Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live, 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert"
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.78 You Save: $9.21 (58%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.98 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live, 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert"
Free Music Review: This is as good as it gets.
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been dragging around bootleg copies of this LP ever since the days it originally surfaced in smaller record stores, here and there, across the country in the late 60's. Not only are all of these songs performed beautifully (the Band & Dylan searing their way through the rockers, especially, like a possessed, single-celled organism) I think the most amazing thing about this set is the absolutely awe-inspiring clarity, competence and precision of the recording. As if that weren't enough it's beyond its time or peers for sheer power's sake: reminicent of say Metallica's "Kill 'Em All". Additionally, I *saw* this concert tour (not in London: in Los Angeles) and it's as faithful a representation of what Dylan "really sounded like live" 30+ years ago. It's like a time-stamped parcel marked as accurately as anything ever gets. In that sense, it's in the same class as the Who's "Live at Leeds", The Blues Traveller's " Live from the Fall" or the Ramones "It's Alive!"; graced with the same astonishing power, top drawer performances and letter-perfect recording and mixing. How all this was accomplished with circa 1965-66 recording equipment is mind-boggling. But nevertheless, here it is: this is the sort of LP that rightfully belongs in any rock 'n' roll fans' collection, even those folks who are only marginal Dylan fans. THIS recording just might change the way you feel about Dylan as an acoustic performer, rocker and songwriter who deservedly takes his place along side Schubert as one of the greatest songwriters the world is ever likely to hear. And we're *very* lucky to be able to get hold of this masterpiece and comfortably house it underneath our roofs. All that aside, no one who buys this collection is going to believe just how GOOD it sounds! It just doesn't get any better than this. P.S. The song "Tell Me, Mama" alone is worth the price of admission.Free Music Review: ESSENTIAL LIVE DYLAN
Hit: 5 Stars
Anyone tempted to catch Bob's act today (he's still out there) other than to see he's still alive, might want to reconsider and buy this c.d. instead. Nowadays you're never sure which Bob will show up (try listening to "Dylan & the Dead Live 1987 three times in a row.) While he still occasionally has it (I loved him with Patti Smith in Danbury CT. December '95), more often he's going through the motions and the concert ends with audience sing-a-longs to "Rainy Day Women" ("well, they'll stone you when you're blah blah") or "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." Kids catching him today have no idea. Instead, listen to this.....Dylan at his best. Some historical perspective first. When this concert was recorded in May 1966, both the Beatles and the Stones were still touring, playing their 40-minute sets to screaming teens, who couldn't hear them. There was NO heavy electric music out there, this being before Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, Vanilla Fudge, Blue Cheer etc. existed. An unknown band called Cream was just being formed, and Jimi Hendrix was still Jimmy James backing Curtis Knight in small bars in Greenwich Village. In other words, in spring 1966 Dylan was maybe the loudest thing out there (the Who and Yardbirds hadn't yet really cranked it up.) And to top it off, Dylan & the Hawks unleashed this music on a polite, mellow politically correct mostly college folk crowd who came to hear acoustic music of "Times they are-a Changing" which had only hit the British pop charts the year before. This music still holds up today. It's sarcastic Dylan the hustler after staying up all night with Robbie Robertson and Brian Jones of the Stones, and then taking his naive audience on "a trip upon his magic swirling ship." Listen to this one kiddies. It's the real thing!!Free Music Review: How Long's It Gonna Take For You To Get Off The Edge?
Hit: 5 Stars
Documenting a defining moment in rock 'n roll history, "Bootleg Series Vol. 4" seethes with the bitter glory of Dylan's prime: the weed-laden anger of his voice; his occasional, crunching quips to an increasingly inflammatory audience; the raw explosiveness of the band. "This is called 'I Don't Believe You,' it used to go like that," Dylan remarks as he blows a few meek and discordant notes out of his harmonica, "but now it goes like this," he warns as the band bursts into yet another mushroom cloud of smoking melody and ecstasy.
