Bob Dylan: Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980 – 1985)
Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings -17 September 2021
Once when speaking of music in the 1980s, Elvis Costello referred to it as “the decade that taste forgot”. Certainly, many of the production ticks that emerged during the period, especially the early eighties, are so tied sonically to the era that the music has dated badly. Gated reverb drum sounds and an artificially synthesised backdrop has become atypical of the chart music around then; it was a time of Electropop and early Hip-Hop. This was generally bad news for any artists in the Rock, Folk, Blues or Country arenas, especially if they’d been around for a decade or two and were still expectant of chart success. This especially applied to people like Costello, Neil Young, Lou Reed and many others who all dabbled in eighties electronic textures with often underwhelming results. You could forgive them their misstep, though until then, they were the generation leading the way in popular musical progression; no one would have told them they were no longer guiding the boat. Bob Dylan was arguably tripped up more than anyone, for when he emerged from that 1979/80 preaching gospel phase aiming to touch the mainstream consciousness once more, he, for the only time in his career, felt it necessary to chase the audience and recruit some modern production elements. The end products, especially on 1985’s ‘Empire Burlesque’ where Arthur Baker was brought in to sprinkle digital age glitter over the canvass, remain some of the most divisive albums in his back pages. Still, the suspicion has remained that beneath the lame cover-art and ramshackle assemblage of ‘Shot Of Love’, lost among the omissions and offcuts of the Mark Knopfler produced ‘Infidels’ and buried beneath the plastic sheen of ‘Empire Burlesque’ lie some truly undervalued buried treasures in the work of Bob Dylan, ripe for rediscovery. ‘The Bootleg Series Vol. 16’ puts the evidence forward in the most decisive possible way, across five incredible discs.
The first CD pulls the curtain back on rehearsals for 1980 tour shows where Dylan was to re-introduce catalogue material alongside the religious and gospel numbers. Of these, ‘To Ramona’ is a stand-out, its mandolin waltzing and loose-limbed warmth recalling the Rolling Thunder vibe. There certainly was a bit of fire in his belly back then for ‘Jesus Met The Woman At The Well’ rocks like a lost garage nugget. As the earlier ‘Trouble No More’ bootleg set revealed, that 1980 gospel band were one of the great, often forgotten, ensembles of Dylan’s live career. You hear in these rehearsals a man freed from expectations, cherry-picking the past with a playful spirit. ‘Mary Of The Wild Moor’ is an Appalachian tune with which Bob would provoke audiences by saying, “people are always asking me about old songs, well this is a real old song”.
‘Need A Woman’ first appeared in 1991 on the original Bootleg Series release as a studio outtake; the early version on this new set swings fast and loose as Bob sings “I need a woman, black, white, yellow, brown, blue or green”. He sounds positively reborn musically on many of these practice run-throughs; ‘A Couple More Year’ enters Waylon Jennings country territory while ‘Shot Of Love’ outtake ‘Mystery Train’, featuring Ringo Starr, takes a tune made famous by Elvis down a Link Wray swamp. Playfully, 1979’s smooth Michael Johnson hit ‘This Night Won’t Last Forever’ is also given the rough and rowdy Dylan treatment, then Dave Mason’s ‘We Just Disagree’ is given a similar shredding. We also hear ‘Let’s Keep It Between Us’, recorded by Bonnie Raitt in 1982, but this is a first official release of a version by the song’s writer. Delightfully, it has a languid, smoky late-night organ alongside a funky strut rarely attempted by Bob.
Just when you think these sessions could not get more eclectic, a version of the now-ubiquitous ‘Sweet Caroline’ arrives. Personally, I wouldn’t say I like the song, but I’ll admit, Bob’s pre-fab Spector-blast treatment almost rescues it. Far preferable is his bluesy lurch around ‘Fever’ while ‘Abraham, Martin And John’ is played as a moving solo piano duet with Clydie King. With this disc, one comes to an end, but what a beginning to the set this is; it is an amazing selection which is sure to become regarded as one of the standouts among the Bootleg Series titles, largely thanks to its featuring so much strong material unfamiliar to the already available catalogue.
