Credit where it is undoubtedly due, Bob Dylan kept his discontent with acoustic sound a secret. Just a few weeks before going electric in an infamous performance at Newport Folk Festival, he delivered a consistent and considerably strong performance on the other side of the Atlantic. His performances for the Live at BBC Studios recording became one of the most bootlegged performances from the pre-electric days. It is clear to hear why after a few listens to Live at BBC Studios. Opener The Ballad of Hollis Brown, right through to the closing number, It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, showcases Dylan at the peak of his folk-oriented powers. He finds real joy in the subtleties of these solo performances though this would be his last. It is the change-up his sound needed, in hindsight it is easy to suggest this.
But Live at BBC Studios also suggests a change-up Dylan would often make in his career. Once he succeeds and finds himself at the peak, why continue? The only way is down. His move on after Live at BBC Studios makes sense, for this live recording collection hears him at his very best. What more can be done with the sound of the times? It is a blueprint only the best can follow. If You Gotta Go, Go Now, hints at this. Do not stick around if there is nothing more to prove. That is very much the suggestion Dylan makes here. Live at BBC Studios is a tidy final moment for these solo tours. Exceptional playing style and an excellent vocal performance are no surprise – these are the fundamentals we can expect from a Dylan performance around this time. But his disinterest, his shift to electric, is perhaps a surprise even at this stage. There is still plenty to love about his acoustic sound, new avenues it could have opened.
Crucial to the change, then, is realising those brief trips into new folk territory would be inconsequential compared to what was to come. It is not as though Dylan dismantled the sound he had built here, just adapted it. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll feels like a dusty number even at this point, a song of deeds and twisted stomachs on hearing swear words. Perhaps it is this, the sense of a time moving on, a genre and cultural shift that the folk likes in Newport had not yet picked up on, which drove Dylan to change. Whatever the case, there is no suggestion here it was so pressing, but there is a note of expectation. Going through the motions feels relatively inevitable when playing songs for so long on the road, but there is a new range heard on Boots of Spanish Leather which lasts on nicely.
She Belongs to Me and It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue feel like fitting send-offs – though this is just hindsight. There is no way of knowing the state of Dylan’s mind at this point other than he had just recovered from flu. A medical episode is hardly reason to reform your sound, but Live at BBC Studios may have a few more hints than first expected. “She’s an artist, she don’t look back,” is a mantra Dylan has followed all through his career. Reflection is never his aim nor should it be. Live at BBC Studios is a neat end to his solo touring days – hanging up the acoustic guitar in exchange for a defiant electric turn is exactly what was needed, it just took a bit of time for those of the time to hear it as the right direction.
