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Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Mega Rare Mono Vinyl LP With Four Deleted Tracks (Columbia, CL 1986)....
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Description
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan The Freewheelin' Mega Rare Mono
Vinyl LP With Four Deleted Tracks (Columbia, CL 1986). This
is the one record that everybody wants . . . but almost nobody has.
Pressed only once and only in the hundreds -- and only in Los
Angeles, California in early 1963 -- it is stunningly rare. It has
been called the rarest and most sought-after record by a major
artist.An extremely rare copy of Dylan's classic second album in mono, and with its original shrink wrap attached. A carefully-made opening was made on the side of the sleeve to retrieve the disc. With its iconic cover featuring Dylan and Suze Rotolo walking down Jones Street in New York City, this is the album featuring the timeless classics "Blowin' In the Wind" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." We rarely come across a copy like this, but we were fortunate to have another one come our way.
This is a holy grail for Dylan fans, as it features the following matrix numbers: XLP - 58717 - 1A (Side One) and XLP - 58718 - 1A (Side Two).
That's right: this is an original mono pressing of Bob Dylan's legendary second album that lists the common songs everywhere, but plays the four rare, deleted tracks that hardcore Dylan fans know and love: "Talking John Birch Blues," "Gamblin' Willie's Dead Man's Hand," "Rocks and Gravel" and "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" (actual titles can vary slightly from different sources, more on this down below).
Only this first pressing of the album contains the controversial song "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues," which CBS-TV decided to keep Bob from performing on The Ed Sullivan Show that spring. CBS Inc. followed suit by keeping it off this unknown folksinger's second album -- which already had been fully approved and for which the Columbia Records presses -- had started rolling in Los Angeles.
For reasons unknown, three additional tracks were yanked off the release, and four new songs were substituted. Thus, you have what we'll call the "rare" and "common" tracks for purposes of describing these Freewheelin' lots.
The four deleted tracks sometimes had slightly alternate names, just adding to the mystery and confusion surrounding the entire ordeal. They were also sprinkled evenly across the entire LP. They are:
On Side One:
"Rocks and Gravel" (aka, "Solid Road")
"Talkin' John Birch Blues" (aka "Talkin' John Birch Society Blues" aka "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" aka "Talkin' John Birch")
On Side Two:
"Gamblin' Willie's Dead Man's Hand" (aka "Ramblin' Gamblin' Willie")
"Let Me Die in My Footsteps"
One can just imagine the confusion at the Columbia Records pressing plant on Robertson Blvd. in Los Angeles in early 1963 when orders came down to switch out the masters on both sides of the LP. Most factory workers, including those at record plants, go entirely by matrix and catalog numbers, not the names of musicians, albums, or songs.
So when the orders from New York came into Los Angeles the scrap the masters, jackets, labels, and metal parts for CL-1986 and CS-8786, most of the components with the rare songs were destroyed or thrown away. But not all of them were, and thus were born instant, amazing collector's items.
The biggest "huh?" move by Columbia was when the label actually pressed, sealed, boxed up, and shipped out to stores the Freewheelin' album in spring 1963 with the common songs on the front and back of the jacket as well as both red record labels, but the rare songs in the grooves. Crucially, some old metal 'stampers' with the rare songs had accidentally survived the purge, and so a first pressing of Freewheelin's in L.A. went out playing, indeed, "John Birch Society Blues" et al. when the needle was dropped on the vinyl.
One thing that was seemingly never made was an original Freewheelin' with the four deleted tracks found everywhere: on the jacket front, on the jacket back, on the record labels, and in the grooves. It just never got that far, or else they were truly 100 percent destroyed.
What we don't benefit from is ever having seen an American jacket front with the four rare songs. In Canada, they naively put the rare tracks on the jacket front (but nowhere else), which would have become an amazing collector's item if the mistake had been corrected immediately. Instead, Canada blissfully kept it in print that way for years. So most fans have to settle for that Canadian jacket as their "rare Freewheelin'," although it's still extremely cool.
The sleeve is in VG-EX 7.5 condition (with minor edge wear, small stains on the back cover). Original shrinkwrap intact with minor tears in the shrink on back. Disc is in NM 8 condition. Inner sleeve is in EX 7 condition. COA from Heritage Auctions. From the Record Collection of David Swartz
Auction Info
2022 March 12 - 13 The David Swartz Vintage Vinyl Collection Entertainment & Music Memorabilia Signature® Auction #7233 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
March, 2022
12th-13th
Saturday-Sunday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 30
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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