{"id":18139,"date":"2023-12-13T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=18139"},"modified":"2023-12-12T20:47:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T20:47:23","slug":"not-his-best-but-still-lit-by-gems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2023\/12\/13\/not-his-best-but-still-lit-by-gems\/","title":{"rendered":"NOT HIS BEST, \u00a0BUT STILL LIT BY GEMS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bob\u00b4s Budokan Box Set<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOT HIS BEST,  BUT STILL LIT BY GEMS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

says Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime source for this article was published in Paste On Line magazine. We have said it many times before, but this site is staffed by excellent writers and in-depth content, and covers all the popular art forms.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Almost sixty tracks are squeezed on to a four cd box set that expands the frames of, but not necessarily the contents of\u00a0 Dylan\u2019s panned 1978 Japan tour. If we described them in Premier League Football terms we would probably say \u00b4Shots at goal: plenty. Shots on Target, very few\u00b4; Nevertheless, if you look or listen through the highlights reel there are some beautifully crafted goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These goals are some gems from his post-Blood On The Tracks<\/em> era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There was a time when Robert Zimmerman (left) <\/em><\/strong>was a mere mortal, when his face was not yet chiselled into the Mount Rushmore of modern music. It\u2019s hard to imagine, I admit, but it\u2019s true. From where we sit now\u2014over 60 years after he first appeared as the skinny, Midwestern poet named Bob Dylan\u2014his legacy is almost too massive to fully consider. Millions of words have been spilled cementing his place in the history of the world. Not the history of music, not of art, not of pop culture, but of the world. That might sound like an overstatement, but I don\u2019t think it is. In 1978, things were not so secure. Yes, he\u2019d already been the voice of a generation, ripped through his legendary \u201860s run capped by\u00a0Blonde on Blonde<\/em>\u00a0and bled all over the tracks\u2014but, as the \u201870s moved into their later stages, doubters became more and more vocal. Then, Dylan released his third official live record,\u00a0Bob Dylan at Budokan<\/em>, (right)<\/em><\/strong> and people absolutely hated it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here was a record of some of his most essential tracks arranged and performed in a style not one person asked for, at a time when Dylan himself seemed to be desperately searching for what to do next. The reaction was almost unanimously harsh, receiving a single star from the likes of Rolling Stone<\/em> and a sarcastic Cheap Trick comparison from renowned critic Robert Christgau. Granted, Dylan is never shy about pissing people off but, to many, Bob Dylan at Budokan<\/em> was, at best, confounding and, at worst, a sign of his precipitous fall from cultural importance. And yet, here we are, almost 45 years later, cracking open a 4-CD, 58-track deluxe box set celebrating The Complete Budokan 1978<\/em>. Times, they change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing unavailable to the critics mentioned above is hindsight. When we look back now, we can see more clearly the factors that led to his 1978 world tour. From the mid \u201860s on, Dylan\u2019s life outside of music was rarely static, but 1977 was an especially turbulent year. An ugly divorce, his failed debut as a filmmaker and, to a lesser extent, the death of his hero Elvis Presley left Dylan a bit unmoored. He was also undergoing a shift in perspective that would, in less than two years, result in Dylan pivoting to Christian-influenced music, once again entirely changing the scope of his life and work. Where some might have reasonably seen Bob Dylan at Budokan<\/em> as an ill-informed cash grab at the time, we can now view it as an essential moment in understanding what would come later. Dylan was always searching, reaching and, it should be said, pissing people off\u2014and Bob Dylan at Budokan<\/em> was no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So where does that leave us when approaching something as extensive as\u00a0The Complete Budokan 1978<\/em>? Equal parts overwhelmed, astounded and baffled. There\u2019s a lot to work though within this four-and-half-hour box set, but let\u2019s start with the songs themselves. Part of the nature of Dylan\u2019s trip to Japan\u2014in which he and his band played two concerts at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo\u2014was that he was told to only play his most recognizable songs, making the shows, and the record, come across like a greatest hits collection. Of course, Dylan being Dylan, he adhered to this directive in the loosest terms possible, taking his most popular songs\u2014\u201cMr. Tambourine Man,\u201d \u201cLike A Rolling Stone,\u201d etc.\u2014changing their structure and presentation so drastically that they are nearly unrecognizable to less devoted listeners. When the Japanese official told Dylan to play \u201cA Hard Rain\u2019s A-Gonna Fall,\u201d I doubt he expected an entirely instrumental version featuring an extended saxophone solo (of which not one, but two versions are included within the box set).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s here we must again mention the obvious effect Elvis\u2019 death had on Dylan at the time. So much of the critical lambasting he received around the original live record was how much his arrangements\u2014which included a trio of back-up singers, a whole lot of flute and even bongos\u2014felt like some gaudy Vegas act, akin the spiraling, out-of-shape King at the end of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is the kind of hare-brained idea that only an artist like Dylan could even get off the ground\u2014but when it works, it is kind of incredible. \u201cDon\u2019t Think Twice, It\u2019s Alright\u201d as a jaunty, reggae-adjacent jam with enough flute for a Jethro Tull album may sound foolhardy, but the song comes across as genuinely fun and even a bit revelatory. Meanwhile,\u00a0Blood On The Tracks<\/em>\u00a0standout \u201cShelter From The Storm\u201d feels like it could fit snugly on the back-half of Springsteen\u2019s\u00a0The River<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, the album\u2019s misfires are indeed some of the most egregiously ill-advised versions of classic Dylan songs I\u2019ve heard from anyone, much less Dylan himself. Cuts like \u201cBallad of a Thin Man\u201d and \u201cMaggie\u2019s Farm\u201d have to be so crudely wrestled into their new format that they\u2019re nearly unlistenable\u2014made worse by the fact that each gets two separate versions included on the box set. Then there\u2019s something like \u201cBlowin\u2019 In The Wind,\u201d which Dylan plays with the exhaustion of someone forced to regurgitate his iconic protest song so much that he has completely disassociated from its original purpose. How many versions must a man lay down? But then, just as you might grow weary of all these reheated hits, in come the first notes of \u201cLove Minus Zero\/No Limit,\u201d here presented with full horn accompaniment\u2014maybe the best version of the song ever put to tape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s rare I find it worthwhile to approach any music from a consumer product angle but, as you delve further\u00a0The Complete Budokan 1978<\/em>, it becomes hard to ignore. This box set purportedly aims to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Dylan\u2019s first shows in Japan and, yet, those shows took place in late February and early March, making its release date more in step with holiday shopping than historical accuracy. Bob Dylan is, at this point, an institution, and this box set, more than anything, continues to drive that point home. His legacy does not need securing and so\u00a0The Complete Budokan 1978<\/em>\u00a0inherently becomes catnip for completists and of diminishing value to anyone else. There are, I will admit, a few genuinely essential moments sprinkled throughout this project\u2014but there is far more filler. This isn\u2019t just for the Bob Dylan fan in your life, this is for the obsessive Dylan\u00a0connoisseur<\/em>\u00a0in your life. They can even pretend they didn\u2019t hate the original\u00a0Budokan<\/em>\u00a0like everyone else. After all, there\u2019s no success like failure, and failure\u2019s no success at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This box set purportedly aims to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Dylan\u2019s first shows in Japan and, yet, those shows took place in late February and early March, making its release date more in step with holiday shopping than historical accuracy. Bob Dylan is, at this point, an institution, and this box set, more than anything, continues to drive that point home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,45,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-and-tradition","category-music","category-performing-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18139"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18234,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18139\/revisions\/18234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}