Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin (Live 14/2/74) Review

For those still scrambling to their nearest Tesco Superstore for print editions of work, good on you. Nostalgia dies and takes youth with it. For those who still select themselves a copy of MOJO Magazine, there is a chance it came with a CD compilation entitled Forever Young. You would be forgiven for thinking this was a Bob Dylan-only piece but listen through and push through the Roy Harper opener to this, The Times They Are A-Changin’. A solo performance of the song stripped from its place on the Dylan and The Band tour which is set to be compiled and combed through on The 1974 Live Recordings, released later this month. Here is another taste of what is to come for those wild enough to still buy physical items.  

Is it worth picking it up just for a slice of The 1974 Live Recordings? Yes. There is some short-lived satisfaction in saying you heard this version of The Times They Are A-Changin’ before most. Those who were there for this performance can be discounted. A shortened, rushed piece of work from Dylan who sounds like he is ready to exit stage right after the song concludes. He bashes through it, more to prove the song can work at this fastened tempo than anything else. A slight slowing for the “writers and critics” line and soon the handiness of this version becomes clear – it is for those who thought the best of Dylan was a bit too slow. Electrified, but no electric to be heard. Dylan boasts an intensity here which would be heard throughout this tour.  

Perhaps it was to prevent people from singing along on the tour. It certainly works. This is a crisp recording of a great song, performed in a manner which blurs the line between impressive and head-scratching work. Why speed it up? Who knows. But once those harmonica pieces bleed into the heady acoustic guitar, it clears up a little. There is a sentiment running through The Band and Dylan for this tour of stopping at nothing. This is Dylan, eight years removed from the stage, finding new life in songs he had not played for some time. More credit to him for doing so, and continuing this trend in the recent tours too. He is looking for new grooves in old material and while The Times They Are A-Changin’ will always sound at its best in those stuttered studio joys, this version is not half bad. 

At least the roar of the crowd is not omitted. They are quick to the draw in knowing what song this is, and ready enough, impressed throughout, by the tenacity of a sped-up performance. This is the sort of thing usually reserved for putting your record player on the wrong speed. Yet here it is, a Dylan performance where he sounds as motivated as he would be with performances of Idiot Wind in the tail end of The Rolling Thunder Revue. It does no harm and even if it is one of those songs where to speed through and get it over with is the goal, it is still an enjoyable switch-up of an effortless track.