Dylan's Bootleg Series, Vol. 9 To Be Released

Columbia has finally announced the release date of 19 October (for most of the world) for the long rumoured Bob Dylan double-CD/4-LP The Bootleg Series, Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos 1962-1964. In this digital age, it is hard for many of our readers to grasp the concept of the "bootleg." But these pirated 33" discs (example covers of the boots in question are above, one complete with trademark that slightly apes the recognizable Columbia Records logo of the time) were sold under the counter at local independent record stores (sometimes for exorbitant prices) or through other surreptitious means via tapes obtained illegally from the all mighty recording giants.

The 47 tracks that are to be released by Columbia have been floating around for years, but mostly of low-end sound quality. It will be interesting to see how they have been cleaned up and mastered. The songs were recorded by Dylan for his first two publishers, Leeds Music and M. Whitmark & Sons, all before he turned 24 years old. They are performed - as far as we know - by Dylan alone, with acoustic guitar, harmonica and/or piano. Dylanophiles will be most interested in 15 songs that have never been available commercially, including "The Death of Emmett Till," "Ballad For A Friend" and "Long Ago, Far Away."

The track listing for The Whitmark Demos:

Disc 1:
1. "Man On The Street (Fragment)"
2. "Hard Times In New York Town"
3. "Poor Boy Blues"
4. "Ballad For A Friend"
5. "Rambling, Gambling Willie"
6. "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues"
7. "Standing On The Highway"
8. "Man On The Street"
9. "Blowin' In The Wind"
10. "Long Ago, Far Away"
11. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"
12. "Tomorrow Is A Long Time"
13. "The Death of Emmett Till"
14. "Let Me Die In My Footsteps"
15. "Ballad Of Hollis Brown"
16. "Quit Your Low Down Ways"
17. "Baby, I'm In The Mood For You"
18. "Bound To Lose, Bound To Win"
19. "All Over You"
20. "I'd Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day"
21. "Long Time Gone"
22. "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues"
23. "Masters Of War"
24. "Oxford Town"
25. "Farewell"

Disc 2
1. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
2. "Walkin' Down The Line"
3. "I Shall Be Free"
4. "Bob Dylan's Blues"
5. "Bob Dylan's Dream"
6. "Boots Of Spanish Leather"
7. "Walls of Red Wing"
8. "Girl From The North Country"
9. "Seven Curses"
10. "Hero Blues"
11. "Whatcha Gonna Do?"
12. "Gypsy Lou"
13. "Ain't Gonna Grieve"
14. "John Brown"
15. "Only A Hobo"
16. "When The Ship Comes In"
17. "The Times They Are A-Changin'"
18. "Paths Of Victory"
19. "Guess I'm Doing Fine"
20. "Baby Let Me Follow You Down"
21. "Mama, You Been On My Mind"
22. "Mr. Tambourine Man"
23. "I'll Keep It With Mine"

In addition, on the same date Columbia will be issuing a box set of Dylan's first eight albums in glorious mono, from Bob Dylan through John Wesley Harding.