The Lanois tapes
The bulk of the recordings on Tell-Tale Signs (13 out of 27, or 20 out of 39 depending on the version) could be called "The Daniel Lanois Tapes," hailing from sessions produced by the New Orleans-based ambientalist for Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind. The latter sessions yielded multiple versions of “Mississippi,” all discarded back in 1997, before the demo of the song was given by Dylan to Sheryl Crow and before he decided to rerecord it for Love and Theft. There are two versions of “Dignity,” another troubled creation left out of Oh Mercy but subsequently released in Greatest Hits 3, played lived for an MTV Unplugged, and in the limited-edition CD companion to the Chronicles book, where Dylan discusses it at some length. The rollicking version on Disc 2 of Tell-Tale Signs (full-blown “rockabilly,” according to the liner notes) would have made for an amazing, cheerful-sounding Dylan radio single.
Like “Dignity,” “Born in Time” and “God Knows” were first attempted with Lanois for Oh Mercy. Both songs were left on the cutting room floor in 1989, but a year later Dylan used them as the springboard for the peculiar Under the Red Sky album, (over-)produced by Don Was. Those 1990 re-recordings (featuring Bruce Hornsby and Stevie Ray Vaughan) now sound dated, and the dust-covered versions on Tell-Tale Signs easily outshine them. This "Born in Time" features an early instance of the late Dylanesque "crooning" (as heard on “Love and Theft”’s "Moonlight" or Modern Times' "Beyond the Horizon"), a disturbing minstrelsy of emotion that seems of a piece with the lusty "Old Country Gentleman" pantomime of his recent photographs.
There are other interesting alternate takes of previously released Lanois tracks, including a loose, unadorned “Can't Wait” (from Time Out of Mind), and a “Series of Dreams” (first revealed as a highlight of the earliest batch of “Bootleg Series” recordings back in 1991) showing Dylan’s late-80s infatuation with the epic shuffle of U2 and the compelling force of Springsteen at his most anthemic. If you ever wondered (as I'm sure you often do) what Bowie’s Heroes would sound like with lyrics by Jean Cocteau, you’re in luck here.
What excites the fanbase much more than alternate takes, though, are unreleased songs, and Tell-Tale Signs offers a smattering of them. There’s “Dreamin’ of You,” (from Time Out of Mind), a slightly meandering romantic tune with loping verses, a distant melodic relative of “All Along the Watchtower.” The revisionist ballad “Red River Shore,” allegedly bumped from the same album by the schmaltzy (yet heavily covered) “Make You Feel My Love,” makes its belated appearance here.
And then there is the remarkable “Marchin’ to the City,” a pure blues drone from the same mold as the contemporary “Highlands,” with a subtle organ echo that harkens all the way back to 1965, the singer’s legendary annus mirabilis.
Odds and ends
Compared with the wealth of material from the Lanois sessions of 1989 and 1997 it is slightly disappointing to find very few examples of studio work from Dylan’s critical and commercial renaissance over the last decade. There are no outtakes from “Love & Theft”, a favorite recent album of many longtime fans; and only a couple from the chart-topping Modern Times (including a relaxed, prettier “Ain’t Talkin’”). The rest of Tell-Tale Signs comprises an assortment of odds and ends from non-album studio dates and live recordings.
