I already spend a lot of time at Amoeba because of their constant free shows, but did I forget they also sell records? Of course not! And they sell a lot of vinyl these days, the store is the dream place for collectors. I am not one of them, I don’t have the time, the room and the money for this kind of activity, but it is always cool to look at what they have.
Recently Amoeba has purchased a large record collection from the New Jersey area, they bought more than 4,000 LPs from an iconic industry family. Among these LPs, there were a lot of great, rare and one-of-a-kind items, and one piece, one almost unique piece: ‘One of only five test pressings known to exist of an early version of Bob Dylan’s classic album Blood on the Tracks’
According to Amoeba blog, ‘the pressing includes four previously unreleased takes of songs from the album (“Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts,” “Idiot Wind,” “If You See Her, Say Hello” and “Tangled Up In Blue”), plus an alternate take of “You’re a Big Girl Now” that was released on 1985’s Biograph box set.’
How did this happen? Dylan went home in 1974 with a copy of his freshly recorded album ‘Blood on the Tracks’ and his brother suggested that he re-records some of the songs ‘because too many sounded the same’. Dylan executed and re-recorded half of it at Sound 80 in Minneapolis with other musicians.
So this has to be very expensive, and as you can see the ultra-limited edition is worth $12,000. It is the most expensive piece Amoeba has ever had for sale, and it is of course protected by a window, but think about it, only 4 other copies exist in the world.
I am going to watch the item, look at it every time I go to Amoeba and see if someone buys it some day. You have to be crazy bout Dylan, but we have seen much crazier things. Mac DeMarco sold his od shoes for $21,000 on eBay, and last year a draft of Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone’ sold for $2 million! So I bet this rare Dylan is not going to stay at Amoeba for very long.