It can get difficult when a legend outlives his welcome. Pop music is littered with the stories of great voices silenced early in their careers whose reputation was enhanced by endless re-packaging of their back catalogue. Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, and Otis Redding succumbed to this cruel twist of fate within a period of eight years, and their fate was forever set in stone. They became frozen in the best of what they produced during their brief lifetimes: "That'll Be The Day," "A Change is Gonna Come," and "(Sittin' On The) Dock Of The Bay." If such comets were meant to shoot high and fast and burn out just as quickly, then they couldn't have left better impressions.

What is there to make of Bob Dylan? This is a question that has been asked by many people over the past forty years. The Woody Guthrie acolyte came to New York from Hibbing Minnesota in the early winter of 1961, not yet twenty years old, and he never looked back. By the summer of 1966, Dylan completely transformed the landscape of American music and popular culture. We know the stops on this journey: "Blowin' In The Wind," "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," "Bringing It All Back Home," Newport July 65, and "Blonde On Blonde." He literally crashed and almost completely burned out in the summer of 1966 from a motorcycle accident, and for many he would have been best served to end everything at that point. There was nothing left to prove.

But he went forward, and forty years later he shows no sign of stopping. The Bob Dylan of 2005 can be a frightening presence for the uninitiated. He growls, howls, and rips the arrangements of his classic songs inside out in a Never Ending Tour that has been proceeding regularly since 1988. He offers no excuses or apologies for compromising his legacy. He wins an Academy Award, a Kennedy Centers Honor, regular Nobel Prize nominations. His 2004 memoir "Chronicles Volume One" was a surprisingly natural, modest, and compelling bestseller. While we don' expect any future miracles, we still find ourselves quoting a line from one of his classic songs: "What else can you show me?"

Two new Columbia Records releases will go far towards answering that question. "Live At The Gaslight 1962, "available exclusively at all Starbucks stores, is the first official release of a much-bootlegged performance from a legendary concert at New York City's Gaslight Café. It features definitive versions of "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's alright." It is not a complete accounting of the concert, but the eight remaining songs (mainly adaptations of folk classics) show the young Dylan in full flower. Something was happening, and the power was undeniable.

The other release is the soundtrack to an upcoming PBS Martin Scorsese documentary, "No Direction Home," which covers these formative years in Dylan's life and career. It's a 2-CD set which also serves as Volume Seven in the continuing "Bootleg Series" of Dylan releases. Most who have followed this series treat each release as an event, and this is no different. The first disc features 16 cuts primarily from his folk/acoustic period. We open with 1959's "When I got troubles," apparently his first recorded song. We close with a quiet and kinder version of the ultimate kiss-off song "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Everything in between is gold, including a quiet and dignified full version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" that is more lament than triumphant singalong.

Disc two draws deeper into the well and comes out with some startling versions of Dylan's early rock songs. We are led to believe that the legend of fans at the July 1965 Newport Folk Festival booing his electrified version of "Maggie's Farm" was just that; legend. They had simply wanted more, and were instead booing the announcement that he had a limited time onstage. The alternate versions of everything here are a fascinating look at the early drafts of an artist at his best: "Desolation Row" was once a quiet trio performance with some different lyrics. "Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" is refreshingly different, and "Visions of Johanna" seems startlingly fresh.

The killer track here is the same one that exploded at the end of 1998's "Live 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4. The "Royal Albert Hall Series." It was May 17, 1966 at The Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Dylan and his backing band The Hawks [soon to be known as The Band] were winding up their electric set for an increasingly hostile and resentful audience. They clapped in a rhythm to set him and his band off. They booed and cried out for the real Dylan.

One fan, fueled by the false righteous indignation that some factions of the folk community had towards a hero they felt had betrayed them, cried out "Judas!" Dylan, in his loud Minnesota drawl, responded "I don't believe you! You're a liar!" He turned towards his band and commanded them to play loud. The drum hits into the opening of "Like A Rolling Stone" with the ferocity of a gunshot, and there is no question as to who wins in this battle between resistant audience and fearless artist. It can easily be argued that the fearlessness and strength of this performance has yet to be matched by anything in live pop music over the past forty years.

Dylan moves forward now like a prizefighter in his golden years and he continues to forge into the darkness with all the strength he can offer. Those who encounter him now do so with mixed feelings. They are respecting the legend, dancing to the live rock arrangements, and tolerating the eccentricities.

Those who have been with him from the start question every move that seems out of step with what their hero should represent: "Victoria's Secret" commercials, "Starbucks" connections, the movie "Masked and Anonymous." We question these latest moves in the 43 year public career of a 64 year old man, and with good reason. We may not get the quick answers we want or need, but "Live at the Gaslight 1962" and "No Direction Home: The Bootleg Series Volume 7" should go far towards providing long-term solutions.

Christopher J. Stephens is an adjunct college english instructor for Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Western New England College, and Corinthian Colleges, Inc.