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The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966

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The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966
Standard edition cover
Compilation album by
ReleasedNovember 6, 2015
RecordedJanuary 13, 1965 – May 13, 1966
GenreFolk rock
Length2:25:04 (standard)
6:58:27 (deluxe)
19:04:55 (Collector's Edition)
LabelColumbia
Bob Dylan chronology
Shadows in the Night
(2015)
The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966
(2015)
Fallen Angels
(2016)
Bob Dylan Bootleg Series chronology
Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete
(2014)
Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966
(2015)
Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981
(2017)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic99/100 [1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStarStar [2]
American SongwriterStarStarStarStarStar [3]
BillboardStarStarStarStar [4]
Drowned in Sound10/10 [5]
Paste10/10 [6]
Pitchfork Media8.7/10 [7]
PopMattersStarStarStarStarStarStarStarStarStarStar [8]
Telegraph (UK)StarStarStarStar [9]

The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 is a compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on Legacy Records in November 2015. The tenth installment in the ongoing Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, it comprises recordings from 1965 and 1966, mostly unreleased demos and outtakes from recording sessions for his albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. The standard set peaked at number 41 on the Billboard 200.

Content

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Three different versions of the set were released simultaneously: a two-disc 36-track Best of edition in the packaging and format standard to the rest of the series after the first installment; a six-disc 111-track box set Deluxe edition similar in packaging to its counterpart from the previous Bootleg set; and an 18-disc 379-track limited Collector's Edition available exclusively by order from Dylan's official website, which also came with nine mono vinyl singles reproducing ones released around the world by Columbia Records during this era. Only 5000 copies of this edition were produced, and it won the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards presentation.[10][11]

The Collector's Edition was unique as it included "...every note recorded during the 1965–1966 sessions, every alternate take and alternate lyric" on 17 discs, with an 18th disc of hotel room recordings of Dylan with Joan Baez or Robbie Robertson.[12] All tracks on the standard two-disc Best of edition are also included in the Deluxe edition. Purchasers of the Collector's Edition were also offered 208 live recordings from 1965 as a free digital download.[13]

Title

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The title of the set, “The Cutting Edge,” a hackneyed expression about being at the forefront of a movement, is used ironically by Dylan in his 2004 memoir Chronicles: Volume One when writing about the music scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He proleptically describes the era by alluding to the Rock Era that had not yet arrived:

[John Hammond] saw me as someone in the long line of a tradition, the tradition of blues, jazz and folk and not as some newfangled wunderkind on the cutting edge. Not that there was any cutting edge. Things were pretty sleepy on the Americana music scene in the late '50s and early '60s. Popular radio was sort of at a standstill and filled with empty pleasantries. It was years before The Beatles, The Who or The Rolling Stones would breathe new life and excitement into it. [14]

He also uses it later in chapter 5, "River of Ice" when describing "Pirate Jenny":

I took the song apart and unzipped it -- it was the form, the free verse association, the structure and disregard for the known certainty of melodic patterns to make it seriously matter, give it its cutting edge.[15]

Singles reproductions

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Duplicates of the following nine singles are included with the Collector's Edition:

