Bob Dylan appears to have recorded in every apartment, hotel and café he could place his guitar. It is all the better for us and for his craft in those early years. A chance not to be heard but to be considered by the few around him, to ply his trade and understand the intricacies of his sound. Covers and originals blur well here, and The Minnesota Hotel Tapes stands out more than others. Perhaps it is the volume found on the tape, or maybe it is the vocal work Dylan showcases here, far deeper and gruffer than it would be on the tapes of the 1960s and 1970s, that makes it so important. Whatever the case, this allegedly informal set of recordings has the notions not of proving a point or trying to convince a listener, but of the thrill that comes from performing.
Lucky for those listening in now is the quality of the recordings. Opener Candy Man has that slight, rough edge to it and the higher notes may pierce your eardrums, but stick with it. These are the formative years put to tape and they matter. The Minnesota Hotel Tapes add a fascinating context to Dylan as an early years artist, as a man moved by folk music and the blues. These are songs which appear on this compilation or that. Long-serving listeners of Dylan will have no doubt heard the likes of Hard Time In New York Town in one form or another, but hearing it in the context of the hotel tapes, with Poor Lazarus and It’s Hard to Be Blind in there too, adds a new layer. Songs of living in New York City are not just straight adaptations of those day-to-day experiences, but a fearsome and often emotionally raw experience from Dylan.
A piece like I Was Young When I Left Home feels biographical given how young Dylan was when he decided New York was where he needed to be. What some may realise is Bonnie Beecher’s apartment and The Minnesota Hotel are identical recordings, but what The Minnesota Hotel Tapes offers, this specific YouTube playlist, is a bulk release from an official source. The Minnesota Hotel Tapes is an offering of those early days, the moments of doubt in a career which has never looked back. Chance encounters at a coffee shop and later jam sessions with musicians of a similar style or mindset are what made Dylan into the musician he would become in the Columbia recording studio. Hearing this development is a wonderful treat for any fan of Dylan, or anyone wanting to get to grips with his history.
Spluttering and coughing his way through Poor Lazarus gives an idea of where Dylan was as a vocalist. He honed his voice that much more in later recordings, gave it a fighting chance as he detailed a higher pitch, a nasally difference made between Another Side of Bob Dylan and The Minnesota Hotel Tapes. But what the latter exposes is a brilliant, gruff understanding, a harshness of the blues often overlooked in modern-day adaptations but shown well on Dylan’s covers. Shadows in the Night has a little in common with these recordings when looked at through the importance of the American songbook. What Dylan does on his 2015 release is what he does here, finds his voice in the words of others, and brings about a fiery and contemporary understanding of long-standing works.
