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08/03/2006

Real Live reconsidered

While waiting nervously for the European summer tour dates, I’ve been revisiting the Dylan live catalogue, focussing on the less familiar discs.

Real Live (1984), while hardly the definitive gig document, has its merits - mainly as a reminder of how Dylan was playing in the mid-1980s (not that well, if the truth be told). It's the sound of stadium rock killing the muse, and a great musician losing his way.

Taken from several different dates on the 1984 tour, Real Live sees Dylan almost, but not quite, managing to transcend the tedium. It’s the struggle that makes it a worthwhile listen.

'Girl Of The North Country', performed after he has jettisoned his rockist chums, to play acoustic and harp, comes nearest to pulling it off. 'Tangled Up In Blue' is a striking acoustic alternate version of the familiar Blood On The Tracks piece, which every self-respecting Dylan fan needs to hear.

You might recognise the (entirely inappropriate) rock lead guitar on first hearing the album. Some of it belongs to Mick Taylor, the accomplished guitarist who did much to create the classic Jimmy Miller-era Rolling Stones sound, plying his plectrum between the incumbencies of Brian Jones and Ronnie Wood. Taylor's an asset to any stadium gig, but he was given rather too much room to stretch out on these tunes.

The album's high point (maybe its low point, too) is the massed stadium choir joining in the chorus to 'It Ain’t Me, Babe': cornball, it's true, but karaoke Bob will bring a smile of recognition to the face of many true believers.

Dylan's live shows in this period were hardly worth attending. Real Live is a cheerful companion on a short car journey, but its main value is that it underlines the high quality of most of the other official live albums.


Real Live (1984)
Highway 61 Revisited; Maggie’s Farm; I And I; License To Kill; It Ain’t Me, Babe; Tangled Up In Blue; Masters Of War; Ballad Of A Thin Man; Girl Of The North Country; Tombstone Blues



Gerry Smith

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