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___B R I N G I N G   I T   A L L   B A C K   H O M E New collections from Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen confirm what bootleggers have known for years -- that these artists have been sitting on some of their best work (even if they didn't think so). BY ROBERT LEVINE | You may already have seen one of the many respectful reviews of "The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966 (The 'Royal Albert Hall' Concert)." Most of them go a little something like this: The most remarkable, emotionally charged moment on "Live 1966" -- and perhaps the most remarkable, emotionally charged moment on any album ever -- comes when a heckler, upset by Dylan's electric band, calls out "JUDAS!" For a moment, time itself seems to hold its breath -- all you can hear is the lusty audience booing as Dylan and Robbie Robertson tune their guitars. Then it's Dylan's turn: "I don't believe you," he sneers. "You're a liarrrrr." Just as he carries the last syllable into an animalistic snarl, Mickey Jones comes down hard on his snare drum and the band launches into an impossibly angry version of "Like a Rolling Stone" ... Nearly every review of this landmark release begins the same way because this concert, the bootleg made from it and even the anonymous heckler himself have become part of the apocrypha of St. Bob, who suffered the jeers of the ignorant many so that he might uplift a righteous few. In fact, Dylan's "Royal Albert Hall" performance became a VH1 "Behind the Music" moment long before anyone even agreed on what happened there. For a time, fans didn't realize the recording actually came from a Manchester concert. And at a recent panel discussion about the rerelease of D.A. Pennebaker's tour documentary "Eat the Document," more questions arose. Was some of the crowd noise possibly caused by cheers? Could the audience even make out the songs, since most of the venues Dylan played on that tour weren't designed for amplified music? Not even Pennebaker could say for sure -- and he was there with a camera. The way the truth of Dylan's performance has been swallowed up by the legend surrounding it suggests a secret history, a tale given shape by the bootleg tapes traded by true believers, not by the master narrative of record company releases. For more than two decades, much of Dylan's best work was officially locked away, even though it circulated freely among collectors. The only other modern-day artist who has deliberately kept so much of his important work from the public is Bruce Springsteen, who is delving into his own vaults with "Tracks," a four-CD set of B-sides, alternate versions and unreleased songs. Much of what has kept these artists' "secret" histories a secret are the realities of album marketing, which dictate that a major artist release roughly an hour's worth of cohesive material every two years or so. (The Artist Formerly Known As Prince left Warner Bros. primarily because it wouldn't let him release more than that.) Both "Tracks" and "Live 1966" suggest that both Springsteen and Dylan choose what material to release based on thematic consistency, commercial potential (nearly every song on "Tracks" is better than the karaoke classic "Glory Days") and, just as often, bad judgment. Most critics don't take unreleased material seriously simply because it's not easily available. But that doesn't make bootlegs any less artistically important -- many of the songs featured on "Tracks" were staples of Springsteen's live show for years, and Dylan included many of his unreleased songs in his book of lyrics. N E X T__P A G E .|. Dylan and Springsteen: Underrated