mono catalogue numbers are correct. All the other albums, jazz and easy listening on Side 1, classical on Side 2, are from 1962.

Thanks to Pea Hicks, Arie de Reus and Dag Braathen for information and scans.


Columbia XSM 55656 (USA) - Side 2 scan by Pea Hicks (no Dylan)

Early stereo/mono rear sleeve design with postponed title, picture from Dag Braathen

Carolyn Hester - "Carolyn Hester" - mono/stereo vinyl albums, Columbia CL 1796 (USA)/Columbia CS 8596 (USA/Canada), May 1962:

CarolynLP1.jpg (25645 bytes)
Columbia CL 1796 (USA mono) - front with sticker, scan by Hans Seegers (first release, demonstration copy)

R-0002M I'll Fly Away (Albert E. Brumley) (mono version)
Albert E. Brumley is also the author of Rank Strangers To Me, released on Down In The Groove, 1988, and one of the bobdylan.com online performances - BDC 37, from Jul 1998, see Online Performances.

R-0003M Come Back, Baby (traditional) (mono version)

R-0004M Swing And Turn Jubilee (traditional) (mono version)


Columbia CS 8596 (USA stereo) - front with sticker, scan by Gerd Rundel

R-0002 I'll Fly Away (Albert E. Brumley) (stereo version)

R-0003 Come Back, Baby (traditional) (stereo version)

R-0004 Swing And Turn Jubilee (traditional) (stereo version)

Full details of all worldwide mono and stereo LP releases of this album are now here. It was released on CD with two bonus tracks including Bob, see 1994.


"Let Me Die In My Footsteps" - 10" acetate, Columbia (USA), 18 May 1962:
I'm assuming this acetate is mono!


Label scan by Royce Townsend

R-0551M Let Me Die In My Footsteps - unedited original mono version, recorded Columbia Recording Studios, New York, 24 Apr, 1962 (the version released on The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 in 1991 has a verse missing)


Acetate in buff sleeve, scan by Royce Townsend

Detail of sleeve, scan by Royce Townsend

Accompanying letter scan by Royce Townsend

Accompanying photo scan by Royce Townsend

This performance appeared on a 1962 Columbia acetate which surfaced in Nov 1983, but is not included in the Sony Music Europe 4CD-R limited edition set The 50th Anniversary Collection, see 2012.

This acetate comes in a buff sleeve, with handwritten text on the sleeve and the centre of the disc. Bob's name is given as "Robert Dylan" on both the sleeve and disc. The Columbia recording session number is "CO 70097", as confirmed by Michael Krogsgaard and Clinton Heylin. The acetate was accompanied by a letter dated 18 May 1962 on Columbia Records notepaper apparently signed by Bob giving information about the song, and a photo of Bob.

Thanks to Royce Townsend for information and scans.


"Mixed Up Confusion"/"Corrina, Corrina" - 7" mono singles, Columbia 4-42656 (USA), 14 Dec 1962:

This title was Bob's first single release under his own name.

MUC1.jpg (19239 bytes)
Columbia 4-42656 (USA) - A-side scan by Hans Seegers

R-0007 Mixed Up Confusion - A-side, original mono version recorded Columbia Studios, New York, 14 Nov 1962 (take 13 or 14), overdubbed 8 Dec 1962

R-0008 Corrina, Corrina (traditional) - B-side, alternate mono take to The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan version, recorded at Columbia Studios, New York, 26 Oct 1962 (take 4 - version on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is take 6), still otherwise officially unreleased
On a 1962 Columbia acetate that surfaced in Nov
 1983, but not released on the Sony Music Europe 4CD set The 50th Anniversary Collection, Dec 2012!

Full details of the various mono releases of this single are now here.


Columbia 4-42656 (USA) - B-side scan by Hans Seegers


Mono Singles & EPs for 1962

Ukep.jpg (41695 bytes)
Mono 7" Singles & EPs 1962-64
These are now here: Mono 7" Singles & EPs 1962-64. Mono LPs have their own pages, see International Mono Releases.

Mono Albums (Originals)
Bob Dylan (1962, mono)


Promotional/Regular Items for 1962


Living In Another Country: International Stereo Releases

Stereo promo items for 1962 which don't contain rare material but which are still very collectable are now included with promo releases of regular albums and commercially released singles on the appropriate page in International Stereo Releases.

Bob Dylan 1962
Bob Dylan (1962, stereo)


Home ] Up ] [ 1962 ] 1963 ] 1964 ] 1965 ] 1966 ] 1967 ] 1968 ] 1969 ]

Because of the length of this page full details of the three principal entries for 1962 (the Harry Belafonte "Midnight Special" album, the Carolyn Hester self-titled Columbia album and Bob's first single of Mixed Up Confusion) are now here:

1962 Harry Belafonte ] 1962 Carolyn Hester ] 1962 Mixed Up Confusion ]

A Flying Pig production

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The rights to material from all quoted contributors remain with them. Copyright of all included artwork remains with the various record companies.