Dylan Revisited: Bootleg Vol. 12 - The Cutting Edge (1965-66)
Released in 2015, this epic collection of outtakes charts the development of Bob Dylan's mid-60s trilogy of classic albums.
This is a series by DylanRevisited based on former Twitter threads, now available here in an easier to read and longer lasting format.
From shunning multiple takes on his debut to knocking out Another Side in one Beaujolais-fueled evening, Bob Dylan’s early studio ethos was get-it-done. But as The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – The Cutting Edge 1965-66 shows, he soon learned how to take his time.
On day one of the Bringing It All Back Home sessions, Dylan cut solo recordings of songs that would ultimately be heard on wax backed by a band. The first of The Cutting Edge’s six deluxe edition discs gives us the chance to hear these unused results.
After a breakdown where he stumbles over the words of Love Minus Zero / No Limit, Dylan says he’ll try it again but “if I can’t do it, we’ll do another song”. He’s still in the first-take mindset, that “I can do any song as good as I can do it the first time”.
The full acoustic version suggests otherwise, as his scanning of the words isn’t great in these solo takes. Later, when working with a band – though one take just features Bruce Langhorne on electric guitar – you can hear how Dylan is forced to make his vocals tighter.
There’s a stunning solo version of She Belongs to Me that’s slow and considered, with lovely guitar playing from Dylan. It also highlights the final album version’s sublime switch from “Salute her on Sunday, bow down when her birthday comes.”
She Belongs to Me’s evolution into a BIABH side one song follows a similar path to Love Minus Zero. First just Langhorne’s electric guitar is added then comes the full band accompaniment that we’ll come to know and love. But the song will soon return to its acoustic roots as Dylan’s solo first half opener during the 1966 electric tour.
Outlaw Blues has a much more ragged development. Alone, Dylan gives it a gutsy blues feel, like how he sounded on his debut album. The “Austrian mountain range” makes more sense but doesn't scan as well as Australian.
The next version of Outlaw Blues features an additional guitar and someone playing harmonica riffs. Dylan’s vocals are a little unsure, but I enjoyed the raw blues of this version.
It took three sessions to eventually nail On the Road Again. From the initial version with Dylan playing a tack piano and hiding the humor, through Take 4’s jagged rhythms and onto the full remakes, you can hear him poking about to find the song.
The acoustic version of Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream highlights the parallel to Another Side’s Motorpsycho Nitemare - already evident from BIABH’s laughter-filled intro. It sounds especially lackluster compared to the full-throttle band version.
The Cutting Edge also features an excellent solo take of Subterranean Homesick Blues – previously released on Vol. 2 of The Bootleg Series. But this innovative song deserves an electric makeover, like the first take’s bass line and loose feel.
Mr Tambourine Man moves in the opposite direction to most of BIABH’s songs. Dylan has a couple of attempts with a band but eventually gives up because “the drumming is driving me mad”. In particular, the first takes features an intense tambourine that overpowers Langhorne’s delicate guitar.
These takes let us overhear a conversation between Dylan and producer Tom Wilson that hints at the growing tension between the pair. After Wilson misses some signal, Dylan chides him: “If you look at me Tom, you can see when I wave my hand.”
The producer – rather reasonably – retorts that he had “to look down to write the tape number BOB” (emphasis Tom’s). This increasing friction will eventually lead to Wilson being replaced for Dylan's next album.
The BIABH sessions also give us a pair of wonderful songs that will later surface on the Biograph and Bootleg Series collections, Farewell Angelina and I’ll Keep It With Mine (I’ll discuss both these songs in detail another time).
Plus, we hear two versions of If You Gotta Go, Go Now. First is an acoustic take before Dylan and his band give the song a pub rock treatment.
We get the start of a promising song called You Don’t Have to Do That, which Dylan cuts off, saying, “I’m going to play on the piano”. Perhaps he then played the piano-led California, which sounds like a remake of Black Crow Blues. It also features a line - “I got my dark sunglasses, I got for good luck my black tooth” - that will make the final version of Outlaw Blues.
This development highlights how little pre-planning Dylan did for these records. So much was still up for grabs as the sessions progressed. That may have had a lot to do with the fact that moving his studio sound from acoustic to electric forced Dylan to learn how to write for and work with a band along the way. This piecemeal process will soon deliver his first rock masterpiece.
On June 15th, 1965, Bob Dylan entered Columbia’s Studio A in New York to record Like a Rolling Stone. Dylan knew he had the basis of a great song, but he was a long way from knowing what shape it should take.
The deluxe edition of The Cutting Edge devotes an entire disc to the recording of the song that would change music and the musician himself. We get to hear initial instrumental rehearsals along with Dylan’s croaky first attempts to sing those caustic lyrics.
Like a Rolling Stone begins life as a waltz, with tip-tapping beats and long, drawn-out harmonica solos. It sounds a lot like the yet-to-be-written Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.
The following day, Dylan and his band abandoned the three-fourths tempo for a gentle remake. You can hear Mike Bloomfield work out his guitar part, while Dylan feels his way towards the right delivery of that epic chorus.
By the fourth proper take of the day, the famous snare shot opening is in place, Al Kooper is on the organ just behind the beat and what will become the master version of Like a Rolling Stone is captured.