DYLAN, BOB - CD
DENVER 1988

LABEL:
Scorpio BD-08021
SOURCE:
Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre, Denver, CO - June 15, 1988
FORMAT:
2CD
RUNNING TIME:
SOUND/SOURCE:
Stereo Soundboard
PACKAGING:
Double Slimline Jewelcase
 

Denver 1988 front

***image2***

SOUND 10 / PACKAGING 10 / PERFORMANCE 9

 
TRACK LIST:

Disc One

  1. Subterranean Homesick Blues
  2. One More Cup Of Coffee (from the Valley Below)
  3. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
  4. Stuck Inside Of Mobile
  5. You're A Big Girl Now
  6. Ballad Of A Thin Man
  7. Mama, You Been On My Mind (acoustic)
  8. Eileen Aroon (aoustic)
  9. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic)

  Disc Two

  1. Just Like A Woman
  2. Seeing The Real You At Last
  3. Simple Twist Of Fate
  4. Like A Rolling Stone
  5. Hard Rain acoustic
  6. Maggie's Farm
 
REVIEW:

WOW, the wait is finally over and   this long rumored 2-cd set is finally hitting the streets and one can only marvel at the incredible sound quality of this Stereo Soundboard CD. Big thanks have to go out to the Keeper Of   The Keys of this show for letting this (let me repeat) INCREDIBLY STUNNING sound quality show see the light of day.

Scorpio has released another Hall Of Famer, coming from an uncirculated   tape of the 6th NET show from Denver Colorado, June 15 1988. The sound is crisp, clean and vibrant   and   literally puts you right in the middle of the stage, so much so that you can actually hear G.E Smith calling out song titles to band between songs. This is the mix all of you Dylan fans have been waiting for if you have grown tired of Bob's guitar stylings. Bob's guitar is mixed very low in the mix which makes for a fantastically tight stripped down power trio performance, with the majestic guitar stylings of G.E. Smith, the tight always in the pocket groove of Kenny Arronson on bass and Christopher Parker on drums.

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is the show opener, as it was for  every show from this tour and unfortunately, Bob just can't keep up with the frenetic pace of this rocker and blows quite a few of the lyrics but makes up for it with the next song in the set. " One More Cup of Coffee" is performed in a loose and majestic style, with Bob giving  a very powerful vocal performance. Smith and Dylan blend very nicely on electric guitars with exciting drum fills from Christopher Parker. Kenny Arronson as usual is holding it all down with fine precision and timing while G. E. gives one of his most insistant guitar solos. This is the only time "One More Cup of Coffee" was played on this tour and is enough to warrant this 2-cd set a place of honor in any serious Dylan collection. Other standouts from the electric portion's of the show being, "It's All Over Now,Baby Blue", "Stuck Inside of Mobile", and "You're a Big Girl Now", "Maggie's Farm" and the funky groove-filled, "Seeing The Real You At Last".

The acoustic selections include one of Dylan's finest versions of the traditional song, "Eileen Aroon" where every nuance of Bob's finely crafted vocal phrasing is heartfelt and emotionally effective. Dylan and the sound quality really shine on "Mama You Been on My Mind", performed with a tenderness and urgency in Bob's vocal that conveys a sense of sorrow and regret aimed at a long lost love that can never be regained. One of Bob's best vocals ever.

As any serious collector of Bob Dylan knows, audience tapes can sometimes convey the ambience of the venue, but damn sometimes you just what to hear the power of the performance. This 2-cd Denver 1988 soundboard source recording has a sense of dynamics and clarity that is rarely heard, and delivers the Pure Clean Power where the performance shines thru, warts and all, and gives a portrait of an artist willing to take chances, at the very early stages of his Never Ending Tour. In the infamous words of soul singer Howard Tate, Get It While You Can, you won't be sorry.


This is truly great and between this and New Jersey 1988 may be the best Dylan releases of 2009 even though the year is still young. But I hope I'm wrong and more recordings of this quality come down the pike!
Comment by ReVRuSSeLLNYC wrote on 2009-02-08 03:27:11

These may sound great, but both these releases have some lossy part in their history. What is "Scorpio" doing, and if they are going to continue to charge for these releases they need to master them better.
Comment by keithdylan wrote on 2009-02-27 15:54:38

Sorry, I don't understand your comment about "lossy". What do you mean?
Comment by Anonymous wrote on 2009-02-28 02:30:23

Well, when those w/ the technology do analysis on the tracks it reveals that there has been some compression done somewhere along the line in the mastering. EAC and Trader's Little Helper can do rudimentary tests, but other programs go more in depth. TLH game me a positive MPEG reading on the Denver show. These titles aren't the first to do this out of Asia. The recent Plant/Krauss SBD did the same.
Comment by keithdylan wrote on 2009-02-28 16:45:18

Well, I just got mine yesterday and while it does sound very good, I hear some high end distortion in the cymbals that's pretty distracting to me. To my ears, the best "recent" Dylan soundboard is "White Dove". If "White Dove" is a 10, then this is about an 8.5.
Comment by heloduck wrote on 2009-03-03 17:05:58

The best toys are the ones that are both educational and multi-purposeful.
Great Toys For Tots

 

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Feb 7, 2009 - 6:49:16 PM


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