Rock 'N Roll just doesn't come this good anymore. We've either drifted too far away from the source of the blast to map our way back, or the advent of digital production itself was actually the nail in the coffin. But at least we have this echo of the dream. Dylan's hissing "s's" and screaming-mad harmonica escort him through what may be the most powerful live record of an American legend available. Casting a spotlight on both sides of Dylan's shifty musical temperament, the first disc's stoned exhibition of folk sublimity serves up a rendition of "Visions of Johanna" scorching enough to light your hair on fire. But of course this album is as brilliant for the crispness of the sound and performances as it is for its various sideshows: the audience's many attempts to drown out Dylan and The Band with random ovations of applause, for instance. "If you only just wouldn't clap so hard" Dylan pleads before launching into a snarling "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat." And of course here lies the infamous "Judas" moment. "I don't beeeleeeve yooou!" Dylan howls, "Yooouu're a LIIIAAARR!" Oh, if only Dylan got this angry on every album he did over the years!
Free Music Review: Canyon Adams Gives Dylan 2 Thumbs Up Plus!
Hit: 5 Stars
I have several outtakes of this CD already, and they are absolutely primo! Priceless! I was hyped when I saw that this concert was now being offered publicly...and on CD. I have a crackley old cassette tape version, so I'm really looking forward to hearing these tunes clearly and on a digital format.I go beyond being a Dylan fan. I am a STUDENT of Dylan. This may appear a strange paradox because I write books like....well, like my newest release, Addiction in the Whitehouse. I am an extreme right wing conservative, so people may have a difficult time associating me with being one of the most majorist Dylan fans that has ever existed. But truth be known, I am a closet musician who knows and can play EVERY DYLAN SONG ever written. And I do.
The reason I mention this is because this particular collection of songs is unique and stands out light years above the rest. For example, I can play Desolation Row in a lot of different ways, but I have always tried unsuccessfully to play it exactly like it is on this CD. The same holds true for most of the other songs in this collection. They represent an artist at the peak of his artistry (for Dylan, his FIRST big peak) and are masterfully presented.
Folks, if you're a Dylan fan.....you probably already have some of these songs. But not all of them, and not digitally mastered on CD. If you've never heard these songs before, hey, you GOTTA get this CD. And if you're a kid and NOT a Dylan fan.......get this CD!!!! It's 20 bucks, and it could change your life. Truthfully, these songs could change your life!
Thanks for putting this CD out! It gets the official Canyon Adams BIG TWO THUMBS UP PLUS. And I hope other people realize the collector's value of this production, and buy it ASAP.
Free Music Review: So essential
Hit: 5 Stars
As everyone knows, this is one of the most important historical concerts ever performed, but is notable not only for that, but for its bravuro performance. Much is made of the electric, second half of the set, which is a true epoch in the history of rock 'n' roll, but the first half-Dylan's solo acoustic section-is equally great. He blazes through fine performances of classics like She Belongs To Me, Visions of Johanna, and the epic Desolation Row. His subtle singing inflections bring a new touch to songs like the latter track and It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. There are also several fine harmonica solos that punctuate the songs, particularly the jam at the end of the set-closing Mr. Tambourine Man (in which Dylan also shifts his vocals.) Now, the second disc, the electric set, is a true groundbreaker. Here we have Dylan and The Hawks (as they were then known) absolutely tearing it up as a rock 'n' roll band... they are super-tight, and the performance is a keeper. We get the two relatively rare tracks Tell Me, Momma (a Dylan original that he never recorded in the studio), and Baby, Let Me Follow You Down (a cover song that appeared on Dylan's first album), but even the remaining well-known classics are of high interest here, as nearly all of them are dramatically re-arranged. We get powerful run-throughs such songs as Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (a strong blues), Ballad of A Thin Man (a highly spooky version), and Like A Rolling Stone (the legendary "Judas"-impelled version.) However, the true revelations are the dramatic re-inventions of such formerly-acoustic songs as One Too Many Mornings and I Don't Believe You (both now driving hard rockers.) This is a highly interesting set, and an absolute essential item in the catalog of any Dylan fan.