Below are a 1986 Rolling Stone article which prompted a hostile
reaction from Columbia, an excerpt from Clinton Heylin's book "Bootleg",
the track list and recording information and CDs on which
the Ten of Swords material may be found, among other things.
Originally compiled: May 11, 1997
Last revised: July 16, 1997
Rolling Stone
#471, April 10, 1986
Bootleg Bob Dylan Set Creates a Stir; CBS Not Amused
Following the success of Biograph, an illegal boxed set of Bob Dylan recordings has begun to turn up in record stores around the country, creating quite a stir among Dylan fans. The ten-record bootleg set, called Ten of Swords after a card in the tarot deck, contains material Dylan recorded between 1961 and 1966. Selling for as much as eighty dollars, Ten of Swords is a ascinating--and for collectors, indispensable--companion to the seven official Dylan albums released during that same time period.The collection's 134 tracks (118 different songs, more than eight hours of material) include numerous gems. A few highlights: the entire 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert [now known to be 17 May 1966 Manchester], one of Dylan's greatest performances; revealing outtakes from the seminal Bring It All Back Home and Highway 61 sessions; and a nearly eight-minute poem, "Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie," from a concert at Carnegie Hall.
Equally important, the pressings are of good quality, with, for the most part, little surface noise. The recordings have been professionally packaged in chronological order, and the box includes a well-written sixteen-page booklet providing detailed notes on the material.
As might be expected, Columbia, Dylan's label, is not too pleased about the appearance of Ten of Swords. "We put on warning not only the people who have put this project together, but retailers, who can be made to pay a severe penalty for carrying this album," said CBS spokesman Robert Altshuler. "We're pursuing the perpetrators of this crime, and we'll track them down and drag them into court."
Dylan himself, in the liner notes to Biograph, said: "The bootleg records, those are outrageous.... You're sitting and strumming in a motel, you don't think anybody's there...and then it appears on a bootleg record. With a cover that's got a picture of you that was taken from underneath your bed and it's got a strip-tease title and it costs thirty dollars. Amazing. Then you wonder why most artists feel so paranoid."
* * *My review, for what it's worth -- TEN OF SWORDS is the "Citizen Kane" of bootlegs. It revolutionized the way they are put together, and it showed immense respect to the people who purchase them. Of course 95% (if not 100%) of the set has been surpassed by CD releases (though not all in one place).
rainman
-------
"Yes there's something you can send back to me,
Spanish boots."
For what its worth a copy sold in Atlanta last year for $300.00 USD
Chuck Cruzan
The following excerpt is from Clinton Heylin's "Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry" (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994). "Richard" is the name of the bootlegger reasonsible for Ten of Swords.
Richard's most famous collection generated the sort of controversy that nearly put him in the clink. CBS had been planning a five-album boxed-set of Dylan's work since 1983 but had twice shelved the project when, in the spring of 1985, Richard decided to do his own boxed-set. Richard preferred his Dylan vintage, which meant 1961-6, and he devised a ten-album set that incorporated all the circulating studio outtakes for Mr. D's pre-accident bootleg sources - the Minneapolis Hotel tape, the second Gaslight tape and Albert Hall '66 - all in one lavish boxed-set. Taking his liner notes from Paul Cable's book on Dylan's unreleased recordings, Richard put out the set dubbed Ten of Swords, at the end of the summer, on Tarantula Records. The reaction to what was - save for the exemplary quality of his source tapes and the conceptual integrity of the set - really a rather humdrum release, particularly when compared with some of the Dylan releases then coming out of Europe, was nothing short of astonishing.Richard:
I never really liked Dylan bootlegs, and I hardly owned any. I always thought they were a hodgepodge, I didn't like the way they mixed up eras ... I wanted to do it chronologically. I stole that stuff from Paul Cable's book ... I re-edited his stuff. I tried to put in bits of humour here and there, 'cos I thought that he was incredibly dry, but basically said what he said ... I knew about [CBS's] Biograph [set] and I thought it was never gonna come out. That's what the word was. [But] there is virtually nothing on Biograph that's on Ten of Swords and in the few cases where it is, Columbia edited their tapes ... they edited it unnecessarily for that album, so the real company botched it up ... When Ten of Swords was done I had six done in one place and four done in another, to split the work and try to get it all done at once. Otherwise it would've taken longer to get made.It was fortunate for Richard that the problems of putting together the set required the services of two plants. When Biograph was finally released in the autumn of 1985, several journalists seized upon Ten of Swords as the more important release. When Cameron Crowe, who had actually been responsible for the booklet that accompanied the Biograph set, gave Ten of Swords a rave write-up, along with Rolling Stone and an entire clan of sixties-relic rock journalists, Columbia reacted with ill-considered venom.