The ‘Shot Of Love’ outtakes on disc two begins with the first take of ‘Angelina’. A heavenly hymn, surely one of the greatest songs to Dylan’s name; it pre-empts a familiar early eighties theme whereby it failed to be included on the album it was recorded for, finally appearing as a later take on the original Bootleg Series release. With Clydie King, Bob laid down tasty duets on Hank William’s ‘Cold Cold Heart’ and the Everly’s ‘Let It Be Me’ but stay alert because ‘Price Of Love’ is not another Phil and Don version rather a Dylan original attempted once then abandoned forever. It is pretty good too for such a throwaway. The surprises keep coming; there’s a brief rarely heard Dylan falsetto on his cut of the Temptations ‘I Wish It Would Rain’. Another original, ‘Don’t Ever Take Yourself Away’, did not evolve beyond the sketchy version heard here, but it was passed on thirty years later to Nikki Jean, who finished it off as ‘Steel And Feathers’. Similarly, B.B. King would cover the rarely heard Dylan original ‘Fur Slippers’ in 1999.
It is becoming clear by now that Bob’s creative tap was turned to full in 1981 with little in the way of blockages in the pipework. ‘Borrowed Time’ is a rolling, tumbling tune busy being born before our ears; all the ingredients are almost there for a classic, but this one did not make it out into the world. Same too for the moody reggae of ‘Is It Worth It?’ while ‘Yes Sir No Sir’ could have been one of the heaviest songs in the Dylan repertoire if he had finished it. The lyrics may only be half-formed, but the thundery tension and aggressive riffing bring to mind ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’. Back to the material that did make the album, the version of ‘Lenny Bruce’ featured here has overdubbed female vocal embellishments and some stately chamber string parts.
Disc three brings us onto the ‘Infidels’ sessions and begins with the original ‘Jokerman’ master track. It is pretty similar initially to the familiar album version. Still, as it plays on, those rougher edges stand out before more direct emoting in the vocal performance starts to bleed through. For decades, the full band version of ‘Blind Willie McTell’ was a holy grail to Dylan collectors. Finally officially available, this one does not disappoint. It is sufficiently different to the acoustic guitar and piano take heard on the 1991 original Bootleg release to ensure that both will now occupy high positions in the rankings of Dylanologists. Recorded on the first day of ‘Infidels’ sessions, the band gradually pick it up and lock in behind Dylan and still today, it remains baffling why they would get so close to nailing something as indelibly timeless as this without welding it to the album it was intended for.
The first version of ‘Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight’ may well end up being preferred by some fans; those waves of bruised mercury are definitely a nod back to the classic mid-sixties Bob sound. Version two from the following day is a lot cleaner in tone and now has that peculiar, cushioned eighties harmonica sound. The same could be said for the version of ‘Neighbourhood Bully’; those thick drums and handclaps are a solid mid-decade time stamp; still, I’m tempted to say this usurps the familiar version.
‘Someone’s Got A Hold Of My Heart’ would end up being re-worked for ‘Empire Burlesque’ as ‘Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)’. This take is rockier than the session take that appeared on ‘Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3’. It seems crazy to be talking about radically different versions of tracks from earlier releases that were themselves presenting different variations of tracks from earlier albums. That is how deep this thirty-year excavation of the Dylan archive is now taking us; still, isn’t it remarkable how much the quality is holding up and how regularly fresh diamonds are uncovered? One of the best examples of this is an acoustic version of the track ‘Too Late’, a song recognisable as an early formation of the pounding and brilliant ‘Foot Of Pride’ from ‘Vol 1-3’. The band version from later that day sounds every inch a Dylan classic of an early seventies vintage, even though off-the-cuff lyric re-writes are still in evidence. Maybe it was those obvious reference points from his past that proved off-putting to Bob, who can say? Whatever the impetus, what we witness here is that on the very next day of recording, ‘Too Late’ had morphed into ‘Foot Of Pride’ and was instantly dirtier, crunchier and fast approaching the recording we know from the earlier Bootleg release. And if these riches are not enough, disc three also includes ‘This Was My Love’, a Sinatra associated standard that Bob records as a studio warm-up 32 years ahead of his American Song Book albums.
Disc four continues the bountiful ‘Infidels’ sessions with a ball-swinging version of ‘Clean Cut Kid’, another tune later re-configured for ‘Empire Burlesque’. The Chuck Berry style riffing on this one is a pure rock thrill. Then we hear a ‘Sweetheart Like You’ take that was worthy of an album cut but was only captured by the run tape recording everything happening in the studio. Like the earlier Sinatra style track, it was surely only for muscle-flexing purposes that a version of Jimmy Reed’s ‘Baby What You Want Me To Do’ was laid down, but what a lounge lizard stroll this tune is, a welcome addition to the session outtakes. The version of ‘Tell Me’ on ‘Vol 1-3’ was one of a few stand-out ‘Infidels’ era songs featured back then, yet another lush revelation that added more fuel to the “what an album ‘Infidels’ could have been” conversation. I’ll confess that the more laid-back version presented here does not quite hit the spot, in the same way, still well worth a listen, though.
