Early classics are easy to find for those with the time to seek them. Live at The Bear Folk Club 1963 is a remarkable feature. A half-hour radio broadcast which brings some of those classic Bob Dylan songs to light. What may sound at first like basic country songs are given the full showcase of Dylan’s brilliance. A crisp recording thanks to strong preservation efforts leaves this unofficial bootleg a perfect way to engage the Dylan sound of the times. Where the harmonica and acoustic blend of the time, as popular as it was, may pierce your ears on other bootlegs, this has no trouble. It has a fundamental grasp of the instrumental balance and the shocking vocal depths of Dylan at such an early point in his career. Perhaps it should be no surprise at all, but this is a flattering early recording.
Much of it is built on what is believed to be a first-ever performance of Talkin’ World War III Blues. How pertinent a track it would become, and how worrying it remains relevant. Earlier pieces like Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance and Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues have a rambler sensation to them, a desire to turn the folksy campfire tunes into popular turns of music. Laughter in the studio during the lines where Dylan calls President Eisenhower a Russian spy gives the rounder fun of a tongue-in-cheek protest song with a strong heart to it. You can have fun in the face of fear if you are careful. Dylan continued to find a flow for these charming yet observant songs. He toes a fine line between the horrors of the world around him and the thrills of edging into danger, toward the cries of denouncement.
With hindsight, it may seem silly to think this song would cause enough controversy to be dropped from The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, but that is what CBS decided. What he writes in this protest song is marvellous and deserving of a place in his best works and yet it has been ripped from this spot of history. At least his performance on Live at The Bear Folk Club 1963 finds a spot for it. Tucked in before Bob Dylan’s Dream is where it belongs, a far cheerier song in its message and a nice balance to the heavy-hitting words preceding it. Skipping on over to The Ballad of Hollis Brown is where this performance takes off. A staggering performance which would be the highlight of the set if it were not for a stunning Talkin’ World War III Blues. They are not melancholic tones but flashes of cultural significance which has affected Dylan and his writing.
Such is the case for many of these songs ripped from Live at The Bear Folk Club 1963, a sharp set of bluesy acoustics which would mark the rise of Dylan as an artist of considerable merit. Broken tongues and the sense of a harder time ahead not just for the listener but Dylan too. He is one of the audience, a man affected by what he sings of. This is not an issue for us and is a placeholder topic for him. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall indicates a worry for all, not just those listening to this broadcast at the time. Those roaring waves were coming and the only force of good against them was a strong arm of instrumental importance The Bear Folk Club 1963 is a charming performance not because it showcases Dylan as an early natural for the act of performance but because it gives him a place to polish his lyrical strengths.
