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| Pitchfork |
 This short live album was originally released in 2010 as a bonus disc to The Bootleg Series, Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964, which collected rough recordings that Bob Dylan made as part of his first two publishing deals. They were impromptu sessions in a glorified broom closet, but produced the first known recordings of some of his signature tunes, including "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" and "Blowin' in the Wind". At nearly 50 tracks, the hefty set provides a good context for In Concert: Brandeis University 1963, which was recorded during the same period. By showing his songs in their earliest, roughest, unfinished forms, Witmark allows us some insight into Dylan's creative process, while Brandeis offers a glimpse at his performative process. Together, the two sets trace a careful trajectory from song kernel to setlist, from private development to public presentation, which makes them an intriguing and useful primary source that reveals new facets of this thoroughly studied artist.The Brandeis show was recorded in May 1963, which is auspicious: Just two weeks later, Dylan would release his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which would make him folk's first rock star, rocketing him out of college gymnasiums and into concert halls. At this point, he was still in his very early twenties and had released only one previous record, a self-titled LP that was a notoriously poor seller. At the Brandeis Folk Festival, he was billed under Pete Seeger and Jean Ritchie, among several other, more established acts. As scholar Michael Gray writes in the new liner notes (which weren't included in the bonus version), this was a fairly typical Dylan show for the time. It's likely he gave many similar performances in 1962 and early 1963, and all that distinguishes this one from any other is that it survives. Only recently discovered in the archives of the late critic Ralph J. Gleason, co-founder of Rolling Stone, the tapes provide a valuable snapshot of pre-fame Dylan, who gives a rambling performance that balances gravity with levity. "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" and "Talkin' World War III Blues" scoff at anti-communist scaremongering and war-profiteering justifications, and Dylan's barbed satire provokes some laughs from his audience. He addresses the same subjects on the dead-serious "Masters of War" and "Bob Dylan's Dream", on which his earnest strumming and mournful harmonica evoke a sense of solitude, as if sanity in the face of such madness has isolated him from humanity....full text |
| Collectorsmusicreviews |
| (38:24): Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance (incomplete), Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues, The Ballad of Hollis Brown, Masters of War, Talkin’ World War Three Blues, Bob Dylan’s Dream, Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues 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’....full text |
| Bandweblogs |
| A previously unknown live recording of a 21-year-old Bob Dylan taped at the Brandeis First Annual Folk Festival in Waltham, Massachusetts on May 10, 1963, Bob Dylan In Concert - Brandeis University 1963 captures the rollicking wit, deadpan delivery and driving intensity of the young artist's on-stage persona in an assortment of end-of-the-world songs -- none of them commercially available at the time -- performed in front of an appreciative audience two weeks prior to the release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (May 27, 1963). The Bob Dylan In Concert - Brandeis University 1963 concert tape was discovered recently in the archives of the noted music writer and Rolling Stone co-founder Ralph Gleason, where it sat on a shelf for more than forty years. "It had been forgotten, until it was found last year in the clearing of the house after my mother died," said Toby Gleason, Ralph's son. "It's a seven inch reel-to-reel that sounds like it was taped from the mixing disc." Drawn from two sets that spring night at the Brandeis Folk Festival, tracks on Bob Dylan In Concert - Brandeis University 1963 include "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance" (incomplete), "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues," "Ballad Of Hollis Brown," "Masters of War," "Talkin' World War III Blues," "Bob Dylan's Dream," and "Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues."...full text |
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