Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live, 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert"
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Free Music Notes for The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live, 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert"
Free Music Review: Review #141
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not sure what I can say that hasn't been said in the 140 Amazon reviews that have preceded this one, but that didn't stop person #140 or #139 from spouting off, so I'll be darned if it's going to stop me! This particular performance, and the 'real' bootleg that circulated for many years before Columbia finally gave it an offical blessing, probably has as much written about it (or more) than The Beatles first appearance on Ed Sullivan, or the tragic Stones concert at Altamonte. I suppose only Woodstock has garnered more attention, and it took over a dozen bands to eclipse it.Now I'm not a Dylan junkie... I have owned a number of his vinyl discs down through the years, exclusively his post-motorcycle accident productions. In fact, his re-emergence LP, 'Nashville Skyline' was the first one to catch my interest, mainly because in 1969 I was 15 years old and ready to turn an ear to what I perceived as more 'sophisticated' music, and partly because of all the hype that accompanied his return. So a large part of the appeal in owning this particular live collection is owning a bit of that earlier epoch, the pre-motorcycle accident era, in Dylan's portfolio. I actually find that to be a bigger part of the appeal than the alleged historical importance.
To appreciate the extent of the folk crowd's dissent with Dylan going electric, it is essential to hear just how staid this audience was prior to the power being turned on. Throughout the acoustic set they are the picture of propriety. So when Dylan fires up 'Tell Me, Momma' with The Hawks/The Band, one realizes how goading the several catcalls (all of which receive audience support) and slow-clapping really are. As the 1960's would progress, such timid discord would seem frivolous. What is truly entertaining is to hear Dylan handle it, first seducing the crowd into stopping their slow-clapping by babbling, and then saying "...if you only just wouldn't clap so hard". He of course answers the famous "Judas" taunt by bantering with his accuser, and then finally drowning it all out with the very object of their scorn, instructing The Band to "play loud". All in all, however, the blaring rock cords are met with loud applause from the vast majority of those in attendance, and the actual cat-callers are few. Perhaps the more astute members of the audience knew they were in for it when, during the acoustic set, Dylan converted electric numbers (such as 'Desolation Row') from 'Highway 61 Revisited' to acoustic. One good turn deserved another.
For those who wondered why Dylan had to abandon the acoustic folk nest that had nurtured his early career in favor of powered sound, a simple listen to disc two provides a loudly resonating answer: it was even better that way. Dylan reaches back to his debut 1962 LP for 'Baby Let Me Follow You Down', and his 1964 'Another Side of Bob Dylan' for 'I Don't Believe You' and 'One Too Many Mornings' audaciously elevating the mood of these acoustic masterpieces electronically. Virtually every number on the electric side is a toe-tapping delight. The recording is extremely fresh and clean... Columbia records was doing professional recordings of the tour, and recording technology was beginning to catch up with the demands of rock artists. The only miscues, which today would be handled by splicing in alternate takes from other venues on other nights, are slight drop-offs on the vocals at the very beginning of 'Tell Me, Momma', and briefly on 'Ballad Of A Thin Man' as Dylan switches mics to play piano. Both deficiences are readily corrected.
Dylan had already been performing electric before May 17, 1966 rolled around. He first went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, and his 1965 'Bringing It All Back Home' LP had an acoustic and electric side, so really there should have been no surprises.
Looking over the setlist reveals the treasures purchasers of this CD are in for. Every song is a winner, whether acoustic or electric. Isn't it great that we can hold history in our hands, and replay it over and over for our ears? If you cared enough to read about this, you must be thinking about owning it. Perhaps Bob said it best: don't think twice... it's alright.
Free Music Review: The Metamorphosis
Hit: 5 Stars
Just 2 years before this historic performance, Bob was happily singing his heart out at the New York Philharmonic--cracking jokes, acting cute, bonding with and trying desperately to please his adoring audience of fellow Greenwich Village hipsters. In 1966 at the Royal Albert Hall, everything had changed. Here, at the peak of his creativity and subsequent controversy as an artist, we can already see the hardened cynic in Bob and his tough "tortured artist" on-stage persona. During the first set, Bob executes flawless takes on some of his most memorable songs-- "Visions of Johanna," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"--and even though the crowd loves him, he remains tight-lipped and focused 100% on the music. He hardly converses with the crowd at all except to respond (in a deep mumble) to their heckling in the second set. The feel of his acoustic performance is miles away from the 1964 show. He picks up where he left off material-wise (the earliest is from Bringing It All Back Home), but the delivery is much more sophisticated and artsy. Bob uses his expressive, "Blonde on Blonde" voice here and draws out phrases, bending lyrics all over the intricate melodies. Also a departure from the earlier show is the total lack of folk music in the repertoire. Though the songs are acoustic and his harmonica is in full swing (with more than one mind-blowing solo), there is no hint of Bob's "protest" past to be found anywhere.
