Bob Dylan – Undesirables: Unreleased Live Recordings, Fall 1991 Review

Johnny Cash covers, classic slices of his early years and a reliance on religious tracks which bombed his career a decade prior, Bob Dylan was all over the place in 1991. An unofficial collection of his live efforts from the time, Undesirables: Unreleased Live Recordings, Fall 1991, is a scattershot of ideas. It was, to be fair, a time of great indifference from the charts. Dylan was not quite booming up to the top. He starts to shed his heavy rock skin on Maggie’s Farm, the opening track which booms through with a neat switch of vocal focus. Here he is mounting a rockabilly tone, a style which suits him at this period. Under the Red Sky has certainly left its mark, and the Oh Mercy recordings are all but forgotten. What a brief flash of wonder it was. But that sudden bolt of lightning is diminished and in its place a guitar focus. 

Nothing wrong with that, of course. Dylan works well when backed by the best available musicians and the instrumental splendour featured in Maggie’s Farm is a clear sign of quality. You Don’t Know Me continues this wonderful increase. These may be the undesirable selections but what a collection of songs it is. The Man In Me is a cornerstone of Dylan during this time. He was the man out of step but in full swing when his audiences lend them their ears. Once more the focus is on slick guitar work, creative flair and flow of live experience. Undesirables goes a long way in maintaining this wonderful, feverish styling and it collects some tracks which have Dylan at his clearest. Steadiness like this was desperately needed. He sounds more in tune with the audience at the very least, thanking them for an almost idle listen.  

But it suits this collection of songs well for it gives Dylan a calm platform to work his favourites. Outlandish experiments with the work of classic musicians. Across The Borderline has flickers of the American Dream and a reflective, sobering tone which hears the death of such an optimistic theme mourned. Wonderful, wonderful occasions like this and Folsom Prison Blues pair nicely. It takes a lot for the same artist to keep hold of an audience over the course of decades and while Dylan has lost his way occasionally, the relentless and consistent attitude he takes to these live performances and studio recordings is magnificent. Undesirables is a long shot of booming quality in all the right spots and the reliance on songs of old, which are well balanced by contemporary efforts and covers, offer an experimental year of work. Dylan is very much on the innovative attempts through this decade and here is the start of that. 

A massive mixture of live material is what Dylan needed to right his shortcomings at the start of the decade. Six legs over eleven months and within this an eight-day residency at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. It is a wonder how he never burnt out or brought himself crashing down but listening to those volatile movements on stage it is a little clearer in how he kept the momentum. Those days for the Never Ending Tour were more about the chance to continue this longevity than anything innovative. Yet this collection would like us to think otherwise. Undesirables is another exceptional collection of life on the road. The covers and classics it brings are of ample quality and keep things lively, fresh and enticing.