Bob Dylan At Budokan: Opinions?

Universal Amphitheater, LA, CA June 2, 1978
Pavillon, Paris, France July 6, 1978
Charlotte, NC December 10, 1978

All much better concerts that should have been used for a live album instead of the Japan dates.

 

If this is the set proposed to CBS/Columbia it is no wonder they turned it down.

 

I had the original Japanese-only two-LP set months before it was finally released here and yeah, it's a really special album to me. Still have it, of course. Although, technically speaking, it predates STREET-LEGAL, Bob does perform one song from that on BUDOKAN. What I'm sayin' is I love me my STREET-LEGAL.

 

I'd be delighted to have/hear this set. I love the gospel period ... even Bob's onstage ranting and year-long refusal to perform any older material. Yeah Bob!

 

My favourite Dylan live album. Bought it the day it came out in this country and had its poster on my wall throughout the latter years of my teens. If anyone ever asked me if Dylan was worth investigating, I'd advise this rather than any of the numerous 'best of's. I maybe play it only every couple of years now, but still get that warm glow. Dylan at his most accessible.

 

Get yer tamborine ...

 

Favorite version of LARS..

 

I searched around a bit and found a few threads that seems inconclusive about it.
https://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1277293,1541585

http://expectingrain.com/discussion...d=428e1a6b59ac8206dbaafd123ad2f6b1&view=print

Anyway, this was supposed to be about Budokan. For the record I like the album, kind of dig that Dylan is unusually slick.

 

I like it.. it was the first record I ever bought.

 

The first Dylan album I bought. I find it very uplifting (particularly just after listening to a hard dose of Hard Rain!).

Come on, Bob, let's have a '78 Bootleg Series--Downunder/Asia, Europe, and US!

 

Tambourine Man—uplifting opener. This is a musical retrospective, so it makes sense that a song to his muse comes near the start of each ’78 show.

Prefer the slow-build up versions that came in the American leg.

Shelter—love this version. What kind of genre is this? Like some kind of gospel-chant.

Love Minus Zero—adore the orchestration. One of my favourite versions.

Ballad of a Thin Man—creepy and very dramatic. Nice intonations on the vocals. Love it.

Don’t Think Twice—guilty pleasure, reggae-version, though more powerful versions to come (Rotterdam? I can’t remember)

Side 2: Somewhat weaker. Much better versions of most of these appeared later in the tour—LARS at Charlotte kicks ass, One More Cup of Coffee is great but better with extended fiddle/bongo solos, Maggies got more powerful.

Oh Sister, though, I love this--voodoo incantation!

Side 3: again many of these songs got better, but Simple Twist of Fate is my favourite version (beating the album)—seductively charming and moving vocal. Love Watchtower but it begs for the extended fiddle solo that came later.

Side 4: Much to love here, especially It’s Alright Ma heavy metal and Forever Young (which brings out the lovely tune more than the album version, though the chorus gets a bit histrionic). Knockin’ reggafied was picked up again in ’81.

MIA: heavy rock sneering Masters of Wars from Earls Court, Tangled, and, personal favourites from the Far East leg, the lovely versions of Threw It All Away and Girl from the North Country where Bob’s vocals are so mellifluous and mellow.

There is so much quiet subversion on this tour, yet it’s so accessible and fun.

 

"It is said that ever since traveling to see Neil Diamond in Las Vegas last year, Dylan has been concerned with updating his concert stance. He was impressed enough to sign with Diamond's manager, Jerry Weintraub, several weeks later." Cameron Crowe, Rolling Stone, 7/13/78)

Dylan Going Vegas?

 

America was so down on Dylan '78, I pay no notice whatsoever--pure bias.

 

1978. Melbourne was one of the epicenters for punk/new wave. I was in art school (even shared one unit with Nick Cave). And I was in my third year of my Dylan obsession (how many years would it be now?). I was absorbing everything I could. By this stage I had most of his official output, and was acquiring as much of his unofficial output as I could afford on my slim student allowance. I loved the raw passion in his early acoustic work, loved the energetic reworkings in the Rolling Thunder tour, and was besotted by the power of the live 1966 Royal Albert Hall boot. Yeah, the energy and innovation of the Australian/British/US punk music was fantastic, but I was apart from my peers seeing that Dylan was as much punk/new wave, if not more so, as could be found on any of the 7" ot 12" disks we had to hunt for in the underground record stores which defiantly existed in our cultural wasteland.

