Nu Rave Brain Wave

Sorry, y’all, I know it’s Saturday, and this is the first Bob Dylan Friday I’ve missed doing in quite some time, possibly since I got internet in my Brighton flat. Anyway, I’ve got the seminal MTV Unplugged performance for you on this grey Saturday. This is a really great album, recorded on two separate days at the Sony Studios somewhere, there’s two different performances and this is technically not the LP that was released by Colombia. It features outtakes that did not make the original cut including ‘John Brown’ which has only been played live four times. Bob played mostly the hits due to MTV’s request, but it was recorded before they were dramatically changed and this is probably one of the more beautiful and ‘close’ recordings that you can get during his later period. ‘Like A Rolling Stone‘ is particularly incredible. Get on it.

01 Tombstone Blues
02 Shooting Star
03 All Along The Watchtower
04 The Times They Are A-Changin’
05 John Brown
06 Desolation Row
07 Rainy Day Women #12 and #35
08 Love Minus Zero/No Limit
09 Dignity
10 Knockin’ On Heavens Door
11 Like A Rolling Stone
12 With God On Our Side

Well, it’s the second Friday in May, and you know what that means: next week is Bob’s birthday and I’m pretty excited about it. So let’s get on with the second disc of the Budokan recordings which are some of Bob’s most controversial. If you enjoyed last weeks’ this one will also highlight the different instrumentation that Bob was so crucified at the time. But what has anyone learned about Bob over the course of his career? Well, mainly that he doesn’t give a fuck. So enjoy.

01 Blowin’ In The Wind
02 Just Like A Woman
03 Oh, Sister
04 Simple Twist of Fate
05 All Along The Watchtower
06 I Want You
07 All I Really Want To Do
08 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
09 It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
10 Forever Young
11 The Times They Are A-Changin’

This is a funny little bootleg. In 1978, Bob played the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan and it was recorded and released the next year on Columbia as a double LP. It recieved some of the worst reviews of Bob’s career. It was railed for being too polished, too sloppy, some critics hated the new arrangements, some wanted the old arrangements, and some said the new arrangements were worse than the old. Some just wanted to hear the greatest hits. And as we all know, if you want that, listen to the fucking CD. Anyway, the quality on this is amazing and if you are a fan of the new instrumentation, this is definitely for you.

01 Mr Tambourine Man
02 Shelter From The Storm
03 Love Minus Zero/No Limit
04 Ballad of a Thin Man
05 Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
06 Maggie’s Farm
07 One More Cup of Coffee
08 Like A Rolling Stone
09 I Shall Be Released
10 Is Your Love In Vain?
11 Going Going Gone

Here’s the tail-end of last week’s bootleg from the Roseland Ballroom in New York from 1994. The last night of a powerhouse residency Bob held at the historic theatre in October, this is a greatest hits collection that sounds amazing. A spirited and countrified version of ‘Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way’ and a righteous and sassy rendition of ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ are the standout highlights here. The bonus disc comes from an unidentified recording from the USA tour in October of 1994 (1) and from the Shoreline Ampitheatre in California on October 9, 1993 (2). Enjoy this Friday, y’all, for I’mma be in London watching OFWGKTA and boycotting whatever else is happening today.

01 Joey
02 Maggie’s Farm
03 Mostly Likely You Go Your Way
04 My Back Pages
05 Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
06 Highway 61 Revisited

Bonus:
07 Tears Of Rage (1)
08 Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (2)
09 Señor (1)

Bob has been known to play multiple nights at venues (such as, when I saw him in Dallas, he played 3 nights) and this recording, taken from another 3-show residency at the Roseland Ballroom in New York recorded in October of 1994 is awesome. The words brilliant and powerful and beautiful come to mind, but I always think those things about Bob Dylan. Specialties on this one include probably the best longing love song with a folkier twist (if possible), Mama You Been On My Mind; the rarely played post 60s ultimate fuck you song Positively Fourth Street which takes a slower country road here; and one of the best written songs ever, Tangled Up In Blue which gets a harder edge here with a bit more rock to it. Overall, worth owning for sure. Special guests on the 2nd disc of this album next week include Neil Young & Bruce Springsteen. Awesome. Hold tight.

01 Jokerman
02 If You See Her Say Hello
03 All Along The Watchtower
04 Simple Twist Of Fate
05 Tangled Up In Blue
06 Positively 4th Street
07 Mama You Been On My Mind
08 The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
09 Boots Of Spanish Leather
10 God Knows

Well, it’s another Bob Dylan Friday and I have the second disc of the great 20/20 Vision which, as I said before, is a strange little release of live covers and rarities performed in several venues along the 1989 and the 1991 tour. Again, this is a collectors item, although this disc is much more accessible than the first disc. Recorded from July – November of the 1991 tour, there’s some classics, but more of the ones that never really get played.’One Too Many Mornings‘ is a little jivey, harmonica heavy but beautiful as always, Bob’s grizzled voice only adds to the desperation of ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue‘ and same goes for ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll‘. As always, with Bob, this is some good stuff.

