Bob Dylan – Songs for Dwarf Music Review

Dig deep enough into the bootleg backlog, and you’ll find rarities worth clinging to. Bob Dylan may have almost every show recorded by fans, all his studio demos out there for use, but it takes a keen ear to decide what ends up on which of these passion project releases. Touching up material, remastering as best bootleggers can from their home, is a noble cause in preserving the history of recorded moments which may not have the rights or even be on the radar of a musician and their team. Such is the case for Songs for Dwarf Music, a remastering of some recordings made during The Basement Tapes sessions. Fourteen songs in all, with recognisable numbers like I Shall Be Released and Crash on The Levee featuring. It is, as the Albums That Never Were team suggests, the closest we may ever get to hearing what an immediate, post-Blonde on Blonde album would’ve sounded like had Dylan not sat on these recordings for so long.  

Opening duo Million Dollar Bash and Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread are neat, deeper cuts from Dylan and The Band’s discography, assembled nicely at the start of this “what could’ve been” compilation. Unlike other bootleg efforts, Songs for Dwarf Music gets away with using studio material smartly. Copyright strikes and the shortcomings of a bad tape recording are inevitabilities, but when you put together the already accessible studio efforts, the bootlegger in question needs a deeper read on the material. Such is the case here, and with the likes of I Shall Be Released and Tears of Rage featuring here, it’s clear that care has been taken to reimagining these songs beyond a track list. There is much to love about the overhaul present here, Dylan and The Band matching one another creatively is always a treat. Songs for Dwarf Music are the offerings which coaxed Dylan back into creative life, out of the family living he had made up in Woodstock.  

What a return it is, too. Songs for Dwarf Music underscores the desire to create that little bit more. Returning to work not for the sake of it, but because the itch had returned as soon as it had left, means there is a surplus of material which never quite fits onto a particular Dylan album. These incredible cuttings would eventually be compiled elsewhere, of course, but they sound more like enjoyable jams, a chance to cut loose in the studio with trusted musicians, than anything else. Pieces like Quinn the Eskimo and I Shall Be Released stand on their own merit rather than the project they’re apart of, unlike Nothing Was Delivered or Tiny Montgomery. Great songs all the same but it’s hard to extract those tracks as well as the others. This Wheels on Fire features too, a classic for The Band but here, an alternative worth hearing.  

Perhaps it’s not the alternative that inspires but the context of these songs. Many of these can stand on their own, and have had to do so given they never managed to find a clear spot in Dylan’s discography. It’s a bit like that for Things Have Changed and Positively 4th Street, too. Songs worth listening to, but not tethered to this album or that release. They’re period definers, and many of the songs featured on Songs for Dwarf Music fit both this imagined context and the sheer, simple fact of being listed together on a bootleg. It’s a nice way to reinterpret and experience these standalone songs, many of which featured on The Basement Tapes too, but the context of the studio and personal life of Dylan takes precedence over the message the music can make when paired together. This is a fascinating way to experience the works of Dylan and The Band.