Real Live [In Europe, 1984] [Live]

Bob Dylan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000263F
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,182 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Dylan., March 20, 2001

By 

Stephen Caratzas (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real Live [In Europe, 1984] (Audio CD)

At first glance "Real Live" might seem to be a total curiosity: a playlist featuring chestnuts like "Maggie's Farm" juxtaposed against (at the time) newer material from Dylan's brilliant "Infidels" album, and a version of "Tangled Up In Blue" that features a revised lyric. What's more, the fine band backing Dylan up is a veritable Who's Who of classic British rock: former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor on lead guitar, Ian McLagan of the Small Faces on keyboards, and ex-Focus drummer Colin Allen.

Sounds odd, but it all works, and wonderfully so. The band - Taylor's muscular blues-based guitar work is particularly inspired - provides wonderful textures and underpinnings to the songs, giving Dylan total freedom to employ his unique vocals in a more emotional and expressive way than is usual even for him. Dylan performs a few of the songs solo, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and harmonica, and Carlos Santana is on hand to lend his guitar chops to the final cut, "Tombstone Blues".

If the measure of a live album is its ability to capture a "moment" from a performance, then "Real Live" succeeds, and then some, on the glorious crowd sing-along during "It Ain't Me Babe". Not to be missed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good live Dylan, March 22, 2006

By 

Adam Jensen (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Real Live [In Europe, 1984] (Audio CD)

Real Live is an album that seems to get a bad rap, that is, if people even know about it at all. But this reputation (or lack thereof) is unwarranted, as this is an extremely enjoyable album. There are two types of songs here: the acoustic numbers and the loud upbeat rockers.

The acoustic songs (It Ain't Me, Babe, Tangled Up in Blue, and Girl From the North Country) are for the most part very good. It Ain't Me Babe has the crowd singing along heartily, which is nice to hear. And Tangled Up in Blue, with alternate lyrics, is just amazing. I loved this tune when I heard the original but I just can't get enough of this one. Great. Girl From the North Country isn't quite as good, as Dylan's voice seems more strained.

As for the rockin' tunes (the rest of the album), they're almost all at a faster tempo than the album originals, and all feature great guitar work from Mick Taylor (formerly of the Rolling Stones); in fact, the band as a whole is very tight and Dylan is into it.

So while this album is hard to find and may be not as historically significant or (quite) as high quality as the Bootleg Series albums, it is nonetheless a good listen and I would recommend it to any Dylan fan.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rewarding Listen, September 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Live [In Europe, 1984] (Audio CD)

I recommend this album to any Bob Dylan fan, it simply shows yet another of his live persona. The one thing you can never say about his shows is that they are predictable, you never know what you might get, and this live album shows a different phase in his career to that of HARD RAIN or BEFORE THE FLOOD. The song selection is a good mix, of old and (then) new. Some people feel that the Infidels tracks lack improvement over the studio versions, however I disagree, just listening to I and I you really get a feel for the song and the ambiance of the performance that simply isn't there on Infidels. The rest of the performances are all somewhat different to those heard before, but very rewarding. As for the sound quality it is good without being exceptional, but very much a live sound of the era and easy to listen to. The greatest feature is the performances delivered by the musicians on most tracks, with most songs given a full workout and stretched out nicely.