Bob Dylan shares original version of ‘Not Dark Yet’ from new bootleg series collection
Bob Dylan has shared the original recorded version of ‘Not Dark Yet’ as a preview for the upcoming edition of his ongoing bootleg series. The new compilation will mark the 17th edition of the lauded series. Fragments – Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996-1997), the highly anticipated compilation, revisits the sessions in and around his 1997 album Time Out Of Mind and will be released on January 27th to celebrate the album’s 25th anniversary.
Dylan gave a first preview for the release with ‘Version 2’ of ‘Love Sick’ back in November and has now added the faster, original version of ‘Not Dark Yet’, which was recorded on January 11th, 1997 (25 years ago yesterday) at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida.
Fragments will feature a newly remixed version of Time Out Of Mind alongside a selection of previously unheard recordings, including outtakes, demos, alternate versions and live cuts. It will be available physically in both 5-CD and 10-LP formats.
The rarities set to appear on Fragments include ‘Dreamin’ Of You’, ‘Red River Shore’, ‘Marchin’ To The City’ and ‘Mississippi’, which were all recorded during the Time Out Of Mind sessions but didn’t quite make the final cut.
Other tracks appearing in the box set were recorded during Dylan and his band’s 1996 Teatro sessions in Oxnard, California before they moved to Miami’s Criteria Studios in 1997 for the main sessions. The fourth disc compiles live recordings of Time Out Of Mind songs from some of Dylan’s concerts between 1998 and 2001.
Alternate versions of ‘Love Sick’, ‘Standing In The Doorway’, ‘Tryin’ To Get To Heaven’ and ‘Not Dark Yet’ were pulled from UK concerts, while ‘Cold Irons Bound’ and ‘Can’t Wait’ were recorded during the same show in Oslo, Norway. Other recordings were taken from live shows in Tennessee, New Jersey, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Washington, DC and Newcastle, Australia.
Following its release in September 1997, Time Out Of Mind scored Dylan his first Album of the Year award at the Grammys, alongside Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for ‘Cold Irons Bound’.
Listen to the newly released original version of ‘Not Dark Yet’ below.
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