‘Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground’ is a nice Dylan solo version of the Willie Nelson number he would later cut as a B-side only duet with Clydie King. ‘Julius And Ethel’ is another historical story song, sung as a topical Phil Ochs style song with added rock ‘n’ roll, but this one, probably understandably, quickly dropped out of the running. Regrettably, I find that ‘Green Green Grass Of Home’ is buried too deep in my list of personal song dislikes for even Bob to be able to rescue. On a positive note, however, sequenced ahead of a version of ‘Union Sundown’, it certainly bumps that often derided tune-up, in my estimation. The deep, pure gospel of ‘Lord Protect My Child’ was another highlight of the original Bootleg set; this later take is a tad lusher and still offers very few clues as to why its writer did not think it finished. Next, we hear a take of ‘I And I’ that for once allows the Mark Knopfler hand in proceedings to show through, this being a very Dire Straits-like take and rather wonderful it is too. Finally, we hear the full-length version of ‘Death Is Not The End’, an edited version of which would not appear until five years later on ‘Down In The Groove’. A patchy album at best; imagine what an LP it could have been if he had just raided the ‘Infidels’ session tapes for the whole album.
Disc five begins with a dip into the live tapes that contributed to the ‘Real Live’ record. ‘Enough Is Enough’ is a rockin’ blues original that never made it beyond those summer 1984 shows. ‘License To Kill’ as played on Letterman in 1984 is also featured; a celebrated Dylan TV appearance in which he hooked up with the New Wave, garage trash merchants The Plugz and, for one night only, played like a totally wired college radio indie rocker. This final CD then proceeds to present the argument, held true by many, that Dylan let many fine songs on ‘Empire Burlesque’ be smothered by heavy-handed period production. Clearly, all of ‘I’ll Remember You’, ‘Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)’, ‘Emotionally Yours’ (massively improved without synthesiser strings and brass) and ‘Clean Cut Kid’ make a strong case for this opinion, I certainly do not miss any of the sheen applied to the final released tracks. ‘Seeing The Real You At Last’ really should have been heard as the infectiously grooving folk-rock played here. The off-cuts are even more compelling; ‘Straight A’s In Love’ is that rare thing, a would-be Bob Dylan floor-filler in which the rock ‘n’ roll thrills maybe offer a little nod to the early sound of Elvis Costello And The Attractions.
‘When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky’ is heard in slow and fast modes. It would end up as a surprising detour into eighties Soul but clearly would have been better suited as the rousing E-Street Band style anthem featured here. It even has E-Streets Steven Van Zandt and Roy Bittan, but maybe this is what changed Bob’s mind? If there is anyone Dylan would not want to have been accused of following, it was Bruce Springsteen, one of many artists saddled with the ‘new Dylan’ tag in the early seventies. The set then concludes with a brace of songs already acclaimed as two of Bob’s greatest of the decade. ‘New Danville Girl’ would later appear as ‘Brownsville Girl’ on 1986’s ‘Knocked Out Loaded’, the best song on that record by a country mile.
Finally, ‘Dark Eyes’ brings Bob back to square one, easily one of the loveliest solo acoustic ballads in his whole catalogue. The second of only two takes, it was written overnight at the behest of producer Arthur Baker who, despite his brief to modernize the sound, wanted to hear a solo acoustic tune in the classic early-sixties Dylan mode. A similar production move was adopted by Rick Rubin in the 1990s to huge critical acclaim and commercial success when working with Johnny Cash. Listening to such a timeless tune and learning that Dylan created it within 24 hours of being given an encouraging shove does make you wonder what he could have arrived at if met more often by firm impetus from any strong personality producer at this time? Ultimately though, what this massive set proves beyond doubt is that Bob Dylan, unlike many during this period, did not lose it in the early 1980s. He may well have been scratching around at times for the right direction, but, as is indisputably apparent on ‘Dark Eyes’, the basic raw talent never deserted him, and at last, so much of this strong material will rise deservedly further up towards the top end of the Dylan canon.
Springtime In New York: The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 (1980-1985)
Deluxe Version: Amazon (UK)
2-Disc Version: Amazon (UK)
Vinyl Version: Amazon (UK)
Also: https://bobdylan.lnk.to/BootlegVol16
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Photo Credit: Ken Regan