John Hammond first met Bob Dylan at a rehearsal session for Carolyn Hester (Dylan was to be the session harmonica player) in September 1961 and was suitably impressed enough to offer him a standard five year contract barely two weeks later. What would be Bob Dylan’s first album in the deal was recorded in November in three short afternoon sessions, with a total of seventeen songs being recorded. During the course of the sessions Dylan refused to do second takes, so while that gives the resulting tracks a degree of spontaneity, it also meant that every error was left in place. The album was released in March 1962 (the original cover featured a reversed picture of Dylan holding a guitar, but there is no adequate explanation for why the picture was reversed) but didn’t make much of an impression; with US sales of just 2,500 copies it remains his only album not to chart. In the UK it failed to chart first time around but subsequently reached #13 in 1965.

1. You're No Good
2. Talkin' New York
3. In My Time Of Dyin'
4. Man Of Constant Sorrow
5. Fixin' To Die
6. Pretty Peggy-O
7. Highway 51
8. Gospel Plow
9. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
10. House Of The Risin' Sun
11. Freight Train Blues
12. Song To Woody
13. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean