"By popular demand", the latest Bob Dylan Rarity News notified to me. If you have any news not shown that will interest site visitors, please contact me here. Please make sure the subject of your message includes the word "Dylan"- this will ensure it's not put in the trash by the site's Spam filter. This is absolutely vital - incoming Spam can be as much as 13,300 messages per day, and I'm sure some of your valuable messages have been missed! Please retry if your message was rejected or if you haven't received a reply.
[Home] [The Official
Rarities Yearly Lists] [Traveling Wilburys]
[Online Performances (bobdylan.com)] [Online Performances (Other)] [Interviews with Bob] [VHS
& DVD]
[International Mono Releases] [International
Promotional Releases] [International Stereo Releases]
[Questionable
Releases] [Released Rarities] [Honourable
Mentions]
[Updates] [Red Herrings] [Other Pages] [Go back to bobdylan.com]
The font used for the titles of each page is appropriately called "Jokerman",
if you can't see it, download it here:
![]()
Contacting Bob Dylan
This
is a fan site with no connection to Bob and you
can't contact him through me!
I used to have a postal address that I thought was
correct, but I have since been informed by someone who wrote to that address that
their mail was returned. I have never had an email address. I can only suggest
you contact Bob's publisher Simon & Schuster, or use the contact address at
bobdylan.com
.
I also have no means of helping anyone who wants Bob Dylan's autograph!
For much wider news coverage of interest to Bob Dylan fans,
see Karl Erik's amazing "Expecting Rain" site
.
It's always up-to-date thanks to his astounding dedication!
News and Updates are now two separate pages - for Updates (including all site structure changes), see here.
Revised: 01 February, 2012
Older News
Old news items are kept on here until the rarities referred to actually surface, or until it becomes clear that they're not going to!
![]() |
12 Dec 2011:
Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring
50 Years of Amnesty International
The Man
His World
His Music
|
![]() |
|
|
16 Aug 2011: Thanks to Harold Lepidus for news that 1989's Oh Mercy is being released today on heavyweight vinyl today by San Francisco-based vinyl reissues label record label 4 Men With Beards. A later release this year will be Leonard Cohen's Death Of A Ladies' Man on which Bob sings back-up on Don't Go Home With Your Hard On, see 1977. |
![]() |
![]() |
7 Aug 2011: Thanks to Hervé from France for the cover scan of a now out-of-print French book of Jerry Schatzberg's photos edited by Michel Ciment called "Schatzberg de la Photo au Cinéma" (Chęne/Hachette, France, 1982), which is the only other source of the photo of Claudia Cardinale (right) removed from the inner gatefold sleeve of Blonde On Blonde for legal reasons. For more information, see 1966. Thanks to Barbara Schudel for information that the book cover photo by Jerry of Faye Dunaway in 1967 was used for the official poster of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and also for the photo of the Festival entrance. |
|
|
31 Mar 2011: Thanks to Helen
Jenkins of Digital Musical Video for news that a clip of Bob performing Maggie's
Farm from the Newport Folk Festival, 1965, is available on YouTube here
. The full video, sale of which has been
authorised by Bob, can be purchased from iTunes. The Digital Video Singles site
is here:
.
![]() |
24 Mar 2011: Thanks to Nol Grint for news that the 2011 European 3CD release of Biograph contains the alternate take of Mixed Up Confusion from the 1985 release of the set (R-0145 see 1962 and 1985). If this is a deliberate change, and not just a "Columbia Cock-up" that will soon be corrected as in 1997, then the stereo version of the original single (see 1962) will become a rarity again! This new release is in an "ecolbook", which is the size of a DVD case and contains spindles for the three CDs plus a bound-in booklet. |
8 Jan 2011: Thanks to Ingo Friedrich and Dag Braathen for pictures from eBay of fake copies of World Gone Wrong with white, blue and green vinyl records. These are not official Columbia releases and you are recommended not to buy them.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Thanks to Stuart Moore for news that copies of Good As I Been To You with blue, green and yellow vinyl records are on eBay Australia.
