Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (Rare & Unreleased) Review

Cutting down the Bootleg Tapes of Bob Dylan into bitesize chunks is, for some of them, the only way to manage it. Box sets like this deserve to be picked apart for the massive swathe of time it covers. 1961 to 1991 is no small period and though the lengthy collection of Rare and Unreleased tracks are all part of a wonderful package – it is worth remembering just how much of a change this second volume offers. From The Times They Are A-Changin’ to Blood on the Tracks, this hour and ten minutes is a masterclass in hearing the hurt and heartbreak in the changes Dylan hoped to make. He was met with lukewarm responses on the initial release of Blood on the Tracks, and how wrong people of the time were with such a response. 

Even the demo recordings, the alternative takes and outtakes from Blonde on Blonde show Dylan whirring away as a master of his craft. Rare and Unreleased Vol. 2 is fitted full of pieces which would later be popped into other releases or at least spawn a need to hear more from particular sessions. Alternative takes to Blood on the Tracks for instance, namely the works on Idiot Wind and Call Letter Blues would soon spawn More Blood, More Tracks, an absolute and incredible understanding of how close Dylan was to the perfection of his 1975 release so early into the recording process. A trendsetter as ever, Dylan provides a collection of tracks here which would soon lead The Beatles, Neil Young and all those other greats from the 1960s and 1970s to release their compilations.  

Rare and Unreleased Vol. 2 opened a whole new door for music fans. No longer are they scurrying away listening to bootleg rips of Chrome Dreams – the artists themselves are now responsible for the leaking of their outtakes. Where it may change little in the long run, the seal of approval put to the likes of alternative takes of Like a Rolling Stone and an excellent Santa-Fe recording from The Basement Tapes is brushed up to the standard of a regular release. Much like when Dylan fans orchestrated the boom of bootlegs with Great White Wonder, the powers that be see the appeal of listening in to those extra cuts. Fans of any artist love those extra bits and pieces, hearing it all come together is part of the process and how many love and engage music. You could not ask for much better than Rare and Unreleased Vol. 2.  

What a way to mark thirty years of work. Naysayers will suggest these are not necessary – but they are the same people whose passive ears will never quite wrinkle out what makes Dylan such a master. It is not smug to suggest it, just accurate. Rare and Unreleased Vol. 2 is a necessary part of history and listeners should feel lucky to hear it in this state and with this level of quality to the package. An essential period of work which sees Dylan work through some of his hardest and harshest material. He was a changed man by the end of this period and it is clear to hear as the tides begin to change, the New Morning and Planet Waves inclusions eyeing up a new horizon for the man whose work is closed off here with an eight-minute titan in the form of an alternative take for Idiot Wind.