Customer Reviews

Bob Dylan: MTV Unplugged

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dylan's more than deserving resurgence in recent years traces its birth back, in my opinion, to this incredible live performance. This album has it all, mixing old and new music that more than satisfies longtime fans like myself and appeals to the younger generation, many of whom would know Dylan only by name had MTV not provided the medium for Dylan to prove his genius and longevity to them. Dylan's tendency to be reclusive and mysterious has made him inaccessible to some listeners in the past, but the appreciative audience is an important part of this recording, and you can tell that Dylan really enjoyed the whole performance.

The older songs on this CD are great, but they do have a different sound from their originals; this may disappoint some fans, and I admit it took me a while to appreciate this version of "The Times They Are A-Changin,'" but the soul of the songs remain the same, no matter what kind of modernized or different interpretation Dylan decides to go with on a certain night. I love "Tombstone Blues," and it does start the CD out with a great kick. It's always nice to hear Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," if for no other reason than to let people know the song didn't originate with Jimi Hendrix. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" has never been a favorite of mine, but this version is a enjoyable splash of fun in between a couple of slow, serious songs. "John Brown" is a significant track, dating back to the 1960s but never having been released. It truly reflects the anti-war feelings Dylan expressed so forcibly in his formative years. As great as the classic tracks are, the tremendous newer songs only build on the musical momentum and prove that Dylan's great songwriting days have yet to come to an end. I was a little surprised to see "Shooting Star" from the Oh Mercy album, but it sounds great and fits right in here. "Dignity" is another recent song that showcases Dylan's songwriting and singing.

Three songs particularly stand out on this CD for me. "Desolation Row" is a truly incredible, meaningful song that only Dylan could write and perform. Lasting more than eight minutes, I still always hate to hear it end. "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," a song which some listeners may not enjoy as much as I do, really starts building the momentum that reaches its crescendo with my favorite Dylan performance ever of his greatest song, "Like a Rolling Stone." Having wowed his audience for close to an hour, he is definitely "feeling it" when he gets to this trademark song. Its length is matched only by its powerful delivery, and I get the feeling listening to it that even Dylan is a little surprised at how great a show he is putting on. "With God On Our Side" is an interesting song with which to end the CD, but it reflects the heart and soul of music's greatest songwriter. Following on the heels of a rocking performance, it reminds listeners that the old Dylan so many have loved for decades is still there, even if his classic songs have been given a fresh overhaul.

This is by far my favorite Dylan CD. Having a rather small audience so close to the musicians makes this live performance a true personal triumph, and the sense of intimacy between Dylan and his fans is powerful and palpable. Dylan has never seemed happier or sounded better than he does here.

Having pretty much stopped listening to Dylan when "Slow Train Coming" came out, preferring to listen to the sixties albums, and the stuff from '74 to '78, with the exception of the very poor "Desire" album, I didn't think he could do it anymore, and Then "Time Out Of Mind" came out and gave me a new belief in 'the man'. So, I went and bought "Oh Mercy", "Infidels", and "Empire Burlesque". My feeling is that none of those are up to the standards of earlier Dylan, save for the occasional great song like "Most Of The Time", but "Unplugged" was a wonderful surprise! I don't know what the 'disappointed ones' were looking for - they surely couldn't have expected Bob to be singing 30-year-old songs with the same vocal style he had back then, after smoking 2 or 3 packs a day, and they must realise that he wouldn't want to faithfully reproduce the original recordings. Here we have Dylan backed up by a superb team of musicians, giving old songs a new lease of life, with different arrangements that really work. The most important thing is that Dylan sounds like he cares about these songs. He conveys emotion, as he's almost always done, even when the voice is shaky, and the versions of "Watchtower" and "Rolling Stone" are great, the former because it's simply thrilling, and the latter because the organist plays those wonderful chords and then Bob, struggling to sing, sings "how does it feel?" in a way that sends shivers down my spine and tears to my eyes. If you listen to the CD right through, you may well feel emotionally drained, and your faith in Bobby D reaffirmed. Buy it - today!!!

Bob Dylan has been known to purposefuly rush and slur his lyrics in live performances. Combine that with the toll time has taken on his voice, and some of his classic songs when played live are nearly unrecognizable. On Unplugged we see some of this, but only the good parts. The music is certainly different from that of the original song (most notable on "The Times they are a-Changin") but Dylan always keeps it meaningful and touching. He may rush the last few lines to verse, or sing it to a different tune, or change a few words, but on this album it sounds like Bob having fun with the music while still keeping it's integrity and meaning.

"Tombstone Blues" is a great opener. It gets the crowd energized, and is one of the great Bob songs you wouldn't know unless you bought the album Highway 61. My only complaint is that he cut out 2 verses, one of which had the great line "The sun's not yellow, it's chicken."

