Bob Dylan – Screaming at the Moon (Live 1988) Vol. 2 Review

Listen to the first volume, naturally. Within is an electric fury from a reignited, rested Bob Dylan. His rough times in the 1980s were starting to look like they were coming to an end. Nowhere can it be heard better than in the Screaming at the Moon trilogy. An insightful listen, to say the least. Screaming at the Moon: Vol. 2 is the acoustic quality those folk essentialists in the 1960s were screeching about. How little they knew at the time, yet how welcome a surprise this collection would be for those audiences now. Get your grubby paws on this one, a fascinating collection of songs from 1988 and 1989. Tumultuous times indeed, and for Dylan it marked the build to Oh Mercy, which kickstarted a new half to his career. These are the dying days of an artist who has made his peace with no longer being a contemporary favourite. 

Instead, he leans into the songs he wants to perform. There is a fundamental disregard for audience expectations which remains today. Wagoner’s Lad and San Francisco Bay Blues offer up covers of traditional artists like Jesse Fuller. These covers are expected but what remains in the long-running respect is influence. Dylan made it clear what he was listening to in the trite Philosophy of Modern Song. There is no better way to experience the impact these songs had on him than to listen to covers. It bleeds in seamlessly with the likes of She Belongs to Me and Every Grain of Sand, two tracks which would stick in the Dylan live set for decades to come. Fascinating choices given their studio shortcomings, yet they now remain fan favourites. Dylan has worked hard for forty years in retrofitting the tracks he wants to play into a set most would enjoy.  

Discard the hits. Few remain in this acoustic collection, though Love Minus Zero sticks out like a sore thumb. Instrumentally, the rise and climb of San Francisco Bay remains a head above the rest. The immediacy of access to these tapes, a mere download away, removes the magic of them to a degree. How blessed we are to hear them but how horrifying it is to have it at our fingertips. These rare moments are now for everyone, and that is the brutal change of the concert experience. If an artist is big enough, their every move is tracked. For Screaming at the Moon, it means we get to hear an abundance of traditional American folk songs which would, decades on, form the basis of Triplicate. There is a stark disinterest heard from the audience in a few of these songs. 

Perhaps the benefit of the doubt should be given. There are certainly a fair few cheers and cries after In the Pines. But it sounds more like chatter throughout the song, and it is not the only song to suffer. Mama You Been On My Mind is a noisy experience but this, we keep telling ourselves, is the beauty of live performance. Nick Cave had the right idea when he locked himself away in Alexandra Palace with nothing but a piano. Screaming at the Moon Vol. 2, like many other bootleg tapes, makes for a wonderful bit of extra listening. Those who hope to learn a little bit more about Dylan and this period of work should tune in. A tumultuous period for the man, who was on the cusp of releasing Oh Mercy around the time of these performances. A slow burn, a shift in the right direction, and an excellent collection of acoustic numbers within.