"Searching For A Gem"

Bob Dylan's Officially Released Rarities and Obscurities

Audio: 2017

All the songs listed in the Official Rarities section are cross-referenced by song title in these alphabetical pages.
A-E F-J K-O P-S T-Z


This 7" stereo single with two rarities, a remixed version of Love Sick and a live version of Cold Irons Bound, is included with the 20th Anniversary 2LP release of Time Out Of Mind

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This yearly page now contains only the main Rarities List. Promotional Items (Albums and Singles) are now here. All Honourable Mentions are now here.

If you have any entries to add to the list or additions/corrections to existing entries, please let me know! Please note I cannot value your Dylan rarities - see the Mission page for reasons why. Contact the dealers on my Trading page for assistance!

Revised: 01 January, 2023.


Titles in red are not available on a currently released Bob Dylan CD (for these see bobdylan.com )

Key to symbols used:
Links to other World Wide Web pages -
Links to email addresses -
Performances currently available on commercial CD are marked by (these are the ones that count as obscurities rather than as rarities)

Audience recordings are indicated by (A).


Various Artists - "The Roots Of Popular Music: The Ralph S. Peer Story" - 3CD set, Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA), 15 Sep 2017:


Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - front of case, scan by Peter Oudejans

R-0258-2 My Blue-Eyed Jane (Jimmie Rodgers/Lulu Belle White) - from The Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers, Egyptian Records US tribute album, 1997
R-0258 also appears on the Bear Family Germany 6CD boxed set The Influence Of Jimmie Rodgers: Let Me Be Your Side Track see 2008.

This 3CD set comes in an 8¾" x 11¼" book-style case with a separate book inside. It is a tribute to the US pioneer A&R man and music publisher Ralph Silvester Peer (1892-1960). He discovered and recorded many well-known artists, including Jimmie Rodgers in 1927.


Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - rear of case scan by Jack from Canada

Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - front of book, scan by Jack from Canada (same as front of case)

Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - rear of book, scan by Jack from Canada

Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - CD1 scan by Jack from Canada (no Dylan)

Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - CD2 scan by Jack from Canada (no Dylan)

Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - CD3 scan by Jack from Canada (includes R-0258)

Sony Music Latin 8887 519365 2 (USA) - contents picture from www.amazon.com

Thanks to Harold Lepidus, Jack from Canada and Peter Oudejans for information and scans.


Various Artists - "Woody Guthrie: The Tribute Concerts" - 3CD boxed set: Bear Family BCD 17329 (Germany), 18 Sep 2017:
Bob and The Band play three Woody Guthrie songs from Carnegie Hall, New York, 20 Jan 1968, and also appear on two ensemble songs. For the original album releases of these concerts and full details of this 2017 release, see 1972.


Bear Family BCD 17329 (Germany) - front of box, picture from Bear Family web-site
This 3CD boxed set contains two books in a card slipcase, one with pockets for the discs on the inside rear. The 1968 and 1970 concerts are now ordered chronologically, so that all three of Bob's songs with The Band from the 1968 New York afternoon concert are together on CD1, with the ensemble This Train Is Bound For Glory (which is still sadly truncated, this time at 1:16) at the start of CD1 and the ensemble This Land Is Your Land at the end of CD1 (also still not in full). The 1970 Hollywood Bowl concert is on both CD2 and CD3, with material not released on the original 1972 releases including new 1970 ensemble versions without Bob of This Train Is Bound For Glory and This Land Is Your Land. There is no new 1968 material, and the extra 1970 material does not include any Dylan contributions, as he was not present.
Bear Family BCD 17329 (Germany) - rear of box, picture from Bear Family web-site


Bear Family BCD 17329 (Germany) - box with contents, picture from Bear Family web-site


Bear Family BCD 17329 (Germany) - box with contents, picture from Bear Family web-site

R-0065 Dear Mrs. Roosevelt (Woody Guthrie) - Bob and The Band, afternoon show (Side 2, track 3)

R-0066 The Grand Coulee Dam (Woody Guthrie) - Bob and The Band, afternoon show (Side 2, track 6)
This track also appears on four 1972 Columbia compilations (listed below on this page), the Japanese Mr. D's Collection #3 promo CD (see 1993), and is also available on the 2001 Japanese live compilation Bob Dylan Live 1961-2000: Thirty Nine Years Of Great Concert Performances, see 2001.

