No Direction Home: The Soundtrack -- The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 (2005)

The Bootleg Series Vol. 7, the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's upcoming documentary No Direction Home, isn't quite as ear-opening as the performances on Bob Dylan's Live at the Gaslight 1962, released around the same time. On 1959's never-released ''When I Got Troubles,'' Dylan comes as close as any Minnesota teenager could to sounding like a Delta balladeer. The rest of the two discs presents live or alternate takes of songs we know, with only minor variations: ''Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat'' with a harder stomp, ''Highway 61 Revisited'' without the police whistle. None will make you trade in your Blonde on Blonde, but they do provide a peek into Dylan's working methods at the peak of his powers — the end of an era, but what an era.