After four solid decades outrunning his public persona, Bob Dylan has settled into a comfortable self-chronicling period, both with increasingly generous live shows and a seemingly never-ending Bootleg Series. Lucky for us, he’s feeling generous with that too: He’s letting NPR stream the latest release for free from their website before the record drops next Tuesday.
It’s called *Tell Tale Signs*, and covers outtakes from his most recent creative burst, from *Oh Mercy* to *Modern Times*, or 1989 to present. It’s not the best of the series—that honor goes to either the 1964 or 1975 live recordings—but the piano demo of “Dignity” and the bluesier version of “Mississippi” are both worth the price of admission. And it’s always nice to hear from an old friend.
