Bob Dylan – In Minneapolis: Unreleased Live Recordings 1992 Review

In the purview of Under the Red Sky comes a series of performances which, given the time, should be better. Bob Dylan could no longer use the burnout excuse for he had hit off well with Oh Mercy and repaid the faith of those days with Mark Knopfler. Everything was coming together. Much slower than it had with those glory days in the 1960s but quality was assured once more. It all came crashing down. In Minneapolis: Unreleased Live Recordings 1992 details this fascinating blow to the confidence Dylan had slowly been building. He would gain it again in the year after these performances, but this unofficial bootleg shows more of a peace washing over the formidable frontman. He makes his piece, retires tracks like Idiot Wind and it is all done under the lacklustre sounds of Under the Red Sky.  

Opener To Be Alone showcases the consistent positive of this compilation. Instrumental candour and experimentation. Dylan uses it as a shield on this track and the hits laid out on this live collection. His harmonica is in full swing and the whoops which come from this first song, whether they are in the crowd or on the stage, do well to protect those lapses in self-belief. Again, the guitar is right at the forefront for follow-up track If Not For You. A little stronger in the vocal core but Dylan is keen to shy away behind impressive guitar licks and the wonderful bashes of percussion heard throughout. It is a neat trade-off if it is Dylan shying away from the grandeur and licking the wounds of a rough decade prior to these appearances. Understandable and a nice bridge of experimentation for those session musicians dragged onto the road and out for these performances. New Morning feels like an apt album to select a few tracks from in this collection for it does feel like the dawn of a new period in Dylan’s work. 

Under the Red Sky is given an almost mandatory play here. Consistent instrumentals keep it alive. Despite the studio blunder which makes up those 1990 efforts they are redeemed somewhat on the stage. As Good As I Been To You failed to make a splash and so back to the turn of the 1990s it is, with songs boasting huge collaborations with George Harrison, Slash and Elton John. Their impact is not felt. When feeling for the emotional core of these tracks on stage it lies in the influence Dylan has on the instrumentals and when he experiments this way, it works wonders. Idiot Wind serves as another incredible example of this. Calmer, cooler and colder than the original but still with the biting embrace and lush guitar work which would make up Rough and Rowdy Ways as a concept. He toys with tempo and vocal range nicely here and it builds well towards later tracks like Blowin’ in the Wind. 

If there was ever a time for Dylan to test his classics and use the appearance of them on the setlist as a draw, it was 1992. He does well to play up the big hits like Maggie’s Farm and Visions of Johanna. These are the tracks of intermediate fans and while he sidesteps the obvious songs of his discography there is a nice blend on In Minneapolis. Dylan still had massive appeal, but he struggled and suffered as a writer through these dark patches. Playing Madison Square Garden will not absolve you of a mental block, but it certainly lines the pocket. In Minneapolis has Dylan stuck in an earnest rut where he tries to run back the time and reconnect with tired songs. It works. The flow to follow would be a stream of monumental quality.