R-0067 This Train Is Bound For Glory (adapted Woody Guthrie) - Arlo Guthrie and ensemble, afternoon show (Side 1, track 1)
I misreported this song before - it is truncated to 0:29 on both the original 1972 album and the 1989 single CD release, with only the Arlo Guthrie introduction to the song remaining (Side 1 track 1). I thought Bob and The Band were accompanying Arlo but the actual song with their vocal contributions (if any) is omitted! Glen Dundas in "Tangled Up In Tapes" (later published as just "Tangled") attributes this to the evening show, but Dean Chambers has tapes of both shows and says it is from the afternoon show. This is supported by Michael Krogsgaard in "Master of the Tracks", who attributes R-0064 - R-0067 to the afternoon show. See comments for the 2017 Bear Family boxed set below.

R-0068 This Land Is Your Land (Woody Guthrie) - Odetta and Arlo Guthrie with ensemble including Bob and The Band, afternoon show
Bob is present on guitar throughout the song and sings verse 6. However, the released performance is faded out before verse 6!
This may be because the contractual arrangement between Columbia and Warner Bros did not allow Bob to appear explicitly on the Part Two album. It's also noticeable that although the members of The Band, who were signed to Capitol, are listed on the rear sleeve, Bob is only listed as having been present on Part One, which was released by Columbia Records.

Alan Hoaksey adds that CD3 includes Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie (7:07) from the Town Hall, New York, 12 Apr 1963, released on The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3, 1991. As this is a Dylan album track, that qualifies it for this page.

Thanks to Harold Lepidus, Jacques Colinet, Keith Venturoni, Alan Hoaksey and Jack from Canada for information and scans.


Harry Belafonte - "The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection" - compilation 3CD set, Big 3 Records (catalogue number?) (Europe), 29 Sep 2017:


Front picture from www.amazon.co.uk
This 3CD set on a budget label is part of a series called The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection. R-0001 is track 17 on CD3.

R-0001-45 Midnight Special (Huddie Ledbetter "Lead Belly") - Bob plays harmonica on the title track of Harry Belafonte's 1962 The Midnight Special album (stereo version)

For details of the original album, see 1962.


"Live In San Diego November 28, 1979" - 2CD set, Columbia/Legacy 889854793326 (USA), 3 Nov 2017:


Columbia/Legacy 889854793326 (USA) - front of digipak, picture from www.bobdylan.com
bobdylan.com is selling the Deluxe Edition with an exclusive bonus 2CD set recorded live at San Diego, CA, on 28 Nov 1979. The San Diego tracks in the Live and Deluxe Editions come from the previous night, 27 Nov 1979, as do two in this set, see tracklist above. The two CDs come in a folded digipak. Harald Sigvartsen notes that the photographer of the front photo is not credited.

At the time it was hoped that this set would eventually be made more widely available in time, but that has not happened so these tracks are now classed as rarities.


Columbia/Legacy 889854793326 (USA) - rear of digipak, photo by Bob Meyer


Columbia/Legacy 889854793326 (USA) - CD1 photo by Bob Meyer


Columbia/Legacy 889854793326 (USA) - CD2 photo by Bob Meyer

CD1:

R-2197 Gotta Serve Somebody

R-2198 I Believe In You

R-2199 When You Gonna Wake Up?

R-2200 When He Returns

R-2201 Man Gave Names To All The Animals

R-2202 Precious Angel

R-2203 Slow Train

R-2204 Covenant Woman

CD2:

R-2205 Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking

R-2206 Do Right Unto Me Baby (Do Unto Others)

R-2207 Solid Rock

R-2208 Saving Grace

R-2209 Saved

R-2210 What Can I Do For You?

R-2211 In The Garden (27 Nov 1979)

R-2212 Band Introduction (27 Nov 1979)

R-2213 Blessed Is The Name

R-2214 Pressing On

R-2215 In The Garden (incomplete)

Thanks to Harald Sigvartsen and André Wilbers for information and to Bob Meyer for photos.


Promotional/Regular Items for 2017



Living In Another Country: International Stereo Releases

Stereo promo albums and singles for 2017 which don't contain rare material but which are still very collectable are now included with promo releases of regular albums and commercially released singles on the appropriate page in International Stereo Releases.


Triplicate (2017)


The Bootleg Series Vol. 13 - Trouble No More 1979-1981 (2017)


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