Philadelphia, PA (16-Dec-95)

a one song review:

the Patti Smith duet from the 16th is a must have, get it on this DVD or on one of the several compilations which include it. Patti's double take after the second refrain is priceless, looks like she's thinking 'is this really happening? did he really just gaze at me like that? is this for real?'
honestly, this performance is one of the most emotional, moving, and beautiful that i've seen on any Dylan DVD.

This DVD is really pleasant to watch. There is the typical detritus to wade through: Occasional glitches in video quality, rolling seas of heads and a couple of cuts, but these problems are minor and eminently forgivable. They are worth enduring so that we can get a very palatable portion of top shelve Dylan.

Bob presents paricularly well on this video. He seems to be focused and aligned with both the moment and the legacy which he leaves even as he moves through the moment. He does not appear rushed nor does does he let down his energy level. Tonight I get a sense that the band, hot, tasty, and refined as they are, are more of a backdrop to provide texture to Dylan's work. Particularly the acoustic portion: Tambourine Man, Masters of War, Love Minus Zero, and Dark Eyes (w/Patti Smith) shine. It is nice to see the command he demonstrates over these songs - there is no sense of a hack covering his own tunes, rather they sound alive - like they are floating and he is breathing new life into them. This is particularly true of his encore rendition of Hard Rain. This one would stand up to any rendition out there on record. Just a lovely reading. He knows it, and so do we.

Patti Smith delivers a reverent and impassioned performance. Dylan is clearly moved by it, which we don't get a chance to see that often.

Technical concerns nearly drove me to downgrade to four stars here, but then again, the sound is clean and you can always just close your eyes and enjoy.

Five stars - thanks to silentype

D480.a ... WITH LOVERS' PEARLS

In 1995 Bob closed out a busy year with a USA Fall Tour playing 46 gigs in 50 days, then 25 days off, then from 7 to 17 December, a final ten shows in 11 days through New England, New York and Philadelphia. His opening act for all ten of the December shows was Patti Smith and during each of the last seven she joined him on stage during his set to duet on one song. Each night it was the same song - Dark Eyes - and D480.a gives you the chance to see two of these versions and more besides. Its nine songs run 65 minutes and the one bonus song another five.



The slow and lovely '95 arrangement of T man kicks things off very nicely, but picture is poor, half-toned, lined and grainy like old b/w archive footage from the early days of television, and the hand-held camera is irritatingly jiggly to boot. After six minutes of this, you’re resigned to the prospect of sitting through another visually impaired trial-by-video and when the camera starts to sink your heart goes with it, for now here comes two minutes of the floor. Rather wonderfully, however, almost as if in answer to some half-articulated prayer, what comes, utterly by surprise, is a clearer, sharper, brighter, colourful, singing, dancing (well, strike that last one) Bob Dylan. After struggling for a moment to make sense of what's gone on, you smile at the cameraman's little joke. Though first time around you won’t know it, your initial six minutes here are spent watching a screen, high above the stage, on which Bob and band are projected so those at the back can see him. Thankfully (for the videoed video is not very good), once off it we don't go back. And so finally we can attend to the business end of this fragrant little billet-doux sent back to us from ten years past.



T Man is a nine minute wonder, Masters equally fine, LMZ is elegant and faithful - true, indeed, like ice, like fire. Then D introduces Patti and the pair sing together a slow, careful and exceedingly, hauntingly beautiful Dark Eyes. She demands the best of him and, without qualm or reserve, he gives it. "Slow" seems to be the key tonight, for that’s how a superior Forever Young is taken too. In this song in particular, the cameraman has many heads to contend with, though never too many to deter him altogether (or, worse, force him back up to the screen). The lyric of Hard Rain, delivered with dignity and reserve to a sparse but entirely fitting accompaniment, is almost like a poetry reading - another commanding, wholly convincing performance. Not that everything’s great here - the best thing about Maggie's Farm is its introduction (this is my song about the slave trade) and the best thing about Alabama Throwaway is its end, which didn't come half quick enough for me. And after three minutes of mainly crude raucous boogie, the abrupt cutting of RDW wasn't altogether unwelcome. The bonus gives a second look at Bob and Patti doing their inimitable thing - just as fine, though no more so, than the first. Sound throughout, though not perfect, is still passably good.

Though D480.a is not without its flaws, still its best is, without exaggeration, as good as it comes. Want to see naked Bob (I'm talking talent here)? This is the place.

THANKS (for this and more) G
STARS Five

NOTE: D480.su is even better!!