Amazon Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8

Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8

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Editorial Review:

2 CDs with 27 songs in a brilliant box with a 60 page booklet.

Bob Dylan's unpredictable nature has always kept his audience on their toes. Given his mood, a song performed on one day can seem like an entirely different composition on the next. On the two-CD Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8--certainly one of the most riveting of the Minnesota bard's collections of unreleased recordings, studio demos, alternate takes, and live tracks--two versions of "Mississippi," which Dylan originally wrote for Time Out of Mind, bear that out. The first, where he is backed only by producer Daniel Lanois' poignant electric guitar, finds him wistful in his memories of Rosie. But by disc two, where he reprises the song with a whole band, his reading of the same lyric is dispassionate, as if he were recounting the experience of "the stranger that nobody sees," as he puts it. While the second rendition disappoints, the 27-song album, which covers material from 1989's Oh Mercy through 2006's Modern Times, offers a king's riches. In replacing the banjo with cranked-up electric guitars on a blistering live performance of "High Water (For Charley Patton)," he makes the song nearly an angry manifesto. (Another live song, "Ring Them Bells," thrills with the stunning raw power of his early performances, and renders the studio original utterly bland.) Not everything seems up to Dylan's remarkable standards (conjuring a black R & B voice for "Can't Escape From You," an homage to early rock and roll, seems off kilter and silly). But the breadth and scope of the material (from sneering and tender folk originals, to covers of Jimmie Rodgers and Robert Johnson blues, to a collaboration with bluegrass king Ralph Stanley, and side excursions into ragtime and waltz) reinforce his position as the premier songwriter of his generation. -- Alanna Nash

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• BOB DYLAN TELL TALE SIGNS (DELUXE)
  Gave to my BIL for Christmas -- he's a big Dylan fan and seemed thrilled with this deluxe set. Great price at AMAZON too -- more than $50 less than the next best Online store.

• Volume Eight from the Eighth Wonder of sorts ...
  Twenty two years back I bought the Biograph series which simply blew my mind; living in Calcutta, getting an LP was difficult - although there were these little stores on Free School Street that sold used records of everything we liked - Stones, Beatles, Floyd, Who, Young, Zep and other Gods of Rock & Roll. Crowning glory of ones listening repertoire were Dylan & Cohen - an easy way to be regarded an elite listener of sorts. The prices however were astronomical (250 rupees per record - which was a... more info

• better than the originals
  only bob dylan could surpass his own established work from previous albums his versions of "everything's broken", not to mention a wonderful rendition of "dignity", just dylan and his piano, a five star pouring out of a old civil rights anthem "Ring them Bells" tops off "Tell Tale Signs"....

• Better With Time
  Excellent mix of old and new, rock his new "easy" style. Honoring his roots and doing his own thing. He keeps breaking ground regardless of the critics just as in Newport & Nashville. Still the man - alias.

Tracks:

1. Mississippi 6:04 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
2. Most of the Time 3:46 (Alternate version, Oh Mercy)
3. Dignity 2:09 (Piano demo, Oh Mercy)
4. Someday Baby 5:56 (Alternate version, Modern Times)
5. Red River Shore 7:36 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
6. Tell Ol' Bill 5:31 (Alternate version, North Country soundtrack)
7. Born in Time 4:10 (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
8. Can't Wait 5:45 (Alternate version, Time Out of Mind)
9. Everything is Broken 3:27 (Alternate version, Oh Mercy)
10. Dreamin' of You 6:23 (Unreleased, Time Out Of Mind)
11. Huck's Tune 4:09 (From Lucky You soundtrack)
12. Marchin' to the City 6:36 (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
13. High Water (For Charley Patton) 6:40 (Live, August 23, 2003, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)
14. Mississippi 6:24 (Unreleased version #2, Time Out of Mind)
15. 32-20 Blues 4:22 (Unreleased, World Gone Wrong)
16. Series of Dreams 6:27 (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)

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