Hunting down the extra bits and pieces which makes for a complete Bob Dylan listening experience becomes a thrilling chore. Stumbling across complete Bootleg Series collections in the broad streets of Spotify is a treat. Downloading potential virus-stuffed recordings of More Blood, More Tracks is not as fun. Such is the life of those who hope to hear The Witmark Demos in full. Settle back into the deep cuts of acoustic grandeur, or as The Witmark Demos begins, a one-minute flub where Dylan loses the words. These are still the early days of The Bootleg Series. Pacing matters though this collection of early 1960s cuts feel like a scrabble bag of ideas, sliced up and thrown together without much intent on carving out the rich history of this period for Dylan.
Hard-to-find collections and live recordings peddled by bootleggers do a better job than this. Early flickers of what Dylan would piece together for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and beyond can be heard here though in such scattered form. Picking up around Rambling, Gambling Willie, these demo selects soon find some space and comfort. It takes on a form which cannot be replicated anywhere but the studio. A man on a mission to sift through the best of his pieces. Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre is not a slice of contemporary brilliance, but it does show the lighter side Dylan lost as he charted course for the rumblings of stardom. Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues is another sign of those comedic rumblings. They can be heard fleetingly on the Philharmonic Hall Bootleg Series release.
Those tracks which never saw the light of day until now were probably best tucked away in the realm of obscurity they still live in. Better to have than have not is the attitude given by these releases, and rightly so. The Death of Emmet Till is given a wonderful first proper release while established tracks Mr. Tambourine Man and Blowin’ in the Wind are of interest to hear in these early forms. It depends on how much you care for hearing the evolution of fine songs. Dependable histories flow through these releases and this is the great draw. Deep cuts like Bound to Lose, Bound to Win are worth lending an ear to, a quality track which feels more downbeat and self-wounding than other Dylan works.
Select the highs and move on from The Witmark Demos. A perfect performance of Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright lingering here. Highlights for the second disc are slim though the laid-back piano charm of The Times They Are A-Changin’ gives a tremendously different version of one of the finest Dylan tracks around. Much of the preceding songs are closer to filler than fascinating, though it does pave the way to some deeper cuts of real worth. Guess I’m Doing Fine has some charm, but the bulk of The Witmark Demos is more for charting early growth. These are not the tunes of a great artist. Not yet anyway. With every hit Dylan held, five more were locked away. It would seem to get to the greats he worked hard, constantly and forever. The Witmark Demos is a showcase of pruning your discography to only the greats, even if some sound like they could muscle their way in there.
