Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Live 1964

Listened: Thursday May 27

It’s handy for this project that the first 3 alphabetically-organized Bob albums I own are from very different Bob periods.

As is clear from the cover, Live 1964 is still very young Bob – he’s starting to shift into his psychedelic poetry period (Tambourine Man) but clearly the crowd at this show loves his protest singer period.

Immediately evident from this recording is how energetic and strong his voice is – even a couple of years later he became a lot more mumbly and the electrified instrumentation became closer to level with the vocal. Also notable is the frequent interaction with the audience (though I think he might be stoned at this show – he does a lot of giggling).

I’m still lacking Another Side of Bob Dylan and The Times They Are A’Changin’ on CD, so I particularly enjoyed being introduced to I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met), With God On His Side, All I Really Wan’t To Do, and Spanish Harlem Incident via this album.

It’s also fun to hear Bob and Joan Baez together at the height of their 60s fame. I’d never heard her song Silver Dagger, despite it being the big hit early in her career, and I really enjoy it. Though I must note I’ve never thought the two of them sing well together at all. Not sure if it’s dueling egos, two clashing styles, or relationship issues, but certainly at this period they can’t keep it together. Later on it’s somewhat improved (upcoming in Live 1975) but still not great. It’s odd that this is the case, since they are so closely associated in people’s minds and Joan did some great solo versions of Bob songs.