Record Details
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Record ID
267
Artist
Bob Dylan
Title
Gaslight Tapes
Field / Genre
Folk
Year Recorded
1962
Label
Laser
Pressing
Kor
Rating
***
Discs
1
Media
CD
Date Bought
1 Jan 1988
Cost
¤20.00
Cover Name
—
Review
<p>In October 1962 Bob Dylan took the stage of New York City's Gaslight Café as a singer of real promise -- and he left it the voice of his generation. Taking a break from sessions for his breakthrough sophomore LP, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, the landmark "Gaslight Tapes" capture Dylan's evolution from prodigy to poet, transforming the raw materials of idols like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leadbelly to create his own postmodern folklore for the New Frontier. Galvanized by the earliest recorded live performances of the soon-to-be-classics "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," both the originals and the covers resonate with searing vitality and authority, serving notice that their creator has finally begun living the life his art's always evoked. Rattlesnake's Gaslight Tapes 1962 is an excellent presentation of this much-bootlegged material, boasting superior sound and packaging distinguished by lovely hand-colored photos. The Starbucks coffee chain gave this music belated official release in mid-2005 with its exclusive Live at the Gaslight 1962, but for unknown reasons the disc contains only ten of the 17 tracks that comprise the performance in its entirety. For now, serious Dylan enthusiasts still must seek out underground editions to hear the tapes in their entirety.</p><p>—<strong>Jason Ankeny</strong></p>