Bob Dylan – Shadows and Rust: Unreleased Live Recordings, Summer 2015 Review

Rust is the right word to use for these performances. Creaking onto the stage with dusty tunes of old, Bob Dylan was hellbent on making his unknown works soar. His setlist at the time was nothing more than a few pieces of classic material and an array of covers which would soon settle on Triplicate. His obsession with Frank Sinatra was a cute period which lends itself to one of the finer selections of work from Dylan this century. There is a strange feel to the unofficial bootleg collection here. Shadows & Rust is a well-pieced together of Dylan at the time, though these 2015 appearances are more an exercise in getting the instrumental tone right. As a result, the vocals are all over the place and barely distinguishable. Duquesne Whistle would work better as an instrumental. Therein lies the problem for Dylan on stage at that time.  

His absence would benefit certain songs. They would become moody and moving spots of background noise. Take a track like Where Are You for instance. It relies on an almost primitive and underwhelming array of instrumentals. Simplicity like this may work for Triplicate down the line but for the live arrangements, it does very little for the artist on stage or the audience in attendance. There is a rust in Dylan’s voice here. I’m a Fool to Want You is the best example of this. What is clear from these performances is a resolute stance against his hits. Tangled Up in Blue may be one of the few performances Dylan offers his greatest hits which is not garbled beyond recognition. It is an odd part of the charm; a mystifying and gut-wrenching realisation can be heard. No longer is he the spritely rebel audiences fell for in the 1960s but a seasoned veteran of the stage. 

Marrying the two images of Dylan together is a difficult process not because of guilt or emotive fury but because these eras feel like different people. Shadows and Rust may as well be covers of a different artist, so many years there are between the artist on stage and the song at hand. The times have changed and much of the work Dylan provided is surely timeless, but this is a shocking realisation to make, and it can be heard in Tangled Up in Blue. Turn your attention instead to the classics which are formed. Those moments in the build-up, a long process, to that of Rough and Rowdy Ways. Like a spiralling music journalist after four coffees, Dylan is revitalised. A bit scared of what is to come, but certainly confident in their choice.  

Full Moon & Empty Arms is a neat piece to take from Shadows and Rust. There is little in the way of hits within this, and bootleggers are now following in the footsteps of Dylan. Less of a spotlight for the hits of his back catalogue and more a focus on the glories and spoils of an invigorated artist, confident in their new material. But this new material is tinged by the past. As a result, Shadows and Rust is a beautiful array of early songs brought to life by a man influenced by them. Lend an ear to the latter-day works of Dylan, Soon After Midnight in particular, and hear those influences on Tempest. Melodic and touching experiences from a man whose stage presence is like no other, but took a long while to get to where it now is.