Birmingham/Aston Villa, UK (02-Apr-95)

3-5+/5/4+/4+/5
8-15/14/12/13/14 (avg. 13.25 A-)
Left balcony 20˙
1:42:38:24

DIFFERENCES AND IMPROVEMENTS OVER D358.m2/MS-159:
-sound upgraded
-missing and obstructed parts filled with stills

PERFORMANCE/HIGHLIGHTS/SPECIAL MOMENTS:
-another great show in the 1995 European Spring tour, with “What Good Am I,”
“Tears Of Rage” and “Lenny Bruce” the special treats
-Dylan sings several songs sans guitar, center stage
-Dylan starts with the wrong harp on “Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues” but
quickly grabs one in the right key and blows a fine solo
-mean take on “Tombstone Blues” with great lead swaps by Dylan and Jackson
-long and majestic “Tears Of Rage” with eerie pedal steel by Baxter
-another tender & moving acoustic set highlighted by Jackson’s acoustic
guitar & Baxter’s mandolin & dobro; the highlight is “To Ramona”
-Dylan singles out Jackson for his lead guitar on Mr. Tambourine Man,” but an
accolade might have been better deserved by Baxter for his excellent dobro
-great, sustained harp, especially on “Mr. Tambourine Man”
-Dylan nails “Desolation Row” singing most, if not all, of the verses in a
9—1/2 minute performance
-Dylan muffs some lines in the “taxi” verse of “Lenny Bruce” but improvises
his way out of it
-Baxter cooly puffs a cigarette during “Like A Rolling Stone”
-engine room skillfully manned, as always, by Watson & Garnier

DISTANCE/POSITION: 8-15 (Left balcony 20˙) Effective zooming, but panning limited by bodies on left and right. Camera mostly fixed on Dylan knees to waist-up with other players seen when camera zooms out or when near Dylan; Garnier and Baxter in his sailor’s cap especially prominent

AUDIO: 15 (excellent LB-1613) (some static near end of “Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues,” during “All Along The Watchtower” and during “To Ramona”) (had cuts before encores that were filled with extracted audio from the video soundtrack)

STEADINESS: 12 (a bit jittery but quite watchable; encores shakier)

HEADS/OBSTRUCTIONS: 12 (bodies on left and right occasionally unobstructed; 2nd encore more obstructed)

FOCUS: 13 (excellent color & light; focus quite good with occasional adjustments, especially when house lights are dimmed; grainy when close-up)

EDITING: editor filled missing and obstructed parts with stills (see setlist details)

Concert #658 of The Never-Ending Tour
Bob Dylan (vocal, acoustic & electric guitar, harp)
Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar, electric lap steel guitar, dobro, mandolin)
John Jackson (acoustic & electric guitar)
Tony Garnier (electric & standup bass)
Winston Watson (drums & percussion)

Filmed by “THE TWO DAVES”
Master video transferred & disseminated by COOPS2009
Audio recorded by AN UNIDENTIFIED TAPER
Audio shared by OUTSIDETLAW
Edited, sound upgraded & authored by YASSOU

VIDEO SOURCE & LINEAGE:
MS-159/D358.m2
Taper: “The Two Daves”
Transferred & disseminated by Coops2009
D6 A8 S8 H8 F9 BR3
99 mins
VIDEO : Mpeg-2, 720 x 576. 25 fps, pic ratio 4.3. PAL
AUDIO : AC3 Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, stereo 38.4 kb/s
EC30 tapes transferred to PC via a Panasonic NV-W1 Professional triple standard vhs machine.
Files authored to DVD with Tempgenc DVD Works Author 4.
MS-159 vob files > MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2 > dv > iMovie 6.0.3

AUDIO SOURCE & LINEAGE:
LB-1613
Off master
LB rating: A
Taper: Unidentified
Shared by OutsideTLaw
CDR > EAC > WAV > MKW > SHN
CDs > hd > aiff files > Toast Titanium 11.0.4 > SD II disk images > iMovie 6.0.3.

DVD PRODUCTION NOTES:
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)

ADDITIONAL COOPS 2009 NOTES on MS-159/D358.m2:
This is a terrific gig, featuring one of the best To Ramona's you’re likely to hear (or see). Steady and clear; well worth getting.
Remember even if you have some of the Daves films already that at best your copies
will be 2 generations poorer than anything in the Masters series, so get em all.
These will be with original sound though many will feature as sound upgrades eventually with my two mates Yassou and Madhasse helping out

ADDITIONAL LB NOTES FOR LB-1613:
different recording than bootleg "With One Hand Waving Free" based on different crowd at end of d1t11; in comparison this has fuller warmer sound; (a bittorrent from 12/09 is a close eac match on d1t1 with same digital flaws plus drops at beginning of d1t2 and d2t2); described as "SOURCE: "off master" (aud) recording
drop/static d1t3 1:43, 2:09, 2:47; drop/cut d2t6 0:02 not in music