Bob Dylan – Ultra Rare Tracks 1961 & 1962 Review

An ever-growing pile of releases from the Bob Dylan YouTube account are to be engaged cautiously. They tend to muddy the waters of what information, however slim, is out there. From a “deep cuts” playlist which features It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, to the fragmented release and repackaging of Hard Rain, those behind the account are trying to milk the dead horse as much as they can. Taste the acidic, manure-riddled cash-in and accept it for what it is. Only by extending a friendly hand to a piece like Ultra Rare Tracks 1961 & 1962 can we gauge its use. Extend it and be surprised it is not lopped off by a maniac. Ultra Rare Tracks 1961 & 1962 is exactly what it says on the tin, and where there may be a few overlaps with other releases, the extra bits are worthwhile.  

An introduction tape serves well to the context of these songs. “He sings a lot of songs, a lot of his own material,” gives us an early introduction to Bobby Dylan. He would drop the “by” and get by just fine. What is the purpose of the layman entering this work? Is it to grasp some note of history which was made unclear by formal releases? The studio offerings of the early days are so brief, they do not paint a whole picture of Dylan as an artist who was hard at work. His self-titled debut had him presented as a stooge who could carry familiar tunes. He does as much here with House of the Rising Sun and Handsome Molly. But there was more to him, and you can hear flickers of that more on Ultra Rare Tracks 1961 & 1962 than you can on that first Columbia recording.  

Ultra rare? Possibly so, it is not as though the team behind the account are keen to share the source. For the keen-eared or those with more time on their hands, the overlap may become clear. This is the point of Ultra Rare Tracks 1961 & 1962, though, the passing listener will not do their due diligence. Omie Wise sounds familiar, presumably lifted from the Riverside Church Folk Music Hootenanny in 1961. But it is this presumption, the head scratching these compilations cause by being there, muddying the waters, that preservationists and those in charge of archival tapes should look to avoid. It is the equivalent of not numbering the various takes on The Bootleg Series. Quality performances may be found on this compilation of songs, little pockets of interest, but without a date, the compilation fails to inform. 

Is that not the purpose of a compilation effort? A chance to hear from the artist at a particular period or thematic interest. Ultra Rare Tracks 1961 & 1962 is jumbling history, but it never feels intentional, just lazy. Frustrating for this and this alone, the compilation at face value is wonderful. Plenty of amazing performances from the pre-recording deal days from Dylan, a time when coffee shops and underground venues were where he could ply his trade and learn the ropes. Those moments are crucial to understanding the longevity of his work. Recognisable features like The Death of Emmett Till and Hard Times in New York highlight the ever-changing sound Dylan was creating. These are the moments worth listening to, but it is damnable there are no dates to suggest where a listener could get further work. Such is the shortcoming of relying on the vault.