"In 1956, Robert Zimmerman was a 15-year-old kid, a misfit in his small Midwestern town, and leader of a ragtag rock'n'roll combo who compensated for their lack of technique with boundless enthusiasm. In 1963, Bob Dylan was arguably the most celebrated pop artist in America, whose songs were hailed as standards before he could even record them and whose fans considered him to be a living, breathing manifestation of the American folk impulse."
"That kid wailing on his band's cover of Shirley & Lee's "Let the Good Times Roll" back in St. Paul, Minnesota, could never have predicted where he'd end up in seven years (he'd not even heard of Odetta or Woody Guthrie yet), and the conquering hero closing out his first sold-out Carnegie Hall performance with a spirited and weirdly prophetic "When the Ship Comes In" had already tried to erase his old self from his biography."
Through the Open Window chronicles Bob Dylan's artistic transformation from a 15-year-old Robert Zimmerman rock'n'roller in 1956 to a celebrated folk figure by 1963. Early recordings show a ragtag combo compensating for limited technique with enthusiasm, while later performances feature songs already regarded as standards and a sold-out Carnegie Hall set. Dylan repeatedly reinvented his biography with invented origin stories, yet elements of rock and folk always coexisted. The set spans 8 CDs, 165 tracks and nearly nine hours, and functions more like an immersive narrative than a conventional box set.
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