Bob Dylan
Blood On The Tapes
Sept 74
Columbia, A&R Studios
New York


  1. If You See Her, Say Hello
  2. Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts
  3. Call Letter Blues
  4. Idiot Wind
  5. Tangled up in Blue
  6. You're A Big Girl Now
  7. Shelter from the storm
  8. If You See Her, Say Hello
  9. Tangled up in Blue - alternate version
10. Up to Me
11. Idiot Wind- alternate version

This album collects all the currently available outtakes from Blood on the Tracks and puts them all in one place. In September '74, 12 songs were originally recorded, 10 of which were included on the original test demo. The two unused recordings, 'Up to you' and 'Call Letter Blues' subsequently appeared on Biograph and The Bootleg series Vols 1-III respectively (but are included here). Most of these tracks come from the original test acetate that never saw the light of day because Dylan chose to redo some of the numbers. On a Christmas vacation in Minneapolis, only days before the album was due for release, Dylan had second thoughts. With help from brother David Zimmerman and some new musicians, Dylan re-recorded six of the songs (December 27th and 30th 1974). Five of these replaced the original versions on the album (the sixth song, 'Meet Me in the Morning', was not replaced.) The album was in the shops within 3 weeks, using the original sleeve design from the New Your sessions.  So this particular bootleg, is from the original New York sessions is really worth having if only to compare the official and test versions of the songs. Many people find the redone versions superior to the originals, but you can judge for yourself; I'm not so sure.

Regardless, it's always impressed me that Dylan recorded this album in just 5 days using 2 different sets of musicians. He obviously had a very clear vision of the sounds and songs when he entered those studio doors.   But the story didn't just end there.

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