Oct 172007
I found this while searching for something else on YouTube, and was absolutely mesmerized. The lyric, the impassioned delivery, the shit-hot backing band (that manages to make a five minute-long, three-chord workout seem too short)… just fucking brilliant. So tell me: where can I find more Dylan like *this*?
And, no, I’m not yanking your chain.
HVB
I’m with you – looks and sounds like sometime around 70/71 – possible on the cusp or heels of the New Morning sessions. Awesome.
YouTube tells me this was the “Rolling Thunder Revue” in 1976.
On second look – this might be later – possibly 75 thereabouts.
To clarify so not to look like a horses ass – last post was delayed – tried to correct myself before you’re last post.
That’s easy. Bootleg Series Volume 5.
http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Dylan-Live-1975-Bootleg/dp/B00006NT3H/ref=sr_1_2/104-8035690-8877506?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1192641065&sr=8-2
You know what’s funny? My long-delayed ‘Dylan mix Fritz would like’ actually has a bunch of stuff off of that particular album. You should definitely check it out!
Yeah’ that Amazon link didn’t work too well there.
I love when he digs in on this song. It’s funny that cjdawson mentions such a mix for HBV; I’ve been thinking about the same thing. Perhaps we gather forces in coming weeks a post a HEALING DYLAN MIX for the man?
If anyone wants to order that Dylan CD from Amazon, search through the portal on the right and buy through there. Then you’ll be doing your part to help RTH pay for its server space. Thanks!
This is totally my favourite Dylan song. Nice live re-packaged version. I love it! Thanks for posting Fritz;)
I’ve sent these before but if you like RTR Dylan you should love this. This is the greatest Dylan I’ve ever seen, from Letterman in 1984. A band he never played with except for this performance, both Dylan and the band teetering on a highwire and just barely keeping it all together.
There are a lot of clips for the rehearsal for this show on youtube but I can’t find the other two songs he did, License To Kill and Sonny Boy Williamson’s Don’t Start Me Talkin’. Classic Dylan – he’s on to promote his then-new album Infidels and he opens with a cover that’s not on the album.
Jokerman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8g9Z4sk3Tg
Hey Fritz, what do you think about this?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZWz-9x68uM
Nice head gear. Bob looks like he could play “Joseph” in a remake of “The Ten Commandments”
Good use of the phase shifter
A coupla shout-outs:
– Thanks, CJ, for the hip tip on the Dylan 1975 RTR comp. I may just check that thing out.
– Well done, as usual, Velv, for spotting what others missed: the EX-cellent use of the phase shifter! The InterWeb tells me that’s Mick Ronson on rhythm guitar, perhaps one of the reasons this take has such great Rock Power.
Hey, CJ:
Gotta disappoint you by saying the “Isis” clip did little for me. Here are my issues with it, which are largely the issues I have with most Dylan:
1. What the fuck is he howling about? I have a pretty decent ability to sort through simile, metaphor and all that jazz. I just don’t get what he’s on about.
2. No fuckin’ melody!
3. Let me just SEE! if I can properly EXPLAIN! why Dylan’s fuckin’ PHRASING! drives me so bat-shit CRAZY! I don’t require CLEVERNESS! when it comes to singing WORDS! in terms of their METER! and all of that JAZZ! — but a little VARIATION! would be nice now and THEN!, since the words that he’s PUNCHING! don’t seem very IMPORTANT! (cue big band Power and Glory of Rock vamp, complete with violin solo for extra roots cred)
Sorry!
Oh, man… the closer I get to Dylan in 1975, the more frightened I get that I’m gonna get hosed yet again by the dude. I just finished reading a review of Renaldo and Clara, the four-hour movie he wrote and directed at the time of the RTR shows. I’m scared!
Anybody actually seen it?
Even before the Bootleg Series, there was a whole album of this stuff called Hard Rain. Shelter from the Storm is on there, though it may or may not be this performance.
This looks like the later Rolling Thunder band — the rhythm section from the Desire album (Rob Stoner on bass and Howie Wyeth on drums, though there seems to be a second drummer on this song) supplemented by Mick Ronson (whom I don’t actually see in this video) and the Alpha Band guys. Note the extremely lanky T Bone Burnett in a Blue jacket playing a Les Paul to Dylans right and Steven Soles playing the acoustic to Dylan’s left.
I always liked Hard Rain. The slide-driven rearrangement of Maggie’s Farm that kicks it off totally rocks.
I sort of agree with hvb about Dylan’s singing style. Around this time he developed this kind of power singing that cut through the roiling sound of the band but undercut any subtlety in the songs. You gotta love the veg-o-matic guitar he’s playing in this clip though. He was way ahead of the curve on that.
Thanks for posting that clip. I really enjoyed it and while I’m not a major Dylanologist unlike many here, I’m curious if you’ve ever heard the Blood on the Tracks version of that song. In fact, I’m curious if you’ve heard that entire album and what you think of it. I’m pretty sure we’ve had this conversation before, but I can’t seem to remember your thoughts on that particular record.