Bob Dylan Bootleg Series Vol. 9 Amazon Exclusive disc: Live 1963 Brandeis University

It was confirmed last week that Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Volume 9 will be comprised of his Witmark Demos, which were 47 songs Dylan recorded solo acoustic for publishers Leeds Music and M. Witmark & Sons between 1962 and 1964.

The two-disc set will be released October 19 and will feature alternate versions of classics like “Blowin’ In The Wind,” “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “The Times They Are A-Changin'” as well as 15 tracks recorded exclusively for the session. Some of the songs appeared on the original career-spanning 3-disc Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3 set, which only served as a tease for the complete Whitmark Demos goldmine.

Here is the full track listing broken up by a classic video of a young Bob performing The Times They Are A-Changin’. (I tried to find an embeddable version of “Walkin’ Down the Line” or “The Times They Are A-Changin‘” from the first Bootleg Series for a better example of what to expect with this release but I didn’t have any luck. You can click on the song titles to hear a sample at amazon though!)

Disc 1:

1. “Man On The Street (Fragment)”
2. “Hard Times In New York Town”
3. “Poor Boy Blues”
4. “Ballad For A Friend”
5. “Rambling, Gambling Willie”
6. “Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues”
7. “Standing On The Highway”
8. “Man On The Street”
9. “Blowin’ In The Wind”
10. “Long Ago, Far Away”
11. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”
12. “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”
13. “The Death of Emmett Till”
14. “Let Me Die In My Footsteps”
15. “Ballad Of Hollis Brown”
16. “Quit Your Low Down Ways”
17. “Baby, I’m In The Mood For You”
18. “Bound To Lose, Bound To Win”
19. “All Over You”
20. “I’d Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day”
21. “Long Time Gone”
22. “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”
23. “Masters Of War”
24. “Oxford Town”
25. “Farewell”

Disc 2

1. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
2. “Walkin’ Down The Line”
3. “I Shall Be Free”
4. “Bob Dylan’s Blues”
5. “Bob Dylan’s Dream”
6. “Boots Of Spanish Leather”
7. “Walls of Red Wing”
8. “Girl From The North Country”
9. “Seven Curses”
10. “Hero Blues”
11. “Whatcha Gonna Do?”
12. “Gypsy Lou”
13. “Ain’t Gonna Grieve”
14. “John Brown”
15. “Only A Hobo”
16. “When The Ship Comes In”
17. “The Times They Are A-Changin'”
18. “Paths Of Victory”
19. “Guess I’m Doing Fine”
20. “Baby Let Me Follow You Down”
21. “Mama, You Been On My Mind”
22. “Mr. Tambourine Man”
23. “I’ll Keep It With Mine”

A surprise announcement was made in just the last couple days that Amazon.com will be offering an exclusive bonus disc to people who purchase the set through their site: a previously uncirculated recording of Bob Dylan’s performance at Brandeis University’s First Annual Folk Festival on May 10, 1963!

The original tape of the show was recently discovered in the archives of Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Ralph Gleason, who had been in possession of the recording for over 40 years. Ralph’s son Toby Gleason says the seven-inch reel-to-reel was discovered last year during the process of clearing out his father’s house after his mother died.

“My father had nothing to do with that Brandeis show,” Gleason says. “I suspect he got the tape from Bob himself or from one of the people in Bob’s organization. My father was one of the nationally credited writers that wrote about Bob the most, and they became close.”

The disc is free to anyone who orders the Bootleg Series Volume 9 or Bob Dylan — The Original Mono Recordings, a set of Dylan’s first 8 albums (From Bob Dylan through John Wesley Harding) remastered in their original mono newly mastered from their first-generation mono mixes. From Rolling Stone:

The set — which spans 1962’s Bob Dylan through 1968’s John Wesley Harding — will come as a deluxe box and on 180-gram vinyl, and include a booklet of vintage photographs and an essay by Rolling Stone

The mono set follows on the heels of the successful Beatles box set of their albums in original mono. In case you’re wondering why people would want mono instead of stereo (I get asked that question a lot) it’s because that is how these albums were originally released. Some of the motivation is purely nostalgic, but in instances like the Beatles recordings there was substantial production work done when they were re-released in stereo that was more than just adding an extra channel, so there is a fundamental difference in the versions noticeable by anyone paying close attention.

Anyway, here is the track listing for the 1963 Brandeis University Amazon exclusive bonus disc!

Live: Brandeis University, 1963
“Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance” (Incomplete)
“Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”
“The Ballad of Hollis Brown”
“Masters of War”
“Talkin’ World War Three Blues”
“Bob Dylan’s Dream”
“Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues”