This page is part of Lonesome Sparrow's Web Site.
Contents of this page taken from Eric Schoneveld's site The Unofficial Bob Dylan CD Guide.
The Unofficial Bob Dylan CD Guide
What you can find here is a guide to Bob Dylan import/bootleg/unofficial cd's. This guide is by
no means complete. There are over 500 of these discs about , therefore I decided to include
the best discs for each period of Bob's career. This means that the list is certainly not
objective, but heavily influenced by my own personal choice.
On this page is the guide itself. On a second page are
track lists and reviews.
Bob Dylan in the sixty's.
The early years '61 - '65
Bob moved from Minnesota to New York City in '61. Two recently released discs that cover
that period well are The Early Years vol. I & II.
They offer a good insight in what Bob was doing in the first months in NYC. Later on
Bob did a lot of radio shows, those can be found on discs like Stud Terkel's
wax museum, Broadside and Folksinger's choice.
The 'Banjo Tape' that was probably recorded in the basement of Gerde's folk, city
can be found on The Banjo Tape & NYC Town Hall, that also features a live recording
of Bob at the Town Hall. Dylan gave a historic performance on Halloween 1964, you can find that
on It's alright or All Hallows Eve And More. And of course Bob went electric in 1965, but he did
an all acoustic tour in England, of which a performance can be heard in good quality
on Now's the time for your tears. Very interesting outtakes/demos of this period
are The Freewheeling sessions and the famous Witmark Demos. You should check
Freewheeling Bob Dylan Outtakes, Seven years of bad luck and The Witmark Years for these.
Electric Bob '65 - '70
On the Newport festival 1965 Bob gave his first electric concert. You can find
that on a cd called Live in Newport 1965, but that one is hard to find now.
1965 and 1966 were very productive years for Bob. The legendary albums Bringing it
all back home, Highway 61 revisited and Blonde on Blonde were recorded then. A
must have cd of this period is The Lonesome Sparrow Sings or
Thin Wild Mercury Music.
These two offer both most circulating outtakes and different takes from above
mentioned albums.
Almost all outtakes/recordings/press conferences of 1965
can be found on the 14 cd-box 1965 Revisited.
Bob started a world tour (Europe & Australia) in 1966 together
with the Band. The most famous recording of one of these shows is the 'Judas' recording
where some one in the audience shouts Judas to Bob. Bob replies by saying 'I don't
believe you' and says to his back up band: "play F#%&ing loud". This recording is
released in several incarnations, usually filled up with other recordings of that period.
Some examples are Royal Albert Hall '66, Live in England '66 and Manchester Prayer.
But now there is a tape available from the complete show, that includes the acoustic
part. Some say this is the best bootcd available and they might be right, Guitars Kissing
& The Contemporary Fix.
After this tour Bob had his motor cycle accident and he took advantage
of that by getting away from it all and to start a happy family (he just got married then).
This results in a somewhat slow period bootleg wise. But his jammin' with the band in the basement
of Big Pink in Woodstock can be found in 5 volumes of The Genuine Basement Tapes.
Bob did a few benefit shows in this period, but nothing worth mentioning here...
Bob in the seventy's
1970 - 1973
The seventy's start off a bit slow. Two studio sessions resulted in nice cd's.
Bob's session with George Harrison is very pleasent to listen to. You can find that on
Yesterday. Bob composed the music for Sam Packenpah's Pat Garret and Billy
the kid. A studio session of that can be found on Peco's Blues or Lucky Luke. It's a
surprisingly nice disc and one you should have in your collection.
1974
Bob made his live comeback in 1974, once again backed up by the Band. Not too
much cd's have been made of this tour, one worth a mention here is The Poet And The Players.
1975 - 1976 Thunder on the road
Ofcourse Bob went on the road again in 1975 and 1976 accompanied by the the Rolling Thunder
Revue. The 1975 leg of Rolling Thunder is very well documented on two discs:
Flagging Down The Double E's and Get Ready, Tonight Bob's staying here with you.
A nice disc of the 1976 leg is Rolling thunder revue. That disc doesnot only cover Bob's
performance but also the other artists that were part of the Revue.
1977 - 1978
In 1978 Dylan undertook his first real big world tour. First he visited the far east
(Japan and Australia), then he went on to Europe for the first time since 1966. Bob then
finished this tour at home in the USA resulting in over 100 shows ! The rehearsels for
this tour are featured on Darkness at the break of noon. It's a very
fine disc with excellent versions of If you see her... and The man in me, to name just two songs.
Furthermore I'd like to mention three discs one from each period:
Far East Tour, Picnic at The Blackbushe and Inside the Coliseum.
There are more around, but these are good choices.
1979 Born Again Bob
As we all know, Bob was born again in 1979. During that year he recorded Slow
Train Coming and Saved. Bob decided then that he no longer wanted to play his
old songs. This nevertheless resulted in some very fine shows late '79 in the Warfield Theatre
in San Fransisco. Two somewhat older discs cover two of those shows:
Contract with the lord and New Found Faith.
