Binghamton, NY (14-Nov-04)

This recording, taken from the tail end of the year, makes a nice contrast when compared with d322.su. Freddy has left the band to be replaced by Stu Kimball and although his playing is generally fine both 'Highwater' and 'Highway 61 Revisited' suffer from a lack of fire; a worrying indication of what was to come perhaps.

On the plus side the show does start with a good 'Down Along The Cove' with its 'Kick you when you're up and knock you when you're down' reference to the much earlier 'Hard Times in New York Town'. The version of 'God Knows' that follows is pretty good too but then I always like to see songs from 'Under The Red Sky' on the play list, I only wish Bob would resurrect '2X2'. There is also a fine 'Not Dark Yet' with Bob crooning the melody rather than attempting to recreate the half spoken/half sung vocal of the recorded version. However Bob's vocals are noticeably rougher than earlier in the year and both 'I Shall Be Released' and 'Lay,Lady,Lay' (time to put this one to bed Bob!) although musically sound, suffer accordingly.

Technically the show is very well filmed, steady - with intermittent panning and lots of close ups of Bob. Althought the curse of the amateur filmer does strike during the relatively rare performance of 'Poor Boy' when for one of the few times during the concert the camera zooms out and remains that way for a good duration of the song. What makes the dvd a real keeper, and one you will return to, though is the amazing audio track; easily the best I have heard on any dvd. In fact the audio is so good that when I played this dvd straight after viewing an official Rolling Stones one( ok it was the new 'Bigger Bang' release- I know...I know...)there was none of the auditiory adjustment that is usually necessary needed. A deserved four stars! Many thanks to 'White Dove' for sending me this.

The show started out with a nice version of "Down Along the Cove", with Bob in good spirits and good voice. "God Knows" was a pleasant 2nd song, and it looked like the boys were having some fun on this one. After the first two songs I knew I was in for a treat of a DVD...good picture, awesome sound.

For the most part of the show, I'd say 90%, the taper does an excellent job of getting right on Bob with no intrusions. At times you may wish for a little more of the band in view, but it does not distract from the quality in my oppinion.

As this DVD is a sound upgrade, there is not too much to add except I thought the piano was mixed in beautifully.

Finally, for the performance review, a quick synopsis will do...ON FIRE!! Bob seemed to be in complete control on this night, and songs such as "Po'Boy", "God Knows", and "Tangled up in Blue" just furthered the PLEASE NEVER QUIT BOB phylosophy. On Tangled..Bob just absoluteley nails the song, even though leaving out some of my favorite verses. It has just been very rare to hear him hit this song so right on with the Piano arrangment. However, that did not matter on this night as the song regained some of the power it had from the 2000-2001 concerts.

To conclude, please get this DVD if you can. This will be a most welcome addition to your collection.

For those wondering, the audio upgrade came from my recording. However, I did not participate in the upgrade. But very happy how in turned out. :-) Great video. Nice closeups. Most importantly, great show that night! Po' Boy was awesome! Bob was on fire all night long.

Audio source:

AT853RX > Denecke PS2 > Denecke AD20 > JB3

Peace,

Spyder9

I couldn't write a better review than the other one on this page, but would just like to echo what was said. Quite frankly, this is a great dvd! 2004 is far from my favorite year as far as the music is concerned, but this is tremendous. Highlights for me were Not Dark Yet, Tangled up in Blues, God Knows and obviously: Po' Boy! A very professional job.

2004 was a strange year for DVDs. There are excellent ones from St Louis and Toronto from March, but then the quality of shows filmed between then and October is quite poor. This all changed with the Fall tour of the college campuses. 3 shows have so far surfaced from October and November, De Kalb (#D483), Bethlehem (#D463.su) and this fine offering from Binghampton. These are all excellent quality.

The first thing that strikes you about this DVD is the technical quality. The colour range and contrasts are so rich and the lighting is always great, its also very steady footage. The opening 5 songs are all from one point of view which was directly facing Bob in the balcony. His hat is a little low on his head, so at times you can't see much of his face, as seen in the first screenshot.

At the beginning of the 5th song in the set, the camera blacks out. As sometimes happens in audience footage (Toronto 2004's encore I believe is another example), it fades back in and we realise the filming party has decided to move spot on the balcony to get a different view. They remain here for the rest of the show (see the 2nd and 3rd screenshot). Its a further back shot, but is a better perspective overall as you can now get good shots of the band. Unfortunately, this isn't fully exploited and we get few shots of the band, with just the odd snippet of Larry or Stu during an instrumental verse.

In terms of performance, I think you'll find Bob and his band on some of the finest form they've been on this year. Its clear Mr Dylan is enjoying himself immensely as he regularly makes these beaming smiles to his players and even throws some great expressions to the crowd - most notably at the end of Things have Changed.

I think that the piano came into its own in the fall tour. For the best part of 18 months, it had been bordering on inaudible. Here though, the sound quality of the DVD is impeccable and we notice the piano is as essential a component of the sound as anything. It’s also evident that Dylan the piano player enjoys his job a lot more than Dylan the guitarist. During Lay Lady Lay, he leans his left hand on the edge of the piano and slouches while playing a delightful little right-handed solo. This stellar playing is also evidenced during a beautiful "I shall be released", where his fills and playing are just incredible. Its easy to not really hear the piano on just an audio boot but here you see just how essential it is to the current sound and how good a piano player Mr Dylan still is, 50 years after first performing with the instrument. Other highlights on the disc are fine versions of "I don't believe you (she acts like we never have met)" and "Not Dark Yet".

While at times, the camerawork isn't perfect, the excellent piano playing and the opportunity to see it up close, coupled with excellent sound, both in terms of the band's performance and DVD quality, make this perhaps the definitive document of the fall tour 2004.