Bob Dylan reveals many facets on 'Tell Tale Signs'

By Edna Gundersen,
USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com
July 29, 2008

The tunes, they are a-changin', and Bob Dylan fans will find the telltale signs on Tell Tale Signs, the long-rumored eighth installment of his Bootleg Series.

The two-CD, 27-song set, out Oct. 7, contains previously unreleased studio recordings, demos, alternate takes, live tracks and rarities spanning 1989 to 2006, a rich period that generated the lauded Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, Modern Times and Oh Mercy. A third 12-track disc is part of a limited-edition deluxe set in a hardcover slipcase with a book with photos of all of Dylan's singles. The 27-song version also will be issued in a limited-edition four-LP set.

Listeners will discover a wealth of fresh material and multiple versions of songs with altered lyrics, moods and styles.

"When Most of the Time came out on Oh Mercy, I thought it was such an achingly beautiful love song," says Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of A&R at Columbia/Legacy. "Now it's here as a folk version and something that sounds like Dylan with Brian Eno and The Edge. To hear the way the songs and lyrics develop is fascinating. Dylan comes across as a folk singer, a blues musician and a jazz artist."

Dignity appears as a truncated piano demo and in twangy rockabilly form. Series of Dreams undergoes a rewrite. Twin renditions of the bluesy Marchin' to the City serve as blueprints for 'Til I Fell in Love With You.

The newly unveiled Dreamin' of You, a free download at the just-overhauled bobdylan.com, bears lyrics that later fed other songs.

Also new to Dylan's canon are Red River Shore and Can't Escape From You, written for a film but never used. Miss the Mississippi was rescued from a long-shelved album with David Bromberg, and 32-20 Blues marks Dylan's only release of a Robert Johnson cover.

Among the rarities are the live The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore, eight-minute 'Cross the Green Mountain, The Lonesome River duet with Ralph Stanley and Ring Them Bells from Dylan's storied 1993 stint at the Supper Club in Manhattan. Those performances were filmed but never released.

"The songs and performances are of such strength and diversity, they will appeal to new fans and longtime fans," Berkowitz says, predicting the two-CD set will satisfy most appetites. "For some fans, there's never enough."

FULL TRACK LISTING

Here's the full track listing for Bob Dylan's Tell Tale Signs, the eighth edition of his highly anticipated Bootleg Series.

Disc 1

Mississippi (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
Most of the Time (alternate version, Oh Mercy)
Dignity (piano demo, Oh Mercy)
Someday Baby (alternate version, Modern Times)
Red River Shore (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
Tell Ol' Bill (alternate version, North Country soundtrack)
Born in Time (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
Can't Wait (alternate version, Time Out of Mind)
Everything Is Broken (alternate version, Oh Mercy)
Dreamin' of You (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
Huck's Tune (from Lucky You soundtrack)
Marchin' to the City (unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
High Water (for Charley Patton) (live, Niagara, N.Y., 2003)

Disc 2

Mississippi (unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
32-20 Blues (unreleased, World Gone Wrong)
Series of Dreams (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
God Knows (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
Can't Escape From You (unreleased, December 2005)
Dignity (unreleased, Oh Mercy)
Ring Them Bells (live at the Supper Club, New York, 1993)
Cocaine Blues (live, Vienna, Va., 1997)
Ain't Talkin' (alternate version, Modern Times)
The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore (live, 1992)
Lonesome Day Blues (live, Sunrise, Fla., 2002)
Miss the Mississippi (unreleased, 1992)
The Lonesome River (with Ralph Stanley, from Clinch Mountain Country)
'Cross the Green Mountain (from Gods and Generals soundtrack)

Disc 3

Duncan and Brady (unreleased, 1992)
Cold Irons Bound (live, Bonnaroo Festival, June 2004)
Mississippi (unreleased version #3, Time Out of Mind)
Most of the Time (alternate version #2, Oh Mercy)
Ring Them Bells (alternate version, Oh Mercy)
Things Have Changed (live, Portland, Ore., 2000)A
Red River Shore (unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
Born in Time (unreleased version #2, Oh Mercy)
Tryin' to Get to Heaven (live, London, 2000)
Marchin' to the City (unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
Can't Wait (alternate version #2, Time Out of Mind)
Mary and the Soldier (unreleased, World Gone Wrong)

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