Bob Dylan – Somebody Touched Me Review

There was life in the old dog yet. Bob Dylan has shifted the narrative of his career simply by continuing to do what interests him. He has not a single ounce of care for those who want him to prepare the hits and to play those out like a cymbal-wielding monkey. He is not a jukebox you can slot pennies into in exchange for a croaked and rattled one-hit-wonder. Like a shark, Bob Dylan must keep moving. It is this lack of best-of-reliance, and the continued removal of cobwebs from shoulder pads, which mark his live and studio work as rare beasts of the rock and pop history books. Somebody Touched Me, a live performance from the turn of the century, is a firm example of this desire to keep moving. Dylan still has it. For twenty-five years his listeners have played catch-up. 

It means revisiting these recordings, taken from the post-high of Time Out of Mind and the pre-Academy Award win which secured Dylan’s spot as a cultural titan, is a warm experience. His religious proclivities which honed his work in the late 1970s and early 1980s were still affecting him but were less relied on. Yet the live showcases still offered up the likes of Shot of Love or, on rarer occasions, these gospel standards. We do not have the context of the time nor the chance to hear it for ourselves in between songs of the same show, but we do have this. A remnant of the show which has Dylan sounding as good as he usually does for this period. It sounds like a borderline parody, the sort of track which would be featured in a Mel Brooks mock-up of the Old West. 

Yet these are the tracks Dylan is moved by, and like it or not, the cries from the crowd are in line with his moving cover. Instrumental bliss and a firm stance on the classics of the past. Over a decade or two, Dylan would drip-feed covers and rarities like Somebody Touched Me to his audiences, slowly conditioning listeners into enjoying them more than the mangled remains of his biggest hits. Like a dog hearing a dinner bell, they would rush to these odds and ends. Why else are we nearly four hundred words into a review of a live performance? The thrill of Dylan at an admirable time, that is why. He brings nothing but charm and class to this cover, a common experience for the rich vein of work during these days.  

He has been touched by the hand of the Lord and so too shall you. There is something truly effective about the simplicity of the songs which Dylan lends a hand to. His covers are often of contemporary artists who have a close, personal connection to Dylan. Van Morrison, the Grateful Dead and Leonard Cohen have all lined the halls and venues he steps foot in, but this uncredited display of affection and faith is a test of the waters ahead. How much of a pull did Dylan have, at this time, with audiences? Quite a bit, to be fair. Moreso than he had over the previous decade where he sang with the same conviction and praise of the Almighty but was not the darling veteran of the stage as he now is. It gives him the stock and clearance to do what he likes, and we listeners will love it all the same.