San Jose, CA (19-May-98)

Note: It was tempting to give this 4 stars. When it's good, it's excellent. But, much is either missing or off-target, so 3 stars seems more prudent.

Update: Watched it again. Bumped it up to 4-minus stars.

4+/5/2+/2/5+
12/14/6/5/15 (avg. 10.00 B-)
Right rear 30˙
1:12:53:17


PERFORMANCE/HIGHLIGHTS/SPECIAL MOMENTS:
-Bob greets his cousin Linda after the band intros saying: "I wanna say hello to my cousin Linda O’Neill who’s here someplace.”
-"Stone Walls And Steel Bars"

DISTANCE/POSITION: 4+ (filmer alternates between full-stage and great waist-up shots)

AUDIO: 14 (very clear sound; level a bit harsh on Dylan's vocals; said to be either soundboard or from Dylan's "ear monitors")

STEADINESS: 6 (filmer had to shoot between numerous bodies in motion)

HEADS/OBSTRUCTIONS: 5 (filmer had to shoot between numerous bodies in motion)

FOCUS: 15 (excellent color and resolution)

EDITING: The editor faced many challenges. The first two songs were entirely missing, so single stills with audio overdub was used. After that, stills were used to fill missing or off-target/shaky/obstructed parts. Both audio and video were clipped before and after the final song, so audio from the video soundtrack was used.

VIDEO SOURCE & LINEAGE:
Hi8 tape (master or off master)
filmer unidentified
shared by Tom P. & raygun
4+/3/2+/2/5+
12/8/6/5/15
Right rear 30˙
Hi8 tape > Sony Digital Video Camera Recorder (DCR-TRV480) > iMovie 6.0.3.

AUDIO SOURCE & LINEAGE:
LB-7231
LB rating: A
equipment & taper unidentified
shared by tbc & saccho via bittorrent
tracker > shn files > flac > Toast Titanium 11.0.4> SD II disc image > iMovie 6.0.3.

DVD PRODUCTION PROCESS:
Produced by yassou on a MacBook Pro running Lion 10.7.5 and Apple software.
Audio and video assets edited in iMovie 6.0.3; authored, multiplexed and burned to VIDEO_TS folder in iDVD 7.1.2 (Professional Quality 2-pass variable bit rate encoding)

LB notes for LB-7231:
Commercial Bootleg (soundboard?)
equipment/taper: unidentified
1 CD (No lbl)
LB rating: A
unknown equipment > Commercial Bootleg > unclekurty's wallet > Plextor UltraPlex 40 max > EAC > WAV > MKW > SHN > flac > Toast Titlanium 11.0.4 > SD II > iMovie 6.0.3

bittorrent download 02/09; harsh; has heavy tv band for first 5 tracks, then light tv band for 5 more tracks; in comparison to bootleg LB-3354 this has similar wav and spectral view except volume doubled to maximum and different tv band; that also has more visible square wav, digipop, and discontinuity flaws but did not hear the difference; excellent sound [A]; (a bittorrent from 04/10 is a sort of close eac match on t1 with same digital flaws; described as "San Jose 98 Soundboard (1cd); Silver cd - Switch (NCH) audio rip - Flac Level 8" with filenames like "Track01.flac"; xref-00318); has a lot of clipping

Commercial Bootleg>unclekurty's wallet>Plextor UltraPlex 40 max>EAC>WAV>MKW>SHN

*From Deep Beneath The Waves: An astounding recording sourced from either the soundboard or* if you listen to the rumors, from someone tapping into the frequency that was
transmitted to Bob's "ear monitors," i.e. no monitors on stage at this show. Feel free to comment on that rumor in the newsgroups. In any case, a devastatingly bright, true sound highlighted by the full richness of Bob's vocals, vocals that were strong and energetic during this show, full of feeling and raw, naked emotion. A seemingly pedestrian setlist is eclipsed by the amazing recording quality and performances of all parties involved. You wanna get "next" to him, can't get much "closer" than this. An "in your face and in your heart" recording. Essential. It gallops, it trots, it lopes, it sprints - it's a wild ride but enjoyable every step of the way.