Diamonds From the Deepest Ocean is a new series exploring classic Bob Dylan bootlegs from the CD era. Before broadband internet, YouTube, and bottomless hard drives overflowing with FLACs, many Dylan fans relied on the grey market to gain entry into the world of unreleased Dylan. This series celebrates those tangible treasures and wonders: “What’s lost when you can have it all?”
Now playing: Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte
Diamonds From the Deepest Ocean is a new series exploring classic Bob Dylan bootlegs from the CD era. Before broadband internet, YouTube, and bottomless hard drives overflowing with FLACs, many Dylan fans relied on the grey market to gain entry into the world of unreleased Dylan. This series celebrates those tangible treasures and wonders: “What’s lost when you can have it all?”
First up: Peco’s Blues (or: Lucky Luke)
Bob Dylan is headed to Japan for his first shows of the year, and Bobcats around the world will mark that gig as the real beginning of 2023. This new episode proves that every time Dylan visits Japan, he leaves behind plenty of Pretty Good Stuff.
When Bob Dylan’s Christmas album appeared in 2009, it was both totally unexpected and 44 years overdue. In this instance, we’re glad he waited. Christmas in the Heart features Dylan singing songs you know by heart in a voice without restraint. There’s fun for the whole family, and all for a good cause. It’s enough to make a believer out of anyone.
Last year around Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday, we celebrated with a megamix of various renditions of “One Too Many Mornings.” Since there’s no such thing as too many “One Too Many Mornings,” here’s a sequel of sorts for Bob’s 81st — 24 different covers of the classic tune from a wide variety of artists, spanning the decades. Just as Bob never quite settled on a stock arrangement for this one, the interpretations here vary wildly, from gentle folk to raucous garage rock to soaring orchestral pop. Like the song says: “You’re right from your side and I’m right from mine …”
Dylan’s Time Out of Mind turns 25 this year. Produced by Daniel Lanois, the album won three Grammy Awards and provided a new batch of songs—meditations on love and loss—that Dylan almost immediately began to work into his Neverending Tour setlists. This episode of Pretty Good Stuff explores those live versions of the songs from Time Out of Mind, with performances stretching from a week after the album’s release to the edge of the pandemic, when Dylan temporarily paused his relentless touring schedule. Rediscover how Dylan turned the studio masterpiece into a killer batch of road-tested Pretty Good Stuff.
Welcome back to Pretty Good Stuff: Dylan historian James Adams’ semi-regular hour-long program diving deep into the depths of all things Dwarf Music. Today’s episode is dedicated to Valentine’s Day performances.
Lucky number 13. Welcome back to Pretty Good Stuff: Dylan historian James Adams’ semi-regular hour-long program diving deep into the depths of all things Dwarf Music. This episode is strictly comprised of performances from the last tour of songs from the latest album, Rough and Rowdy Ways.
Welcome back to Pretty Good Stuff: Dylan historian James Adams’ semi-regular hour-long program diving deep into the depths of all things Dwarf Music. This installment highlights Bob’s 1981 tour. Not his best year, sure, but one that deserves its due.
Is it possible that the latest in Dylan’s Bootleg Series feels … a little slim? Here’s what we get with Springtime In New York: two discs of rehearsals and outtakes from the tail-end of the so-called “Gospel Era”; two discs of Infidels session outtakes; and one disc with a smattering of live performances and studio alternates from 1984 and 1985. It clocks in at well over four hours, but it isn’t quite the immersive deep dive into this Dylan era that fanatics have been dreaming of for many years.
Boy and girls, the return of Pretty Good Stuff: Dylan historian James Adams’ hour-long program diving deep into the depths of all things Dwarf Music. This installment, all California: 1965-2019.
As you probably know, Bob Dylan turns 80 years old today. As such, here’s a mix (approximately 80 minutes for Bob’s 80 years) of unreleased gems, stretching from 1973 to 2019, including studio outtakes, rehearsals, live performances and television appearances.
It’s a mess. It’s beautiful.
An hour’s worth of Bob Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings” — is this too many “One Too Many Mornings”? Give it a try. These 14 different versions, stretching from the original recording released in early 1964 to a live tape from 1995, illustrate Dylan as an artist in constant motion.
Bob Dylan turns 80 years young this month … so let’s get the celebration started with something a little on the bizarre side. This mix gathers a selection of vintage Dylan covers with lyrics translated into Greek, Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish and more. Ranging from the mid-1960s to late 1970s, it’s a sweet (if occasionally disorienting) listen, as these singers attempt to force Bob into new linguistic zones.
This is it! The tenth and final episode of Pretty Good Stuff: Dylan historian James Adams’ hour-long, monthly, program diving deep into the depths of all things Dwarf Music. Listen to the show below, and to explore further, support our Patreon for the individual tracks and more.