Bob Dylan – Proclaim the Creed Review

You can spend a whole weekend with Bob Dylan bootlegs and barely scratch the surface of his live intent. Proclaim the Creed and unofficial compilations like it are a necessary and often brilliant experience. A new wave of influences peppered on contemporary songs. Such is the joy of a live performance from Dylan – now more than ever. He is over the hump. Dylan has managed to pass on the croakier troubles of performance which felt misguided or deflated by the reliance on covers, and the lacklustre energy coming from a repetition of the hits. This lack of base, a missing reason to perform with courage or in a new style, wounds those earlier performances. It also lets the likes of Proclaim the Creed hit out that much better. His mix-up for Rough and Rowdy Ways – the blur of contemporary and classic material, is a new, high bar for Dylan. 

A return to concert halls across the globe following the Covid-19 pandemic is a chance to hear Dylan at his best. On goes the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour. We are all the better for its continuation. But listening to this piece just weeks before the start of the end of his UK shows is rather sobering. This is what a rare sunny day in October is for. Prepare for an experience in November, with a piece set to go out after the tour comes to an end. It is a monumental experience. To have these lazy autumn days to listen to what Dylan has become on stage is a real treat. From Cardiff to Tuscon, this compilation which hears Dylan and the band puts the spotlight on those sought-after consistencies. A new, spirited style to old classics is the driving force but in the context of Rough and Rowdy Ways, they hold bold and beautiful religious intertextuality.  

False Prophet still has a slick edge to it, the striking guitar work bolstering Dylan’s voice just as well as the groovy bassline does. His prophetic courage which guided him subconsciously through his first great peak is back, enforcing a divine intervention on those who he sees as wasting their lives away. He is an enemy of the unlived and to live is to hear these songs live, either in person or slouched over your desk, waiting for another epiphany-like shot of brilliance. There is plenty in here. None of it is close to life-changing but they scratch the surface of what it is to be whole and pure. To wash yourself of trouble and to live with a clear-cut vision. Proclaim the Creed is an exceptional compilation of that. It pieces together this feeling of wonder and bemusement over the last sixty years, most songs from different shows.  

It is the same yet different. These performances are not rigid instrumental and vocal efforts from a band trying to keep a lid on character or stage creativity but have a line of reason flowing through them which means the change-ups which affected the tour, from covers to new classics, slotted into place rather well. For those needing a shot of adrenalin for their heart or head, Proclaim the Creed is a great way to feel the flow of life again. Dylan is at a shockingly optimistic turning point, a desire to connect with the audience without speaking to them all that much. Only the best can do it that way. PJ Harvey only said thank you to the crowd in Oslo after an all-time great performance. A few mutters of “thank you” are all you can get from Dylan.  

And it is all you need. Proclaim the Creed is a marvellous collection of Dylan at his most intimate. Shockingly vulnerable work from a man people have been trying to strip down and figure out for decades. There is no greater place to look than his songs. Particularly, Melancholy Mood and Every Grain of Sand from this compilation. When I Paint My Masterpiece sounds surprisingly chipper while the rest of the bootleg is filled with consistently great rhythm sections from the instrumentalists at the core of these live shows. It is as complete an experience with Dylan’s live work as can be. Some detractors say Dylan is now an act to see live just for the sake of saying you were there. That does linger on still, but there is no denying the new strength heard in his voice and the infliction it gives this material.