It was one of the greatest three album runs by a 1960s classic rock artist (if not any musical act ever): Bob Dylan‘s Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, all recorded and released in a flurry of artistic brilliance over a mere 14 months in 1965 and ’66. Now Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings offer a bonanza of never-before-heard songs, outtakes, rehearsal tracks and alternate versions from the making of those three albums with The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12, a deluxe six-CD anthology.
The set includes an annotated book featuring hundreds of rare and never-before-seen photographs and memorabilia and new essays penned especially for the collection by music scholars Bill Flanagan and Sean Wilentz. All recordings included in The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 are pristine transfers and mixed from the original studio tracking tapes.
For Dylan completists, an 18-CD Collector’s Edition, limited to a worldwide pressing of only 5,000 copies, will be available exclusively on www.bobdylan.com. It will include every note recorded during the 1965-1966 sessions, every alternate take and alternate lyric, as well as Dylan’s original nine mono 45 RPM singles released during the time period, packaged in newly created picture sleeves featuring global images from the era. The limited edition includes rare hotel room recordings from the Savoy Hotel in London (May 4, 1965), the North British Station Hotel in Glasgow (May 13, 1966) and a Denver, Colorado hotel (March 12, 1966) as well as a strip of original film cells from Don’t Look Back.
For listeners who want to merely sample the offerings, there will also be The Best of The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol.12, available in a two-CD or three-12-inch vinyl LP set and brings together some of the musical high points of the deluxe and super-deluxe collections. (The 6-CD set, for instance, contains no less than 20 different versions of “Like A Rolling Stone.”) Street date is November 6th; pre-order info is below.
Track listing for The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 (6-CD Deluxe Edition)
DISC 1:
1. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 1 (1/13/1965) acoustic, incomplete
2. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 2 (1/13/1965) acoustic
3. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 3 remake (1/13/1965) acoustic
4. Love Minus Zero/No Limit – Take 1 remake (1/14/1965) electric
5. I’ll Keep It with Mine – Take 1 (1/13/1965) piano demo, previously released on Biograph, 1985
6. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic, previously released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005
7. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Take 1 (1/13/1965) acoustic, incomplete
8. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream – Take 2 (1/13/1965) acoustic
9. She Belongs to Me – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic
10. She Belongs to Me – Take 2 Remake (1/13/1965) acoustic
11. She Belongs to Me – Take 1 Remake (1/14/1965) electric
12. Subterranean Homesick Blues – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic, previously released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991
13. Subterranean Homesick Blues – Take 1 remake (1/14/1965) electric
14. Outlaw Blues – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic
15. Outlaw Blues – Take 2 Remake (1/13/1965) electric
16. On the Road Again – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic
17. On the Road Again – Take 4 (1/14/1965) electric
18. On the Road Again – Take 1 remake (1/15/1965) electric
19. On the Road Again – Take 7 remake (1/15/1965) electric
20. Farewell, Angelina – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic, previously released The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991
21. If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic
22. If You Gotta Go, Go Now – Take 2 (1/15/1965) electric
23. You Don’t Have to Do That – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic, incomplete
DISC 2:
1. California – Take 1 (1/13/1965) solo acoustic
2. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – Take 1 (1/15/1965) acoustic, demo
3. Mr. Tambourine Man – Takes 1 – 2 (1/15/1965) incomplete, with band
4. Mr. Tambourine Man – Take 3 (1/15/1965) incomplete, with band
5. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry – Take 1 (6/15/1965)
6. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry – Take 8 (6/15/1965)
7. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry – Take 3 (7/29/1965)
8. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry – Take 3 remake (7/29/65)
9. Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence – Take 2 (6/15/1965)
10. Tombstone Blues – Take 1 (7/29/1965)
11. Tombstone Blues – Take 9 (7/29/1965) previously released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005
12. Positively 4th Street – Takes 1-3 (7/29/1965)
