Bob Dylan / “50th Anniversary Collection 1963” 6LP vinyl box

Last year Sony/Legacy snuck out a small number of Bob Dylan 50th Anniversary box sets to prevent the recordings from entering the public domain – the so called ‘use it or lose it’ strategy in terms of copyright. Only 100 of these four-CD sets were said to have been made available to the public through independent stores in Europe.

It seems they the label have deployed the same strategy in 2013 but are going the vinyl route this time around. The 50th Anniversary Collection 1963 is a vinyl box this time, a six-LP set in fact, which features a mixture of previously unreleased studio and live recordings from 1963 (see full track listings below).

It’s not particularly clear exactly how many are being produced, but it does appear to be hundreds, rather than thousands. What’s confusing is that these are supposed to be distributed via independent record shops, but have now turned up on Amazon. Quite how or why Amazon have these remains to be seen. It seems rather unlikely that they will be able to fulfil orders for a product where demand will massively outweigh supply, even at the high prices being charged, unless the production run is higher than it is rumoured to be.

If you do want to try your luck, there are some pre-order links below.

• • USA Pre-order: 50th Anniversary Collection: 1963 [6LP Vinyl box]
• • GERMANY Pre-order: 50th Anniversary Collection:1963 [6LP Vinyl box]

Track listing

LP 1 – Side A

• “Eternal Circle” (Take 4)
• “Percy’s Song” (Take 1)
• “That’s All Right, Mama”/”Sally Free and Easy” (Take 1)
• “Hero Blues” (Take 3)
• “East Laredo Blues” (Take 1)
• “Bob Dylan’s New Orleans Rag” (Take 2)

tracks 1 & 4 recorded 12 August 1963, tracks 2, 3 & 5 recorded 23 October, track 6 recorded 24 October during The Times They Are a-Changin’ sessions

LP 1 – Side B – The Banjo Tape

• “Lonesome River Edge”
• “Back Door Blues”
• “Bob Dylan’s Dream”
• “You Can Get Her”
• “Farewell”
• “All Over You”
• “Instrumental in Gerde’s Basement/Jam”
• “Keep Your Hands Off Her” (Leadbelly)
• “Honey Babe”
• “Goin’ Back To Rome”
• “Stealin'”

all tracks recorded 2 August 1963 at the Basement of Gerde’s Folk City. Tracks 7, 9, 12 with Happy Traum, track 12 with Gil Turner

LP 2 – Side C

• “Ballad of Hollis Brown”

recorded for the Folk Songs and More Folk Songs TV Special, 3 March 1963

• “Girl from the North Country”
• “Only A Hobo”

tracks 2 & 3 recorded for the Oscar Brand Show/World of Folk Music, March 1963

• “Ramblin’ Down Through the World”
• ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream”
• “Talkin’ New York”
• “Hiding Too Long

LP 2 – Side D

• “Ballad of Hollis Brown”
• “Walls of Red Wing”
• “All Over You”
• “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”
• “Boots of Spanish Leather”

LP 3 – Side E

• “Hero Blues”
• “John Brown”
• “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”
• “Dusty Old Fairgrounds”
• “Who Killed Davey Moore?”

LP 3 – Side F

• “Seven Curses”
• “Highway 51”
• “Pretty Peggy-O
• “Bob Dylan’s New Orleans Rag”
• “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
• “With God On Our Side”

tracks 4–7, side C and sides D-F recorded at the Town Hall, New York City, 12 April 1963

LP 4 – Side G

• “James Alley Blues”
• “Long Time Gone”
• “Only a Hobo”
• “Untitled Blues Jam”
• “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”

tracks 1–5 recorded at the home of Eve and Mac McKenzie, 18 April 1963

• “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance”
• “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”

LP 4 – Side H

• ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream”
• “Ballad of Hollis Brown”
• “Talkin’ World War III Blues”
• “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”
• “With God on Our Side”

tracks 6–7, side G and side H recorded at The Bear folk club, Chicago, 25 April 1963

LP 5 – Side I

• “Farewell”
• “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”
• ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream”
• “Boots of Spanish Leather”
• “John Brown”

LP 5 – Side J

• “Who Killed Davey Moore?”
• “Blowin’ in the Wind”

Tracks 1 & 2, side J recorded for the Studs Terkel Wax Museum radio show, Chicago, 26 April 1963

• “Blowin’ in the Wind”
• “Only a Pawn in Their Game”
• tracks 3 & 4 recorded for the Songs of Freedom TV show, New York City, 30 July 1963
• “When the Ship Comes In”
• “Only a Pawn in Their Game”

tracks 5 & 6 recorded at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, 28 August 1963. Track 5 with Joan Baez

LP 6 – Side K

• “Blowin’ in the Wind”
• “Percy’s Song”
• “Seven Curses”
• “Walls of Red Wing”

LP 6 – Side L

• “Talkin’ World War III Blues”
• “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
• “Only a Pawn in Their Game”
• “Masters of War”
• “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”

sides K & L recorded at Carnegie Hall, New York City, 26 October 1963