Bob Dylan - Songs For Bonnie - Minnesota Hotel Tape (1961)

The sound quality is excellent. Very clear, very clean, very enjoyable. The liner notes claim this release is in 'superior sound quality'... it is... it's great! Nice early black and white pictures, and a classy layout. The set also contains a lovely fold out booklet with a bit of a story behind the tapes. It's well written and informative. The title, of course, reflects that the tunes were recorded in Bonnie Beecher's apartment.

This was actually the first bootleg ever produced. It was released on a 2 LP set in 1969, and went by the title 'Great White Wonder'. One of the most famous bootlegs of all time. This is the first bootleg ever to be produced in the rock-and-roll era. Great White Wonder was originally released in the United States in July of 1969. There was little on this piece to identify it to the world. It came out in a blank white gatefold cover, with blank white labels. The only identifying mark whatsoever is the matrix number: GF 001/2/3/4. (gwa 1Aa version 1). The name 'Great White Wonder' probably actually began as a joke when retailers needed to come up with a name for this blank white album. The term quickly became synonymous with Dylan in the bootleg world however, and has since been used many, many times to refer to either the man or his work.

"Songs For Bonnie"
source: "Minnesota Hotel Tape" 1961
Recorded in Bonnie Beecher's apartment.
Superb sound quality, but a couple of noticeable
glitches are present on the original.

01 Candy Man (Rev. Gary Davis arr. of trad. song)
02 Baby Please Don't Go (Big Joe Williams)
03 Hard Times In New York Town (adapted)
04 Stealin' (Memphis Jug Band arr. of trad. song)
05 Poor Lazarus (Traditional)
06 I Ain't Got No Home (Woody Guthrie)
07 It's Hard To Be Blind (adapted)
08 Dink's Song (John & Alan Lomax arr. of trad. song)
09 Man Of Constant Sorrow (Dylan arr. of trad. song)
10 Naomi Wise (Traditional)
11 Wade In The Water (Traditional)
12 I Was Young When I Left Home (adapted)
13 In The Evening (Leroy Carr)
14 Baby Let Me Follow You Down (E.Von Schmidt)
15 Sally Gal (adapted)
16 Gospel Plow (Traditional)
17 Long John (Traditional)
18 Cocaine Blues (Rev. Gary Davis arr. of trad. song)
19 VD Blues (Woody Guthrie)
20 VD Waltz (Woody Guthrie)
21 VD City (Woody Guthrie)
22 VD Gunner's Blues (Woody Guthrie)
23 See My Grave's Kept Clean (Lemon Jefferson)
24 Ramblin' Round (Woody Guthrie)
25 Black Cross (Lord Buckley arr. of Joseph S. Newman)

Bob Dylan - Songs For Bonnie - Minnesota Hotel Tape (1961)
(256 kbps, cover art included)