Bob Dylan to Release Hundreds of Unheard Songs Soon

Bob Dylan has released an incredible amount of music throughout his career. He’s written and recorded more tunes than most artists will in their lifetime, and he’s not done yet. With so many songs already out in the world, it’s hard to believe that there are any recordings left for the public to hear…and yet, there aren’t just a few, but hundreds–and maybe even thousands.

The celebrated songwriter has announced a new box set scheduled to drop later this year called The 1974 Live Recordings. The enormous project is slated to become available on September 20, and it seems like the sort of thing that only Dylan’s most die-hard supporters will want to get their hands on.

The 1974 Live Recordings will reportedly include 431 songs, and most of them have never been released before. According to a press release that announced the box set, 417 of those tracks will be new to fans.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Dylan has more than 400 entirely brand new songs on the way. Instead, many–if not all–of them are recordings of compositions that many lovers of the rocker will be familiar with. That fact may turn off some casual listeners, but for longtime supporters of the Grammy winner, they can’t get enough of the slight variations in recordings, and they love to focus on the vocal intonations that make each recording different from the next.

As the existence of the incredibly involved box set was revealed, one of the 400-plus songs was released in an effort to hype up fans. A never-before-shared version of Dylan’s cut “Forever Young” was uploaded to streaming sites and digital download stores on July 9. The tune was recorded in Seattle in early 1974.

That year is special to this project, as the entire compilation (of sorts) is built around Dylan’s return to touring. 50 years ago, the singer-songwriter began playing live again after several years off the road. He began performing in huge venues to massive crowds, and in the decades since, he’s never stopped.

The announcement didn’t mention a price, but it will surely cost a pretty penny. The box set features a whopping 27 CDs–yes, 27–which is a huge number, though it’s necessary to hold hundreds of tracks. Each disc focuses on one concert, starting on January 3, 1974, at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, IL, and ending on February 14, 1974, with his concert at The Forum in Inglewood, CA.

Source: Forbes