Then Dylan announced a tour. Three nights, at the outdoor Myer Music Bowl. I queued for tickets, hoping to get a good seat in the limited seated area for one night's performance. Managed to get one, $21, and the unseated areas for the two other nights at $18. That was the rent money disposed of.

Finally the big day came, and I was over-excited with anticipation. I had been playing RAH and Hard Rain repeatedly in the buildup, hoping to experience the same energy. I was in the cold and wet (yes, the rain teemed down on those three nights, turning the grassed area into a mud field. Listen to a recording of these concerts, there is a huge cheer when Dylan sings "drenched to the bone" in "Tthe Times...").

The moment comes. The band starts playing. And WHAT are they playing?? Slick, arranged music. More like the devil evil disco that punk. Am I at the right place? But wait, here comes Dylan, it's gong to get better. But it doesn't. He plays along with the bland arrangements. And what is Dylan wearing? Nothing more than a white suit. Now a white suit was very symbolic in Australian music at the time. It was the trademark of a manufactured teen pop singer called Mark Holden (later to become the "idiot" judge on our first version of the "Idol" talent show). All that was missing was the red carnation. So here is Dylan backed with a slick and bland big band (not rock and roll) dressed in a way that identified him closer to the least credible singer in a city of punk.

I endured three nights, drenched to my core in a field of mud. Did not enjoy it at all. But Budokan was released (recorded before the Aust. tour leg), got the Japanese-only release on import, and thought I would reassess the tour. Still found it bland. Several years ago I was reflecting on the tour, and thought that it deserved re-assessing. After all, other Dylan albums I didn't appreciate when younger were thankfully given a second chance later in life, and now I love those albums. So I got the CDs of Budokan, and gave it many playings to be fair. Still find it as boring as anything. And, sorry to upset some, have never been able to get into Street Legal either.

So what can I say now. I was in the audience on 22 March 1978 when Dylan gave the only performance of Robert Johnson's "I'm a Steady Rolling Man". I recall hearing it, and thinking that I didn't know the song (I hadn't acquired any Johnson yet, I was on a student budget, remember). And somehow it had something a little special hidden behind the slick arrangement.

 

Another memory has come to mind from these three nights I experienced (from the tour of the album discussed). On one night Dylan performed an uncharacteristic three encores. The person who submitted the setlist which is quoted for those nights had left the arena after the second encore, so the third encore is undocumented.

 

Blackbushe had by far the best, and longest setlist, and was a terrific performance.

 

Saw two shows from this tour in October 1978. Philadelphia and Cleveland . They were road trips to edge city straight out of Hunter Thompson . Memories are vivid. He did "Lot to laugh, train to cry' as audience request in Philadelphia . Would have loved to see him open with 'love her with a feeling' but Muddy Waters was ok too.

 

I have and enjoy Budokan...I was 17 when it came out and it is the first time I heard many of his iconic songs...it made me go back into his catalog and find the gems that others had known about before...Street Legal was the first Dylan album I purchased and love a number of songs on that disc also...

 

My first Dylan album. I no longer own a copy. Introduced me to the songs, that I could go off and find better performances of, some from later in the same tour. I'd love a Bootleg series covering either the US & European tours, with at least 4 discs from each leg showing the band when they really got their act together!!

 

Poor representation of what that band was able to do. The European shows and the shows from latter half of the US fall tour were far superior.

 

Just listened for the first time. It may be the last. Considering it's the first disappointing Dylan album I've bought, after over 30 now in total, that's not a bad return.
Just these to go:

The 1966 Live Recordings
The Bootleg Series Vol. 5
The Bootleg Series Vol. 6
The Bootleg Series Vol. 12
The Bootleg Series Vol. 11
The Bootleg Series Vol. 7
The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
The Bootleg Series Vol. 10
The Bootleg Series Vol. 9
Live At The Gaslight 1962
In Concert, Brandeis University, 1963
MTV Unplugged
Fallen Angels
Triplicate
Real Live
Shot Of Love
Self Portrait
Christmas In The Heart
Under The Red Sky
Empire Burlesque
Dylan & The Dead
Saved
Dylan
Down In The Groove
Knocked Out Loaded

 

I was self-exiled for nearly a year from Bob's music and guess what, I'm now a Budokan convert, ....big style. The variety of arrangements and vocal stylings are mind-blowing. What was I thinking all these years to neglect this album so?

 

It’s everything everyone has said.
Interestingly bland.
I dig it enough to give it a spin once in awhile.