Disc 1 (November 16, 1993 first show):   Absolutely Sweet Marie, Lay Lady Lay, Blood In My Eyes, Queen Jane Approximately, Tight Connection To My Heart, Disease Of Conceit, I Want You, Ring Them Bells, My Back Pages, Forever Young.   (November 17, 1993 second show):   Ragged And Dirty, One More Cup Of Coffee, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight

Disc 2 (November 17, 1993 second show):   Ragged And Dirty, Lay Lady Lay, Tight Connection To My Heart, Weeping Willow, Delia, Jim Jones, Queen Jane Approximately, Ring them Bells, Jack-A-Roe, Forever Young, I Shall Be Released.   (November 16, 1993 second show):   One Too Many Mornings, My Back Pages

In 2002, the first of Bob Dylan's by-now-legendary 'acoustic only' Supper Club performances turned up as a pro-mix soundboard recording, having only previously been available as a series of fairly ordinary audience recordings. The 16th November 1993 Late Show seemed to be the only soundboard recording of these fours shows (two on 16th Nov '93, two more on the 17th) that was forthcoming. Obviosly this was an 'inside job' and the pre-emptive release of this tape seemed to put pay to any notion of the others seeing the light of day.

Now, some 5 years later, further soundboards of these shows have surfaced via the Liberator label.  If you're familiar with the earlier soundboard release of Nov. 16th Early Show (booted by Rattlesnake as 'The Supper Club' - RS121 - in 2002) then the sound quality is exactly the same. There are no flaws, no hiss, no edits and the sound quailty is perfectly mixed and crystal clear.

The performances are unique too - these were exclusive shows in an intimate setting in which Bob promotes his all-acoustic 'World Gone Wrong' album. Rarely performed songs and beautiful performances aplenty with the band providing appropriately subdued backing.

Some fans are devided on the merit of these performances, seeing as 1993 is not considered to be a generally 'vintage' year for Bob, but they are certainly unique and if you're a Bobaholic, you will waht these in your collection along with the earlier Rattlesnake disc. One of the performances, 17th Nov 1993 second show, still has yet to surface as a complete soundboard recording- the three tracks featured here being the only currently available sample of this event. Hopefully this one will be out in complete form at some point to complete the set.

So...this gets a 10 for sound, a 10 for performance...BUT....and this is where it gets complicated...! This is a major release of material, without doubt. It is highly, highly significant if you're a Bob Dylan collector - one of the best releases of material for many years. However, there are a couple of issues that make 'The Liberator's first effort as a commercial label fall short - firstly, there are small 2 second gaps between each track on the discs. I have heard that this was how the DAT masters came. This could have EASILY been sorted with a bit of pre-mastering before cd manufacture, can be done seamlessly on your PC and was presumably done with the board tape that surfaced in 2002 prior to it becoming public. Secondly, the packaging apprears to be inkjet or laserjet, not sure which, but certainly not professionally done. Yes, these are minor niggles, but it leaves room for a label like Rattlesnake to come along and hopefully carry on their set that they started in 2002, boost the volume and dynamics a touch as they did with their previous effort, package it properly and elimate the gaps, producing a definative 'keeper' of a disc.

As it is, as an archival performace and a release it gets the highest praise imaginable and a million thanks must go to 'The Liberator' for securing and making such an astonishing and totally previously unreleased soundboard available to fans. As a commercial release, it would be nice if Rattlesnake were to provide a definite version of these new Supper Club soundboards as they did in 2002...