From:    Alan Fraser 
Subject: New early versions of Mr Tambourine Man and Eternal Circle

I've been very fortunate to receive a copy of a mystery acetate of
"live" Dylan performances from Fantasy Records of Berkeley, CA.

The purchaser of this acetate has been in contact with Fantasy Records
and they have confirmed that the acetate is genuine, and it was
created from a tape between 1972 and 1980 by Ralph Gleason, who was
then co-owner of Fantasy. The acetate was mastered by Fantasy's chief
mastering engineer, David Turner. Fantasy also said they have the
original tape in their vaults, along with a recording of Bob's show at
Berkeley Community Theater, 22 Feb 1964. Ralph Gleason attended that
concert and reviewed it for the "San Francisco Chronicle". We now know
he recorded it too!

Of special interest on the acetate are two "new" recordings of Mr.
Tambourine Man and Eternal Circle!

Mr Tambourine Man - unknown live recording. Has the line "hidden
leaves" instead of "frozen leaves". Bob said in an interview that this
song was written on leaving New Orleans, which was 12 Feb 1964. The
first known version up to now is the Eric von Schmidt home recording
which is probably from late April 1964, but which this must predate.
The Jun 1964 Witmark demo has "frozen leaves".

Eternal Circle - unknown live recording, dedicated by Bob to
"...anybody who plays an instrument. It’s not so easy". The opening
line is "I strummed" instead of "I sang" No live recording of this
song has surfaced till now.

Songs known to have been performed at Berkeley, 22 Feb 1964, include:
One Too Many Mornings, Restless Farewell, North Country Blues, Only A
Pawn In Their Game, Who Killed Davey Moore, The Walls Of Red Wing,
Eternal Circle and Chimes Of Freedom, plus With God On Our Side and
Blowin' In The Wind with Joan. Not Mr. Tambourine Man, though... You'd
think Ralph would have mentioned Mr Tambourine Man if it had been
played! However, Eternal Circle could indeed be from Berkeley. When
Mr. Tambourine Man is from can only be speculated. Two songs on this
acetate are known studio recordings with fake applause added, and it
may not therefore be a live recording - opinions wanted.
I have put MP3 copies of the two new tracks here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.fraser2/TambourineMan64.mp3


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alan.fraser2/EternalCircle64.mp3


Listen for yourselves and let me know what you think.

Alan