This 'born again tour' continued into the '80's. In late 1980 Bob started to play his old, non-religious
songs again.
Bob Dylan in the eighty's
1980 - 1981 Born Again Bob
Late 1980 Bob did a nice tour called a musical retrospective. He was backed up
by about the same band as during his religious tour late '79 / begin '80. He
played a nice mixture of his older songs and his so-called religious songs from
the albums Saved and Slow Train Coming. A discs that is a real killer
is Rise Again, that features the show Bob did in Seattle 30-11-1980.
This tour also came to Europe in 1981. One of those shows can be found on
Live at Avignon. Late 1981 Bob was back in the USA. That
tour is documented on You can't kill an idea.
Also worth a mention is Stadiums of the damned.
1982 - 1984
Not much happened in 1982. In 1983 Dylan recorded one of his better albums,
Infidels. This album might be more famous for the songs it did not contain,
than for the songs that were on it. One of the outtakes is ofcourse Blind Willy McTell,
one of Bob's best songs. Those outtakes are very well covered by Rough Cuts.
In 1984 Bob did a tour in Europe and the venues were almost all big stadiums and
large halls. One of the best shows he did was in Barcelona, where he let the crowd
sing a part of Blowing in wind ! You can find that on
From The Coast Of Barcelona.
Nice compilation discs are From The Mountains of Madrid
and Real Live Outtakes.
1985 - 1986
Late 1984/Early 1985 Bob recorded his Empire Burlesque album. Unfortunetely, this
album was not as good as it could have been due to the horrible production of
Arthur Baker. The outtakes (pre-production) can be found on Clean Cuts
. Some say the tape runs too fast on that cd. Another option is outside the empire,
where the tapes runs slower (too slow ?).
In 1985 Bob Dylan was backed up for the first time by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
at the first Farm Aid concert. This worked out so well that they went on tour together
in 1986. This has not resulted in much cd's though. There are a few PA tapes around
and these are covered by the excellent Rich for Poor, which covers the Farm Aid II
show from Buffalo. Also available is a 3cd set called There's place of broken
dreamsfeaturing the Mountain View PA-tape + some other songs from the 1986 tour.
Westwood one did a radio show of this tour. That has been bootlegged so many times, you can't
keep count. One of it's incarnations is Duelling Banjos.
1987 Bob And The Dead
In the summer of 1987 Bob did a little tour with the Grateful Dead. Besides
the official release, you can also pick up With The Grateful Dead vol. 1 & 2.
A good alternative to the official album is The Unreleased Live Album, a selection
of tracks done by Garcia/Hunter.
1987 Temples in Flames
In 1987 Bob went on tour with the Heartbreakers in Europe. This tour was totally different
from the 1986 tour. No more stadiums, but smaller venues and no pre-selected setlist. Bob
threw songs at the band, the band might never even heard before, let alone rehearse. This
resulted in some excellent shows, and some not so excellent. There is a good compilation
3cd set called Temples in Flames, three other discs that cover a show from this period are
Wild Cathedral Evening, Flashing for the refugees and
Heartbreaker Blues.
In 1988 Dylan started his Never Ending Tour.
Never Ending Tour I
1988
The Never Ending Tour started on '88. Accompanied by GE Smith (guitar), Kenny Aaronson (bass)
and Christopher Parker (drums) Bob took the road again and would continue to do so with some
pauses until this present day ! Hence the title 'Never Ending Tour'. The first shows were a
little rough around the edges, and some found them even too loud. Not me, this is one of my
favourite Bob periods. What these early shows were like can very well be heard on a cd called
Old Orchard Beach. A great soundbaord tape is available, you can find that on
Blown Out On The Trail. The latter part of '88 shows is very well covered on
Stuck inside of New York, that contains a splendid quality PA tape of the
show at Radio City Hall.
In this year the Travelling Willbury's recorded their first album. Outtakes of their vol. 1 & 3 album
can be found on Unsurpassed Masters, although that one is hard to find.
1989
Bob came to Europe in the summer of 1989, that tour is very well documented on
All the way down to Italy. One of the best shows of that tour was
The Hague, 10th june, available on Hunted (Like A Crocodile). The later USA part of this tour is not
so much bootlegged, but there is a cd worth mentioning here: Nothing but you.
Ofcourse in this year Bob excellent Oh Mercy albums was released. The outtakes of this
album, featuring God knows & Dignity are very interesting to say the least. You
can find them on The Deeds of Mercy, but I'll warn you. That cd is
quite difficult to track down nowadays. A good alternative: Ring Them Bells.
1990
At the start of this year Bob did a few shows in South-America. One of those
was caught on a PA tape, and released on a cd called Rio.
The 'Tight connection' on that disc sure is a killer. In february Bob gave some
performances in London and Paris. Those gigs sure were great !
A compilation of those London preformances can be found on Political World,
that contains mostly the Oh Mercy songs performed there. The classic 8-2-90 performance with Bob
at the piano during the Disease of Conceit can be found on Staying Here With You.
