BOB DYLAN : IN THE PINES

  1. in the pines
  2. backwater blues
  3. honey just allow me one more chance
  4. talking john birch paranoid blues
  5. bob dylan's dream
  6. ballad of hollis brown
  7. talking world war III blues
  8. a hard rain's a-Gonna fall
  9. with god on our side
  10. he was a friend of mine
  11. man on the street
  12. hard times in new york town
  13. poor boy blues
  14. ballad for a friend
  15. rambling, gambling willie
  16. man on the street
  17. talking bear mountain picnic massacre
  18. standing on the highway
  19. rocks and gravel (Solid Road)
  20. if you gotta go, go now

Label : Dandelion

Time : 73:04

Venue : Leeds Music Demos, New York City, New York, USA + The Bear, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Date : January 1962 + April 25, 1963

Quality : Studio and Soundboard recordings (A+/B+)

Review (DEEP) : Nine Leeds demos prestented in sizzling, best ever quality, sandwiched between a partial Carnegie Chapter Hall performance that "should" have included all the circulating tracks. The Bear broadcast from Chicago 1963 is in quite good, albeit a bit compressed, quality. The two common outtakes could have been excised in favor of the remaining extant Carnegie tracks. The focus here, though, is on the sparkling quality Leeds demos, presented in far superior sound than previous incarnations. Now, if we could only get the Witmarks in the same quality. A particularly tasteful, B&W 16 page booklet is chock full of vintage early 60's Bob pics that are more than a bit pleasing to the eye.

Review (Bob's Boots) : Another amazing piece from Dandelion. The aesthetics and vintage photos in the 16 page booklet are incredible. The Leeds demos are pristine. They have been digitally remastered to perfection. There are a couple of oversights, however. The Bear broadcast from Chicago 1963 has been edited so that the music remains, but gone is the in-between song comments. This important piece of history should have been left intact. There are also more tracks available of the Carnegie Chapter Hall. Why just these two? Obviously, the intent was to jam pack this CD with as much music as possible. Many will see this as a good thing. Purists will choke on the editing. It is a very worth-while CD, though.

Review (AllMusic) : The bootleg collection In the Pines offers a seemingly arbitrary overview of the young Bob Dylan in his so-called "protest" period. The bulk of the material comprises the demo sessions Dylan cut for his original publisher Leeds Music in early 1962. From the blues-inspired "Standing on the Highway" to the hilarious "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues," the songs are vividly kinetic, portending the genius that was to follow. Complete with crystalline fidelity, the nine Leeds songs alone justify the price of purchase, but In the Pines also includes the surviving fragments of an April 25, 1963, appearance at Chicago's Bear Club, capturing the extremes of Dylan's fiercely polemical approach. By turns heartfelt ("A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall") and satiric ("Talkin' John Birch Society Blues"), he is equal parts evangelist and entertainer, engaging the audience on all levels. The Bear Club tape is far from complete, however, and most frustratingly eliminates the final verse from what may be the most potent rendition of "With God on Our Side" he ever delivered. Worse, Dandelion opts to excise Dylan's wry between-song commentary. No less curious is the label's decision to lead off the set with two seemingly arbitrary songs from Dylan's landmark November 4, 1961, Carnegie Chapter Hall gig and wrap it up with one outtake each from the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Bringing It All Back Home sessions. While one appreciates Dandelion's efforts to include as much music as possible, purists will blanch at the cut-and-paste job.