![]() |
2 Sep 2010: Thanks to Jason
Gluskin for news of his new painting called "Girl From The North Country" of
Bob and Johnny Cash duetting in Nashville, TN. For more details, see
|
|
![]() |
10 Aug 2010: Music Philosophy is offering a wide range of free mobile phone backgrounds based on song lyrics. There are two Bob quotes, from Like A Rolling Stone and Not Dark Yet. For more details, see here. |
![]() |
![]() |
3 Mar 2010: Sony abandons CD promos - thanks to Ian Woodward for news that Sony Music is becoming the first major record company in the UK to abandon CD promos in favour of digital downloads.
24 Jan 2010:
Thanks to Fred Muller for news that Fred Bals is also seeking financial
assistance to write a book on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour "Night
Time in the Big City: Stories From Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour",
for more information see
|
|
6 Jan 2010:
Thanks to Laurence J. Epstein for information about his "Dylan Watch" article on
"Bob Dylan's Voice", see
. For information about his forthcoming
book "Political Folk Music in America from its Origins to Bob Dylan", see
.
2 Dec 2009:
Thanks to Ian Woodward for news that the UN is releasing a documentary film
called "Hard Rain: Our Headlong
Collision with Nature" to
mark this month's climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The film
consists of a live performance by Bob of A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall with images by
photographer Mark Edwards. The film will be released on DVD at the start of the
conference. Thanks to Larry Crum for confirming the performance is from Carnegie
Hall, New York, 26 Oct 1963,
and can currently be found of CD1 of The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 - No Direction
Home: The Soundtrack (2005) along with When The Ship Comes In. For six
further songs from Carnegie Hall, see the limited release Bob Dylan Live At
Carnegie Hall 1963 (2005). For more information, see
. For a BBC News article, see
.
![]() Photo from eBay - the handwritten text is almost unreadable |
2 Mar 2009: Thanks to Arie de Reus for information about a UK acetate of I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine and Drifter's Escape from John Wesley Harding on eBay that purports to contain alternate takes to the released versions. Arie doesn't think it's genuine, but to check it out see here. |
18 Dec 2008: Thanks to Jack from Canada for information that Sony may be releasing a 2CD Legacy Edition of Blood On The Tracks with CD1 being the album as released in 1975 and CD2 including the complete withdrawn "New York" version of the album with five replaced tracks, see 1974. I suspect this release is very unlikely!
![]() |
15 Dec 2008: Thanks to Gil Walker for
news about a tape being auctioned on eBay that was recorded during the Nashville
Skyline sessions at Columbia Recording Studios, Nashville, TN, 14 Feb
1969, with five out-takes of Lay, Lady, Lay and a previously uncirculating
song Going To Chicago. This has been added to the Starlight in The East "G"
page. It has different lyrics from Doc Watson's Going To Chicago Blues,
so may be a Dylan original. Thanks to Tim Dunn for information that this tape with five takes of Lay, Lady, Lay is part of what in 1993 were known as "The Lost Warehouse Tapes". These were between 2200 and 3000 reels of tape recorded between 1953 and 1971, discarded by Columbia and acquired by record producer Clark Enslin. Other recordings by Bob are known to be Mr. Bojangles (released on the 1973 Dylan album), Wild Thing, Blue Moon, Ring Of Fire and Take A Message To Mary. |
19
May 2008: Ian Woodward's "Wicked Messenger" column in "Isis" issue 138 reports that Bob has put music to some of the
"Shoebox Songs" - unpublished lyrics left by Hank Williams in notebooks and
papers in a shoebox. Apparently an album featuring Bob and other artists will be
released by Sony later this year. Norah Jones performed one of the Shoebox Songs
in New York in Mar 2008 with music written by herself. Ian also says a new
volume of The Bootleg Series is likely to be released by Columbia/Legacy
in Autumn 2008 - this is expected to be a 2CD set of previously
officially-unreleased studio material like Vols. 1-3.
14 May 2007:
Thanks to David Plentus and Harold Lepidus for news that Classic Records are to
release a stereo 200gm vinyl version of the withdrawn edition of The
Freewheelin' Bob Dylan with the four replaced tracks (see
1963). This will be released as a 2LP set with the
regular version. For more information, see
.