"Shooting Star" is a memorable, fairly obscure Dylan song.

On "All Along the Watchtower" Dylan rushes the ends to the verses but somehow it works. He surprises us with his quick delivery but it remains meaningful.

"The Times they are a-Changin" is barely recongnizable until Dylan belts out the first line. Dylan's band is great on this one, never losing track of their place despite Bob's playing around with the lyrics. Still, you find this tune stuck in your head afterwards the way it is performed here, as opposed to the famous original.

"John Brown" is Dylan's previously unreleased track. Hard to get through the brisk mumbles in some places (luckily the lyrics are included) but in the end it's an emotional anti-war piece that ranks up with his best.

"Rainy Day Women" here seems like Dylan just wants to get it over with, but the crowd sure loves it. I liked it as well.

"Desolation Row" is one of Dylan's best performances on the whole CD. Dylan sounds like he really wanted to play it, and it shows.

"Dignity" is also a part of "Greatest Hits 3" but otherwise unreleased. An upbeat number sandwiched between slow ballads.

"Knockin on Heaven's Door" is one track I've heard too many times, whether by Dylan or by other artists. Still, Dylan keeps it short here with only 2 verses, and he manages to switch the words around a little.

"Like a Rolling Stone" is drawn out to near 9 minutes on this performance, but it is one of my favorites on the whole CD. The crowd sure is into it, cheering at multiple places during the song. Dylan mumbles a few early lines, but really gets into it at the end.

"With God on Our Side" is one of Dylan's early protest songs. A welcome, surprising inclusion on this package. Dylan's band is great here; they amazingly manage to precisely follow Dylan's unpredictable beginnings and endings to verses. This inclusion seems like one Dylan himself really was eager to play, which makes it all the more memorable.

'Unplugged' does not quite match your expectations if, as I did, you are looking forward to Dylan doing an entirely acoustic version of some of his most famous compositions. At its heart, it is simply Dylan performing nine of his most famous compositions with an amplified backup band, plus 'Shooting Star' and 'Dignity' which are not that familiar to me.

Now any performance of Bob Dylan material, especially by Bob Dylan, is not to be overlooked, but there is a lot of overlap here, if you already own Dylan's albums up through 'John Wesley Hardin'. In a sense, Dylan is doing covers of his own classic stuff. And, in many cases, the covers are different, but not necessarily better than the originals. 'All Along the Watchtower', for example, is clearly not as good as the original, and it is not even quite as good as the great cover done by Jimi Hendrix, but it's still Dylan, so it's a very respectable and interesting collection, just a bit more interesting than a 'Best of' collection of original recordings.

Bob Dylan's live concerts of the 80s and 90s have often been criticised by fans and critics as 'ruining' or 'spoiling' songs from his, or perhaps their own, heyday of the 1960s. But Bob Dylan has always been an artist of far too much integrity to merely churn out exact replicas of earlier efforts, and ablbums like "MTV Unplugged" show that criticisms like these are unfounded.

Firstly, this album is simply full of great music and playing. From the opening bars of "Tombstone Blues" to the furious guitar punishing through "Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35" the musicians Dylan is working with here are clearly enjoying and pushing themselves.

And the interpretations! Songs which you will have considered perfect suddenly become EVEN BETTER on this album. "Love Minus Zero" has aged along with its author, and is presented as a giddyingly yet subtle haunt sound. "Shooting Star" is sung with so much emotion just listening to it becomes terrifying, as if Dylan or we will fall off its waves of sound at any moment. One or two of the songs performed are not enhanced by changes in Dylan's voice and performing style, but most become remarkable new treasures.

Although "MTV Unplugged" is probably more likely to impress those already appreciative of the Dylan project (in other words you'll like it more if you're a fan),it must be the most intense and committed album of the 'Unplugged' series. At once relaxed, fun and thoughtful, this is a brilliantly inventive, lyrically explosive and just plain great album

For this reviewer, the point of buying a recent live concert of someone with a long career is to hear the jextaposition of old and new, stuff that your Dad has heard and stuff that's so new you don't know yet.

This is hard to do. There are very few successful live recordings which do this. Lou Reed succedded to do that in his 1983 live in Italy record (although his career was 'only' 20 years old at the time), but failed in 'Perfect Night', where the new (er) stuff works well, but with few exceptions the older stuff doesn't. David Bowie's Live in the BBC concert fails miserably in the first half of the concert, but hits the bull's eye in the second half.

Bob Dylan, however, doesn't even try in this record.

Out of thee 11 songs, all but 3 were written in the 1960s, and one of the three songs is "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". this makes this a wonderful show for the people who left Dylan at woodstock ( yeah I know he wasn't there), but it feels a little like a nostalgy show for everyone else.

