BOB DYLAN : IN CONCERT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 1963

  1. Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance
  2. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
  3. The Ballad of Hollis Brown
  4. Masters of War
  5. Talkin' World War Three Blues
  6. Bob Dylan's Dream
  7. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues

Label : Columbia

Released : April 11, 2011

Venue : The Brandeis University Folk Festival, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

Recording Date : May 10th, 1963

Length : 38:24

Review (AllMusic) : Originally released on Amazon as a bonus disc for early purchasers of 2010’s The Bootleg Series, Vol. 9 and The Original Mono Recordings, Bob Dylan in Concert: Brandeis University 1963 saw a wide release in the spring of 2011. Unlike the archival concerts that have popped up in The Bootleg Series, Brandeis University 1963 isn’t a major statement. At seven songs, it’s brief and there’s no mythology behind the show; a recording wasn’t even known to exist until a tape was found within the collection of music critic Ralph J. Gleason in 2009. It may be minor, but as a live recording of Dylan between the release of his debut and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, it is certainly noteworthy, a glimpse of Dylan working folk festival bills unencumbered by fame or legend. He chooses topical songs for his two sets, bypassing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” in favor of “Masters of War,” “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,” “The Ballad of Hollis Brown,” “Talkin’ World War III Blues,” and “Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues,” material that accentuates the show’s roots in May of 1963. Dylan is in good form, open and sometimes skirting on the edge of being lively, never quite revealing that it was slightly risky to entertain a festival audience with a collection of originals previously unheard by the crowd. If the show doesn’t quite manage to be memorable, it is certainly engaging, a worthwhile 38 minutes even if it doesn’t quite have much more than a historic hook to warrant repeated plays.

Review (Wikipedia) : In Concert – Brandeis University 1963 is an album from a concert performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan at the Brandeis Folk Festival at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, on May 10, 1963. A tape of the concert was found in the basement of San Francisco critic Ralph Gleason, a co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine, after Gleason's death, and was issued in 2010 by Columbia Records. It was offered as a bonus disc by Amazon.com with either The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 or Dylan's The Original Mono Recordings for a limited time after its release. The album was officially released on April 12, 2011 in the United States, and a day earlier in Europe.

Review (Collector's Music Reviews) : When Columbia released Bob Dylan's Witmark Demos and The Original Mono Recordings in October, they made a surprise announcement that Amazon.com would offer the Brandeis show as a bonus disc for those who purchase them through their site. In Concert Brandeis University 1963 is an almost forty minute mono soundboard recording which had never been in circulation before. According to the original press release: "The original tape of the show was recently discovered in the archives of Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Ralph Gleason, who had been in possession of the recording for over 40 years. Ralph's son Toby Gleason says the seven-inch reel-to-reel was discovered last year during the process of clearing out his father's house after his mother died. "'My father had nothing to do with that Brandeis show,' Gleason says. 'I suspect he got the tape from Bob himself or from one of the people in Bob's organization. My father was one of the nationally credited writers that wrote about Bob the most, and they became close.'" Dylan's appearance at Brandeis came at a very busy time. He had just finished recording The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (which would be released in two weeks), was recording demos for Witmark, and was making frequent radio appearances. The set is comprised of material from the new album including one, "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues," which was originally going to be on the album but pulled off. Also played is "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Blues," a constant in his live act at the time yet wouldn't be released until The Bootleg Series 1-3 in 1991, and "Ballad Of Hollis Brown" which would appear on his third album The Times They Are A-Changin'. The show is rather low-key compared to the April Town Hall concert and the October appearance in Carnegie Hall. Dylan sounds nervous and doesn't engage the audience like the other shows until the final song of the night. And all of the performances, while very good, are stiff and formal. Brandeis University 1963 is good as a bonus disc but Columbia probably made the correct decision in not making this part of the bootleg series. It is too short and formal to be truly entertaining and is best appreciated by committed Dylan collectors. Copies are available online for those who have to have it. It's packaged in a single pocket cardboard sleeve with a photograph from the folk festival on the front and a setlist posted on the back.