Search - Bob Dylan :: Real Live

Real Dylan.

Stephen Caratzas | Brooklyn, New York | 03/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At first glance "Real Live" might seem to be a total curiosity: a playlist featuring chestnuts like "Maggie's Farm" juxtaposed against (at the time) newer material from Dylan's brilliant "Infidels" album, and a version of "Tangled Up In Blue" that features a revised lyric. What's more, the fine band backing Dylan up is a veritable Who's Who of classic British rock: former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor on lead guitar, Ian McLagan of the Small Faces on keyboards, and ex-Focus drummer Colin Allen. Sounds odd, but it all works, and wonderfully so. The band - Taylor's muscular blues-based guitar work is particularly inspired - provides wonderful textures and underpinnings to the songs, giving Dylan total freedom to employ his unique vocals in a more emotional and expressive way than is usual even for him. Dylan performs a few of the songs solo, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and harmonica, and Carlos Santana is on hand to lend his guitar chops to the final cut, "Tombstone Blues". If the measure of a live album is its ability to capture a "moment" from a performance, then "Real Live" succeeds, and then some, on the glorious crowd sing-along during "It Ain't Me Babe". Not to be missed."

Real Live Rocks

Stephanie Sane | from the Asylum | 10/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My dad says he was blown away when he first heard this record. Mick Taylor had just left the Stones, was now playing with Mr. D, and his smoking guitar work supercharges this record. Sometimes Dad and I disagree, but not about this record. I do wish though, that they would have made it a double CD and released the whole show, cuz this CD just plain rocks. Oh well, maybe if we're lucky, they'll release one of the shows from this tour as a future legal bootleg in the Bootleg Series. Until then we'll have to be satisfied with "Real Live." Five stars for this one.Reviewed by Stephanie Sane"

Very good live Dylan

Adam Jensen | Kitchener, Ontario, Canada | 03/23/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Real Live is an album that seems to get a bad rap, that is, if people even know about it at all. But this reputation (or lack thereof) is unwarranted, as this is an extremely enjoyable album. There are two types of songs here: the acoustic numbers and the loud upbeat rockers.



The acoustic songs (It Ain't Me, Babe, Tangled Up in Blue, and Girl From the North Country) are for the most part very good. It Ain't Me Babe has the crowd singing along heartily, which is nice to hear. And Tangled Up in Blue, with alternate lyrics, is just amazing. I loved this tune when I heard the original but I just can't get enough of this one. Great. Girl From the North Country isn't quite as good, as Dylan's voice seems more strained.



As for the rockin' tunes (the rest of the album), they're almost all at a faster tempo than the album originals, and all feature great guitar work from Mick Taylor (formerly of the Rolling Stones); in fact, the band as a whole is very tight and Dylan is into it.



So while this album is hard to find and may be not as historically significant or (quite) as high quality as the Bootleg Series albums, it is nonetheless a good listen and I would recommend it to any Dylan fan."