13. Positively 4th Street – Take 4 (7/29/1965)
14. Positively 4th Street – Take 5 (7/29/1965)
15. Desolation Row – Take 1 (8/4/1965)
16. Desolation Row – Take 2 (8/4/1965) piano demo
17. Desolation Row – Take 5 remake (8/2/1965)
18. From a Buick 6 – Take 1 (7/30/1965)
19. From a Buick 6 – Take 4 (7/30/1965) released in error on first pressing of Highway 61 Revisited, 1965
DISC 3:
1. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 1-3 (6/15/1965)
2. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 4 (6/15/1965)
3. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 5 (6/15/1965)
4. Like a Rolling Stone – Rehearsal (6/16/1965)
5. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 1 (6/16/1965)
6. Like a Rolling Stone – Takes 2-3 (6/16/1965)
7. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 4 (6/16/1965) released on Highway 61 Revisited, 1965
8. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 5 (6/16/1965)
9. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 6 (6/16/1965)
10. Like a Rolling Stone -Take 8 (6/16/1965)
11. Like a Rolling Stone – Takes 9-10 (6/16/1965)
12. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 11 (6/16/1965)
13. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 12 (6/16/1965)
14. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 13 (6/16/1965)
15. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 14 (6/16/1965)
16. Like a Rolling Stone – Take 15 (6/16/1965)
17. Like a Rolling Stone – Master take – lead guitar isolated track
18. Like a Rolling Stone – Master take – vocal and guitar isolated track
19. Like a Rolling Stone – Master take – drums and organ isolated track
20. Like a Rolling Stone – Master take – piano and bass isolated track
DISC 4:
1. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window – Take 1 (7/30/1965)
2. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window – Take 17 (7/30/1965 released in error on the first pressing of “Positively 4th Stree” single
3. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 3 (8/2/1965)
4. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 5 (8/2/1965)
5. Highway 61 Revisited – Take 7 (8/2/1965)
6. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 1 (8/2/1965)
7. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 3 (8/2/1965)
8. Just Like Tom Thumb’s blues – Take 13 (8/2/1965)
9. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 2 (8/2/1965)
10. Queen Jane Approximately – Take 5 (8/2/1965)
11. Ballad of a Thin Man – Take 2 (8/2/1965) incomplete
12. Medicine Sunday – Take 1 (10/5/1965)
13. Jet Pilot – Take 1 (10/5/1965) Previously released on Biograph, 1985
14. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 1 (10/5/1965)
15. I Wanna Be Your Lover – Take 6 (10/5/1965)
16. Unknown Instrumental – Take 2 (10/5/1965)
17. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window – Takes 5-6 (11/30/1965)
18. Visions of Johanna – Take 1 (11/30/1965)
19. Visions of Johanna – Take 5 (11/30/1965)
DISC 5:
1. Visions of Johanna – Take 7 (11/30/1965)
2. Visions of Johanna – Take 8 (11/30/1965) previously released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005
3. Visions of Johanna – Take 14 (11/30/1965)
4. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 1 (1/21/1966)
5. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 6 (1/21/1966)
6. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 15 (1/21/1966) previously released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, 1991
7. She’s Your Lover Now – Take 16 (1/21/1966) solo piano
8. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) – Take 2 (1/25/1966)
9. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) – Take 4 (1/25/1966)
10. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later) – Take 19 (1/25/1966)
11. Lunatic Princess – Take 1 (1/27/1966)
12. Fourth Time Around – Take 11 (2/14/1966)
13. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 3 (2/14/1966)
14. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat – Take 8 (2/14/1966)
DISC 6:
1. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again – Take 1 (2/17/1966)
2. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again – Rehearsal (2/17/1966)
3. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again – Take 5 (2/17/1966) previously released on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7, 2005
4. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again – Take 13 (2/17/1966)
5. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again – Take 14 (2/17/1966)
6. Absolutely Sweet Marie – Take 1 (3/7/1966)
7. Just Like a Woman – Take 1 (3/8/1966)
8. Just Like a Woman – Take 4 (3/8/1966)
9. Just Like a Woman – Take 8 (3/8/1966)
10. Pledging My Time – Take 1 (3/8/1966)
11. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) – Take 1 (3/9/1966)
12. Temporary Like Achilles – Take 3 (3/9/1966)
13. Obviously 5 Believers – Take 3 (3/10/1966)
14. I Want You – Take 4 (3/10/1966)
15. Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands – Take 1 – (2/16/1966)