Set two is where the magic happens. As Dylan and the band start warming up their instruments for "Tell Me Momma," a hard-hitting rock-n-roll song, you can just feel the crowd begin to unwind. The heckling begins after the second number, a nearly unrecognizable version of "I Don't Believe You," and from this point on, the audience gets angrier, Bob gets louder, and the music gets more intense. While there are some that offer applause, the vocal opposition is hostile and does their best to throw off the performance, but Bob is not shaken. At certain times, it feels like he is singing at the audience rather than for them--during "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," the sneer in his voice is unmistakable as he growls out the lines, "I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough!" By the time that he and The Band (minus Levon Helm) get through a mean take on "Thin Man," the audience has lost it and begins to verbally accost him, to which Bob responds by unleashing the powerful and deafening "Like A Rolling Stone." Bob and The Band play like they have something to prove and they stand completely impervious to the negative energy around them, delivering the best song of the night with unchecked force and immaculate control. Bottom line, they kick ass.
This recording is nothing short of a musical masterpiece and gives fierce and important insight into the mind of 25 year old Bob Dylan. In two years he had morphed from giggly young man to 1000 year old poet. It goes without saying that this music was ahead of its time and it still is today. Even though Dylan had "gone electric" a year before the performance, no one was ready for the shower of punches that Bob, Robbie Robertson and the rest of the gang delivered here: the surreal lyrics, the fearless delivery, the raw bite of the electric guitar and the sheer breadth and variety of material, from the barren epic "Desolation Row" to the raucous and hilarious "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat." This show contains a rare mixture of passion and restraint; the first set portraying a sense of bleakness and emotional sensitivity, the second revealing a courageous and determined artist who refused to conform to expectation. And thank God for that!
This concert is an indispensable document of 1960s culture and American music as a whole. I suggest that you pick up this album along with the 1964 show, The Bootleg Series: vol. 6, so that you can get the full experience of Dylan's mid-60s metamorphosis and witness his immense range as a performer.
Free Music Review: Get thee behind me, Satan!
Hit: 5 Stars
1966, Royal Albert Hall Manchester, England. Bob Dylan straps on an electric guitar to the chagrin of all his fans. Yes, it's the infamous Judas concert. This also is the best-recorded Dylan concert you could hope to find. The quality, both technical and musical, is superb. This may be billed as a "bootleg" but the sound is nearly that of a studio album. The first CD of course is Dylan's acoustic set. For seven songs, it is just Dylan, an acoustic, and a harmonica and it is nothing short of amazing. Dylan does not make one false step in the entire set, perhaps wanting to give the old folk days a good send off before ripping into R 'n R. He seems to be playing with a new sense of vigor, although it may be just excitement at not knowing how the crowd will respond to the coming electricity (he had had bad experiences when first plugging in at the Newport Festival - he had to come back and do some acoustic numbers to calm the crowd down). Even the song Mr. Tambourine Man, which I never liked that much, has new life breathed into it
The second CD is Dylan's electric set, backed by a full band. When I first listened to this, I expected to hear loud booing right away but I was surprised that the audience not only claps loudly for Dylan, but actually laughs when he jokes at the beginning of I Don't Believe You ("This is `I Don't Believe You', it used to be like that (referring to acoustic) now it goes like this") before ripping into the song. I was expecting an immediate outcry and I admit I was slightly disappointed that the much-hyped Judas concert was turning out to be nothing like I thought. Then at the end of Tom Thumb's Blues the crowd really starts to lay into Dylan, interrupting him when he talks by clapping loudly as well as heckling him (I could barely make out someone yelling "Sell out!!"). It really gets bad before Like a Rolling Stone though. After the clapping for the previous song dies down there is a moment of nearly complete silence and someone yells clearly "Judas!" and is met with rousing applause from the rest of the crowd. When that dies down you can hear someone once again yelling about how Dylan has "sold out". "I don't believe you" Dylan replies, then right before the song he says "You're a liar!" The crowd is so loud at this point that Dylan turns to the band and yells "Play f**king loud!" And they certainly do! The version of Like a Rolling Stone that follows is something to behold. Dylan's singing is fueled by the crowd's boos and insults and is without a doubt his best performance of the song to date.
Ignoring the historic significance of the concert, the music itself on the electric half is Dylan's best. Every song is infused with new energy, and puts the original versions to shame. Perhaps it is because of the crowds boos, the novelty of performing with electrics for the first time, but whatever it is you can't deny it is something special. If I had to pick favorites, I would pick everything from Leopard-Skin Pill-box Hat through Rolling Stone. The whole thing is great, but the band seems to get more energized and louder as the evening goes on (again, probably propelled by the reaction from the crowd). This is nothing short of essential listening for any fan of good music.
Whether you buy it to hear the rock and roll history, the great music, or just because you are a Dylan completist, the reason does not matter. What matters is that you buy this. It is an experience that you won't soon forget.
Free Music Review: Required listening!
Hit: 5 Stars
This CD is such a valuable document, and for so many reasons! In the life and music of Bob Dylan, it's a representation of how schizophrenic his music became as he got more interested in introspection and experimenting with rock and roll but still had to pander to the hardcore folkies who only wanted an acoustic guitar and harmonica. For the history of rock and roll, it represents, on tape, a huge moment when folk and rock really hit fans right in the face, and their varied reactions are absolutely priceless. I feel so lucky to be able to listen to this historical gold on tape, and it still is hair-raising and fresh today.
