My Spiritual Leader (Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol.4 - Bob Dylan)

Member Name: markhobbs

Product:	Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol.4 - Bob Dylan
Date:	27/05/02 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Historic,great booklet

Disadvantages: You'll get worked up when you hear the foolish hecklers

Having seen Bob live when I was only beginning to get into his music perhaps the experience wasn’t as significant to me as it could’ve been. It was an amazing day but I get the feeling that if I heard Visions Of Johanna live now…well, I’d have trouble standing fully upright. So while I may never again have a chance to see him again, I can always comfort myself with this. It’s not quite the same but it still does have a real sense of occasion about it. For this the legendary ‘Royal Albert Hall’ concert, a less than apt title seeing as it was recorded at the Free Trade Hall Manchester (apparently when it was bootlegged people believed it to be recorded at the Albert Hall).

Having released Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited in the previous year fans all around the world were shocked and appalled by his sudden change in musical direction, not content with being a folk hero he was intent on rock stardom. Everywhere he went he was booed and his new material criticised, it must have been a frustrating time for the musician. But listening to the first disc it’s hard to imagine this is a man who is being attacked for doing something different. He is confident and gives a faultless performance playing only songs from the Big hair/drugs Trilogy.

She Belongs To Me is outstanding, completely eclipsing the album version. I always thought it to be a good song but here if fully realises its potential. Fourth Time Round, a parody of the Beatle’s song Norwegian Woos is as fun as ever. The picking pattern found on Blonde on Blonde is replaced with just the backing chords which works a lot better in my opinion. This version recently featured in the film Vanilla Sky.

Visions of Johanna is beautiful and epic and is very much suited to the solo acoustic set of the first disc. That said I prefer the version on the album which this would become a part of, I miss the lead guitar but this
is a much more poignant offering. Again It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue is improved upon. Bob hasn’t lost all of his former folk sensibilities, his ability to enchant with only an acoustic guitar and harmonica is considerable. Desolation Row is powerful and still as indecipherable to me as before. I don’t think it benefits from the solo treatment as much as the others but it doesn’t disappoint.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the album (and there are some to come) is just how good Just Like A Woman is here. It was always brilliant but being slightly reworked it manages to transcend even that. The highlight of disc one. The acoustic set, and indeed the first disc, ends with Mr. Tambourine. It sung quite differently from the original. It’s perhaps not quite as melodic but the harmonica solo is excellent and makes up for the slightly less enjoyable vocals. The crowd cheer and clap and everybody is happy. Little do the fools know what’s in store for them…

The second disc is entirely electric and very loud compared to the subtle, relaxing, and more serious acoustic set. It’s a whole different side to the man, it’s great fun altogether. The backing band is the Hawks who would later go on to have great success as The Band.

Tell Me Mama kicks it all off and is just an up tempo good fun rocker. It’s very lively and it’s impossible to keep a straight face as Bob sings “I know that you know that I know that you show something…”. And now comes the point when the folkies begin to get upset, I Don’t Believe You, that fun little song from Another Side…with the cool Spanishy feel is turned into a rock song. The organ and electric guitars go crazy you can almost see the scowls beginning to appear. A slow handclap begins but it isn’t heeded by Bob and he and his band launch into Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. Again it’s great fun and can only be
fully appreciated when played tremendously loud. The band are in great form and go straight into a pumped up version of Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues. There’s a cool solo in it and the rock ‘n’ roll treatment really comes off. There’s some heckling as Bob struggles to announce the next song in his sexy drawl and some more slow hand clapping.

Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat is genuinely funny is great rock ‘n’ roll. The lead guitar is great, it’s played by Bob on Blonde on Blonde but presumably not here as it’s really quite good! The band take a minute to tune up which presents the disillusioned fraction of the crowd with another chance to heckle and clap but Bob wins some of them over with a great trick but I won’t give it away. As if to further enrage them they play a rock version of One Too Many Morning the tender and extremely gentle song from The Times They Are A Changin’. It’s completely unrecognisable, even featuring backing singing in parts. You can feel the anger on both sides building up.

Ballad of A Thin Man is louder again but is about to be bettered. Bob’s vocals are a little muffled as everybody struggles to play to their loudest and best to make a point to the crowd, but it hasn’t been enough to win them over. It’s such a contrast to the general acceptance of the first disc. A member of the crowd shouts out “Judas” and this is met by applause by many. But Bob is not so easily intimidated and retorts “I don’t believe you…you’re a liar”. The band are angered and somebody can be heard tom order “Play f****n’ loud”. This is complied with and they play a positively scorching Like A Rolling Stone. If there’s a chance it won’t completely silence his critics Bob makes sure he deafens them. It’s a landmark in popular music, a truly significant moment for Bob. As the song ends there
is applause but no calls for an encore. But we still know who won.

It’s a pity Bob didn’t continue in this vein, for after the release of Blonde on Blonde he supposedly almost died and disappeared from the music scene for a tear and a half before returning with the folky John Westly Harding. Who knows what could have happened if he hadn’t hid in Woodstock, he could have become Led Zepplin.

Summary: