These tracks are awesome, what a great idea - bringing them together like this.

This is the sound of the dust, of the wind. it's a rambling sound, so weak, so fragile, but so strong.
It doesn't need anything else than an old suit for its soul. All the rest is pointless.

I can only believe that Bob's decision to amend the original versions of these songs has had a truly profound effect on generations of thinking people. Lyrics such as:
"The priest wore black on the seventh day / And sat stone-faced while the building burned. / I waited for you on the running boards / Near the cypress tree while the springtime turned / Slo-owly into autumn".
Embody mystical brilliance. The emotional aspect to the album empowers us to relate to and suffer with a tortured genius. This is why I believe Blood on the Tracks to be the finest album of the Twentieth century.

Listening to these tracks again I can fully agree with Niall Daly: Blood on the Tracks is one of the greatest albums of the previous century. It is Dylan at his best, No-one even comes close. Thanks, Uncut, for putting these songs on your site and for making it easy for us to compare the original and the album versions.

Listening to these tracks in their rawness leaves the feeling of being hit head-on by the 4.20 from Duluth to Saint Paul. - Anyone would be lucky to leave only blood behind.

Great to have these tracks together. I'd hoped Sony would have used the remasters opportunity to release both versions of the album, but it was not to be. One small detail , you won't find any of these tracks on the Bootleg Series Vol. 6, but you will find them on Bootleg Series Vol 1-3.

- And the 2 free cds with this months Uncut are a real treasure, though Songs Influenced by Bob, could fill a library.

Somebody gave me the New York Tapes years ago, and I've since burned them onto CD, but I just had to come and listen to them again, because I don't have them to hand right now. There was a time when I listened to them every day - the tempting ease of these songs, the way in which Bob exposes his heart and lays open his veins. Blood On the Tracks is surely one of the greatest albums of this or any time. At times, it's painful to imagine what Dylan was going through to have written these songs, and I'm sure he'd rather not think about those times either. But I am glad that for the sake of his work, he recorded them - twice. Thanks, Bob.

What makes Blood On The Tracks so special is that it was written by Robert Zimmerman and not Bob Dylan.

Comparing the different versions of these songs, it's easy to understand why Bob felt the need to re-record them. Personally, I find the original New York sessions more honest and truthful than the released versions. hopefully Columbia will someday issue the New York sessions, maybe as part of the excellent Bootleg Series.

Thank you very very much for putting this together! I did really enjoy it.

I kinda agree with Hughes Steve. "You’re a Big Girl Now" is one of my favourite songs, and I find it hard to tell which version I like best. The Minnesota version may be more powerful and assertive, but the New York version has its own charm in a more intimate way.
However, since Columbia has already released 4 out of 5 songs from the alternative New York sessions in the Bootleg series (1-3) or other box sets, I’m afraid they won’t ever dedicate a series for those NY sessions. And we may not have the chance to listen to the alternate slower “Lily Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts”.

Amazing to listen to one of the best albums (if not the) with different melodies / lyrics etc. Thanks Uncut.

I missed out on the alternative version on ebay so i was intrigued to hear the unused versions.

Wow! Very interesting.

Thank you for appealing to the intellect of your readers.

The best part of Dylan's amazing talent is his ability to to develop a song over a period of time. Stunning as it is, the best version of Tangled Up In Blue was never officially recorded but was played live at the end of the 1978 tour at Earls Court. I've listened to it many times and that one song alone was worth the price of the admission ticket.

Out of desolation comes the brilliance of the troubadour...

What's missing here are the versions on the so-called NY-sessions test pressing. It's particularly sad that Columbia has denied the magical NY-Sessions "organ" version of Idiot Wind to the Dylan's many fans. It's available on CD on a bootleg version of the test acetate. It's called Blood on the Tracks, NY Sessions. A less clear version can be found on Blood on the Tapes.

Excellent work; "If you see her..." is hugely emotional and timeless in whatever format.

Fantastic - such an insight, too, into a masterful cycle of songs and the roads they took.

Oi. How could 'Up To Me' not make it onto Blood? Found only on Biograph, Vol. 3, 'Up To Me' would have been the absolutely perfect closer on the gut wrenching masterpiece.
"And the girl with me, behind the shades, she ain't my prahpehtee..."
That says it all right there. Brilliant piece Uncut!

Ugh, Up To Me would have made the perfect accompanying bookend to Blood's opening Tangled Up In Blue.

From: "Her folks said our lives togetheh (sic), sure was gonna be rough..." to "The girl with me, behind the shades, she ain't my property..."

Up To Me would have made Blood the best, most brilliant rock album evah!!

I agree with the people before me that it kills me to not see "Up to Me" on Blood On The Tracks. Great job man, what a nice combination, the best magazine in history with the best artist in history. Good Job!

Joel, From Saskatchewan, Canada

Yes, this is a record that really deserves a deluxe treatment. Imagine - a double CD worth of the first "Blood on the Tracks" that was shipped out to radio stations before Minnesota. And then following it with the glorious released version.

However - beware; the versions that were released on "The Bootleg Series Vol 1 - 3" are not the same as the ones that were singled out for release in the fall of 1974 and later called back. "Idiot Wind" originally has a beautiful organ coiling snakelike around Dylan's voice and guitar (the same organ that features on "Biograph's" "You're a Big Girl Now" in addition to the soft bass sounds that hug the rest. "Tangled up in Blue" is much bleaker and darker than the one on "Bootleg Series".

So - how about it, the powers that be in Sony/Columbia - get your rocks off and give us the deluxe "Tracks"

Reidar Samuelsen, Norway

Just learned of these great cuts here in Oregon,
sending them on to Florida. Spring is Here!!

I own what now seems to be these original recordings released as an album on CD. it's called 'more blood on the tracks' and it's brilliant, and in my opinion better than the re-recorded versions. It has a cartoon figure of dylan on the front, is it rarer than i first thought?

Dylan at his best, to sit alongside his Possum Belly Overalls lost jams from Woodstock in 68

"Tangled Up in Blue" especially benefits from the higher key and quicker tempo -- the lyrics become a barrage delivered with perhaps, for some, "a little too much force" -- but not for me. The energy of the session is palpable -- it sounds like the players, and Dylan, are having a blast. (By the way, the Minnesota session players are playing this weekend -- Noon Saturday May 27 in Duluth, MN, USA, (Zimmy's birthplace) -- a free concert at the University of Minnesota Duluth's Weber Music Hall, broadcast live on KUMD-FM (streaming at www.kumd.org) -- also Duluth MN bands are playing Dylan covers 2 p.m. Wed on the same station (I think were -6 hrs GMT)

Love the original Idiot Wind ... much better than the official version.

Up To Me is vintage Dylan ... a masterpiece that got left off the album.