His songs don't have any precise form. The versions we know and love from the albums are just where the song went at that moment, and ended up being what he considered the best at the time. Like A Rolling Stone is a great example. The classic version, a piece of music history, is actually quite a sloppy and tentative performance. Later takes were getting tighter but they just couldn't get a complete take. And it sounded different the day before. And it would sound different again the day after. Rhythms, chords, words, all constantly changing, swirling and whirling. That's part of what makes Dylan so special. How does one of Dylan's songs go? Depends what day it is.
I believe Dylan once said that his songs, as written and as initially recorded, were only blueprints for what the song could become. Though he has spent his entire career demonstrating just that, with countless variations (changing tempos, arrangements, accompaniments, and even lyrics), it still amazes me that people who claim to be long time fans still will complain that a performance doesn't sound exactly like the first record.
I forgot to mention "vocal phrasing". Dylan frequently changes his vocal phrasing: accents, emphasis, timing, stretching and bending of lyrics to create a new meaning of a song for the listener. To quote the web: "Phrasing refers to how you sing the words in the time, or rhythm of a song. Good singers will push forward at certain spots, pull back at others, in order to create musical tension and emotional impact." At this, Dylan may be the greatest master in all of "rock music". Those who complain that a Dylan performance cannot be recognized just have no understanding of the art of vocal phrasing. It isn't at all about the purity of a voice. Almost any middle school choir member can have a pure voice.
Since he's done almost no "retrospective" recorded work this century, it's hard to compare it to anything else, other than the staged Masked & Anonymous live stuff. Compared to M&A, I think this is far better. And compared to even the best-sounding of the NET boots, I think this one trumps 'em far and away. And if we're going to compare this to the albums of original music he's done, I think his voice sounds better here than all of 'em, except maybe L&T. The sound here is probably closest to the three songbook standards albums (no drums and all, and sensitive singing) and the more tender bits of R&RW.
I was playing my audio transfer of Shadow Kingdom on the housewide stereo system. My wife (who does like Dylan) said, "This must be the younger Dylan." When I told her it was his most recent work, she said, "Wow! Impressive!"
Don't believe the rumors. These are the players you are hearing (in a pre-recorded performance) and seeing (in various line-ups): Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, harmonica Shahzad Ismaily – guitar Buck Meek – guitar Alex Burke – accordion Janie Cowan – bass Joshua Crumbly – bass I think it's absurd to think they would fly in a master like Shahzad Ismaily to have him stand in the shadows and mime. If you hire Shahzad Ismaily, you hire him to play. Since Shahzad Ismaily has also worked with Dylan's friend Tom Waits there is a direct connection right there. A few years back I was able to witness Shahzad Ismaily up close and in person, when he was one of the artists in residence on a project in Germany. His style on guitar is very similar to Freddy Koella's* and that's the kind of guitar playing you hear from him in the "Shadow Kingdom". I am sure it's Ismaily. *Check out Ismaily's first solo release "Sea Legs" (2019) – it sounds exactly like something off of Freddy Koella's solo albums. P.S.: Janie Cowan has confirmed it's her, Alex(ander) Burke has confirmed it's him. Buck Meek was confirmed by someone who knows him.
It is almost like the rumors that Paul McCartney is dead and Elvis is alive. Maybe it was Paul that did all the instruments, and Elvis on vocals.
Fair enough. I’ve only watched this once, although listened a lot. I’ve only been reading the comments that suggested the players were all essentially amateur bass players. All that said, the guitar playing is not very sophisticated, which I’m fine with and why I thought it might be Bob himself.
There is a precedent for Bob playing tricks lately. Rolling Thunder documentary, lifting lines and art, Bon Bon club in Marseille…
Just listened to Tombstone on nice headphones and it is growing on me. Lots of subtle instrumentation that makes it cool and gives some depth to the repetitive chords I was hearing, especially some nice blues riffs on both electric and acoustic.
A Pitchfork review, making the David Lynch similarities that some of us have picked up on… Log into Facebook
Cool versions of these songs and the sound is great. Not a live performance tho. Totally mimed. It’s not even trying to seem like they’re really playing so it must just be part of the package. I really like these versions tho, and Bob sounds great!
No, I'd say it was not live. The musicians were obviously miming, especially the guitarists. They didn't match up with the music at all. There's some debate whether Bob's vocals were live, but I've watched it several times now and it looks like at least sometimes he's lip syncing.
It’s Bob and a bass player, an electric guitatist, an acoustic guitarist, and an accordion player very obviously miming miming to newly recorded versions of mostly 60s/early 70s Dylan songs. No drums. Bob is on acoustic for a couple of songs and plays harmonica. What was it you wanted is one of the more recent songs. Likely the same players that re-recorded the songs. Each song is in a different setting, looks like different rooms in the same building maybe. All black and white, sometimes there’s a very small audience.
My personal opinion incoming re: live vs pre-recorded. While the video/audio package itself is pre-recorded, I don't doubt for a second that the audio we're hearing was recorded live in the studio. First of all, we know, historically, that Bob likes to cut his albums live. That's why we have so many cool alternate takes that show up in his bootleg series, even on his 21st Century releases. Listening to these versions, take "Tombstone Blues" for example. There's no steady rhythmic pulse, Dylan is dictating the flow of the music with his vocal delivery. He sings the lines and the band are responding with chord changes around those lines. That sort of performance is really difficult to pull off unless your live in the room responding to the the other performers who are right alongside you. In short, my experience tells me that this was recorded live in the studio, and the footage is effectively a music video to the live performances.
The mystery continues as Dylan has once again proven he can get us thinking about what's real and what's not. I watch those conman shows on repeats Leverage and Hustle from the UK and Dylan would fit right in with this plan and his others over the years. I love being conned - it humbles me and I can tell people here and around the net who are pissed don't like to be humbled especially when money is involved. He gave us a product for our money though he didn't advertise it accurately purposely - nobody forced us to spend the money on it but I get some people's arguments that they want what they thought they paid for. Then again, how many of us ran to YouTube or elsewhere to try to sneak around paying for it? That's one reason why he named his boxset series the Official Bootleg series. He knows that we also have sneaky ways of conning people - like all the musicians who lost money cause we bought boots and illegally place things on YouTube or elsewhere. No one said life was fair.
The reworking of "Tombstone Blues" and complete re-writing of "To Be Alone With You" were worth the $25 alone. We can only hope he offers a "Later Songs" version in the near future!
Any rumors about it being available after Sunday in another format or audio only? And any advice on how to get an audio track version?