Image via bobdylan.com
Bob Dylan - Springtime in New York
Bob Dylan changed the direction of rock and folk in the 1960s, and after a slump as the ‘70s returned to the leading edge with Blood on the Tracks and Desire. He challenged his audience with a trio of Evangelical Christian albums and upon emerging from that phase, found himself regarded as a man from the past. With his continued relevance seen as doubtful in some quarters, Dylan briefly took what was for him an unusual step by following trends rather than setting or ignoring them.
The latest entry in The Bootleg Series is important for showing what could have happened instead. From November 1981 through the release of Infidels in October 1983, Dylan was publicly silent but privately active, spending many hours in the studio with well-chosen casts of musicians. The concept behind The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 is to ride the train of thought that led Dylan through Infidels, his “comeback album,” and its aftermath, As British writer Damien Love writes in the lengthy and thoughtful booklet notes, Dylan “was very definitely a man looking for something” when he entered the studio to work on Infidels. He was “hunting after something else … the right sound with which to deliver those songs now.”
Dylan had always made his albums on the quick, cutting song after song with the pounding amphetamine drive of a Kerouac manuscript. This time he decided to take his time, working with coproducer Mark Knopfler, a fine guitarist whose band, Dire Straits, became the poster boys for the new musical alphabet of MTV and CD. Knopfler recorded Infidels with brand new digital formats (which rapidly became obsolete) and brought clean, antiseptic ‘80s production values to the album. This strained against Dylan’s natural tendency toward catching the moment in performance. At the time it was released, many Dylan fans embraced Infidels for reasons more ideological than musical but rumors persisted of other, “better” versions of the album.
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Some of those other versions are on Vol. 16 along with rehearsals, early takes and fascinating toss-offs from the months before and after Infidel’s recording This newest Bootleg shows Dylan’s restlessness as he moved away from preaching toward more complicated spirituality, playing with reggae while remaining true to the blues, folk and country that formed his music in the ‘60s. Dylan’s sandpaper voice and guitar provide continuity as he swept across—and dusted off—the roots of what would later be called Americana, singing originals and versions of Hank Williams and Junior Parker with well-earned authority. The grit and sensitivity were genuine.
The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 is enjoyable listening even without reference to its context within Dylan’s enormous catalog of songs and recordings. The album’s five discs are accompanied by extensive commentary and photographs in a hardcover book format.
