Rare performances, indeed. The Copyright Collection release is a gold mine for those wanting official releases of live performances forgotten to the footnotes of time. Bob Dylan’s label has overhauled the near-endless supply of additional takes, live performances and cuts with The Bootleg Series and this, the Copyright Collections, feels like a necessary extension. Brace yourself for some rough harmonica. The ears were never useful, anyway. What good are they other than to be peppered with crackling reed instruments? Nothing. Dig into Rare Performances from the Copyright Collections as much as you can bear. Performances which are certainly of interest, worth listening to, but never quite contending with the hardworking bootleggers. That is not the fault of the label but is a very real concern.
A very brief performance of Blowin’ in the Wind feels relatively underwhelming – a song more enjoyable for the historical context than anything else. Charming efforts like Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, are so fundamentally different to the studio version or traditional live versions, it is worth listening through this Copyright Collections album just for it. An emotional song, from the realisation of that youthful voice and what it went on to do, to the charmed and chilling adaptation of those legendary lyrics. In a long-lasting career, pointing to those so-called best performances leads to the discussion of half a dozen appearances at least. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright as a softly performed, finger-plucking acoustic song with its roots firmly planted in those folk charms, is where it needs to be, where it sounds so perfect. Rare Performances from the Copyright Collections may take a little time to get going, but it has some of the very best Dylan stage performances.
Those same soft tones and joys can be heard on Boots of Spanish Leather. Hardened bootleg listeners may feel some relief for the live moments heard within, some of the all-time great Dylan songs played out with skill, a tremendously high quality to the tapes collected here. Performances from New York and London, too, on Chimes of Freedom make up an excellent acoustic first half. A handful of electric performances make their way through the second CD, with a bouncing Maggie’s Farm from the Hollywood Bowl hearing that switch from acoustic to electric maintained as a bold direction. Desolation Row from Sydney, Australia, strips it all back and hears the staggering lyrical quality made the main focus. Key to this compilation is the surprise, not in quality, but in instrumental variation.
Where we may expect this key or that electric tone on songs most associated with the split, Rare Performances from the Copyright Collections digs deep into some of the finer cuts from a never-ending tour through the 1960s. Many compilations aim to make the growth of Dylan as a stage presence a focal point, and while it is not crucial to this set, it is a welcome timeline. Closer Visions of Johanna is still the stripped-back affair Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright was on the first CD, but the difference is paramount. His vocal adaptations, the suggestive instrumentals which are the point of these collected live works, is a tremendous change in tempo for Dylan. Rare Performances from the Copyright Collections uses its restricted pool of work to its advantage and compiles some of the very best performances from this period.
