James

Very straightforward, I think you'd be fine

Taxman

Good. I can read books fine, but English poetry gets me lost so there.

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Nic671

Has anyone listened to Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs? Probably my favorite of the Bootlegs. Most of the outtakes are better than the album releases.

Moss

Yeah it makes you wonder how some of those versions did not make it to the album.

Alice in Chains

I agree. I think Mississippi (Bootleg version) is the best song that Dylan ever done. It feels more personal, rather than the album release which I think was probably the worst that he ever put out. No offense.

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Nic671

I love both Mississippi's, but Mississippi #2 is my favorite off the series. Other than that, Someday Baby, Born In Time, and Most of the Time, Red River Shore, Huck's Tune, and Ring Them Bells (supper club 93) are also great.

Taxman

It's unbelievable how many great songs Bob never included on his albums. Positively 4th Street, If You Gotta Go, Go No, I Shall Be Released and all the rest I'm too tired to mention. It's seems like Bob's music is an endless well, once you think you have reached the bottom, you find something new. I'm now familiar with his sixties albums and Desire/Blood On the Tracks, and also Tempest. But what about the others? Slow Train Coming I did once loan from a local library, though, and it is good, cos it's not too much Christian, if you see what I mean, because Saved is a horrible piece of garbage.

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Gavin B.

Dylan has never included his controversial 1971 protest song George Jackson, on any album, including his greatest hits collections or his bootleg series. George Jackson was a young Black Panther Party member who was killed by San Quentin prison guards during an escape attempt on August 21, 1971. Jackson's death became a cause célèbre among American leftists who believed that Jackson was set up for murder by San Quentin guards for his radical political views.

About two years ago, several digital recordings of George Jackson appeared on YouTube, but the videos were promptly pulled for copyright violations. Somebody had gone to a great deal of trouble to assure that George Jackson wouldn't be heard by anybody. Whoever got George Jackson banned on YouTube did an complete job of scrubbing off every recording of the song. Could it be Dylan himself?

It's odd, because Dylan doesn't go to great lengths to protect the content of any of his other songs. Like many other artists, Dylan tolerates unauthorized versions of songs on the internet because it broadens his audience which offsets any loss in royalty payments. Dylan's back-catalog of album sales have actually increased since his music has been widely posted on the internet. So why would Dylan go to great lengths to keep the public from hearing George Jackson?

Perhaps Dylan is embarrassed by the fact that many former Black Panther leaders drifted into lives of drug use and criminality, following the decline of the Black Panther Party in the late Seventies. Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton was shot and killed by a drug dealer while leaving a West Oakland crack house in 1989. The Black Panther Minister of Information, Eldridge Cleaver served time for burglary & was arrested for possession of crack cocaine by Oakland and Berkeley Police in 1992 and 1994.

I did find one of two different versions of George Jackson on an obscure socialist website titled The Frontlines of Revolutionary Struggle at this link: George Jackson- Version with a backup band

The above version was the one Dylan recorded with a backup band. I couldn't find a copy of the original single which Dylan recorded playing acoustic guitar only. It's a much better version because Dylan's vocal is far more passionate and his voice has the angry edge we once associated with Dylan during his early incarnation as a protest singer.

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt

GreenEyes67

Bob Dylan is my favorite folk artist. I love his early music...not too keen on his newer stuff. He's amazing.

Andrey

You're talking about an American legend or should I say folk legend? anyways yeah he's amazing, great song writer and musician, after all to me if you do not write your own songs I wouldn't call my self an artist.