Hardwood timber
Bob Dylan never fails to surprise us. New Bootleg Series box set ‘Through The Open Window’ is littered with gems, a multi-disc collection that traces his genesis as a songwriter and performer. It opens with high school band recordings, before focussing on those Greenwich Village folk club days, before finishing with his emergence as a major cultural and commercial force.
What struck CLASH most when surveying the box set is the sense of artistic acceleration at work – ideas arrive, are recorded, and then Dylan moves on, often leaving some surprising pearls on the cutting room floor.
Take ‘Rocks And Gravel (Solid Road)’. An acoustic piece influenced by Dylan’s abiding passion for the blues, it was seemingly written quickly, before being recorded three times – during each performance, he would toy with the arrangement, shifting keys, and adding (or subtracting) a harmonica solo.
Taking it into the studio, ‘Rocks And Gravel (Solid Road)’ was amongst the tracks recorded for Bob Dylan’s second album ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’, a release that would become a breakout.
Sadly, the song itself was left behind, and remained unreleased – in an official capacity – for 50 years.
Remarkably, when ‘Rocks And Gravel (Solid Road)’ finally saw the light of day it wasn’t on the Bootleg Series or even a live recording, it was the official soundtrack for TV series True Detective.
Yes, a version of the song appears during Season One – without fanfare, but nonetheless making a deep impression.
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One thing to observe about this particular version is the full-band arrangement, something Dylan wouldn’t return to until his single ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’. Equally, some of the lyrics here – as other onlookers have noted – recur on Dylan’s electric era highlight ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry’.
The version on new box set ‘Through The Open Window’ is solo, and fits more resolutely with the style adopted on ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ – it’s spartan, displaying the bare bones of the song, with a strikingly effective performance.
A bold piece of songwriting, ‘Rocks And Gravel (Solid Road)’ points to the alacrity with which Bob Dylan’s moved his pen, and the many wells he was drawing on during the 60s.
Related: Bob Dylan – Through The Open Window, 1956-1963
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