Liverpool, UK (12-Jul-01)

I find it really difficult to review dvds.Not only do you have to try and assess Bob's performance you also have to try and rate the technical quality of the film and it's really hard to say anything negative when so much care and attention goes into these films ,then add the fact that we're lucky to have anything at all and it seems downright ungrateful to nit-pick..However..

Liverpool '01 is a very good video,the sound is excellent,the picture the sharpest I've ever seen, with some great close-ups of Bob and excellent panning of the band.
However the film is marred by a routine appearance of heads blocking the camera (at least once per song)which does tend to spoil the continuation of an otherwise perfect film.

On the musical side I don't think the performance is that great,certainly not essential.Bob's voice is very pinched and raw at times and he seems to be in a very idiosyncratic mood,laughing-scowling within the same song!! What exactly is bothering Bob during "Visions.." and "Leopard-Skin.."!! The biggest disappointment however is the fact that despite having two great guitar players at his disposal Bob insists on playing lead..on every song!..the same 3-note solo!! I think Charlie gets two solos all night..

When this film is good it's great.as for the performance that will come down to personal taste but I find it hard going at times..As always there are some highlights that make the night worthwhile..A brilliant "4th Time Around" (perhaps a nod to it's "Norwegian Wood" origins and the fact that Bob's in Liverpool) with Bob nailing the vocal..a really moving "Knockin'.." in the encores with a beautiful solo by Charlie..Oh the harmonies are great on "This Wheel.." as well..Great harmonica by Bob all night too..In conclusion..Top marks to the cameraman,shame about the heads!! ps apologies for both me(during my customary 'Stuck Inside Of Mobile' toilet break), and my mother(I cannot take her anywhere!),walking past the camera at various points!

Thanks to tangledupindylan for sending me this.

D197.su2 BUSTER KEATON STYLE

D had a new album out in 2001. Judging by this set-list, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was Blonde On Blonde, from which no fewer than six tracks feature. After a sprightly opening cover, we get a generous 20 more numbers. All are Bob's own and, remarkably, all but three pre-date 1968. "So what?" you may say. If anyone's earned the right to sing what he likes it's surely D, and if he shooed the band off-stage and ran solo through the entire Gaslight set, you wouldn't find me complaining. But between Heaven's Door (1973) and CIB (1997) there's nearly a quarter of a century of his career and a glittering galaxy of wonderful songs passed over, pointedly ignored. Touring a sixties retro show is what The Bachelors do, or The Tremeloes. Why? Because that's all they've got and all they are. Bob is either 136 or 142 light years better than that - a shame, then, that he so wilfully hides his light beneath this self-imposed bushel. It's almost as if he himself has bought into the hype that suggests his '65/6 Glory Years are the sum of his musical worth.


New album, Bob?

We know better. All the same, this show provides ample proof that glory years they certainly were. It's a special thrill to see Des Row and Visions in the same set - a rarity, surely? - and how well he performs both. Fourth Time Around is a lovely, chiming, complete, word-perfect version, LARS is deliberate and powerful, Heaven's Door and Released both fine. The latter features tremendous sustained close camera-work, allowing us to watch Bob very closely as he gives a heart-felt reading of the song that always brings to my mind (maybe his too?) his old friend Richard Manuel. In fact, all of this film is especially well-shot, with plenty of zooming between face, upper body, whole body and band to sustain visual interest. This is all the more praiseworthy in that the cameraman doesn't have it all his own way. Shooting across an access ramp means he has repeated passing (and occasionally stopping) heads to cope with - but he does, impressively, and his painstaking work rewards us with a film, well lit, nicely coloured, never less than watchable throughout. Sound is also rich and strong, making this most enjoyable DVD another winner.

During Pill-Box Hat the band snarl up with some laboured and briefly cacophonous playing which has D scowling, plainly unhappy. But they get it back on track such that, by song's end, he's doing an endearing soft-shoe shuffle across the stage. Better yet, after a full rocking Things he prances back to the monitor bearing the Oscar this song won for him some three months earlier. (Remarkably, performing the song at the Awards Ceremony via satellite from Australia he dropped the second verse (i.e. the one with "I'm in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood" - his one chance of a lifetime to make this line really score!) Anyway, he scoops up Oscar, carries him stage-front and in true Steven Gerrard/cup-winner style brandishes him aloft - a magical moment and perhaps the only one of the night in which D allows the crowd (and us) a peek beneath his Keaton stoneface - for, though songs are sung, not one word is spoken.

THANKS To the two Ms (one disc each).
STARS A marvellous double DVD, not to be missed. Five.

Do you want to know why this disk is a must have. Get it!!! There is no better show than this. GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT, GET IT!!

I really like this show!!

absolutely stunning work it doesnt get better than this one the guy who filmed this does tremendous work respect to him and to the dubbing guy during visions Bob seems unhappy with his guitar volume and he lets the sound guys know about it

must have

WOW!! Great DVD. I haven't seen many (good) audience filmed concerts yet to compare this one to but it's just absolutely amazing. A bit shaky at times but mostly quite steady with a perfect view at the band and lots of close-ups on Bob. At the beginning of the second disc there is even a closeup on the Oscar, Bob won in 2000, which is standing on stage behind the band.
As far as audio quality is concerned, what do I have to give you more than the fact that it's from the Crystal Cat release of the show? Great quality as always.
Easy review this time, 5 stars (at least ;-). I can really recommend this video. Especially if you like the 2001 concerts (as I do) this is definitely a must have.