31 Aug 2006: Thanks to Harold Lepidus for news that a forthcoming tribute album to songwriter Peter LaFarge will include Bob's recording of The Ballad Of Ira Hayes from the long-deleted Columbia Dylan album - see 1973.
7 Aug 2006: Thanks to Ian Woodward and others for news that the Royal Festival Hall, London, 17 May 1964 concert is being considered for release as a "mini album" of eight tracks, rather like last year's incomplete "Gaslight Tapes" and "Carnegie Hall" releases. Two of these performances, Mr. Tambourine Man and Eternal Circle, turned up in 2004 on a Fantasy Records acetate of the unreleased 1964 Bob Dylan In Concert album (see 1964 and 2004).
22 Mar 2006: Thanks to Artur Jarosinski for information about Wolfgang's
Vault
. This is a site primarily selling
memorabilia, much from the archives of legendary rock promoter Bill Graham (of
the Fillmore East and West), whose actual first name was Wolfgang. The site also
has an online radio which plays live performances from Bill Graham's collection,
including many with Bob. For more information see
here.
28 Oct 2005: Thanks to
Jack from Canada for the information that,
in addition to the Capitol 6 disc set The Band: A Musical History (see
2005), there will be an 8CD set of Levon and The Hawks called Bacon
Fat And Judgement Day released by the Canadian label Other People's Music.
This will include 1967 Woodstock Basement Tapes material, and may include tracks
with Bob. For more information, see
. In a reply to a query from Jack, OPM
said:
"There were many recordings from "The Basement" which excluded Bob Dylan. OPM Inc. supplied a few of these for the Band Box Set: Words And Numbers, You Don't Come Through, etc., on disc 1. There's more that is currently being considered for inclusion in The Hawks' Box Set.
Any songs including Bob Dylan would require his consent. If we were able to include any material of the Hawks featuring Bob Dylan on lead vocals from "The Basement", we would focus only on a few selections. Those considered would be cover songs... Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, etc., as this project is about The Hawks. They would not be Dylan originals. Certainly we hope to include the other version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" with Dylan singing lead and the Hawks singing back-up harmonies. Robbie originally wished to include both versions; with and without Dylan. Despite the report in the liner notes by Rob Blowman that this version was too distorted to use, I'm not sure that the esteemed Mr. Blowman has even heard the entire version of this song; certainly not a restored version. It's quite haunting."
21 Aug 2005: Thanks to Peter Stone Brown and Fred Muller for news that the four songs performed by Bob in his role as Bobby the Hobo in the 1962 BBC TV drama "Madhouse On Castle Street" have been restored after being thought long lost. These are an early version of Blowin' In The Wind, Ballad Of A Gliding Swan, The Cuckoo, and Hang Me, Oh Hang Me. The songs are due to be broadcast in Sep 2005 in an Arena documentary on BBC4, "Dylan In The Madhouse", shown as part of a Bob Dylan season including the BBC screening of "No Direction Home". I doubt if they will be officially released in any form, but I'll add further information when available.
13 Jun 2005: Thanks to Gil Walker for information about the Larry Keegan disc that failed to sell on eBay in 2002 (see below). The tracklist is mentioned in Greil Marcus' new book about Like A Rolling Stone, and is said to be covers of:
Ready Teddy (Little Richard)
Confidential (Sonny Knight)
Boppin' The Blues (Carl Perkins)
Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Lloyd Price)
In The Still Of The Nite (5 Satins)
Let The Good Times Roll (Shirley/Lee)
Earth Angel (Penguins)
There are only seven songs as opposed to the eight mentioned below. Apparently the quality of both the sound and the performances is awful!
In Mar 2003 it was reported that all the 1960s Broadside recordings,
including Bob's listed on this site, are to be transferred to CD using a grant
from America's National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. For more
details, see
.
![]() Picture from eBay |
On 20 Nov 2002, I reported
that the latest issue of "Isis" magazine (#105) says that the 1956
acetate shown left only attracted a single bid on eBay for $1! I've since
learned that the record is definitely genuine, and is being sold by the sister
of Bob's long-time friend Larry Keegan, who died in Sep 2001. However the price
being asked ($150,000-$200,000)
was very high for an item which could only be acquired for a personal
collection, since there would seem no likelihood of the owner being able to
use it for commercial benefit. I still don't have details of the songs on the
acetate.
