Bob Dylan – Abandoned Love: Non-Album Tracks Review

Ripped from some studio out there, the Abandoned Love: Non-Album Tracks are exactly as the title would suggest. An unofficial Bob Dylan bootleg during a period where the songwriter found himself detailing a few misfires after a period of prolific writing. He would never return to that level of constant writing. Roadblocks and indifference would crop up in frustrating pockets every few years, but Abandoned Love is a neat insight into the recordings which were simply deemed not worthy of release. Like most who are listening in to these extra tracks, they are certainly worth putting out there. It is why bootleggers are still scrubbing tapes, uncovering gems like an acoustic rendition of Forever Young. Dylan playing around with the formation and sound of his old hits is an indicator of how very lost he was.  

Blues-like tones on the follow-up track Nobody ‘Cept You are stuffed full of a constant, whirring love. Inner spells and the metaphors of passing emotions feel strong, but the constant note to keep through these songs is their lack of tone. These songs, while great, would struggle to fit into a steadier album release. No wonder they were cut from the public eye, bundled away in a suitcase of leftover tapes and half-baked ideas. But it is up to the bootlegger and listener to make heads or tails of it. Abandoned Love: Non-Album Tracks is a quality compilation of pieces which were just not meant to be. That is not to say they are any better in this new context, compiled by dedicated individuals bringing brilliant but forgotten works into view. Call Letter Blues sits as one of the finer moments here, a song which puts to shame the Blues compilation officially released by the Dylan team in the mid-2000s. Dig deep. That is what compilations are all about.  

B-Sides and bits leftover from the official Bootleg Series releases make up much of this Abandoned Love compilation. It keeps everything steady, all of it hitting a remarkably high standard. Where it may be clear why some of these songs, like the Tangled Up in Blue sounding Up to Me, are dropped, others remain agonisingly unavailable to the public. Seven Days being one of the few songs he penned in 1976 and not readily available right from the studio, as it is here, is one of many heartbreaking shames. Sign Language, the Eric Clapton-featuring song featured towards the end of Abandoned Love, is a stroke of genius. Those sessions came to something after all, not just a botched Idiot Wind tease. These are expansive tapes which serve the great purpose of adding context to a time when Dylan was trying to dismantle his public image as a protest hero, that voice of a generation.  

He was yet he wasn’t. Abandoned Love: Non-Album Tracks is a mighty collection of materials which, for one reason or another, just weren’t released. Dylan has been consistently flippant in what does and does not get released. Hearing these alternates and extra bits is a treat not because we can figure out where they would settle into the discography, but what they add to those released works is paramount to their understanding. It allows us to navigate that little bit easier through Self Portrait. Take some joy in the edits of Hollywood Angel and Patty’s Gone to Laredo, with album closer Seven Days capping one of the first rough periods for Dylan. He would bounce back from it, over a decade later. Listening to what did not make the cut is fascinating, and it adds to those layers of frustration around the mid-1970s.