Entertainment, Music - Army Times

Dylan reveals many facets on ‘Tell Tale Signs’

The tunes, they are a-changin’, and Bob Dylan fans will find the telltale signs on “Tell Tale Signs,” the long-rumored eighth installment of his “Bootleg Series.”

The two-CD, 27-song set, out Oct. 7, contains previously unreleased studio recordings, demos, alternate takes, live tracks and rarities spanning 1989 to 2006, a rich period that generated the lauded “Time Out of Mind,” “Love and Theft,” “Modern Times” and “Oh Mercy.” A third 12-track disc is part of a limited-edition deluxe set in a hardcover slipcase with a book with photos of all of Dylan’s singles. The 27-song version also will be issued in a limited-edition four-LP set.

Listeners will discover a wealth of fresh material and multiple versions of songs with altered lyrics, moods and styles.

“When ‘Most of the Time’ came out on ‘Oh Mercy,’ I thought it was such an achingly beautiful love song,” says Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of A&R at Columbia/Legacy. “Now it’s here as a folk version and something that sounds like Dylan with Brian Eno and The Edge. To hear the way the songs and lyrics develop is fascinating. Dylan comes across as a folk singer, a blues musician and a jazz artist.”

“Dignity” appears as a truncated piano demo and in twangy rockabilly form. “Series of Dreams” undergoes a rewrite. Twin renditions of the bluesy “Marchin’ to the City” serve as blueprints for “‘Til I Fell in Love With You.”

The newly unveiled “Dreamin’ of You,” a free download at the just-overhauled Bobdylan.com, bears lyrics that later fed other songs.

Also new to Dylan’s canon are “Red River Shore” and “Can’t Escape From You,” written for a film but never used. “Miss the Mississippi” was rescued from a long-shelved album with David Bromberg, and “32-20 Blues” marks Dylan’s only release of a Robert Johnson cover.

Among the rarities are the live “The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore,” eight-minute “‘Cross the Green Mountain,” “The Lonesome River” duet with Ralph Stanley, and “Ring Them Bells” from Dylan’s storied 1993 stint at the Supper Club in Manhattan. Those performances were filmed but never released.

“The songs and performances are of such strength and diversity, they will appeal to new fans and longtime fans,” Berkowitz says, predicting the two-CD set will satisfy most appetites. “For some fans, there’s never enough.”