This three disc set of previously unreleased material finds Bob Dylan in the studio just after his highly important Nashville Skyline and during the time of his disastrous Self Portrait and better recovery of New Morning. Completists will want it for the inclusion of George Harrison on a handful of tracks on guitar and background vocals, but his presence isn’t really felt much. The rest of the studio cats include David Bromberg/g-b-dog, Al Kooper/org-p, Russ Kunkel/dr and Charlie Daniels/g-b as the band runs through a series of takes, rehearsals and casual jams.
The thing I’ve always enjoyed about Dylan is his ability to change voices to fit the setting, with his “Lay Lady Lay” voice working o perfection on “Spanish Is the Loving Tongue” or intimate on the relaxed and pretty “ If Not For You”. With Harrison, he’s a Nashville cat on “”Mama, You Been On My Mind” and gets 60s poppish on “I Met Him On a Sunday /Da Doo Ron Ron” as they get into a rockabilly mood on “Matchbox”.
Most enjoyable is when Dylan gets into the mind of other composers, as he gives a credible read with his own personal stamp of “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, gets churchy on “Three Angels” and is gloriously casual on “I Forgot To Remember To Forget” and “Ghost Riders In The Sky”. A great insight into Dylan’s creativity is his three completely different genre interpretations of the tune “Alligator Man”, one being country, one rock and the last a real honky tonker. The rehearsals of his own tunes like “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” are intriguing for hearing the marrow before the meat is applied. Dylan’s musical back pages.