Bob Dylan – Abandoned Desires Review

Scorpio may be a name banded around with slight recognition. It feels like some military personnel group not meant for public knowledge when, actually, it is just a bootlegger specialising in Bob Dylan rips. What rips they are, though. Abandoned Desires follows on the Desire days of Dylan, the protest songs of the time mixed with punchy numbers about his divorce, and finds the riper pickings of his live works to pair with them. Early versions are sure to set the heart alight and this is very much the case for the early versions scattered through Abandoned Desires. Just a brief listen of Joey is more than enough to hear those major changes, and they make all the difference through a series of songs so closely tied to a defiant time for Dylan. These additions and changes make for a vulnerable route through the best-of hits post-Blood on the Tracks.  

Genuinely tremendous alternate versions the whole way through are more than enough of a reason to head into Abandoned Desires with an open heart and the hopes of a new shot of meaning from well-established tracks. You can get that from opener Joey, the terrible crimes of Joey Gallo put to a softer instrumental. A staggering and lengthy titan of a song, detailing the cruel realities of the world which proved shocking at the time but now they are uncomfortable footnotes, another example of a world rife with bizarre crime and horror. We are normalised to it now and it is because the greats of our time stopped singing against them, stopped rallying forth with some bold reinvention of their sound or a culturally relevant comment on the world around them. Abandoned Desires certainly give us an extra bite of Desire, well-needed it is.  

Follow-up track Rita May depends on the backing vocalists and piano charms within, the former of which would become a permanent stay for over a decade of Dylan’s work in his religious period. A slightly slower tempo and changed lyrics for Hurricane removes the punchy swagger of the released track but this serves as an earlier moment, a decent turn on a bootleg where the title track, snubbed until the Biograph release nearly a decade later, shines. Plenty to sink your teeth into around that track, with Abandoned Desires serving as a worthy extension to one of the best Dylan albums around. A piece like People Get Ready sticks out like a sore thumb, the slow build of percussion and piano paired with a brilliant Dylan vocal performance is what makes it so welcoming.  

Welcoming may be a strange interpretation of Desire. It is an album filled with tales of murder and court cases but at its heart, it is a chance for Dylan to try and steady the ship of his volatile personal life. Abandoned Desires adds a few extra notes of context to those times, which are so crucial here. Some chatter on a Bette Midler recording session precedes two exceptional closing tracks with Buckets of Rain the real, roaring charmer here. A Blood on the Tracks rip reinvented in the context of its post-release acclaim, and the bouncy piano work heard throughout is as much a reason to listen as any. These are dark spots for Dylan still but they prove immediately satisfying and ultimately make for very rewarding listens. What a treat Abandoned Desires is.