Unreleased Bob Dylan song to feature on new The Waterboys box set

An unreleased Bob Dylan song is set to feature in a new box set compilation chronicling The Waterboys’ album ‘This Is The Sea’. 

• READ MORE: It Ain’t Me, Babe: Every on screen portrayal of Bob Dylan rated 

The track, an instrumental titled ‘Meridian West’, came about in 1985 when the British-Irish folk rock band were invited to play with Dylan at a session in North London recording studio Church Studios. 

Dylan had been working on the piece with the musician Dave Stewart when The Waterboys joined in, and the band’s frontman Mike Scott happened to record the jam session. When compiling the upcoming re-release project, Scott contacted Dylan and received his authorisation to include the track on the box set. 

The six-CD, 90-track collection is set to be released in 2024. The original album came out in 1985 and featured the band’s signature song, ‘The Whole of the Moon’. 

Dylan recently secretly released a 28-track CD of studio outtakes from the soundtrack to 1973’s Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid, with copies of the CD popping up at record stores scattered around Europe. Dylan fans are clambering to buy the disc online for prices over $500. 

In further Dylan news, earlier this year, he voiced his support for Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner at a show in New York, amid a series of controversies surrounding the writer. 

“All right, l’d like to say hello to Jann Wenner, who’s in the house. Jann Wenner, surely everybody’s heard of him,” Dylan said. “Anyway, he just got booted out of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame – and we don’t think that’s right. We’re trying to get him back in.” 

The actor Timothée Chalamet is set to play Dylan in upcoming biopic, A Complete Unknown, from director James Mangold (Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, Walk The Line). 

Chalamet also revealed that he is working alongside the team who assisted Austin Butler for Elvis in preparation to play the musician. 

A Complete Unknown is set to cover Dylan’s transition from folk music to rock in 1965, which alienated many of his original fans at the time. 

Filming was expected to begin in August this year, although the ongoing Hollywood strikes has likely pushed this date back.