BOB DYLAN
EVERY GRAIN OF SAND: UNRELEASED RECORDINGS, 1980-1981
01. Wind Blowing On The Water (Outtake, 1981)
02. Mystery Train (Outtake, 1981)
03. Caribbean Wind (Outtake, 1980)
04. Heart Of Mine (Outtake, 1981)
05. Shot Of Love (Outtake, 1981)
06. Lenny Bruce (Live, 7/25/81)
07. Jesus Is The One (Live, 7/25/81)
08. Watered-Down Love (Without Overdubs, 1981)
09. Let It Be Me (Outtake, 1981)
10. Is It Worth It (Outtake, 1981)
11. Let's Begin (Live, 6/29/81)
12. Dead Man, Dead Man (Without Overdubs, 1981)
13. Magic (Outtake, 1981)
14. Hallelujah (Outtake, 1981)
15. Let's Keep It Between Us (Outtake, 1980)
16. Yonder Comes Sin (Outtake, 1980)
17. In The Summertime (Without Overdubs, 1981)
18. The Groom's Still Waiting (Without Overdubs, 1981)
19. Borrowed Time (Outtake, 1981)
Welcome to a lovely and oft-overlooked corner of Bob Dylan's recording career - the sessions and concerts surrounding the release of Shot of Love.
Shot of Love is a remarkably good record, whatever else you've heard, and was Dylan's last to sound like a bunch of people playing in the same room until Love & Theft in 2001. There was no sleek shine to this production, and conequently it breathed with the passion found in much of the man's best work. Unfortunately, many of the finest recordings from these sessions were not released on that album. In particular, "Yonder Comes Sin" and "Caribbean Wind" are absolutely extraordinary, and "Heart of Mine" was recorded in a much better rendition than the one that appears on the official release.
Outside of these classics, more minor gems were recorded. No collection of Dylan outtakes would be complete without this cover of "Mystery Train," or this live performance of "Lenny Bruce" from the '81 tour. The fragmentary songs, including "Hallelujah" (not the Leonard Cohen song) and "Borrowed Time" make one wonder what could have been; "Is It Worth It" points to the reggae-influenced road ahead to Infidels, and contributes to the overall Caribbean sound of this era.
The other studio cuts are intriguing as well. "Let's Keep It Between Us" is a fairly recently unearthed prototype for a song that would become transcendant on the road in Fall, 1980. The rough mixes of "Dead Man, Dead Man," "Watered-Down Love," "In The Summertime," and "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" are all interesting, but "Watered-Down Love" stands above the others, retaining an extra verse not present on the official release. "In The Summertime," too, stands out for the inclusion of a mournful harmonica that has been truncated on Shot Of Love.
The listener familiar with Dylan's unreleased output may wonder why more of the fiery performances from 1980 and 1981 are not present here. In fact, it is because the next two volumes of this series will be dedicated exclusively to those tours; I've saved the best live material for those releases. This should act as a primer though, since you will be able to hear "Caribbean Wind" and "Let's Keep It Between Us" as artistic triumphs on the 1980 tour, and "In The Summertime" and "Watered-Down Love" become centerpieces of Dylan's 1981 performances. It is always fascinating to watch the progression from studio recordings to on-stage renditions, after all.
I hope you enjoy this newest compilation, and include it in your collections alongside the inimitable Shot of Love. It was a blast to put together.
-CS