BOB DYLAN : NEW YORK TOWN HALL 1963

 

Disc One (66:03)

  1. Ramblin' Down Through The World
  2. Bob Dylan's Dream
  3. Talkin' New York
  4. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
  5. Walls Of Red Wing
  6. All Over You
  7. Talking John Birch Paranoid Blues
  8. Boots Of Spanish Leather
  9. Hero Blues
  10. Blowin' In The Wind
  11. John Brown
  12. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
  13. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Disc Two (55:29)

  1. Dusty Old Fairgrounds
  2. Who Killed Davey Moore?
  3. Seven Curses
  4. Highway 51
  5. Pretty Peggy-O
  6. Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag
  7. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
  8. Hiding Too Long
  9. With God On Our Side
  10. Masters Of War
  11. Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie

Label : Rattle Snake

Venue : Town Hall, New York City, New York, USA

Date : April 12, 1963

Quality : Soundboard recording (A+)

Review (Bob's Boots) : Staggering! There are simply no superlatives that could do this release justice. Sony brought the master tape of this show to light for consideration of the bootleg series. Why it was abandoned is anyone's guess. We have long petitioned them to create or work with an independent manufacturer that could afford to produce small quantity releases that might not have the appeal to the masses that Sony or Legacy would require to view it as a profitable venture. In this day and age of the Goliath Labels being wounded by greed and conquered by technology, one would think that an idea such as this would make Label executives giddy at the prospects, yet they continue to turn a deaf ear. To fulfill the demand, boot labels do their best to get the material to the public. Some are only looking for the quick bottom line, but there are a few who are truly interested in producing labor of love packages. Rattlesnake has long been at the forefront of those beautiful looking and sounding packages. A similar package was released six months earlier by Hollow Horn. Whether this recording is taken from that one or the same master is uncertain, but it is not a direct copy to copy. This release has been mastered independently, although the quality is nearly identical. Along with the brilliant package, this one also has a 16 page booklet! The title is not quite so imaginative, but who needs fantasy with a reality like this beauty. The package is full of photos and images, track information and concert reviews. With all the hoopla of the splendid visuals of this release laid aside, the sound recording is worthy of even more praise! There are a couple of minor technicalities that Legacy would have corrected were they to have issued the concert, but they would be hard pressed to be able to clean up the recording any more. It is simply perfection as it is. Dylan fans can finally rejoice at the release of this incredible masterpiece that has been locked away for nearly half a century! The Town Hall concert is steeped in the rich tradition of Dylan folklore. It was, for all practical purposes, Dylan's first USA concert of any merit. There were about 600 people in the audience, far more than the young singer had ever faced before, and there are a few nervous moments evident in the show. But, what an incredible and historic show it is! The tape is turned on about a minute before the show, and the listener is transported into the middle of the audience as they anticipate Bob's arrival on the stage. About five seconds worth of hand clapping introduces the harmonica intro of the first song. There is no other introduction. Oh, to travel back to that first major performance and to be able to give this young man an introduction with the foreknowledge of what would come! The introduction would be as long as the concert! This ranks high as one of the most important boot releases of all time, and on top of that, it's simply a thrill and a joy to just sit back and listen to. If you're only planning on getting one bootleg this decade, choose either this one or the Hollow Horn release. Either choice is a winner. The main difference is the package. Both are beautiful beyond description. Hollow Horn is a folding cardboard digi-pack, while this release comes in a plastic jewel case.

Review (Monicasdude) : This corresponds to one of several tapes Sony/Columbia has in its vaults related to the April 12, 1963 Town Hall concert, as reported by Michael Krogsgaard in an article in "On The Tracks" some years ago. There's been some dispute over whether this is the actual concert tape, or a compilation made by Columbia as a potential live album project for 1964 release (or even a later project, since a double LP would have been rather ambitious at that time). I've stated my opinion, repeatedly, that it's a compilation tape, since it's radically inconsistent with the review of the show Robert Shelton made for the New York Times (published April 13, 1963), but the consensus has fairly steadily been shifting in the other direction - especially after Sony/Columbia included the "Blowin' In The Wind" performance attributed to this show on "No Direction Home/BS7", even though Shelton reported that Dylan hadn't played the song. So: this is either the complete recording of the Town Hall concert, or a complete recording of that concert with other tracks added in long ago by Columbia as a potential album release. So far as I know, there's only one other known review of the show, in either Variety or Billboard, as I recall, but I've never tracked down a copy, despite the assistance of quite a few folks checking out library archives. There were several other compilation Dylan concert LP's prepared by Columbia on various 1960's occasions, so the compilation theory is plausible, though it's certainly a minority view these days.