Bob Dylan – The Heat & The Pulse: Unreleased Live Recordings – Summer 1984 Review

Of all the decade’s worth of touring to be officially profiled, 1984 remains a fascinating choice. Real Live exists to massage the discography of Bob Dylan, which at this time struggled for quality. Moving, career-best works were long behind him and the flutters of interest which moulded his first two decades as an artist were now elusive afterthoughts to a religious spin and, later, a synth-like horror show. But unofficial bootlegs serve as a reminder of the shaky collections from the period. Not just from the recording studio but on the stage too, and The Heat & The Pulse: Unreleased Live Recordings: Summer 1984, shines a light on those poorer moments. But within this collection of live recordings is a noticeable shift, one which would define the state and style of his gigs in the 1980s. 

For the first time in his career, Dylan can be heard going through the motions. He no longer has a fire to feed or a desire to impress and the static, empty performance of Jokerman and the heavy-lifting instrumental work on Maggie’s Farm. As evidenced by Real Live, this is not a golden period for Dylan. It would be some time before he found his groove again and it was farewell to quality where official live recordings were concerned. Dylan and the Dead would stagger out and so listeners would rightly turn to these bootleg materials. These songs come from a setlist which toured some fascinating venues. Major sports stadiums like St. James’ Park and Wembley, the Rotterdam Ahoy where Man of Peace is ripped from marks one of the slim highlights from what became an ultimately overwhelming and uninspired tour – bar the Newcastle recording which, on its own, is excellent. As is Man of Peace, a neat Mark Knopfler collaboration in the studio misses the Geordie hero’s flourish in this recording but has a firm, heartfelt core. 

A bundle of Infidels tracks feature throughout and while the likes of License to Kill remain strong, intense tracks live or otherwise, it is fascinating these tracks made it onto the stage of a European showcase. Some of the finest venues in the world are dominated by an out-of-favour Dylan. Yet his contemporary shortcomings at the time were not enough to wipe the interest from a hungry public desperate to hear his work in person. Such is the reason for his stage longevity regardless of the quality of his studio efforts. Excellent tracks like I & I feel resolute and outshine the likes of Tangled Up in Blue and Tombstone Blues. Dylan sets out to reduce the effectiveness of his classics to prop up the at-the-time new Infidels work. Hindsight is bliss and gives us a range of solid Dylan performances peppered in with some rejections of past classics. Hear it in a fascinating, tempo-changed performance of Mr. Tambourine Man. Dylan remains desperate to find a new, beating heart to his old songs and this is as close as he gets on this unofficial compilation. 

One decade of a sixty-year career had to be the weak link and it falls onto the clunkier tours and times of the 1980s to take this burden. Dylan is lacking the spark he would provide through his religious period or the tinges of nostalgic pride in his 1990s efforts. Here is a dirty middle ground, an essential piece for those wanting to understand the shortcomings that much better. The Heat & The Pulse is an entertaining listen but there are no world-beating moments. Brief flickers of the man Dylan used to be on stage filter through a couple of these latter tracks, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door for one, but within is a sincere desire to change tact. Dylan does so and the results, while mixed, are at least honest.