Bob Dylan Session With George Harrison to Be Released on New ‘1970’ Album

Jem Aswad
·5-min read

Rare collaborations between Bob Dylan and George Harrison will be included on a deluxe reissue entitled ‘Bob Dylan – 1970’ that is due on February 26, Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, announced Friday. The collection will also include previously unreleased outtakes from the sessions that produced Dylan’s “Self Portrait” and “New Morning” albums, which arrived within months of each other in 1970.

The Harrison tracks, which were released in a tiny quantity last week in order for Dylan to retain their copyright, comprise a complete May 1, 1970 studio session that captures the pair performing together on nine tracks, including Dylan originals (“One Too Many Mornings,” “Gates of Eden,” “Mama, You Been On My Mind”), covers (the Everly Brothers’ “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox”) and more. The two collaborated often around that time; “I’d Have You Anytime,” the opening track on Harrison’s masterful 1970 solo debut, is a Dylan-Harrison composition, although Dylan does not play on the released version.

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The session date from an era where Dylan had become fed up with the trappings of fame and particularly his loss of privacy, and consequently deliberately released an album that he said he knew his fans would hate, which ended up being a sloppy collection entitled “Self Portrait.”

Dylan explained the motivation in a 1984 Rolling Stone interview. After talking about his lack of privacy, Dylan said, “There’d be crowds outside my house. And I said, ‘Well, fuck it. I wish these people would just forget about me. I wanna do something they can’t possibly like, they can’t relate to. They’ll see it, and they’ll listen, and they’ll say, ‘Well, let’s get on to the next person. He ain’t sayin’ it no more. He ain’t given’ us what we want,’ you know? They’ll go on to somebody else. But the whole idea backfired. Because the album went out there, and the people said, ‘This ain’t what we want,’ and they got more resentful.”

“Self Portrait” got the reception he’d expected, and just four months later, he followed with the powerhouse “New Morning,” which was actually recorded at the same time as “Self Portrait” and is a much stronger collection.

In related news, Dylan sold his entire publishing catalog, which includes nearly all of his compositions, to Universal Music Publishing in a deal sources say was at the higher end of the $300 million-$400 million range.

The “Bob Dylan – 1970” tracklist is below.

Disc 1

March 3, 1970

  1. I Can’t Help but Wonder Where I’m Bound

  2. Universal Soldier – Take 1

  3. Spanish Is the Loving Tongue – Take 1

  4. Went to See the Gypsy – Take 2

  5. Went to See the Gypsy – Take 3

  6. Woogie Boogie

March 4, 1970

  1. Went to See the Gypsy – Take 4

  2. Thirsty Boots – Take 1

March 5, 1970

  1. Little Moses – Take 1

  2. Alberta – Take 2

  3. Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies – Take 1

  4. Things About Comin’ My Way – Takes 2 & 3

  5. Went to See the Gypsy – Take 6

  6. Untitled 1970 Instrumental #1

  7. Come a Little Bit Closer – Take 2

  8. Alberta – Take 5

Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, piano

David Bromberg – guitar, dobro, bass

Al Kooper – organ, piano

Emanuel Green – violin

Stu Woods – bass

Alvin Rogers – drums

Hilda Harris, Albertine Robinson, Maeretha Stewart – background vocals

May 1, 1970

  1. Sign on the Window – Take 2

  2. Sign on the Window – Takes 3-5

  3. If Not for You – Take 1

  4. Time Passes Slowly – Rehearsal

  5. If Not for You – Take 2

  6. If Not for You – Take 3

  7. Song to Woody – Take 1

  8. Mama, You Been on My Mind – Take 1

  9. Yesterday – Take 1

Disc 2

  1. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – Take 1

  2. Medley: I Met Him on a Sunday (Ronde-Ronde)/Da Doo Ron Ron – Take 1

  3. One Too Many Mornings – Take 1

  4. Ghost Riders in the Sky – Take 1

  5. Cupid – Take 1

  6. All I Have to Do Is Dream – Take 1

  7. Gates of Eden – Take 1

  8. I Threw It All Away – Take 1

  9. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) – Take 1

  10. Matchbox – Take 1

  11. Your True Love – Take 1

  12. Telephone Wire – Take 1

  13. Fishing Blues – Take 1

  14. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance – Take 1

  15. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 – Take 1

  16. It Ain’t Me Babe

  17. If Not for You

  18. Sign on the Window – Take 1

  19. Sign on the Window – Take 2

  20. Sign on the Window – Take 3

Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica

George Harrison – guitar, vocals (Disc 1, Tracks 20 & 24 and Disc 2, Tracks 2-3, 6-7, 10-11, & 16)

Bob Johnston – piano (Disc 1, Tracks 24-25 and Disc 2, Tracks 1-3)

Charlie Daniels – bass

Russ Kunkel – drums

June 1, 1970

  1. Alligator Man

  2. Alligator Man [rock version]

  3. Alligator Man [country version]

  4. Sarah Jane 1

  5. Sign on the Window

  6. Sarah Jane 2

Disc 3

June 2, 1970

  1. If Not for You – Take 1

  2. If Not for You – Take 2

June 3, 1970

  1. Jamaica Farewell

  2. Can’t Help Falling in Love

  3. Long Black Veil

  4. One More Weekend

June 4, 1970

  1. Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie – Take 1

  2. Three Angels

  3. Tomorrow Is a Long Time – Take 1

  4. Tomorrow Is a Long Time – Take 2

  5. New Morning

  6. Untitled 1970 Instrumental #2

June 5, 1970

  1. Went to See the Gypsy

  2. Sign on the Window – stereo mix

  3. Winterlude

  4. I Forgot to Remember to Forget 1

  5. I Forgot to Remember to Forget 2

  6. Lily of the West – Take 2

  7. Father of Night – rehearsal

  8. Lily of the West

Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica

David Bromberg – guitar, dobro, mandolin

Ron Cornelius – guitar

Al Kooper – organ

Charlie Daniels – bass, guitar

Russ Kunkel – drums

Background vocalists unknown

August 12, 1970

  1. If Not for You – Take 1

  2. If Not for You – Take 2

  3. Day of the Locusts – Take 2

Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, harmonica

Buzzy Feiten – guitar

Other musicians unknown

March 3-5 and May 1, 1970 sessions took place at Studio B, Columbia Recording Studios, New York City, New York

June 1-5 and August 12, 1970 sessions took place at Studio E, Columbia Recording Studios, New York City, New York

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