The first CD/half of the concert is a great warm-up (and calm before the storm!). Folk fans must have been pleased with the song choice. Although there are no protest songs (really, he hadn't written any straight up protest songs since before "Another Side"), but songs like "Visions of Johanna," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," "Just Like A Woman," and "Mr. Tambourine Man" were already instant classics on the studio recordings. Dylan sounds pretty stoned here--he's drawling out the lyrics like he's just singing for himself and going on crazy, spacey harmonica solos (a highlight, in my opinion) that may have weirded a few people out, but they sound great from here. "Desolation Row" is a huge highlight, although I don't think the British crowd got too many of the jokes--an actual bootleg from America circa 1965 has the crowd in stitches over Dylan's adroit cultural and literary references.
The second disc is really the bread and butter of this release. The sound of the hall mixed with that wound-up, overdriven band rocks harder than anything else I've ever heard--you don't have to be playing death metal to rock, and this album is proof. The Hawks' accompaniment (come on people, they weren't The Band until '68) is just as great as it ever was--a beardless Garth Hudson plays that Lowrey like the keys are greased, and Robertson busts out such wicked licks it kind of makes me wish he played some guitar solos on Music From Big Pink. Too bad Levon Helm dropped out and didn't want to play drums in front of booing crowds. The song choice isn't quite what you'd expect ("Tell Me Momma" was never studio recorded, and hard-rocking versions of "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" and "One Too Many Mornings" are a bit out of left field), but they all rock, and they all rock HARD. Robbie Robertson give the rock version of "I Don't Believe You" that signature guitar riff that Dylan's road guitarist still uses to this day! This album also includes the definitive, in-your-face live version of "Like A Rolling Stone" with epic drums fills and all.
What really gives this collection its classic status is the between-song banter and crowd participation. Close listening reveals a wealth of emotion--anger, humor, disgust, and stress--on the parts of Dylan and the crowd. The booing and distracting clapping are astounding today, and some of the stuff Dylan says to get the crowd to shut up is hilarious. And, of course, the classic "Judas" incident. I highly recommend fans of Dylan buy this album--the music merits 5 stars and the concert's historical status deserves 5 stars too. If you're not a Dylan fan but like rock and roll, you should check this out and see where some of the music you know and love got a big start.
Free Music Review: Yikes! What a Dylan concert!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a recording of the 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert, in which Bob Dylan angered some of his fans by "going electric." This recording begins with a series of acoustic songs, such as "Desolation Row" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." The second set of songs, on a separate CD, represents the electric music, with the Band in support (Robbie Robertson on guitar, Rick Danko on bass, Garth Hudson on organ, Richard Manuel on piano, and Mickey Jones replacing Levon Helm on drums). This brought a pretty strong audience reaction, with one person crying out "Judas" to Dylan just before the start of "Like a Rolling Stone."
A few reactions:
"Desolation Row": This is a classic Dylan song, with strange netaphors and eleven minutes of vignettes and images that are wild and original. Lines with very different sentiments are juxtaposed in a way that provokes (e.g., "Everyone is making love or else expecting rain"; Ophelia's sin of "her lifelessness"; an introduction to characters mentioned in the song, from Albert Einstein to Ezra Pound to T. S. Eliot). Great harmonica and lines stretched out, as Dylan sings slowly and stretches out the words.
"Mr. Tambourine Man": Strange phrasing in this one, but the song is still compelling. Some lines end with the two words "going to," and the "to" explodes from Dylan's lips.
Then, the electric music begins.
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues": Again, what lyrics! Strange images emerge. The tempo of this song is very slow; the guitar work is terrific from Robbie Robertson. Some evocative lines: "Sweet Melinda. . .She invites you up to her room. . .She steals your voice and leaves you howling at the moon." Or a reference to ". . .the cops don't need you and they expect the same." And his flight: "The joke was on me, there was no one there to call my bluff. I'm going back to New York City. I do believe I've had enough."
During the electric portion, the crowd began to express its displeasure. For instance, talking during the songs and otherwise expressing discontent (listen to "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat").
"Ballad of a Thin Man": In case one had forgotten what a cool song this is, please listen! The clueless Mr. Jones is taken to task. The tag line goes" "You know something is happening, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?" Neat language. At one point, Mr. Jones asks"'What's mine?'" and is answered by "somebody else," "Well, what is?"
"Like a Rolling Stone": At the end of "Ballad of a Thin Man" and just before "Like a Rolling Stone," one person in the audience shouts out to Dylan "Judas." Clapping occurs after that. Dylan says "I don't believe you" and "You're a liar." Then, he uses salty, colorful language, asking the Band to play real loud. 40 years ago, the Band and Dylan launched into this anthem. The words are stretched out. "Do you want to make a deeeeeeaaaaal." "How does it to be on your With no direction like a complete unknoooooown, like a Rolling Stooooooone." The recording is rough; it's not always clear what Dylan is singing.
All in all, a terrific recording of one of the key events as Bob Dylan moved from being a folk singer and protest singer to something more than that. Well worth acquiring.