Postby MK » Mon Apr 17, 2006 2:13 pm
Hard Rain and Real Live get pounded a lot. They're not his worst but I don't like them or own them anymore. Until the May 17, 1966 concert was finally released in 1998, Dylan & his management were completely out of synch with what shows to release.
First, the '66 tour was left on the shelf for 30+ years. (give or take a few released tracks)
Then, the '74 tour was covered in Before The Flood. Not bad, a well-done compilation, but the set relies on the later shows, when the setlists were less interesting and Dylan's singing was more like shouting (something he later admitted).
It gets a lot worse with the Rolling Thunder Revue. There were two legs, one in the fall of 1975, another the following spring. The first leg was a favorite among fans, but the second was a disappointment. Not terrible, but a major letdown from the previous leg. Guess which one was featured on Hard Rain?
I don't like it, but Budokan has its fans and even they will tell you that subsequent shows from Dylan's "Vegas" period were much better.
In 1980, he films and records two April shows that are better than Saved and Slow Train Coming, but leaves those in the can.
In 1984, he makes a great appearance on Letterman, backed by one of his best bands, a trio of post-punk rockers. It's their only public performance because after the show's over, Dylan plans his upcoming tour around a new band of bigger names but less chemistry. This is what's documented on Real Live but I would've preferred an EP of that Letterman performance.
Dylan tours with the Grateful Dead. Nobody likes it, or the live album culled from it (released 2 or 3 years later). Just around the corner is a good tour with Tom Petty's Heartbreakers (much better than their 1986 tour) and an excellent beginning to the Never Ending Tour, but both remain on the shelf.
In 1993, Dylan records and films some excellent shows at the Supper Club. He shelves them and later records and releases a lesser MTV Unplugged album.
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Neither slave nor tyrant." - Basque motto