Bob Dylan ‘Bootleg Series’ free app explores 1969-71 music

Sony Music has come up with a new way for Bob Dylan fans to delve deeper than ever into the artist’s music with an iOS app geared to the ins and outs of the latest edition of the “Bootleg” series of archival releases, “The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 -- Another Self Portrait (1969-1971).”

“Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series” app, a free download available at iTunes, contains more than 500 pieces of content, including detailed timelines for each of the three dozen songs from the “Self Portrait” bootleg release, interviews with some of the participants in the making of the original “Self Portrait” album and photo galleries.

“This official interactive experience allows listeners to fully explore the histories and hidden meanings behind this collection of previously unreleased songs, recorded between 1969 and 1971,” according to a statement about the app’s release.

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“Another Self-Portrait” has contributed to re-evaluation of an album that, at the time it was released, was widely viewed as an example of Dylan’s creative downhill slide, a hodgepodge of subpar songs that did little to move his artistry forward.

Executive producer of the app is Jeff Rosen, a representative of Dylan’s business and publishing concerns. The app is geared to iPads and iPhones, and is said to be optimized for the iPhone5.

Here’s a quick video overview of the app’s features:

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