East Orange Tape

February-March 1961

San Francisco Bay Blues
Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
Gypsy Davey
Pastures Of Plenty
Trail Of The Buffalo
Jesse James
Car, Car
Southern Cannonball
Bring Me Back, My Blue-Eyed Boy
Remember Me
Another short home-style recording featuring the early Bob Dylan struggling to break out of his Woody Guthrie mold. This approximately 25 minute tape was recorded in the home of the Gleason's and features mostly Woody Guthrie songs. There are still no original compositions being recorded at this point, but it wouldn't be too long before that would change. Meanwhile, this is a very satisfying tape and clearly shows a huge advance over the previous Minnesota University tape, both in performance and spirit. There is a certain roughness to this performance that predicts what will come on the first album, although there is a distinct lack of polish at this point.

Highlights for me are Gypsy Davey, Pastures of Plenty, and Remember Me. Some songs are fragments and at one point Dylan seems to be very frustrated and has a hard time coming up with something he really wants to play, but when he finally does the result is the beautiful Remember Me which closes out the tape. Sound quality is not too bad, but still a long way from excellent.

CDs:

  • The Dylan's Root

LPs:

  • Let Me Die In My Footsteps (incomplete)
  • The Demo Tapes (the rest of the missing songs)

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