Bob Dylan – Screaming at the Moon (Live 1988) Vol. 1 Review

Live recordings give us an artist at their most exposed. They are intimate and at risk when playing their way through a setlist of familiar qualities. Just look at those on tour in the present day. It applies all the same. Musicians must sidestep expectations yet keep the hits in place. Nobody has struggled with this more than Bob Dylan. There is an expectation, particularly in the late 1980s, for him to play nothing but those hits. Yet he persevered without the bulk of them, insisting on those shaky numbers which littered his career in a tumultuous decade. Screaming at the Moon is the slow rupture of audience expectations. It would take Dylan a few decades more to truly overhaul his stage presence but for the time being, particularly in this unofficial bootleg collection of electric qualities, there is a slickness to playing up the audience.  

What remains constant is the swinging, cowboy-like nature of Big River and Frankie Lee & Judas Priest. It is not a vintage year if Screaming at the Moon is reflected on as a collection of influential work. But even Dylan can do with a year or two off. In turn, Screaming at the Moon is more about the vocal strengths found on the stage than anything as refined as the recent Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. It would take decades to shake off The Never Ending Tour but once it was rid of it felt like Dylan had a new spring in his step. Those same ripples of momentum can be heard, ever so briefly, throughout this collection of electric live recordings. Not until Gates of Eden does it sound like Dylan has found a consistent stride to his own work. It comes out of the blue but begins with those tones of war and peace. His binary opposites grip the mind and on he goes.  

From here, Screaming at the Moon as a collection of work is unstoppable. The truth is far patchier than that. Such is the benefit of listening to the best bits of a tour rather than the whole show. Yet what a lucky treat it is to hear the overhauled rhythm and groove of Gotta Serve Somebody. Eminent Dylan may be, he was no stranger to leaning into the creative influences of the time. There is an art rock feel simmering away in these instrumentals. Screaming at the Moon is a vital listen. Something within fits into place, which is never replicated, before or after. This is without question the best version of Gotta Serve Somebody, studio, live or otherwise. His cover of Hallelujah will provide goosebumps and what becomes clear with Screaming at the Moon is the strongest part of Dylan in this period was when he could get away from the usual run of lyrics.

To be frank, the revisionism of the late 1980s of Dylan, found in the official bootlegs, is sour. It misses the best bits of his decision-making at the time. He was no longer interested in trotting out the hits. He did so out of a duty to his audience members who had paid well-earned cash to hear something recognisable. Yet it is Screaming at the Moon which is the spark to a later realisation for those who have gone through the cycles of listening to Dylan’s deep cuts. His voice lends itself to all ends of the cover spectrum. Heartbreak and hopefulness in equal measure are displayed in the contemporary best. Leonard Cohen and The Grateful Dead have been provided incredible displays of gratitude. 

What makes Screaming at the Moon: Vol. 1 work so well is the electric guitar. Every track is a booming consideration of how it can elevate weak material. It only takes a quick listen to In The Garden to realise this. Dylan has turned his attention to straight rock and the mangled result is a beautiful collection of works. Visions of Johanna sounds spritely and filled with new fury. Dylan has finally breached the blocks and fatigue which derailed his efforts with The Grateful Dead around the same year as this tour. Select works from a great stage presence gives Screaming at the Moon an absolute quality. Hear Dylan return to his A-Game. This is the overhaul of true, great work.