On this: "The big one: His vocals improved tenfold. Some of the best vocals of his career on these nights, and the main reason that the shows are so beloved. He wasn’t having to worry about also playing guitar at the same time. He just stood there, no distractions, and sang. And you can hear it."
Dylan famously insists upon playing together live with the band in the recording studio, an old-fashioned approach almost unheard of these days. And yet the argument for what makes the Prague performance so special is that he does the very thing he resists doing in the studio: set aside the instrument and just focus on the vocal.
Some of my favorite RARW Tour moments also involve Dylan stepping away from the piano and singing at center stage. I guess Dylan prefers to stay busy, and maybe needs an instrument to hide behind (or a stool to rest on). But it would be interesting to hear the effect on his vocals, if he concentrated solely on singing (and harmonica, which is essentially an extension of his voice) in performance, in the studio and on stage.
Then again, maybe its not this approach that yields such marvelous results so much as the novelty of trying something different on a given night. As soon as any approach becomes routine, it loses all interest for Dylan and he just gets bored.
In all my years of seeing Bob shows, my favorite opening song remains the crunchy, growling “Down In The Flood” from 1995. ‘95 was the first year I completed when tape trading. So much great, great stuff that year.
These shows (and the entire spring Europe leg) were absolutely legendary from Day 1. The noise on r.m.d. was “Bob is in incredible form”.
Great stuff, thanks Ray.. I was listening to these Prague shows again just before the trip to Prague last year. Something Bob said at the show I found interesting -- I will listen again to note exactly what he said. I posted the full show recording up on youtube back in October, for anyone here who wants to listen there -- https://youtu.be/BR3uNWGvapI?si=--QwgEhYonBaQdhS
I have a few Bob stories, just a guy having 3 close brushes with him, I'm not in the biz, back then it seemed so random, which it was, but it also seemed, in the bloom of youth and stoner, to be a touch of that world where everything could/would happen, there was Bob, there I was, weird, funny, pretty cool...he had shades on, he arched his eyebrow at me
On this: "The big one: His vocals improved tenfold. Some of the best vocals of his career on these nights, and the main reason that the shows are so beloved. He wasn’t having to worry about also playing guitar at the same time. He just stood there, no distractions, and sang. And you can hear it."
Dylan famously insists upon playing together live with the band in the recording studio, an old-fashioned approach almost unheard of these days. And yet the argument for what makes the Prague performance so special is that he does the very thing he resists doing in the studio: set aside the instrument and just focus on the vocal.
Some of my favorite RARW Tour moments also involve Dylan stepping away from the piano and singing at center stage. I guess Dylan prefers to stay busy, and maybe needs an instrument to hide behind (or a stool to rest on). But it would be interesting to hear the effect on his vocals, if he concentrated solely on singing (and harmonica, which is essentially an extension of his voice) in performance, in the studio and on stage.
Then again, maybe its not this approach that yields such marvelous results so much as the novelty of trying something different on a given night. As soon as any approach becomes routine, it loses all interest for Dylan and he just gets bored.
Sorry, the song IS listed as Crash on the Levee
Ray, “Down in The Flood” seems to be missing from the download. Would you please repost and include the song?
Ward
In all my years of seeing Bob shows, my favorite opening song remains the crunchy, growling “Down In The Flood” from 1995. ‘95 was the first year I completed when tape trading. So much great, great stuff that year.
These shows (and the entire spring Europe leg) were absolutely legendary from Day 1. The noise on r.m.d. was “Bob is in incredible form”.
Great stuff, thanks Ray.. I was listening to these Prague shows again just before the trip to Prague last year. Something Bob said at the show I found interesting -- I will listen again to note exactly what he said. I posted the full show recording up on youtube back in October, for anyone here who wants to listen there -- https://youtu.be/BR3uNWGvapI?si=--QwgEhYonBaQdhS
that;s a good story, I'd never heard that
I have a few Bob stories, just a guy having 3 close brushes with him, I'm not in the biz, back then it seemed so random, which it was, but it also seemed, in the bloom of youth and stoner, to be a touch of that world where everything could/would happen, there was Bob, there I was, weird, funny, pretty cool...he had shades on, he arched his eyebrow at me
💋🌹❤️