Temporarily withdrawing its advertising from Rolling Stone, Columbia claimed the magazine was endorsing an illegal product. The LA Times proceeded to remind Columbia of a 1969 press release from the time of the appearance of the Great White Wonder. According to Columbia, Great White Wonder was "an abuse of the integrity of a great artist ... crassly depriving [Bob Dylan] of the opportunity to perfect his performances to the point where he believes in their integrity and validity." Six years later, Columbia released The Basement Tapes officially, presumably no longer of the opinion that it was "an abuse of the integrity of a great artist." Ten of Swords also serve to highlight that the seventeen unreleased cuts on CBS's $50 boxed-set were another form of extortion from an official record company. CBS decided they were going to nail the bastard bootlegger who had sent such yolk in their direction.
Richard:
[Ten of Swords] was scary, because Walter Yentnikoff seemed so sure that Columbia would track down the perpetrator/s and they nearly pulled all their advertising from Rolling Stone and they had that battle going on. That was funny, 'cos I hate Rolling Stone and I was glad that they were being hassled by something I had done ... but I was scared because the heat was on ... friends of mine sent really huge newspaper articles from all over the country, half-page article and stuff. That thing got really famous and I goes, "This is good and this is bad," and it sold out really fast for a ten-record set that was really expensive ... [But] there was no way I was ever going to make it again, even though there was a huge demand.Thankfully, it never occurred to the FBI that the set might have been pressed at two or more plants, or that its impressive packaging might provide them with their best lead. When they did the rounds of usual suspects, they predictably came up blank.
"Eric Bristow":
I went into my pressing plant right after Ten of Swords, and the guy who owned the pressing plant called me into his office, which was unusual. I was a bit worried, 'cos I used to just deal with the foreman ... and he says, "Have we got any Bob Dylan here?" and I went "Yeahhh ...?" and he goes, "Its not a ten-record set, is it?" "No..." and he goes, "Oh..." So I say, "Why?" and he says, "Because we had some FBI guys in here asking about a thing called Ten of Swords ..." I said, "It wasn't me ..." He says, "Do you know who did it?" I said, "Yeah." "Did he do it here?" "He might have!"Deke [a collector]:
The really funny thing about that whole affair is the box itself. It can only be made by one company in the whole United States - a place that manufactures boxes for kid's toys.
ZIMMERMAN TEN OF SWORDS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tarantula CL 16319 =========================================================================== Side 1: Minnesota Hotel Tapes (25:16) 1. Candy Man 12/22/61 (3:06) 2. Baby, Please Don't Go 12/22/61 (4:15) 3. Hard Times in New York Town 12/22/61 (2:17) 4. Stealin' 12/22/61 (2:13) 5. Poor Lazarus 12/22/61 (3:24) 6. I Ain't Got No Home 12/22/61 (2:07) 7. It's Hard to Be Blind 12/22/61 (3:01) 8. Dink's Song 12/22/61 (4:49) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 2: Minnesota Hotel Tapes (25:19) 9. Wade in the Water 12/22/61 (2:58) 10. In the Evening When the Sun Goes Do 12/22/61 (3:47) 11. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down 12/22/61 (2:59) 12. Sally Girl 12/22/61 (1:42) 13. Gospel Plow 12/22/61 (1:29) 14. Man of Constant Sorrow 12/22/61 (3:30) 15. Naomi Wise 12/22/61 (3:03) 16. I Was Young When I Left Home 12/22/61 (5:51) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 3: Minnesota Hotel Tapes (25:43) 17. Cocaine 12/22/61 (2:17) 18. Ramblin' Round 12/22/61 (3:20) 19. VD Blues 12/22/61 (1:57) 20. VD Waltz 12/22/61 (0:52) 21. VD City 12/22/61 (1:48) 22. VD Gunner's Blues (Landlady) 12/22/61 (2:37) 23. Black Cross 12/22/61 (4:56) 24. Long John 12/22/61 (6:21) 25. The Story of East Orange New Jersey 12/22/61 (1:32) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 4: BOB DYLAN sessions (25:45) 26. Sally Girl 04/25/62 (2:22) 27. Baby Please Don't Go 04/25/62 (2:03) 28. Milk Cow Calf's Blues/Good Morning Blues 04/25/62 (2:42) 29. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues 04/25/62 (3:52) 30. I Heard That Lonesome Whistle 04/24/62 (2:07) 31. Talkin' Hava Negeila Blues 04/25/62 (0:50) 32. Worried Blues 07/09/62 (2:37) 33. Wichita (Going to Louisiana) 04/25/62 (3:06) 34. Going to New Orleans 04/25/62 (3:14) 35. Quit Your Lowdown Ways Whitmark Demos Dec 1962 (2:46) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 5: Leeds Music Demos (23:30) 36. He was a Friend of Mine Jan 1962 (4:00) 37. Man on the Street [false start] Jan 1962 (1:07) 38. Hard Times in New York Town Jan 1962 (1:53) 39. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues Jan 1962 (3:35) 40. Standing on the Highway Jan 1962 (2:30) 41. Poor Boy Blues Jan 1962 (2:55) [The box back and the record label for side 5 do not list this track, however there are 9 bands on the vinyl! Page 5 of the booklet reads: "NOTE: the box cover and record label copy mistakenly lists only 8 songs on this side, omitting "Poor Boy Blues"."] 42. Ballad for a Friend Jan 1962 (2:20) 43. Man on the Street Jan 1962 (1:27) 44. Rambling, Gambling Willie Jan 1962 (3:30) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 6: THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN sessions (25:08) 45. Mixed Up Confusion 11/00/62 (2:32) 46. Corrina, Corrina 04/25/62 (2:42) 47. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues *04/25/62 (3:50) 48. Let Me Die in My Footsteps [takes 1] *04/25/62 (4:08) 49. Baby, I'm in the Mood for You 07/09/62 (2:56) 50. Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie *04/24/62 (4:15) 51. The Death of Emmett Till Whitmark Demos Dec 1962 (4:28) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 7: Whitmark Demos (23:56) 52. Ain't Gonna Grieve Aug 1963 (1:25) 53. Long Time Gone Mar 1963 (3:45) 54. Long Ago, Far Away Nov 1962 (2:30) 55. Hero Blues May 1963 (1:37) 56. Whatcha Gonna Do? Aug 1963 (3:28) 57. Gypsy Lou Aug 1963 (3:42) 58. Guess I'm Doin' Fine Jan 1964 (4:00) 59. Walkin' Down the Line Mar 1963 (3:19) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 8: Whitmark Demos (25:00) 60. All Over You Mar 1963 (3:43) 61. Bound to Lose, Bound to Win Mar 1963 (1:21) 62. I Shall Be Free Apr 1963 (4:25) 63. I'd Hate to Be You on That Dreadful Day Mar 1963 (1:57) 64. When the Ship Comes In Sep 1963 (2:51) 65. The Times They Are A-Changin' Sep 1963 (3:00) 66. Tomorrow Is a Long Time Dec 1962 (3:40) 67. Farewell Dec 1963 (3:55) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 9: The Gaslight Tape (23:34) 68. Ballad of Hollis Brown Oct 1962 (5:40) 69. Kind Hearted Woman Blues Oct 1962 (2:30) 70. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean Oct 1962 (3:25) 71. Black Cross Oct 1962 (4:00) 72. No More Auction Block Oct 1962 (2:55) 73. Rocks and Gravel Oct 1962 (5:00) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 10: The Gaslight Tape (23:51) 74. Barbara Allen Oct 1962 (7:51) 75. Moonshine Blues Oct 1962 (4:08) 76. Motherless Children Oct 1962 (3:10) 77. Handsome Molly Oct 1962 (2:45) 78. John Brown Oct 1962 (5:55) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 11: The Gaslight Tape (23:51) 79. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right Oct 1962 (3:10) 80. Ain't No More Cane Oct 1962 (1:58) 81. Cocaine Oct 1962 (2:55) 82. The Cuckoo Is a Pretty Bird Oct 1962 (2:18) 83. West Texas Oct 1962 (5:35) 84. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall Oct 1962 (6:36) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 12: (22:39) 85. Ramblin' Down Through the World New York Town Hall 04/12/63 (2:00) 86. Who Killed Davey Moore? New York Town Hall 04/12/63 (3:56) 87. Hero Blues New York Town Hall 04/12/63 (2:51) 88. Dusty Old Fairgrounds Carnegie Hall 10/26/63 (5:31) 89. Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie Carnegie Hall 10/26/63 (7:52) 90. Mr. Tambourine Man Whitmark Demos Jun 1964 (5:45) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 13 (25:08) 91. Rocks and Gravel FREEWHEELIN' sessions 04/25/62 (2:20) 92. Kingsport Town FREEWHEELIN' sessions 11/14/62 (3:24) 93. Whatcha Gonna Do? FREEWHEELIN' sessions 11/14/62 (3:03) 94. Moonshiner THE TIMES sessions 08/12/63 (5:17) 95. Suze (The Cough Song) THE TIMES sessions 10/24/63 (2:07) 96. Seven Curses THE TIMES sessions 08/06/63 (3:52) 97. Mama, You Been on My Mind [guitar] Whitmark Demos Jun 1964 (2:53) 98. Mama, You Been on My Mind [piano] Whitmark Demos Jun 1964 (2:09) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 14 (24:26) 99. Eternal Circle THE TIMES sessions 10/24/63 (3:00) 100. Walls of Red Wing FREEWHEELIN' sessions 04/23/63 (5:07) 101. Only a Hobo THE TIMES sessions 08/12/63 (3:30) 102. Paths of Victory THE TIMES sessions 08/12/63 (3:40) 103. Percy's Song THE TIMES sessions 10/24/63 (7:03) 104. Farewell THE TIMES sessions 08/06/63 (2:09) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 15 (26:27) 105. Lay Down Your Weary Tune THE TIMES sessions 10/24/63 (4:45) 106. Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag 1 THE TIMES sessions 10/24/63 (1:04) 107. I'll Keep It with Mine BACK HOME sessions 01/24/65 (4:21) 108. Denise ANOTHER SIDE sessions 06/09/64 (3:04) 109. That's All Right Mama/Sally FREEWHEELIN' sessions 10/26/62 (3:12) 110. East Laredo Blues 1 THE TIMES sessions 10/23/63 (3:17) 111. Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag 2 THE TIMES sessions 10/24/63 (3:27) 112. California ANOTHER SIDE sessions 06/09/64? (3:00) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 16 (24:53) 113. If You Gotta Go, Go Now BACK HOME sessions 01/15/65 (3:00) 114. Love Minus Zero/No Limit BACK HOME sessions 01/14/65 (3:52) 115. She Belongs to Me BACK HOME sessions 01/14/65 (3:12) 116. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue BACK HOME sessions 01/14/65 (3:38) 117. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? HWY61 sessions 07/30/65 (4:08) 118. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a HWY61 sessions 06/15/65 (3:38) 119. From a Buick 6 HWY61 sessions 07/30/65 (3:11) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 17 (24:23) 120. Sitting on a Barbed-Wire Fence HWY61 sessions 06/15/65 (4:12) 121. Desolation Row HWY61 sessions 08/02/65 (11:22) 122. She's Your Lover Now BLONDE sessions 01/21/66 (7:43) 123. Miami Sales Message Levy's Recording Studio, London 05/12/65 (0:54) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 18: Sessions with the Hawks (The Band) (24:15) 124. Medicine Sunday 10/05/65 (1:00) 125. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? 10/05/65 (0:58) 126. I Wanna Be Your Lover 10/05/65 (3:26) 127. Visions of Johanna 11/30/65 (7:44) 128. She's Your Lover Now BLONDE sessions 01/21/66 (6:40) 129. Number One (#1) 10/05/65 (4:13) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 19: Manchester, England (not Royal Albert Hall) (23:54) 130. Tell Me, Momma 05/17/66 (4:22) 131. I Don't Believe You 05/17/66 (5:56) 132. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down 05/17/66 (4:07) 133. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues 05/17/66 (5:55) 134. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat 05/17/66 (3:34) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Side 20: Manchester, England (not Royal Albert Hall) (22:39) 135. Tune-Up & Admonition 05/17/66 (1:30) 136. One Too Many Mornings 05/17/66 (3:42) 137. Ballad of a Thin Man 05/17/66 (7:24) 138. Like a Rolling Stone 05/17/66 (8:16) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Originally released on the withdrawn THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN album.
: Was this ever put out on disc?
: Any material on it that is not readily available on other CD'S?
This is spread out on multiple CDs.
From the best that I can match them up not having the albums, then you can find on:
Side 1 - The Minnesota TapesEDLIS Boot Advisory Agent
Side 2 - The Minnesota Tapes
Side 3 - The Minnesota Tapes
Side 4 - The Bootleg Series 1961-1991 & The Freewheelin Outtakes
Side 5 - The Bootleg
Side 6 - The Bootleg Series 1961-1991 & The Freewheelin Outtakes
Side 7 - The Witmark Years
Side 8 - The Witmark Years
Side 9 - Gaslight Tapes
Side 10 - Gaslight Tapes
Side 11 - Gaslight Tapes
Side 12 - Bob Dylan In Concert & Talking Too Much
Side 13 - The Bootleg Series 1961-1991 & The Freewheelin Outtakes & The Witmark Years
Side 14 - The Bootleg Series 1961-1991 & Biograph
Missing: Farewell
Side 15 - Biograph & Strip Tease & 1965 Revisited & The Emmet Grogan Acetates
Side 16 - 1965 Revisited
Side 17 - 1965 Revisited & The Lonesome Sparrow Sings
Side 18 - 1965 Revisited & The Bootleg Series 1961-1991
Side 19 - Guitars Kissing and the Contemporary Fix
Side 20 - Guitars Kissing and the Contemporary Fix