The eBay description of this acetate is as follows: "This vintage master sound recording from 1956 features Bob Dylan, a legendary performer and composer, an icon of Rock & Roll. It was recorded on Christmas Eve in the recording facility of Telinde Music, a retail music store in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is the earliest known recording of Bob Dylan at the age of 15, a very unique master. There are approximately eight minutes of eight recorded songs on the disc, with Bob playing piano and singing, accompanied by Larry Keegan and Howard Rutman on vocals. This 10 inch 78 rpm solid aluminium, vinyl coated record is in excellent condition." |
On 30 Jan 2002 I reported:
"Bob Dylan is reported to be one of the musicians participating in an
album of tribute to the Cuban singer and songwriter Pablo Milanés, according to
informed journal "Cuban Rebellious Youth" yesterday. The album, called
Pablo Querido, will be published by PM (Pablo Milanés) Récords in
February 2002." That album appeared without Bob, but Bob and other
artists such as Sting, Harry Belafonte, Stevie Wonder and Peter Gabriel may now
appear on a new album tentatively called Pablo Querido 2, with
Bob performing on a song called Dónde Andarán [Where
They Will Walk]. For more details, see
(in Spanish).
A "new" Townes Van Zandt release called Van Zandt Country was scheduled to be released in the USA on Tomato/Glitterhouse Records in the "early summer" of 2002. It was supposed to feature duets with Bob Dylan (For The Sake Of The Song), Lyle Lovett (Flyin' Shoes), Van Morrison (Snow Don't Fall), and Neil Young (Loretta). Glen Dundas told me that around ten years ago there were rumours in Austin, TX, about a collaboration between Bob and Townes Van Zandt, but they were never confirmed. Thanks to Paul Read for details of his interval chat with Townes during the interval at his performance at the Winning Post in York in mid 1994, when they spoke about the duets project and Dylan's involvement (which Townes was still waiting for). It now appears most likely that the duet did not happen during Townes' lifetime and Bob's contribution has been recorded posthumously. Re the Townes Van Zandt duets (see "Older News" below), Rod MacBeath writes: "One little bit of news relates to the Townes Van Zandt duets album Vol. 2, featuring Townes and Bob on For The Sake Of The Song. The last I heard, this release had been put back to Spring 2003, thought there are great disputes between Townes' widow and the producer about his over-production standards and both seem to think that they have a legal right to the final say. I'm sure, as you stated, that Bob's contribution was only done after Townes' death. I spoke to him in '94 and '95 about it (see the first issue of "The Bridge") and it was clear that things were a long way off happening. There is the possibility that Bob recorded more than one song though - I recall hearing that up to three was a possibility, and some artistes will have been featured more than once by the time all five volumes are out (or if all five come out). Of course, the intention may have been simply to get a selection of duets of the same song to choose from."
Before he died George Harrison was working with Jeff Lynne on a Traveling Wilburys anthology (perhaps a boxed set) called Maximum Traveling, which would have contained all the previously released material (see Traveling Wilburys), plus previously unreleased tracks, such as a cover of Paul Simon's Run That Body Down, and three 1990 tracks with Del Shannon as the replacement for Roy Orbison. The 2007 Wilburys boxed set release supersedes this, but we live in hope of more from the Wilburys!
[Home] [The Official
Rarities Yearly Lists] [Traveling Wilburys]
[Online Performances (bobdylan.com)] [Online Performances (Other)] [Interviews with Bob] [VHS
& DVD]
[International Mono Releases] [International
Promotional Releases] [International Stereo Releases]
[Questionable
Releases] [Released Rarities] [Honourable
Mentions]
[Updates] [Red Herrings] [Other Pages] [Go back to bobdylan.com]

A Flying Pig production
Listings Š 1998-2012
The rights to material from all quoted contributors remain
with them. Copyright of all included artwork remains with the various record
companies.
![]()