Bob Dylan – Fixin’ to Die Review

Dump your barrels full of recordings into the YouTube trough. It is what the team monitoring and moulding the many playlists of the Bob Dylan channel does. Let the dedicated fans pick through what is a rushed-together and thinly coated compilation under titles bound to confuse. And yet, through all that, this is the easiest way to listen to the earliest Dylan recordings. Those extra songs did not quite fit the Bootleg Series lineage or were too like the works already on there. Playlists and compilations like Fixin’ to Die are essential to the fans wanting easy access to rare recordings. Why the likes of I Heard That Lonesome Whistle and Smokestack Lightning are dumped here is unknowable. What we can ascertain, though, is they have at least been handled with care. 

Like dumping a collection of books onto a bed to sift through, the recollection and memories this event can conjure are beautiful. Fixin’ to Die is mainly early recordings, very nice of the team to upload them to YouTube where comments are left by those who think Dylan himself is pulling the strings. The title track is what you would expect of Dylan from this period. Acoustic joys, the rattle and echo of these early works heard as he still finds a place for his voice to stay. It warbles and rushes through gruff undertakings and that, if anything, is the point of listening to these efforts. Dylan is still in the process of finding a voice to carry forth his material. A Howlin’ Wolf cover, Smokestack Lightning, hears him hone his vocal security a little further.  

Early works from Dylan can be a treat for all the wrong reasons. Here is the rise of an artist who would leave most of these songs behind. It is somewhat bittersweet to hear the likes of Roll On, John and Standing on the Highway because of the impact they had in the long run. Fixin’ to Die is filled with the spirit of the early years – a chance to hear Dylan at his most exposed because he had nothing to hide from the spotlight. He was not yet thrown into the front pages and gaze of millions, and because of this, we can hear him at an earnest point in his career. The Death of Emmett Till has the additional notes, the admittance to stealing a melody from Wayne Chandler and the joys of improvisation on the go in new songs for the sake of paying tribute to the greats.  

Dylan learned from the best of folk and this compilation piece highlights it well. Conversational, bright and even jolly at times, the earliest and best works of Dylan collect the grassroots influence from those ill-forgotten artists born just a little too early to be made into megastars like Dylan. Fixin’ to Die will hold a spot in the hearts of those who want to hear Dylan explicitly admit he lifted from his influences. Did he make those tones his own? Most certainly and listening to the likes of Stealin’ Stealin’ showcases the flourish and unique touch Dylan puts on blues classics. He still does it. Rough and Rowdy Ways benefits from the same certainty and unwavering commitment to uncovering new routes through old classics as Fixin’ to Die does.