Outtakes and live performances 1985-1986
A CS production, November 2013
1. Something's Burning Baby - Empire Burlesque outtake
2. Trust Yourself - Farm Aid, 1985
3. Freedom For The Stallion - Empire Burlesque outtake
4. Driftin' Too Far From Shore - Empire Burlesque outtake
5. Emotionally Yours - live, July 4, 1986
6. Had A Dream About You, Baby #5 - Hearts Of Fire outtake
7. A Couple More Years - Hearts Of Fire outtake
8. Band Of The Hand - live, July 17, 1986
9. Lonesome Town - live, July 4, 1986
10. Go 'Way Little Boy - Empire Burlesque outtake
11. To Fall In Love With You - Hearts Of Fire outtake
12. We Had It All - live, July 4, 1986
13. Old Five and Dimers Like Me #3 - Hearts Of Fire outtake
14. Straight A's In Love - Empire Burlesque outtake
15. The Very Thought Of You - Empire Burlesque outtake
16. Across The Borderline - Farm Aid, 1986
17. Who Loves You More - Empire Burlesque outtake
18. Thanks God - Chabad Teleton, 1986
19. New Danville Girl - Empire Burlesque outtake
1985 - 1986 is not generally regarded as an especially strong period of time for Bob Dylan's music, and that is not a misguided impression. The records released were very much of their time, and thought he songwriting and performances remained strong, production sometimes obscured the quality.
What I would like these selected songs to do is to rehabilitate, to a small degree, this era. Clearly, a song like "Trust Yourself" comes across much stronger here, in a live context, than it did as originally released. Similarly, this live rendition of "Emotionally Yours" is incredible, though of course that song was one of the highlights of Empire Burlesque. "Band Of The Hand," which exists in a studio-recorded cut on the soundtrack to a film of the same name, is performed here with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers as the backing band. The collaboration between Bob Dylan and Tom Petty from 1985 - 1987 was very fruitful, and will be explored further in next week's release.
The outtakes are just as interesting as the live cuts. "Go 'Way Little Boy" sounds like an updated "Absolutely Sweet Marie," and was originally given to another singer for her record. You might recognize "A Couple More Years" from my earlier post, Still The Same Man, Volume One, but this version is completely different - this Shel Silverstein-penned ballad was recorded acoustically at the sessions for the film Hearts of Fire in 1986, but was not released on that film's soundtrack. "To Fall In Love With You," recorded at the same sessions, is one of the more haunting and mysterious songs in this catalog. A number of these songs would later be rerecorded at sessions for Knocked Out Loaded, including "Driftin' Too Far From Shore" and "New Danville Girl," which was eventually rewritten as the esteemed "Brownsville Girl."
Though the production is challenging at times, you would be well-served by including the unparalleled "Dark Eyes" from Empire Burlesque in your record collection. Also, The Bootleg Series Volume Three includes a fantastic outtake of "When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky," also from Empire Burlesque. Unfortunately, the film soundtrack for Hearts of Fire is currently out of publication, but you never know when that may change; if you can find that soundtrack, "The Usual" is a pretty great recording not available elsewhere.
March 19, 2015 Update: It has come to my attention while compiling the alphabetical song index that some performances from this compilation date from 1984.
Code: Select all
https://mega.nz/#!edgEDIRQ!RimB2pD6n-mB1zZEDh82eQ23_Y0sUqIzA39DX_x40Xs
https://mega.nz/#!TI5SzQYT!POlBtWeUSHhRHPmbTdNICXTQtny4XXKmwv00nBZBlPc
https://mega.nz/#!LIpnQaJJ!Tzlu-XhXaa0TeVdbszza2L-PCnzueOEjEBfRZe4SXUY
https://mega.nz/#!PIQHjKIK!l2qLFzgK1oqBQOoEy-DyLWEYJd-kqbFbo76WlvU_52A
https://mega.nz/#!bcplUBCB!IENUehdY8HRH7OFIKYzC6beYvUhmP39JP4087jMnuE0