Best of track listing

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Disc one
No.TitleVersionLength
1."Love Minus Zero/No Limit"Take 2, Acoustic3:11
2."I'll Keep It with Mine" (previously released on Biograph)Take 1, Piano Demo4:11
3."Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" (take 1 previously released on Bringing It All Back Home)Takes 1 and 2, Solo Acoustic6:17
4."She Belongs to Me"Take 1, Solo Acoustic2:57
5."Subterranean Homesick Blues"Take 1, Alternate Take2:38
6."Outlaw Blues"Take 2, Alternate Take3:29
7."On the Road Again"Take 4, Alternate Take2:31
8."Farewell, Angelina" (previously released on The Bootleg Series Volume 2)Take 1, Solo Acoustic5:28
9."If You Gotta Go, Go Now"Take 2, Alternate Take2:50
10."You Don't Have to Do That"Take 1, Solo Acoustic0:50
11."California"Take 1, Solo Acoustic3:05
12."Mr. Tambourine Man"Take 3 with Band, Incomplete3:23
13."It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"Take 8, Alternate Take3:28
14."Like a Rolling Stone" (short version)Take 5, Rehearsal1:44
15."Like a Rolling Stone"Take 11, Alternate Take5:56
16."Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence"Take 23:58
17."Medicine Sunday"Take 11:01
18."Desolation Row"Take 2, Piano Demo2:00
19."Desolation Row"Take 1, Alternate Version11:15
Total length:70:12
Disc two
No.TitleVersionLength
1."Tombstone Blues"Take 1, Alternate Take7:30
2."Positively 4th Street"Take 5, Alternate Take4:24
3."Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" (short version)Take 1, Alternate Take4:05
4."Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"Take 3, Rehearsal5:39
5."Highway 61 Revisited"Take 3, Alternate Take3:30
6."Queen Jane Approximately"Take 5, Alternate Take6:02
7."Visions of Johanna"Take 5, Rehearsal7:40
8."She's Your Lover Now"Take 6, Rehearsal4:58
9."Lunatic Princess"Take 11:20
10."Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"Take 8, Alternate Take3:26
11."One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"Take 19, Alternate Take5:10
12."Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again"Take 13, Alternate Take4:03
13."Absolutely Sweet Marie"Take 1, Alternate Take5:01
14."Just Like a Woman"Take 4, Alternate Take5:19
15."Pledging My Time"Take 1, Alternate Take3:22
16."I Want You"Take 4, Alternate Take2:51
17."Highway 61 Revisited"Take 7, False Start0:32
Total length:74:52

Deluxe edition track listing

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Collector's edition track listing

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Personnel

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Charts

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Weekly

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Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[17] 26
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[18] 12
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 8
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20] 50
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[21] 31
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] 5
French Albums (SNEP)[23] 59
Irish Albums (IRMA)[24] 8
Italian Albums (FIMI)[25] 11
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[26] 23
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[27] 3
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[28] 24
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[29] 2
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] 10
UK Albums (OCC)[31] 12
US Billboard 200[32] 33

Year-end

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Chart (2015) Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[33] 199

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12: The Best of the Cutting Edge 1965–1966 Reviews". Metacritic.com. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  2. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine (November 6, 2015). "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 – Bob Dylan | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  3. ^ Beviglia, Jim (November 6, 2015). "Bob Dylan: The Cutting Edge « American Songwriter". Americansongwriter.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  4. ^ Mitch Myers (November 6, 2015). "Bob Dylan's Most Prolific Period Revisited (Again) in 'Bootleg Series Volume 12': Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  5. ^ Miller, Kellan (November 19, 2015). "Album Review: Bob Dylan – The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The Bootleg Series, Vol.12 / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound". Drownedinsound.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  6. ^ "Bob Dylan: The Cutting Edge: Bootleg Series Vol. 12 Review :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste". Pastemagazine.com. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  7. ^ Mark Richardson (November 5, 2015). "Bob Dylan: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The Bootleg Series Volume 12 Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  8. ^ "Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966". PopMatters. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  9. ^ Neil McCormick, Music Critic (November 11, 2015). "Bob Dylan, 1965–66: The Cutting Edge, review: 'a fascinating act of deconstruction'". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  10. ^ Super Deluxe Edition website retrieved 27 July 2020.
  11. ^ Grammy Awards website retrieved 14 September 2025.
  12. ^ "Bob Dylan – The Cutting Edge 1965–1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12". Bob Dylan. September 24, 2015. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  13. ^ "The Second Disc – Still On "The Cutting Edge"". December 4, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
  14. ^ Dylan, p. 5.
  15. ^ Dylan, p. 275.
  16. ^ Heylin 2021, p. 297n: "John 'Stephen' Boone, destined to become bassist in [John] Sebastian's Lovin' Spoonful, writes in his memoir that he played on these sessions [on the evening of January 14, 1965]."
  17. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  18. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  19. ^ "Ultratop.be – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  20. ^ "Ultratop.be – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  21. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  22. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  23. ^ "Lescharts.com – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  24. ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 46, 2015". GfK Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  25. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  26. ^ "Charts.nz – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  27. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  28. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  29. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  30. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 12 – 1965–1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  31. ^ "Official Albums Chart on 13/11/2015 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  32. ^ "Bob Dylan Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  33. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 2015" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved March 19, 2016.

Sources

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