Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs Review

Listen in close to opener Mississippi and you can hear the cogs whirring away like they used to. Bob Dylan does not look back. For those who watched No Direction Home, that should be clear. What he does, however, is challenge himself and his listeners. Sometimes those challenges are accidental. Good luck getting through Knocked Out Loading without the lower lip quivering or guffawing at the mindless rabble of tracks. But bouncing back from rock bottom happens to the best – and for Dylan, it was a necessary dip in form which led to Time Out of Mind and beyond. Tell Tale Signs, then, is a rare and real treat for those who want to hear the change of fortune. Hear it on this opening take, he stayed in this rut a day too long and responded to the challenges which lay ahead. This Bootleg series entry is a vital piece of the long-running puzzle of shifting sands, of how Dylan got back to his grand form. 

Most of the Time and Dignity are given neat spins in different forms, the former an alternative take and the latter a piano demo which ends suddenly. It shifts into Someday Baby with the same skilful surprise as an intended studio link-up, and that is the beauty of Tell Tale Signs. Wild periods, from Oh Mercy to Modern Times, make up this rare and unreleased collection. Over a decade fitted into one two-hour package may not seem like much, but it gives the best selects Dylan has from this period. No doubt there is more, and whether it comes is yet to be seen – know there is plenty out there from Oh Mercy and onward. There must be. “The sun went down on me a long time ago,” Dylan affirms on Red River Shore. His reflective gaze is not just for studio albums but the bonus bits and early takes too. There is sincerity and sorrow in his words, and it makes for a perfect listen. 

Context is everything for this Bootleg release. Where Dylan found himself and the quality of his work at the time of writing these songs, the rocky road behind him is not so small a detail to ignore. Slick and confident material can be found on Born in Time and Can’t Wait too, these cool and collected pieces would become the cornerstone of where Dylan found his music at the turn of the century. Its second disc takes a dive after some of the best Bootleg material available, though there are still highlights like Series of Dreams to cling to. Cocaine Blues is a neat instrumental spot, though it would seem the essential pieces are left for the first tracks of this one. It is a fair way to structure the Bootleg series to be fair. 

This is a crucial showcase of latter-day Dylan, still hitting out at the world around him as hard as he did in his perceived heyday. For those wanting a slice of extra pieces from a monumental turn of form and the cover albums which preceded it, Tell Tale Signs is a perfect companion piece to the main releases. Soundtrack pieces and a little selection of World Gone Wrong numbers are mixed into this one, presumably because of the era they come from and not because there is not enough depth to get a whole release from them. Either way, their inclusion in a package that feels more tied to bridging a gap between Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind sounds stellar.