At 11:54 AM -0800 10/2/99, Don Yates wrote: >One thing worth mentioning -- Dylan's been radically reinterpreting his >songs in concert for years. Check out the '74 live album Before The Flood >for some *very* different versions of some familiar Dylan >"warhorses." Indeed, or *any* of Dylan's live albums. He's been reinterpreting and rearranging his material pretty consistently since about 1965. (Prior to that, in his all-acoustic all-the-time phase, he pretty much sung his songs live as he had recorded them in the studio, and vice versa.) For what it's worth, in my estimation Dylan's best live album is _Live 1966_ and _Before The Flood_ is his worst, but that's not say I think any of Dylan's albums is worthless. Hell, I even enjoy Columbia's 1973 "revenge" album. What I have noticed is that many people, even devout Dylan fans, are disappointed when they hear Dylan live for the first time. (Lance appears to be an exception to this; back in the day, I wasn't.) Dylan does not perform his songs as he records them: the arrangements are different, the moods are different, and Dylan's vocals are quite different. To me, the very quality of his voice, the timbre, the pitch, what have you, sound differnt live vs. in the studio. If you get too attached to the recorded performances of his songs (quite easy to do), it can be quite jarring at first. I personally think that, once you get used to the new approaches, however, his best recent live performances prove to be stunning in their emotionality and vocal dexerity. If anyone were wondering if the current live Dylan is going to be their cup of tea, I would recommend listening to his _Unplugged_ album (his second best live album, in my personal rankings), which does give a good impression of his current live vocal stylings. It is also the only album he has ever released which features his current touring band (well, the 1994 version anyway -- there's been changes since, but the overall band sound has been pretty consistent.) Ross Whitwam [EMAIL PROTECTED] Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics Program Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NYC
