Bob Dylan – Screaming at the Moon: Volume 3 Review

Revitalised by Oh Mercy, or at least the process of creating it, Bob Dylan stormed back to the heights expected of him. His religious period had not ended but the shift in material had seen the man return to his alleged best. An electric set is marked by unofficial bootleg Screaming at the Moon, with an extensive third volume documenting those appearances in Dublin, Milwaukee and Birmingham. What a collection of places, and what a set of songs to enjoy here. Dylan had the desire to continue touring. It had affected his work when he took time off and regaining the traction of the heyday was on his mind. Screaming at the Moon as a trilogy does extremely well to document this. In its third portion comes a period of acceptance and thrill, the electric swing of lacklustre studio efforts gives them credibility. 

Seeing The Real You at Last stands out as one of those. An Empire Burlesque rip which has some legs on the live stage. But the real meat of this collection is in the sudden interpretations of The Band material. Tears of Rage makes for an incredible experience. A boisterous and instrumentally refined piece of the live stage work Dylan was processing at this time. What a song to listen to when infuriated by tech troubles. Life is just a constant swing of those tearful, rage-inducing moments. Where the day is boiled down to trying and failing to upload a picture of some onions to something nobody in their right mind would read. The trivialities of life and work, their lacking purpose yet infuriating experience, are defined by the waves we ride. Dylan did the same with this return to the stage. He was sick of the lacklustre efforts and returned to the waters which warmed his creative spirit. 

Where then do we go to heal ourselves from the remains of the day. We listeners use the tortures of one artist for the exorcism of our horrors. One Irish Rover may strike a nerve for some listeners but for the man on the stage, it is the same repetitive motion as any other day job. Screaming at the Moon bears the fruits of frustration from in the recording studio and the need to strike out, to run free and roam through some new experience. Futility roams. Listen to the ramshackle collection on The Water is Wide. Cool your heart with the steady electrics of a British folk song adapted by Dylan. This is a collection which will calm your mind and creates a real shock for reflective moments to grow. One which depicts environment as the cause of creatively dried minds. 

Does it return to us? Do the winds of change mark an individual who had promise and fell from grace? It did for Dylan and his return to the stage here is a monumental turn of form. He has rekindled his most integral momentum. The Water is Wide serves as the best example of this. Screaming at the Moon: Volume 3 is a game changer. Compilations will come and go but very few can say they have the weight and reward of an official Dylan release. This one does. It has the assembly and creative flow to it. Within is the storyline of a man trying to grasp what he did best when it left him at his most vulnerable. We can wax lyrical about this as much as we like, but we must seek out the same salvation Dylan did for our own lives. Either that or we flounder, treading water until the murky depths consume us with little more than a splash.