The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
by Bob Dylan

The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 by Bob Dylan
(Compilation album)
Year: 1991
Release date: 1991-03-26
Overall rank: 5,078th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 149 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1991 (69th)
Award Top albums of of the 1990s (826th)
Award Best albums of all time (5,078th)

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Bob Dylan bestography

The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 is ranked 25th best out of 80 albums by Bob Dylan on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Bob Dylan is Highway 61 Revisited which is ranked number 29 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 25,575.

Bob Dylan album bestography « Higher ranked (4,857th)
Together Through Life
This album (5,078th)
The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
Lower ranked (5,612th) »
The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 - Tell Tale Signs: Rare And Unreleased 1989–2006

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 rankings

The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 rankings summary
Overall rank: 5,078th | 1990s rank: 826th | 1991 rank: 69th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 4 hours ago).

The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 collection

The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 149 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 149 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !
06/20/2026 23:06 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  15,15070/100
 
85/100
 !
05/21/2026 02:09 brent13  Ratings distribution  2,12867/100
 
75/100
 !
05/05/2026 10:47 cicadelic  Ratings distribution  13,39973/100
 
80/100
 !
02/28/2026 16:22 DaveH68  Ratings distribution  1,36376/100
 
75/100
 !
12/29/2025 21:57 traistboar  Ratings distribution  1,74579/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.2/100, a mean average of 78.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.4.


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The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 favourites

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The Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 comments

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Rating:  
95/100
To know Dylan - you must know this collection of unreleased songs. Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie is a poetic masterpiece. I first heard it on a bootleg way back in 1973 and it blew me away so deep, that I never doubted the perceptive spirit that dwells in Dylan.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 11/04/2017 04:40 | #200631
Best Tracks: Catfish, He Was A Friend Of Mine
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
The first in a series of which, fortunately, there appears to be no indication as yet that it's going to end. In retrospect though, this should have been just one volume, not three. Anyway, some great stuff here, and a little bit of rubbish too. The first two discs have some great stuff, the third is a little bit more inconsistent, although it does include, blind Willie Mctell. A good compilation, but of course there was a lot missing, especially some of the unreleased tracks that appeared on the, biograph, album. An uneven listen then, but still totally essential.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
Along with Biograph this is the essential compilation for the Dylan collector. The other bootleg series generally concentrate around an album or a specific period. This encompasses the cream of his unreleased works and outtakes over a thirty year period. Can't go wrong here.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
Another great release in the "Bootleg Series".
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
The more Dylan, the better.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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