Emptying the filing cabinets of the Bob Dylan archives, it appears those behind his YouTube channel are finding recordings from after 1962. While this is not normally cause for celebration, the sheer volume of compilations piecing together Fixin’ to Die from this broadcast or chatter from that home tape is agonising. They have scrubbed away a layer of intrigue in those first years from the stage and replaced it with fodder. But they are learning, it would seem. The further you dig, the more you may find. We are only a collapsed wall or a little snag away from brilliant material. Agonising it may be to see It Could Even Be a Myth is a collection of unmarked live broadcasts. It is a collection worth hearing. If you can, hunt down these origins, cobbled together and stripped of note by the Media Champ playlist. Those who cannot are still served well with It Could Even Be a Myth.
There are moments of brilliance within this compilation. They start from Masters of War, the first recognisable hit of this release, though it is worth taking note of Oxford Town and Paths of Victory. Early songs like Walkin’ Down the Line are somewhat tricky to track down. Having them appear here, out of the blue, on a compilation which just a few thousand have listened to, is peculiar. But it is there all the same and can be extracted from here, as can some incredible performances of some of Dylan’s biggest hits. Masters of War is remarkable even if the quality is a bit rough, while follow-up Let Me Die in My Footsteps is a lesson in melody even now. A few more deep cuts from this set are well-placed, with I Shall Be Free and Cuban Missile Crisis a wonderful precursor to what is the highlight of It Could Even Be a Myth. Joan Baez’s cover of Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright rivals the original Dylan recording.
An outstanding performance which highlights how the intimate understanding between the pair at the time spread into their songs. The end of the compilation is where it comes to prove its uses. A slightly extended A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall and a brief shot of Blowin’ in the Wind are nothing short of amazing. These are songs which still stick in the mind, whatever form they are performed. It could be the stripped-back acoustics heard on It Could Even Be a Myth, or the rocked-out slump which affected Dylan twenty years later. Whatever the case, these early versions from a live radio broadcast are exceptional. An eerie silence joins up with the A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall performance, adding to that stream of consciousness which still affects so many. That’s the true talent heard here, stripped back for radio.
Troubled and I Don’t Know Why is a diamond in the rough. It is why these compilations are, for all their detractions, worth sifting through. A Dylan song few will be familiar with, thrown between two of his all-time greats. Baez joins Dylan for this performance, a lost gem which appears hard to track down outside of this performance. It’s worth a listen. One of the many excess songs from a golden period for Dylan, with the folk roots relied on a touch too strongly to feature even on his folk-oriented albums of the time. The quality of this Baez and Dylan collaboration is magnificent. The further It Could Even Be a Myth goes along, the stronger the tape quality gets. It leaves listeners with some borderline studio-quality efforts of songs which are near impossible to hunt down. Eternal Circle features also, but that, like many other songs featured on It Could Even Be a Myth, are a little easier to get your hands on.
Baez’s cover of Don’t Think Twice has nothing on the original, but her contribution on “Troubled” here is great