01 Homeward Bound
02 The Lakes of Ponchartrain
03 Trail of the Buffalo
04 It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
05 20/20 Vision
06 Friend of the Devil
07 Confidential
08 When I Paint My Masterpiece
09 Boots of Spanish Leather
10 The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
11 One Too Many Mornings
12 Roving Gambler
13 One Irish Rover
14 Simple Twist of Fate

Just the 91st week in a row of Bob Dylan Friday and I have the first disc of the great 20/20 Vision which is a strange little release of live covers and rarities performed in several venues along the 1989 and 1990 tour. This first disc is the 1989 tracks. As always with this kind of thing, some recordings are better than others. But if you’re looking for a strange but fulfilling little release of these songs recorded between July and September of 1989, this is for you. Highights include the very rare performance of ‘Pretty Peggy-O‘ which takes a real big turn from the first recorded version he did so many years ago. ‘Queen Jane Approximately‘ comes out really good, if slowed down. This is another for a really specific collector, but can definitely work for anyone.

01 And It Stoned Me (Van Morrison)
02 Tomorrow Is A Long Time
03 Tears Of Rage (Dylan/Manuel)
04 In The Mood For Love 05 (Fields/McHugh)
05 Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot)
06 In the Pines (H. Leadbetter)
07 The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff)
08 I Want You
09 Baby Let Me Follow you (Von Schmidt)
10 Queen Jane Approximately
11 Rank Strangers To Me (A. Brumly)
12 You Don’t Know Me (Arnold / Walker)
13 When Did You Leave Heaven? (Bullock)
14 Pretty Peggy-O (Trad.)
15 Legend In My Time (Don Gibson)
16 Visions Of Johanna

Hooray! We finally hit Bob Dylan Friday #90. Fucking right, guys. This is the best thing in the world. Anyway, this week I have something really special and rare. In 1967, Bob/CBS released “If You Gotta Go, Go Now“/”To Ramona” as a mono single. The A-side was an outtake from the Bringing It All Back Home sessions in NYC 1965. This is an alternate version to the one on The Bootleg Series, because this one had backup vocals overdubbed by the female group The Poppies. This is one of my favorite middle-60s era Bob songs (as in, not early acoustic, not protest, and not super surreal) and really shows off his incredibly sharp wit and it’s super underappreciated. I know I’ve never given a BDF that’s just one song, but this is a really good shout on my part. You’ll enjoy.

mp3 | Bob Dylan – If You Gotta Go, Go Now

Yep, it’s the first Bob Dylan Friday since SXSW 2k11 ended, and I hope you forgive the fact that last week was a blur and had to be skipped, but I’m back with #89 — yep, fucking #89! and I’ve got a good one for you. Bob Dylan and Woodstock have some interesting history, don’t they? The festival was placed up near Woodstock in 1969 where Bob was living at the time (and threatning to burn down people’s homes who harassed him at his own home — fucking hippies) but he declined the invite after his mysterious disappearance post-’66 motorcycle nightmare. Instead he went to Isle of Wight and made sure to set off on a boat the day Woodstock started. However, 25 years later at Woodstock ’94, he signed on to play and was introduced as such. It was considered to be one of the best performances at the shitty wannabe Woodstock. This is a powerful recording, not unlike the Isle of Wight performance 25 years earlier. This also began a new direction of career for him. It’s amazing.

01 Jokerman
02 Just Like A Woman
03 All Along The Watchtower
04 It Takes A Lot To Laugh
05 Don’t Think Twice
06 Masters Of War
07 It’s All Over Now Baby Blue
08 God Knows
09 I Shall Be Released
10 Highway 61 Revisited
11 Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
12 It Ain’t Me Babe

Fuck! It’s the second to last Friday before the craziness of SXSW and my impending vacation from the UK. This week, I wanted to commemorate the life of Suze Rotolo who was someone who had a very deep and profound effect on our hero, Bob Dylan, and was the inspiration for many an early Bob song including the immeasurably beautiful and best ‘Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)‘ and the profoundly melancholic and resigned ‘Boots of Spanish Leather‘. I chose this 1974 bootleg Forever Young featuring The Band. Most of the bootleg comes from a January 31st evening show, a February 11th evening show and some rehearsals from January of that year in Los Angeles. This is a great soundboard recording and I chose it specifically for the odd and troubling version of ‘Don’t Think Twice‘ and the choice Band including a rousing version of ‘Up On Cripple Creek‘. Get this, and get Disc 2 coming your way next week.

Disc one
01 Most Likely You Go Your Way
02 Lay Lady Lay
03 Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
04 Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
05 It Ain’t Me Babe
06 Ballad Of A Thin Man
07 Stage Fright [The Band]
08 Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [The Band]
09 King Harvest [The Band]
10 When You Awake
11 Up On Cripple Creek [The Band]
12 All Along The Watchtower
13 Ballad Of Hollis Brown
14 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
15 The Times (Dylan solo / acoustic)
16 Don’t Think Twice (Dylan solo / acoustic)
17 Gates Of Eden (Dylan solo / acoustic)