Bob’s Bumper Bootleg Box-set Brings It All Back Home | Music | Entertainment

Bob Dylan. Bootleg Series Vol 18: Through The Open Window,1956-1963. They say nostalgia isn’t what it used to be but these forgotten gems would make a Halloween gargoyle smile. This 168-track boxset opens with Dylan’s high school trio The Jokers performing Shirley & Lee’s Let The Good Times Roll when he was 15. It ends 7 years later at the November 1963 show at New York’s Carnegie Hall with Bob playing his still potent rallying cry, The Times They Are A-Changin’, live for the first time. There is an ‘informal’ recording of 1959’s I Got A Girl, a 1961 rehearsal take of Man Of Constant Sorrow, and a live rendition of sarcastic blues gem Talkin’ New York. Trad folk songs are mixed with alternative takes of protest songs (A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, the post-Cuban Missile crisis Masters Of War), love songs (Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right) and rarities like Liverpool Gal and Gamblin’ Willie’s Dead Man’s Hand. There is also a powerful version of The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll – the true story of a black barmaid from Maryland whose wealthy killer copped a shockingly short six-month sentence. Dylan had much to say, most of it still worth hearing.

The Faces. Early Steps. Loud, raucous, and often half-cut, The Faces notched up dazzling hits like Stay With Me, Cindy Incidentally and Pool Hall Richard. They evolved from the Small Faces with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joining Kenney Jones, Ronnie Lane and Ian McLagan. You can feel their raw chemistry on these tracks from their first 1969 recording sessions in Barnes and the Stones’ rehearsal studio in Bermondsey. There’s cheery rocker Feel So Good and the dirty blues of Evil. Rod’s heartfelt rasp and the band’s rock clout on Shake, Shudder, Shiver and the slower soulful Devotion nod to the magic to come.

Florence + The Machine. Everybody Scream. At first glance Halloween-themed, awash with witches, werewolves and other horrors, Florence Welch uses those monstrous images as metaphors for personal ordeals including her brush with death while suffering a miscarriage during an ectopic pregnancy in 2023. Other songs tackle relationship problems and the torments of fame. ‘How can I leave you when you’re screaming my name?’ she asks on the potent, cantering, scream-laden title track. Musical highs include the glorious Sympathy Magic, the chorus of Kraken, and the slow indie menace of vampire-themed One Of The Greats.

Cat Burns. How To Be Human. South London singer-songwriter Cat shows her class on this brooding 2^nd album. Sweeping break-up song Please Don’t Hate Me seduces with its mellow charms, but will her fellow contestants on The Celebrity Traitors forgive her? Highs include the flirty and joyful GIRLS! and the poignant yet uplifting All This Love. The Go star is still going strong.

The Clause. Victim Of A Casual Thing. The alt-rock Birmingham foursome deliver swaggering indie rock suffused with attitude, soul groove, and instant choruses. Riff-driven ditties like Tell Me What You Want and the punchy high-quality pop anthem Nothing’s Like It Seems grip from the start and don’t let go. Ballad Exception shows a more vulnerable side. Arenas surely await.

Duff McKagan. Lighthouse: Live From London. Ex-Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff packs an emotional punch on songs like Forgiveness and Longfeather. This smouldering live set, recorded in Islington last year, features Sex Pistol Steve Jones guesting on Bowie’s Heroes and Johnny Thunders’s Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory. Packed with rock’n’roll spirit, raw Americana, and sincerity.

Rachael Sage. Canopy. Currently supporting Toyah on tour, the acclaimed New York singer-songwriter steps boldly into a new era with her first full-band album with The Sequins. The title track is blissful, packing in cinematic strings and enough warmth to defrost Iceland. Piano-pop romp Live It Up radiates horn-driven and packs a powerful festival-ready chorus. But Sage comes into her own on intimate, elegant Ballad, Belong To You.