A Track-by-Track Guide to Bob Dylan's 'Through the Open Window' Bootleg Series
Plus a playlist of highlights at the very end
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dylanlive@substack.com
Today, we finally get the long-rumored Bootleg Series surveying Bob Dylan’s earliest music. All the way back in 2018, a Rolling Stone headline read, “Bob Dylan Plotting Coffeehouse Years Collection for Future Bootleg Series.” It was tentatively titled The Villager then; turns out the actual name of Bootleg Series 18 is Through The Open Window, 1956–1963.
There’s a lot to dig into. Eight discs packed with studio outtakes, home recordings, concert performances, sideman gigs, and beyond. A lot of this stuff has never been officially released before. Some (though less than many hoped) has never circulated before at all, even via bootlegs. I’ve had this set for a few months and have written a detailed track-by-track guide to read while you listen. For the first six discs at least; the final two, containing the complete Carnegie Hall 1963 concert, I plan on writing something else about.
This is meant as a companion piece to the set itself, and to historian Sean Wilentz’s excellent liner notes, which take the form of a long historical essay telling the story of early Dylan. Wilentz does a wonderful job drawing out that narrative, and I tried not to duplicate his work. Mine is more digging into the individual tracks themselves—what they are, where they came from, what struck me listening to them, what some other good versions are.
I’ve also tried to ID which tracks have never circulated before in any capacity, the tracks where this is the first time any of us are hearing them. I’ve marked those with a * in the track title. (This was at times tricky to figure out, so if you spot an error, please let me know.)
Look, this piece is long as hell. Let’s not waste any more time on the introduction. Put on disc one, press play, and read along.
Read on here:
Flagging Down The Double Es - Through an Open Window Track By Track Dylan
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