Bob Dylan – Things Have Changed: Volume One Review

As obvious as the title may be, things had changed for Bob Dylan. His live performances of this time were heavily reliant on the covers made famous by Frank Sinatra. Album after album of coy cover collections which were, at the time, a massive step away from what listeners wanted. Hindsight is a beauty because it was a decade-long experiment in hitting the right tone. In learning from the great American songbook and those who came before him, Dylan finds all the right pieces for his next batch of original work. Things Have Changed: Volume One, the unofficial bootleg piecing together his 2014 tour, does a smashing job of showcasing the performances of a decade ago, and the realisations made throughout this tour are a clarifying and intense listen. They are the scratches of Rough and Rowdy Ways coming out to play, channelled through his hits. 

Take his track from Wonder Boys and add a few clattering gongs to the start. Where Dylan spends plenty of this tour detailing some of the rougher cuts of his discography, time is spent on retrofitting his hits with the new sounds. He would pursue this for the rest of his touring days, still doing so as recently as the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. Things Have Changed: Volume One is an intense listen. Dylan sounds like a man reborn with his work on the titular track. Solid workings of She Belongs to Me and an exceptional outing of the underrated Together Through Life song Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ make up a wonderful start to this collection. The latter is in full swing, the sort of sound Dylan would stick to in his live works from here on. Understandably so. It is a blues-like style which suits his material. 

Lonesome Day Blues sticks out like a sore thumb. Those swinging bits of brilliance which contain the finer points of latter-day Dylan are right there. Lucky rarities like Huck’s Tune fit in seamlessly. Dylan has more than a few hundred deep cuts and fitting those into place comes naturally to him. Rarities like the Tell Tale Signs release sound right at home on this tour. Hits soon filter through too and with the likes of Tangled Up in Blue found towards the end, Things Have Changed: Volume One hits an inevitably rich vein. It is a rendition which is all over the place vocally, but the barren instrumentals give it an effective strength. Those croaking vocals would be ditched on future tours. For now, they serve the likes of Love Sick.  

A collection of decent showcases can be found in this unofficial bootleg. Dylan had struggled to find a vocal range which worked for him during this period. But he gets closer still to the instrumental power he sought – and it is a welcome change of pace. A collection of wonderful deep cuts and a few hits thrown in there for good measure in a tour which hinted at something mesmerising. Instrumental power is the key to this one. A collection of fine recordings come together well, a bottled-up tour filled with thrilling energy. Tempest and Together Through Life have paid their dues rather nicely on this collection, and rightly so. They have evaded his live tours recently though we can hope for change.