To commemorate 30 years since the release of
Dylan's first
Columbia album, a marathon tribute concert was held at New York's
Madison Square Garden, with a galaxy of stars and voices from the past taking part. The cumulative effect of this tribute was staggering, revealing just how much truly great
Dylan material there is to choose from all of his periods. A firm nucleus of the three surviving members of
Booker T. & the MG's, plus
G.E. Smith on guitar and
Jim Keltner and
Anton Fig on drums, anchors the bands, and most of the stars offer fresh slants on songs familiar and obscure. Among the more memorable interpretations are
Richie Havens' moving
"Just Like a Woman," completely within his style;
the Clancy Brothers' fervent conversion of
"When the Ship Comes In" to an
Irish folk idiom; the swinging, countrified
"You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" from
Mary Chapin Carpenter,
Shawn Colvin, and
Rosanne Cash; and a sullen
"Masters of War" by
Eddie Vedder and
Mike McCready on acoustic guitars.
Lou Reed went through the bootlegs to come up with the pounding
"Foot of Pride," which is perfectly suited to
Reed's declamatory style.
Eric Clapton shrugs off his diffident manner to deliver one of the most electrifying performances of his life in
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" -- each guitar lick and vocal cuts angrily to the bone -- and
George Harrison makes his first U.S. concert appearance in 18 years with
"Absolutely Sweet Marie." Dylan himself appears at the end, wildly
improvisational and harshly authentic in voice on
"It's Alright, Ma" and
"Girl of the North Country." By no means does this box contain the entire concert, though, and while the reason was probably to make the thing fit on two well-packed CDs, some of the deletions are inexplicable. To cite just a few examples,
Harrison's
"If Not for You" is missing; so are
Clapton's
"Love Minus Zero, No Limit" and some numbers by
Booker T. & the MG's (
"Gotta Serve Somebody" and
"Lay Lady Lay" are in
Stax's
Time Is Tight box). Even
Dylan's own performance of
"Song to Woody" is not here; the booklet pleads "technical problems" but it sounded fine on the live telecast. Nevertheless, enough of the concert is here to suggest its triumph -- and all were reminded that the fountainhead of all of this music was still alive, creative, and unwilling to be consigned to the history books. ~ Richard S. Ginell
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