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The Metamorphosis Dec 13, 2009
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.
the king! May 10, 2009
incredilble! is all that i can say! just listening to this album, and you realize the power of dylan and the band! what a combination! i also really dug the acoustic solo performance. a must buy!
They Are Selling Postcards.... Mar 18, 2009
Of all the bootleg, genuine basement tapes, fake basement tapes, etc. that have come out of over the years detailing the career of the premier folk troubadour of his times, Bob Dylan, this volume that contains the bulk of the famous (or infamous, if you are one of those old folk traditionalists who never moved on) English "Royal Albert Hall" Concert of 1965 may be historically the most valuable. Certainly after Martin Scorsese used the concert as a central backdrop to his Dylan documentary "No Direction Home" the argument for its importance in the folk pantheon has been enhanced. The CD issued many years ago prior to Scorsese's effort only confirms that judgment.
Here, in a quick summary, is what the hullabaloo was all about. Many early 1960's folkies were looking for a new "king of the hill" to continue the tradition established by the likes of Woody Guthrie (an early Dylan hero, by the way) and Pete Seeger. Certainly off the first few years of Dylan's rise it looked to one and all, including this reviewer, that Dylan would fill the bill. Then, he switched gears and started to write more starkly personal songs (rather than quasi-political songs like "Blowing In The Wind") and, oh lord here it comes, to use the electric guitar as backup. And worst of all, an electric backup band (the now immortal Band). You know, with drums and all. "Albert Hall" was one of the first major venues where he presented both concepts, acoustic and electric. The British traditionalists (or at least some of them) were not pleased. But as I have noted elsewhere in earlier reviews of Dylan's work everyone else should be glad, glad as hell, that he made that move.
Needless to say this concert is divided into an acoustic section where he plays some great numbers like "Visions Of Johanna", "Mr. Tambourine Man" and the like. His highlight here is "Desolation Row" an incredible almost surreal use of words and phrases that read more like a poem than a mere song. If I had not been a Dylan fan before this song then the first time I hear "They are selling postcards of the hanging. They are painting the passports brown. The beauty parlor is filled with sailors. The circus is in town" would have caught my attention for life right then and there.
The second, more controversial electric part, includes the 1960's semi-national anthem for the countercultural generation "Like A Rolling Stone" and a good literary companion piece to "Desolation Row" the very fine "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues. Finally, as an extra bonus if you want to hear Dylan without the slurs that make understanding some of the lyrics in other albums this is one for you.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Bob Dylan Mar 08, 2009
Bob Dylan Live, 1966.
It is nice to go down Memory Lane and I am glad to have purchased the CD. I do have to say, though, I love his new music as much as I love his music from earlier years. For me, "Dylan" will always remain "Dylan".
Ursula
Changing Rock N Roll Forever Dec 30, 2008
Probably one of the top three most essential Bob Dylan recordings of all time. You know the legend, you need the music. The second CD is so confrontational and powerful you'll rock out on it over and over, probably for the rest of your life if given half the chance.
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