Bob Dylan In Concert: Brandeis University 1963 (Live)

Discovered among the tapes of music writer and Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Ralph J. Gleason, these live recordings of Bob Dylan from the 1963 Brandeis University Folk Festival catch the future legend at an interesting juncture. He had recorded, but not released, his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, which featured his first collection of original material. (His first album had only two originals.) The concert is not a promotion for his new album — though it does feature a chilling version of “Masters of War.” There are three “talkin’” tunes based on the old folk and blues traditions of his hero, Woody Guthrie that are bright and humorous and highly political. A concert staple, “Ballad of Hollis Brown,” which would finally appear on Dylan’s third album, The Times They Are-A Changin’”, is fierce and frightening. In just a few short months, Bob Dylan would become a folk hero, and within a few years a rock singer and songwriter beyond compare.