Listening to Blind Boy Grunt now is more the experience of new context to old songs. Bob Dylan’s work here, the Bonnie Beecher tapes and early years work, recordings pre-dating his self-titled studio debut, are easily accessible. Yet the thrill of listening to some bootlegs, Blind Boy Grunt included, has not shifted to novelty just yet. Not least because the recording quality is great – this upload of the album, the “first and only” play according to its owner – but because it unveils the desire of the times to hear those early works of Dylan. Few artists can command people so infatuated with their work, with the origins of their sound, that people are hunting bootlegs of available songs still. This 1978 release has been officially compiled here, there, and everywhere, but even now, hunting down a vinyl or listening to this upload is a more satisfying and complete experience than the soulless playlists uploaded to the Bob Dylan YouTube channel.
It is the difference between a bit of seasoning on your food and slop in the trough. Care has been taken, and that care translates into the song, however unlikely that may sound, it does. You can feel the wear of the grooves, the flecks of dust which have the needle jump on the spot. Hard Times in New York Town into Baby Let Me Follow You Down has that little vinyl crackle, the warmth of a long play in motion. Stick a solid pair of headphones on and only the sonic snobs will tell you there is much difference at play. Considering how tricky it is to get your hands on this, the fact it is out there in full, for free, like any bootleg should be, is fantastic. Early efforts from Dylan, compiled for the ease of access, which was not there at the time of release. Dylan was at the height of his powers once more at the time of this release, no wonder Blind Boy Grunt was so sought after.
This is a release which allows even the passive listener to learn from those tapes not intended for commercial release. We as listeners feel there is a right to this material, because it informs the later changes an artist makes, for good or ill. It is hard to make the argument against listening to Blind Boy Grunt, harder still to explain why it warrants a release. What it does offer is a collection of the Minnesota Hotel Tapes, a WBAI FM radio broadcast with Ballad of Donald White, and two Broadside recordings. Those Broadside recordings may be even tougher to track down, but from both the tracks featured here, it sounds as though it would be a worthwhile chase.
We should not seek purpose or reason to listen to this release or that – its very existence is enough to hear it out. Blind Boy Grunt has some quality recordings compiled into an accessible spot. The more bootleggers can do, the more a community of listeners can share, the better. Blind Boy Grunt remains an exceptional taste of what Dylan was doing in his earliest years, a time before he became the folk revolutionary the press and people thought he was at the time. Hearing a time before that may seem overwhelming, tricky, even, at first. Not at all. Releases like Blind Boy Grunt are excellent educational tools to give listeners easy access, but they are also brilliant quality copies of songs featured in a slate of compilation releases, but never shining on their own.
