BOB DYLAN : TELL TALE SIGNS - THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 8 - RARE AND UNRELEASED 1989

BOB DYLAN : TELL TALE SIGNS - THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOL. 8 - RARE AND UNRELEASED 1989 - 2006

Disc One

Mississippi
Most Of The Time
Dignity
Someday Baby
Red River Shore
Tell Ol' Bill
Born In Time
Can't Wait
Everything Is Broken
Dreamin' Of You
Huck's Tune
Marchin' To The City
High Water (for Charlie Patton)

Disc Two

Mississippi
32-20 Blues
Series Of Dreams
God Knows
Can't Escape From You
Dignity
Ring Them Bells
Cocaine Blues
Ain't Talkin'
The Girl On The Greenbriar Shore
Lonesome Day Blues
Miss The Mississippi
The Lonesome River
Cross The Green Mountain

Label : Columbia

Release Year : 2008

Review (AllMusic) : Tell Tale Signs is perhaps the most appropriately titled of all the volumes in Bob Dylan's official Bootleg Series thus far. Containing 27 tracks, the material here dates from the albums Oh Mercy through to 2006's Modern Times. It presents a carefully prepared sonic treat of a genuine enigma's musical world-view. Dylan may be an icon, but if it wasn't already obvious, he seems to perceive the modern world as a strange place that he no longer understands, nor wishes to. The music here is startling in its depth and presentation. It begins with one of the two versions of "Mississippi" included; the song first appeared on Love and Theft, but was written for the Time Out of Mind sessions five years earlier. This one, with only Daniel Lanois' electric guitar as backing, shows Dylan in full voice, and performing it as a midtempo blues. It's jauntier in tempo, but harder, leaner, and wearier than the released version. Even more shocking is "Most of the Time," which has become a signature of Lanois' production style with its warm, thickly padded guitars and muffled drums. This one features Dylan solo with harmonica and guitar. It comes off as a statement of actuality about strengths and weaknesses rather than as a treatise of denial in the aftermath of lost love. It feels like a back-porch country song here, with different lyrics that underscore the singer's steely determination. There are some truly amazing stops along the way. The unreleased "Red River Shore" would have shifted some of the darkness on Time Out of Mind to some declaration of empathy and even tenderness had it been released. Likewise, "Marchin' to the City," one of the best slow blues Dylan has ever written, offers a respite from the desolation on that album. Soundtracks get represented, too: the alternate take of "Tell Ol' Bill," from North Country, is a semi-rag tune with rambling honky tonk piano, and "Huck's Tune," from Lucky You, creates a more complex look at the male lead in the film with a Celtic undertow in the melody. Disc one closes with a burning live reading of "High Water (For Charley Patton)," with overdriven electric guitars replacing the banjo. A real surprise on disc two is a dynamite reading of Robert Johnson's "32-20 Blues" that was originally recorded for the covers-only World Gone Wrong, but left in the can. A completely unreleased tune, "Can't Escape from You" portrays Dylan the folksinger as a lover of early rock & roll ballads. In his own wrecked way, he pays homage (in waltz time) to the Platters, Doc Pomus, Leiber & Stoller, and Cisco Houston with a lonely B-3 and trebly guitars. There are two takes of "Dignity" here as well (one on each disc), the first a prophetic gospel solo piano version and the second a full-band roots rock rave-up. The version of "Ring Them Bells" recorded live at New York's Supper Club is so utterly moving that it raises goosebumps and leaves the studio version in the dust. The disc closes with the greatest moment on the whole set: "'Cross the Green Mountain," from the Gods and Generals soundtrack. Veteran Dylanologist Larry Sloman claims in his truly brilliant and incisive liner notes that this "might be his finest hour as a songwriter." The amazing thing? It's not just hyperbole. In all, even in some of its familiarities, Tell Tale Signs feels like a new Bob Dylan record, not only for the astonishing freshness of the material, but also for the incredible sound quality and organic feeling of everything here. It's a carefully presented set, but it's full of life and crackling energy and offers yet more proof -- as if any were needed -- that Dylan remains as cagey, unpredictable, and yes, profound and relevant as he ever was.

Review (Wikipedia) : The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 ? Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989?2006 is a compilation album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in his official "bootleg series" of rare and unissued recordings. It was originally released as a double, and (limited edition) triple album. It was later released as a single album, consisting of disc one of the double set. The three-disc version of Tell Tale Signs includes a detailed 56 page book annotating the recordings by Larry Sloman, and a book of photos of "The Collected Single Sleeves of Bob Dylan" drawing on Dylan releases from around the world, plus a 7" vinyl single with two tracks from the set: "Dreamin' Of You" and "Ring Them Bells". The album spans the recording sessions for Oh Mercy, World Gone Wrong, Time Out of Mind, and Modern Times as well as a number of soundtrack contributions and previously unreleased live tracks from 1989 through 2006. The collection also includes a track from an abandoned album Dylan had started to record with David Bromberg in 1992, and Dylan's duet with Ralph Stanley, 'The Lonesome River'. Although Under the Red Sky, Good as I Been to You and Love and Theft were all recorded during this time period, no tracks from these sessions are included on Tell Tale Signs. An alternate version of "Series of Dreams" was included on Vol. 3 of the Bootleg Series. "Dreamin' Of You", an outtake from the Time Out of Mind sessions, was offered for free download on Bob Dylan's site and was also sent to radio stations as a promotional single. In its first week it opened with #6 on the Billboard 200, selling over 600,000 copies to date and becoming Dylan's 17th album to open in the top 10. In the first week of October 2008, the entire album was made available in a free streaming format on National Public Radio's official website. CBS's announcement that the two-CD set would sell for $18.99 and the three-CD version for $129.99 drew charges of "rip-off pricing" from Dylan biographer Michael Gray and other critics. Tell Tale Signs currently maintains a 86% positive ("Universal acclaim") rating at MetaCritic. It was also named the second best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine.

