Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep with the record.

— Paul, Vinyl Curator

Bob Dylan

The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 [Rare & Unreleased] 1961-1991

1991  ·  Columbia 468086 1 / COL 468086 1  ·  Stereo  ·  Spain (per the matched catalogue-number release; the pressing's label design was not photographed to confirm)  ·  5xLP, Box Set, Compilation · 33 1/3 RPM

Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 [Rare & Unreleased] 1961-1991: Front Cover
Back Cover

Pressing details

LabelColumbia
Catalogue number468086 1 / COL 468086 1
Year1991
Mono / StereoStereo
CountrySpain (per the matched catalogue-number release; the pressing's label design was not photographed to confirm)
Format5xLP, Box Set, Compilation
Speed33 1/3 RPM
GenreRock/Folk - Singer-Songwriter
ProducerJeff Rosen (compilation producer); original session producers include Tom Wilson, Bob Johnston and others (uncredited as a set on the box)
ComposerBob Dylan
MusiciansBob Dylan (vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano); across the box's thirty-year span he is joined by shifting line-ups including members of The Band/The Hawks, Nashville session players on the mid-1960s and 1969-70 tracks, and 1970s-80s studio musicians on the Blood on the Tracks, Desire, Shot of Love and Infidels outtakes; individual session credits vary by track and are not listed as a single roster on the jacket

Condition

Cover
NM

Variant chronology

1991 - US Columbia C3K 47382, 3xCD-style 5xLP box
1991 - UK Columbia 468086 1, 5xLP box
1991 - Europe/Spain Columbia COL 468086 1, 5xLP box  <- this copy

This Pressing

1991 Columbia box set pressed on or after 1980 (per the rear-panel barcode) and matched by catalogue number to the Spain-distributed COL 468086 1 pressing of the European release program; no label photograph to confirm the exact label design.

The Album

Released in March 1991, The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 was the first official release to mine Bob Dylan's famously vast vault of unreleased studio and live material, legitimizing decades of circulating bootlegs with a career-spanning, chronologically sequenced box running from 1961 Greenwich Village beginnings through 1991. It gathers outtakes, alternate takes, rehearsal recordings and live performances surrounding nearly every major studio album of Dylan's first three decades, including unreleased Freewheelin' and Times They Are A-Changin' material, Basement Tapes songs, and alternate versions from Blood on the Tracks, Desire, Shot of Love and Infidels. The set reframed Dylan's reputation at a moment when his commercial standing had dipped, reminding critics and fans of the depth and consistency of his writing and recording even in songs he had chosen to leave unreleased. It was received as a landmark archival release, widely praised for sequencing that functioned as a coherent listening experience rather than a mere scraps collection, and it opened the door to the extensive official Bootleg Series that has continued for decades since. Its success helped establish the viability of large-scale archival box sets as a format for major catalogue artists.

Tracklist

Side 1

Side A:
1. Hard Times In New York Town
2. He Was A Friend Of Mine
3. Man On The Street
4. No More Auction Block
5. House Carpenter
6. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
7. Let Me Die In My Footsteps
8. Rambling, Gambling Willie
Side B:
1. Talkin' Hava Negeilah Blues
2. Quit Your Low Down Ways
3. Worried Blues
4. Kingsport Town
5. Walkin' Down The Line
6. Walls Of Red Wing
7. Paths Of Victory

Side 2

Side C:
1. Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues
2. Who Killed Davey Moore?
3. Only A Hobo
4. Moonshiner
5. Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie
Side D:
1. When The Ship Comes In
2. The Times They Are A-Changin'
3. Seven Curses
4. Eternal Circle
5. Suze (The Cough Song)
6. Mama, You Been On My Mind
7. Farewell, Angelina

Side 3

Side E:
1. Subterranean Homesick Blues
2. If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else You Got To Stay All Night)
3. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence
4. Like A Rolling Stone
5. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
6. I'll Keep It With Mine
7. She's Your Lover Now
Side F:
1. I Shall Be Released
2. Santa-Fe
3. If Not For You
4. Wallflower
5. Nobody 'Cept You
6. Tangled Up In Blue

Side 4

Side G:
1. Call Letter Blues
2. Idiot Wind
3. If You See Her, Say Hello
4. Golden Loom
5. Catfish
Side H:
1. Seven Days
2. Ye Shall Be Changed
3. Every Grain Of Sand
4. You Changed My Life
5. Angelina
Side I:
1. Need A Woman
2. Someone's Got A Hold Of My Heart
3. Tell Me
4. Lord Protect My Child
Side J:
1. Foot Of Pride
2. Blind Willie McTell
3. When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky
4. Series Of Dreams

The Label

The label shows a flat design, with no deep groove. The catalogue number on the spine and rear panel (COL 468086 1) corresponds to the Spain-distributed pressing within Columbia's multi-territory rollout of the box for its March 1991 release, alongside separate UK, US and other European catalogue numbers for the same set. The rear-panel barcode is a mark that did not exist before 1980, so this copy was manufactured in 1980 or later; that is consistent with, and does not contradict, its 1991 release. This flat label, Spanish-distributed pressing is one of several national European variants sharing the same catalogue number and year, and its rim text is not identified on the labels.

Fidelity

The set compiles outtakes and alternates sourced from varying original session tapes spanning 1961-1991, remastered for this 1991 release; later reissues (1997 remastered CD, subsequent digital remasters) are regarded by collectors as sonically improved over this original vinyl cut, though this box remains the format most collectors seek for a complete physical artifact of the original release. No audiophile vinyl remaster of this specific box exists to outrank it.

Notes

This copy is a 1991 Columbia 5xLP box set bearing catalogue number COL 468086 1, the Spain-distributed pressing among the several national European variants sharing that number and year. The barcode printed on the jacket confirms manufacture in 1980 or later, consistent with the 1991 date carried by the catalogue number and sleeve notes. The label is a flat design, with the rim text and deep-groove questions that would further pin down the pressing plant not identified on the labels. The front and back covers are in near-mint condition with no visible defects.

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