Dylan 07 Track Listing

So, the tracklisting for the new Dylan box set has been posted, and at this point I'm even more disappointed than I expected to be. It is as follows:

Disc One:

Song To Woody
Blowin' In The Wind
Masters Of War
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
The Times They Are A-Changin'
All I Really Want To Do
My Back Pages
It Ain't Me Babe
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Mr. Tambourine Man
Maggie's Farm
Like A Rolling Stone
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Positively 4th Street
Rainy Day #12 & 35
Just Like A Woman
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
All Along The Watchtower

Disc Two:

You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Lay, Lady, Lay
If Not For You
I Shall Be Released
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
On A Night Like This
Forever Young
Tangled Up In Blue
Simple Twist Of Fate
Hurricane
Changing Of The Guards
Gotta Serve Somebody
Precious Angel
The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar
Jokeman
Dark Eyes

Disc Three:

Blind Willie McTell
Brownsville Girl
Silvio
Ring Them Bells
Dignity
Everything Is Broken
Under The Red Sky
You're Gonna Quit Me
Blood In My Eyes
Not Dark Yet
Things Have Changed
Make You Feel My Love
High Water
Po' Boy
Someday Baby
When The Deal Goes Down

Basically, this presents several short-comings. I'd hoped for a sort of Biograph 2, a compilation with plenty of surprises and outtakes and alternate versions. Since its widely rumored that "I'm Not There" will come out on the soundtrack to the film of the same name, I can forgive its exclusion, but this is basically an exact greatest hits. Not only is this simply hits, but whoever did the sequencing showed no creativity at all. This could have been better had songs been strategically placed; perhaps, for instance, placing "Things Have Changed" right after "The Times They Are A-Changin'".

My only hope is that some of these will be alternate takes. I would especially like an alternate version of "Blind Willie McTell" to come out of the vaults, one which takes the song in a different direction musically. I would also enjoy getting "New Danville Girl," the early version of "Brownsville Girl." At minimum, one can at least hope for the remix-free version of "Dignity" that appeared on the Touched By an Angel soundtrack.

As it is, the only things that seem to be here in order to lure collectors are the Mark Ronson remix and the packaging, which seem to be too little to pay a lot for. Consumers may be better off splurging on an import of Masterpieces where they could pick up "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" live in Liverpool (I'm lucky enough to have the 45 of "I Want You," where it originally appeared) and, my Dylan07 vote (the only officially released song I don't have), the Desire outtake "Rita Mae," a b-side of the single from Hard Rain -- only to be re-released on Masterpieces and in the iTunes Collection.