Product Description
The Witmark Demos features 47 Bob Dylan songs recorded by the artist – accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, harmonica and occasionally piano – for his first music publisher, Leeds Music, in January 1962, and for his second publisher, M. Witmark & Sons, between 1962 and 1964. Listening to these recordings, one can trace Dylan’s dramatic growth as a songwriter from early traditionally-styled songs like “Man On The Street” and “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Willie” through the social commentary of “Blowin’ In The Wind, “The Times They Are A Changin’” and “Masters Of War”, and the groundbreaking lyrical genius of “Mr. Tambourine Man.” All of these songs, and all the others on The Witmark Demos, were written – and their subsequent demos recorded – before Bob Dylan turned 24 years old.

Among the many gems found on The Witmark Demos are 15 Bob Dylan songs that were recorded by the artist only for these sessions, and which have never been officially released to the public until now. These include the plaintive“Ballad For A Friend,” the civil rights era-inspired “Long Ago, Far Away” and “The Death Of Emmett Till,” and the poignant “Guess I’m Doing Fine.”

The Witmark Demos also features a deluxe booklet featuring in-depth liner notes by noted music historian Colin Escott, as well as rare photographs of Bob Dylan captured during the same period as these early recordings.

CD 1
1. Man On The Street [Fragment]
2. Hard Times In New York Town
3. Poor Boy Blues
4. Ballad For A Friend
5. Rambling, Gambling Willie
6. Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
7. Standing On The Highway
8. Man On The Street
9. Blowin’ In The Wind
10. Long Ago, Far Away
11. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
12. Tomorrow Is A Long Time
13. The Death Of Emmett Till
14. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
15. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
16. Quit Your Low Down Ways
17. Baby, I’m In The Mood For You
18. Bound To Lose, Bound To Win
19. All Over You
20. I’d Hate To Be You On That Dreadful Day
21. Long Time Gone
22. Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues
23. Masters Of War
24. Oxford Town
25. Farewell

CD 2
1. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
2. Walkin’ Down The Line
3. I Shall Be Free
4. Bob Dylan’s Blues
5. Bob Dylan’s Dream
6. Boots Of Spanish Leather
7. Walls Of Red Wing
8. Girl From The North Country
9. Seven Curses
10. Hero Blues
11. Whatcha Gonna Do?
12. Gypsy Lou
13. Ain’t Gonna Grieve
14. John Brown
15. Only A Hobo
16. When The Ship Comes In
17. The Times They Are A-Changin’
18. Paths Of Victory
19. Guess I’m Doing Fine
20. Baby Let Me Follow You Down
21. Mama, You Been On My Mind
22. Mr. Tambourine Man
23. I’ll Keep It With Mine

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0040GJ312/?tag=imwan-20

I have no interest at all in the Mono Re-releases, but I'll be getting this.

Wow !

This looks great !

I'm in

This will certainly be a Tuesday morning shopping trip for me. I'll get the mono box eventually, but there doesn't appear to be any rush.

Definitely looking forward to this as well. I have yet to be dissappointed by any of the releases in the Bootleg Series.

I have an old-fashioned boot of the Witmark sessions somewhere. Maybe I can track it down and compare, but I'm very happy to sign up for the real thing. Count me in!

Hold off on your orders:

http://www.examiner.com/bob-dylan-in-na ... bonus-disc

From Harold Lepidus, Bob Dylan Examiner

Report - Bob Dylan's 'Bootleg Series 9' to include rare 1963 Brandeis performance as a bonus disc
August 30th, 2010 8:33 am ETThe Desolation Row Information Service and Isis Magazine are reporting that Bob Dylan's May 10, 1963, appearance at Brandeis University's “1st Annual Folk Festival” will be included as a bonus disc on the forthcoming Bootleg Series Vol. 9. While the material on Bootleg Series Vol. 9 is familiar to Dylan fans, this recording has not been circulated among collectors.

Here's the reported track list, which lasts about 40-45 minutes:

1. Honey Just Allow Me One More Chance (partial)
2. Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues
3. Ballad of Hollis Brown
4. Masters of War
5. Talkin’ World War III Blues
6. Bob Dylan’s Dream
7. Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues (fan request)

The bonus disc edition is expected to be available through only one retailer.

In other news, there may be a commercially available one-CD sampler of the Bob Dylan box set, The Original Mono Recordings.

Rolling Stone says the "single retailer" for the bonus live disk is Amazon: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/197095

So far nothing on the Amazon page that I can see.

There are two widely circulating versions of these recordings on CD (and others as well, but these are the best known):
1. The Witmark Years 1962-1964
2. Through A Bullet Of Light

Each contain the same 41 tracks, though they are presented in completely different orders.

Each contain two tracks NOT listed on the official version:
1. "Percy's Song"
2. "Eternal Circle"

The official version contains nine tracks not on these "grey area" versions:
1. Man On The Street
2. Hard Times In New York
3. Poor Boy Blues
4. Ballad For A Friend
5. Rambling, Gambling Willie
6. Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
7. Standing On The Highway
8. Man On The Street
9. Walls Of Red Wing

The first eight of these are the "Leeds Demos" from early 1962. "Walls of Red Wing" appears to be the only Witmark Demo which has not circulated (at least not widely).

I just received received the following e-mail from Amazon (US):

Hello,

We're writing to let you know you'll receive a Bonus CD with your recent order for The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 9).

"Bob Dylan: In Concert, Brandeis University, 1963" has never been heard, bootlegged or circulated in any way and will arrive to you with the CD you've ordered.

I'm trusting that I too will receive notification that I'll receive the Brandeis CD. I ordered the Witmark Demos Cd set tonight.

This is confirmed. I received the same email from Amazon.

Anywhere one can hear samples from this collection? The inclusion of the bonus disc is a real temptation, but I'm far from a Dylan completist...

I ordered this CD a few weeks ago from Amazon and also received an email yesterday stating that I'd get the free bonus CD.

I ordered this late last week and didn't get the e-mail. I guess it was limited edition first come first serve

I ordered the Witmark set this morning, and followed up with an email to Amazon asking if I would receive the bonus Brandeis disc. Within an hour, Amazon emailed that I would get Brandeis with my order. So there must be plenty of them available.

Thanks....good to know.

I've now pre-ordered the Witmark set. It's very cool that one can both acquire the bonus disc and get Linda (and IMWAN) stipend at the same time.

I'll get the mono box eventually (and the single-CD mono comp) but it's not a "must-have-immediately" item for me, unless I see someplace a drastic pre-release discount on the set.

Just checked the Amazon page for the Mono Box - they say on the page that the Brandeis disk will also accompany that. Good, I say. I think I'll order the Mono Box here to get free shipping, also hoping they'll have the best price.

Zimmy's official website has posted the list of retailers who will be offering the Brandeis disc worldwide:
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/news/brandeis ... l-partners

No, there is apparently no retailer (yet) designated for Canada.

I should probably also post this on the mono box thread...

Amazon is currently offering a free download of the "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" demo:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0045JAGH4/?tag=imwan-20

NPR is streaming 23 of the tracks this week.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =130356302