Review (Humo) : 'Tell Tale Signs' arriveert een maand nadat wij uit vrije wil alles van Bob Dylan nog eens hadden beluisterd. Drie weken lang, kriskras, niet chronologisch, met onze favoriet 'Highway 61 Revisited' veiligheidshalve als afsluiter. Hoogdagen! Gelieve ons te excuseren mocht weldra blijken dat de vier sterren boven dit schrijven voor 's mans volledige oeuvre staan. E?n ding kunnen we over 'Tell Tale Signs' met zekerheid stellen: Dylan-lovers 'll love it. Voor deze dubbel-cd ging Dylan grasduinen in alles wat hij opnam tussen het door Daniel Lanois geproducete 'Oh Mercy' (1989) en 'Modern Times' (2006), en hij presenteert het zoals wij 'm tegenwoordig graag consumeren: in willekeurige volgorde. Beide cd's beginnen met 'Mississippi', een song die bedoeld was voor 'Time Out of Mind', uiteindelijk op 'Love and Theft' belandde en hier twee nieuwe levens ingeblazen krijgt. De tweede, met groep, is lomer en gezapiger dan de versie op 'Love and Theft', alsof de verteller het nu ook weer niet zo h??l erg vindt dat hij ??n dag te lang in Mississippi is gebleven. De eerste versie is de breekbaarste. Enkel geruggensteund door de gitaar van Lanois klinkt Dylan een stuk wanhopiger als hij zingt: 'Been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down (...) Only one thing I did wrong / Stayed in Misssissippi a day too long'. Ook van 'Dignity' - alreeds majestueus op 'Oh Mercy', de plaat overigens die ons tijdens onze retrospectieve het aangenaamst heeft verrast - krijgen we twee nieuwe versies: telkens wordt de song met enkele schijnbaar eenvoudige penseelstreken een compleet nieuwe richting uitgestuurd. De eenvoud van de pianodemo op cd 1 (door Dylan and Dylan only) maakt van wat op 'Oh Mercy' nog als een universele klacht uit de speakers knalde haast moeiteloos een lied over een verloren liefde: 'Asking the cops wherever I go: have you seen Dignity?' Tot de meester er in de laatste rechte lijn een gloednieuwe afsluitende strofe en nog maar eens een paar extra dimensies aan toevoegt: 'Soul of a nation is under the knife / Death is standing in the doorway of life / In the next room a man is fighting with his wife / Over dignity'. Amen, of zo. In interviews over 'Time Out of Mind' heeft sessiegrootheid Jim Dickinson, die erbij was, vaak geklaagd dat Dylan de beste song op de knip-en-plaktafel zou hebben laten liggen. Hij had het over het hier in vol ornaat aangeboden 'Red River Shore', en hij had een punt. 't Is een song die bij het beste hoort wat we de laatste jaren van Dylan te horen hebben gekregen, alleen al voor de volgende prachtige strofe: 'Well I sat by her side and for a while I tried, to make that girl my wife / She gave me her best advice and she said 'Go home and lead a quiet life'.' Onze excuses overigens dat wij wild aan het citeren zijn geslagen, maar wij zijn nu eenmaal ??n van die mensen die vinden dat Dylan de Nobelprijs voor Literatuur verdient. ?n die voor de lieve vrede! Maar er valt op 'Tell Tale Signs' meer te rapen dan tekst alleen. Onversneden countryblues bijvoorbeeld, in een solo met akoestische gitaar gebrachte versie van de Robert Johnson-klassieker '32-20 Blues'. Of het nonchalante muzikale meesterschap van 'Can't Wait', door Dylan aan zijn groep voorgelegd met de woorden: 'How about B flat?' En wat te denken van de spaarzaam georkestreerde liveversie van 'Ring Them Bells' waarbij wij bij de openingsakkoorden telkens weer een herkenningsapplaus in ons hoofd horen losbarsten. De 'Oh Mercy'-outtake 'God Knows' - zou Bob het speciaal voor ons gedaan hebben? - bevat zelfs enkele rake Rolling Stones-gitaren. Wat ons een leuke anekdote in herinnering brengt. Dylan zou ooit tegen Keith Richards hebben gezegd: 'Ik had 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' kunnen schrijven, maar jij nooit 'Desolation Row'.' Waarop Richards: 'Helemaal waar, Bob.' Een leven lang niets anders dan Dylan, we zouden het makkelijk aankunnen.