Some of the Oldies work wonderfully. Tombstone Blues, All Along The Watchtower, John Brown and of course, Like A rolling Stone, are brilliant, but others are just OK, and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" has to go. The new songs, are great, especially Dignity, which is one of Dylan's best songs.

Overall, this is a strong record, filled with good songs by one of America's top songwriters. It's Dylan in top form - I'd just would have prefered a little more of the new and the exciting, and less reliance on songs 30 years past.

I'm not one to get too nostalgic and linger in the past because the present is much to exciting However every now and again I listen to some Dylan. There is something to be said for longevity. This outing from 1995 finds Dylan in a loose mood with a fine nasal vocal tone that ducks and peeks while his strong lyrics jab and punch your sensibilities leaving your brain feeling like silly putty. Created for the superlative accoustic MTV series, Dylan is right at home with his folksy pre-electric roots. His harmonica playing adds luster to the folksy sound. He displays an impassioned vocal range that you will either hate or love but you have to give him his props for his poignant songwritting. Actually he is singing on "Knockin on Heaven's Door"in a very uncharacteristic style that indicates he can actually carry a tune! More at home in his delivery of barely understandable slurring and distorting in his vocal phrasing is more the norm on this disc. This cat was the original white rapper sans urban beats. His poetical lyricism is superb. This collection of songs are timely some 35+ years later. Of particular interest is "John Brown" about the soldier who goes off to war and sees the enemy "whose face looks just like mine" and returns to see his mom after being wounded . In these days that finds our country once again at war the words, reality and horror of war are very relevant. "Desolation Row" is one of those classic Dylan songs that paints surreal imagery with words that still reads like a modern epic tour de force. There are several other songs from the excellent 1965 "Highway 61 Revisted" including the unofficial 60's anthem "Like a Rolling Stone" that begs the question "how does it feel to be without a home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone"? Further along in the song Dylan states, "You said you'd never compromise, with the mystery tramp, but now you realize he's not selling any alibis as you stare into the vacum of his eyes and ask do you want to make deal"? These lyrics might make baby boomers choke on their lattes and cause them to wreck their Lexus suv's now days as they reflect on their rebellious youth. Another "Highway 61" song is the mind blowing "Tombstone Blues" with which he opens the set as he makes reference to the everything from the "commander in chief, John the Baptist, Gaileo, MaRainey, Beethoven, Deliah and the Phiilistines." In these times of world trouble and tension, heightened by terrorism, Dylan's exploration of war is very timely today. He ends his song and set with the words"If God's on our side He'll stop the next war." Even though "The Times TheY Are A-Changin'" some concerns remain the the same. This is as important music today as it was originally in the 60's and when this 1995 MTV version was released. Buy it especially if you don't have any Dylan, it is a nice introduction to the poets music. Every song is a winner.

No matter if you are a hardcore Bob Dylan fan or a casual listener, everyone will find something they like on Bob Dylan's MTV unplugged performance. It has all the classics like "Like A Rolling Stone", "The Times They Are A-Changing", "All Along The Watchtower", "Rainy Day Women#12 & 35", and "Knocking On Heaven's Door." It also has some rare gems to please the hardcore fans like "Shooting Star" and "With God On Our Side." I gave it four stars because the performances are pretty standard for the live material Bob Dylan was doing in the 90's. However, that is not a reason to not buy this album because is just simply Bob Dylan playing good music and who could complain about that?

This album joins "Live 1966," "Before The Flood," and "Hard Rain," as a masterful Dylan live album. He's generous here, performing a lot of crowd-pleasers and favorites. The new arrangements and the great band breath new life into "Watchtower," "Heaven's Door," "Rolling Stone," "Rainy Day Women." Dylan's in great voice and he's never sounded better than on "Unplugged." The newer songs, "Shooting Star" and "Dignity," are wonderful as well and can rightfully take their place beside his earlier classics. Anyone who says that Dylan has lost his edge as a performer should pick up "Unplugged." You'll hear the sound of Dylan storming through his back catalogue, casting off all aura of nostalgia and making his best-loved songs brand-new again.

This soundtrack to Bob's appearance on the TV program gives us a Dylan who really seems to be enjoying himself. Backed by the great band that he's been touring with the past several years, Bob sings and performs these songs with a great deal of passion and urgency that hasn't been apparent in the three albums that preceded it. The introduction of a steel lap guitar, a rollicking organ and tight percussion breathes new life into Dylan classics such as "Tombstone Blues", "All Along The Watchtower" and "Like A Rolling Stone" as well as the only new song on the album, "Dignity". Bob sounds almost euphoric on the closing track, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" and seems to be fully aware of what a stunning performance he has just given. This is an energetic, fun listen and I highly recommend it.