Friday, May 11, 2018

Bob Dylan - Abandoned Love - Non-Album Tracks (1973-1976)

In the 1960s, Bob Dylan was a seeming non-stop songwriting machine. By the mid-1970s, his songwriting pace had slowed considerably. However, the songs he was writing remained very high quality, as anyone who has ever heard the 1975 album "Blood on the Tracks" can tell.

Putting this album together was mostly a case of selecting non-album songs from the time period that appeared on "Biograph" and "The Bootleg Series, Volumes 1 - 3." 

However, a few songs come from other sources. "Gwenevere," "Patty's Gone to Laredo," "Hollywood Angel" are from "The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings." However, despite that album title, they're all studio recordings.

"Patty's Gone to Laredo" has an interesting history. It's a Dylan original that first showed up in his unsuccessful 1978 movie "Renaldo and Clara." But only part of it was played in the background while actors were talking over it. This left Dylan fans intrigued yet frustrated. Finally, in 2019, a version was released on an archival album. But this was a rough version done for a tour rehearsal that had some issues. I edited it some to hopefully make it sound better. That's the same case with the original "Hollywood Angel." 

 "Rita May" was a 1975 B-side. "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue (1974 Version)" comes from the archival release "The Bootleg Series, Volume 14: More Blood, More Tracks." "Sign Language" was written by Dylan, but it was sung as a duet between him and Eric Clapton on Clapton's 1976 album "No Reason to Cry." Dylan apparently never did a version of his own. "Seven Days" is possibly the only song Dylan wrote in 1976. A live version appeared on "The Bootleg Series, Volumes 1 - 3," but instead I chose an unreleased demo version.

This album is 48 minutes long.

UPDATE: On January 1, 2024, I updated the mp3 download file. I added three songs that I decided fit better here than anywhere else: "Gwenevere," "Sign Language," and "Seven Days." Two of them are from 1976, so I changed the album title a bit.

01 Forever Young [Acoustic Version] (Bob Dylan)
02 Nobody 'Cept You (Bob Dylan)
03 Call Letter Blues (Bob Dylan)
04 Up to Me (Bob Dylan)
05 Spanish Is the Loving Tongue [1974 Version] (Bob Dylan)
06 Catfish (Bob Dylan)
07 Golden Loom (Bob Dylan)
08 Rita May [Single Version] (Bob Dylan)
09 Abandoned Love (Bob Dylan)
10 Gwenevere (Bob Dylan)
11 Hollywood Angel [Edit] (Bob Dylan)
12 Patty's Gone to Laredo [Edit] (Bob Dylan)
13 Sign Language (Eric Clapton & Bob Dylan)
14 Seven Days (Bob Dylan)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16116308/BOBDYL1973-1976_AbndonedLve_atse.zip.html

For the cover, I selected a photo that was an alternate from the photo session for the cover of the 1976 "Desire" album.

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