Bob Dylan – Too Late

Bob Dylan’s Springtime in New York is the latest instalment in his vast unreleased catalogue containing tour rehearsals, demos, and outtakes from the dawn of the ’80s.

It’s a rich and rewarding era for Bob, it’s also a period marked by questionable choices, particularly in terms of track selection, something the new set highlights with the inclusion of a previously unpublished song called ‘Too Late’ – Dylan’s stream of consciousness take on death and destiny.

While the music industry was grappling with the arrival of new trends and technology, from MTV to digital recording, Dylan was writing and recording new songs for a new decade, creating an often overlooked, yet essential new chapter in his extensive and complex studio catalogue. Released by Legacy Records in September 2021, Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York 1980–1985 takes in the tail end of Dylan’s Christian phase (1981’s Shot of Love), through his excellent work with Mark Knoplfer (1983’s Infidels), up to one of his more criticised studio albums (1985’s Empire Burlesque).

This simply exceptional song is included on Disc 3 of the Deluxe 5-CD box-set and thankfully also makes the cut for the Standard 2-CD Edition. It may sound familiar to Dylan aficionados who have heard an arguably inferior reworking of the song called Foot of Pride, an Infidels outtake from the original Bootleg Series Volume 1-3 (1991). ‘Too Late’ differs markedly, and for the better, but the seeds of that track can be heard here, if anything providing a fascinating transition.

You know what they say about being nice to people on your way up
“You might meet ‘em again on your way back down”

There are two versions: the shaggy acoustic sketch and the full band demo – quite possibly the best thing on the whole set. It’s non-selection for the excellent Infidels album, while perplexing, charts the creative path Dylan chose to traverse, and the track serves up an intriguing new angle.

“The journey of ‘Too Late’ and ‘Foot of Pride’ is fascinating,” says series co-producer Steve Berkowitz, who has worked on all of Dylan’s Bootleg series releases. “To listen to the three takes included, to me that’s the listen. There’s the acoustic version, then the full band version, and a couple of days later it becomes ‘Foot of Pride’. That’s the journey, and it’s a fascinating journey. For me, those three versions are a really big deal. Each take is important, and I like that we put out one in advance and people reacted to it really well.”