Following reports of the demise of the Dylan bootleg, the mighty Rattlesnake label bring us two thrilling, brand new releases;

‘After The Empire’ is a 16 track studio outtakes CD of ideas that were recorded after the ‘Empire Burlesque’ album but were ultimately unreleased. This is made up of mostly new Dylan originals with the exception of one cover version. The running time of the CD is just over 70 minutes.

‘The 1985 Tour Rehearsals’ is two CDs of exactly that. Want to hear Dylan rehearse the Beatles with Tom Petty and The Queens Of Rhythm? Would you like to hear ‘That Lucky Old Sun’ and three versions of ‘Red Cadillac and Black Moustashe’? It’s all here.

It’s only the end of May but all bets for the Dylan release of the year could very well be called off.