Later on in the year Dylan toured USA and Europe again. Usually it was just more of
the same during those shows, but later in the year things got better. On 19-10-90 we saw the
departure of GE Smith. On Thank ye ev'rybody you can hear the last acoustic
songs Bob played with him, along with other great acoustic songs performed at the Beacon Theatre in 1990.
Nice compilation of this period are 20/20 Vision, More sunrises and getting harder and harder
to see a new sunrise.
1991
According to Bob himself the Neverending tour ended, when GE left the band. Just for
convenience I'll call everything that happened after that sad event, Never Ending II.
Having said that, I remember that in 1991 we weren't too fond of the shows at the time.
Early in the year Bob did a small tour through Europe and those shows were more a public
rehearsel than a regular show. The Hammersmith shows of this year were a disappointment
compared to the 1990 shows. Listening back to it now on They Don't Deserve It
you realize now that they weren't all that bad. I guess we were missing GE's great guitar playing.
Lots of touring during the rest of 1991. You might want to check out
Belgrad '91 and Madison '91.
Both very enjoyable discs. And a soundboard tape on cd: Wolftrap.
The touring continued in '92 with a somewhat different band.
The Never Ending Tour II
1992
In 1992 Bob was accompanied on the road by JJ Jackson on guitar and Tony Garnier
on bass, as he was in 1991. New was the drummer, Winston Watson and pedal steel
guitarist (and other string instruments) Bucky Baxter. This line-up has a very
different sound compared to the 1990-GE smith lineup. Bob also seems more relaxed
and more at ease on stage. This all resulted in some very fine performances. There is
a bunch of discs available, I'd like to mention here, San Jose Revisited
and The warfield. A wondeful soundboards has recently become available
, it's a show from Hawaii: Paradise Hawaiian Style.
1993
Bob started this touring year in Europe. Very good, long shows, although the
instrumental showcases were a little long sometimes. Resulting in songs that
last over 10min.. The hammersmith shows of this year were far better than the '91
London shows. A number of cd's are available from this leg of the tour, the one that
beats them all is Apollo Landing (The Hammersmith Odeon had changed it's name to Apollo).
In the summer, another european tour followed, that one is well covered by the excellent
Breadcrumb Sins. The later USA leg of this year is covered by Hardtimes in Alabama.
Later in the year Bob did 4 shows of about an hour all acoustic (but not solo) in the supperclub in
New York city. There is a complete 4cd set in a nice box that covers this event, the complete
supperclub.
1994
A tour to the East this time, and a fine one it was. There are a lot of nice
(japanese) discs about that cover this. One of them is Through a glass darkly.
A european tour too. You can listen to that on the superb Napoleon in rags
There was a USA tour too. One of the performances of that tour can be heard on New York City '94 or even better on Boston Boy.
Two other (televised) important events of this year were the unplugged show on MTV and of course Bob's
woodstock performance. The official release of Unplugged manages to leave out 'Hazel' and the excellent
'Tonight I'll be staying here with you'. Furthermore it's heavily edited. You can listen to
the complete performance on 'Completely unplugged'. There are other discs about, but that one seems to be
the best. The woodstock show is also covered by a bunch of releases but my pick is
North Stage.
1995
Bob's most productive year on stage in his career with 118 shows ! And very fine shows they were.
There are a lot of excellent discs about, so your favourite disc might not be mentioned here.
I'll mention a few I like to listen to. There's a Soundboard tape of the Monterey show about.
It's caught on a number of cd's. My pick is Guided by the eternal light, because of the excellent
packaging, but Loud and strong and Laguna Beach offer the same. The european shows this
year were great. There are a large number of discs about, but I'll mention here Brixton Blues,
Dylan gets to the point and Salt for Salt. Of course I could also mention
Romantic facts of muscateers, Bob's full house or the German summer tour vol. I & II, but I won't.
The USA legs of this years tour were very impressive. If you want to listen to that, you can't go
far wrong with The Pedlar Now Speaks or Pledging My Time.
In between tours Dylan did a rehearsal show at Fort Lauderdale, The Edge 23rd sept. '95.
Just look at the setlist and you'll probably want a copy. The recording quality isn't great,
but considering it was recorded in a bar with 150 people present it's good enough to listen to. It's
called The Midas Touch.
In december Bob did a short tour at the East Coast of USA called Paradise Lost. Patty
Smith opened these shows and joined Bob on stage after the acoustic set for a duet 'Dark
Eyes'. One of these shows is bootleg: Paradise Regained.
1996
Dylan did a lot of shows in 1996. Starting off in the USA, continuing in the form
of 1995, so most shows were excellent. Only surprise was This Wheel's On Fire. Only
one set of cd's is available of this leg of the tour. A compilation of 3 shows in
Portland on 3cd's: The Maine Event. In the summer Bob came to Europe
for some very fine shows, one of his best European tours... A lot of discs are available
of this tour. Some recommendations: