London, England (30-Jun-81)

Mixed emotions. A day after "Bird's Nest In Your Hair" bootleg belongs to my favourites (see http://www.bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-b21.html). But when I watch this dvd it's not so powerfull as I expect. I have no strict idea why - picture is quite good, show is quite good, soud is great. But maybe I was expected something more. I can't decide with rating - three is too less, four is too much. But regarding to great Nashville 1978 bonus (Changing of Guards!) and nice artwork I give four.

First of all thanks to Pete for supplying the discs - very efficient process indeed. I am new to audience shot videos and dvds and have to say that I was very disappointed in the quality of the visuals but impressed by the sound!It was fascinating to see (just) the performances and travel back to 1981 and the variations to some of the lyrics were new to me. Having just seen Down the Highway probably was not the best timing for this review as the quality of that was staggering.Can anyone suggest something with much better visuals ??

D593.su MAGIC SWIRLIN' SHIP

Just back from another trip in the time machine - and what a treat, all the more so because this dip into the archive wasn't, for me, just another gig but rather more, for Earls Court 30.6.81 is a show I actually attended. I sat nowhere near as close in as the cameraman, and on the other side of the arena, so it's given back to me from a different perspective. But, all the same, given back it is, and in the most engagingly enjoyable form. The upgraded soundtrack here comes from a particularly fine audience tape that is a consistent pleasure to listen to. Rather more impressive still is the flawless sync job done by whoever put these two discs together. His job will not have been made easier by the fact that, on the first disc, ten of the thirteen songs have their first few seconds missing (a minor irritant!) which means that syncing must necessarily have been done song by song. But, cut after cut, it's perfect - somebody somewhere deserves big praise for such admirable devotion to duty. What's more, Bob is in fine voice. Things start well (I've always carried a fond memory of the seat-shaking percussion that drives Serve Somebody and, yes, here it is) then, after the tuneless thrash of Maggie's, soar away. Simple Twist was always one of his best songs. North Country Girl - wonderful. Forever Young, Slow Train, Tom Thumb, Summertime - all very fine. Disc Two starts with another snipped song - Tambourine Man - but then comes a run of seven complete songs with not a second missing and, bar a turgid Solid Rock, how good they sound. What Can I Do For You is especially well played. When, towards the end of the song, Bob turns his back on the audience and bends down to fiddle with his hands, you're praying that he's going to turn back clutching his harmonica (for, during Forever Young, that's just what he did do) - but sadly not. Even Watchtower is good. Here's your chance to hear this now-tired old song resurrected - to hear it back in the days before it was shunted up the set-list to have the life flogged utterly out of it. When You Gonna Wake Up is a song I'd not much previously warmed to, but the presence of its performance here is such that you're conquered with ease (provided, of course, you can close your mind to the searching question it insistently asks). In The Garden, sadly, is cut at both ends. During Blowin' In The Wind the cameraman has head-trouble as all around him stand - though the film generally is very well shot, nice and steady and largely unobstructed. I remember during this song the hall being lit with thousands of matches and lighters held aloft (think of the front cover of Before The Flood) - a nice moment this footage misses entirely - well, you can't have everything. The show closes with a lovely solo Don't Think Twice.



The only reservation I'd have in recommending this show to anyone is the inevitably moderate quality of the video image, which is pretty much bleached out. Clear definition is lost, presumably in the process of repeat copying, although much remains, including plenty of eye-pleasing colour. Look on what you're seeing as a Matisse canvas come magically to life and given voice. Let its languorously swirling palette accompany your mind on this wonderful journey in song - a chance bequeathed to us by this most generous and liberally-gifted of artists (that's Bob, not Matisse) and those equally praiseworthy filmers, tapers and DVD-makers, whoever they may be.

In case you feel all that's not enough already, bonus pro-shot footage comes from Nashville '78 and features a few random snippets of an electric Tambourine Man, a full, scorching Masters Of War (Billy Cross to the fore) and finally a hurried and ultimately abruptly-cut Changing Of The Guard (a timely reminder, all the same, of what a fine song that is). To access this film independently, highlight the two lines of text in the top right corner of disc two's main menu screen then press SELECT, which will take you to a second menu screen featuring the Nashville cuts only. Though D012, D441.3, D472, D485, D545.su and D593.su all include this material, only the second of them (i.e. D441.3) offers Changing both incomplete, as here, and in full.

THANKS to BC for a special treat.
STARS One off because, for reasons outlined above, I'm probably biased here; also because Abraham, Martin & John, one of the highlights of the original set-list is sadly absent; in recognition, too, of the regrettably shopworn video quality. Thus four.