Bob Dylan – The MTV Unplugged Rehearsals Review

How does one go about reinventing their career? For Bob Dylan, there is an irony in how the road to reforming his sound began. In trying to escape the folk of his earliest works through electric avenues, repeatedly amplified and brutally so in the 1990s, his stripped-back set for MTV Unplugged put him back on the map. But to get there, as with every great piece of work, practice was a necessity. It was a tall order for Dylan to play back those greatest hits at a time when he wanted nothing more than to distance himself from the sound that made him famous, but his return to folk is also a return to form. There is some push and shove but ultimately these are the hits and how they sounded three decades before this performance, pieced together for The MTV Unplugged Rehearsals. Some would see it is artistic capitulation, Dylan losing confidence in his contemporary sound, and they would be right.  

Dylan at this time had thought his best was behind him. That no more great songs would come. It is why he continued plugging away with cover pieces and riffs of old material, bonus packages and mighty tours which repeated his back catalogue. Mark Knopfler and Tom Petty became crutches to rely on and it did not come to a head until the disastrous, dull Dylan and the Dead release. If it were ever a time to worry, that would have been it. The MTV Unplugged Rehearsals are a great way to hear those anxieties at play. Songs which were later cut from broadcast or not performed at all can be heard here. I Want You makes for an interesting opener, snubbed for Tombstone Blues. It is all about setting the right tone and here the mysterious outweighs the mighty romance. 

 A deserving switch, but it means this well-placed and instrumentally challenging version of I Want You is lost to the history books. A fine performance of an exceptional song. It is not the first casualty of MTV Unplugged. These are fragments. Do not get your hopes up for complete songs – though there are a couple scattered throughout. Most of these performances are Dylan getting to grips with a new country sound for the band. Tombstone Blues (Take 1, Take 2) certainly sounds this way. Catchy efforts still and Dylan sounds clearer than he did on the live performance which would later be published. These performances are the fine line between accepting modern relevancy through a sought-after sound and challenging the audience with differing vocal renditions.  

Perhaps the omissions, as complete as they are, mark the biggest tells of The MTV Unplugged Rehearsals. It does not take long to find them. Stunning occasions for I Want You (Take 2) and Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright, can be heard on this rare collection pack and would have added some great moments to what is a very solid live album. But it lacked the edge despite its hits-laden setlist. What could have been. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright has a monumental quality to it. Dylan is drowned out by the acoustic guitar, and perhaps it is this lack of balance which heard it canned. And yet it has all the fundamental joys of a revival track – the same sort of acoustic partnership which would haul Johnny Cash back into the spotlight.  

There is a lick of irony to Dylan returning to his roots and rekindling some commercial urgency, it is what many fans alienated by the middling works of the 1980s wanted. But in this is not an acceptance of failure but a rather beautiful turn of finding love in the old sound. The likes of Desolation Row would be extended, and others like Hazel would be dropped for one unfortunate reason or another. Dylan it would seem is unimpressed with his performance here, perhaps because it is too far a drift from its Planet Wave instrumental origins. Whatever the case it was dropped and, like many of the tracks featured on The MTV Unplugged Rehearsals, dropped or changed for the second night. Listen in once more and you can pick up on those massive instrumental changes which, at first listen, feel rather subtle or unnoticeable. Everything is Broken marks another omission and it feels like Dylan has cold feet about including contemporary material. Oh Mercy is snubbed, in the end, but it does feel a bit flat in its acoustic presence. 

Dylan at this time found himself in an unsure pocket of creativity. Those dependable covers from Good as I Been to You and World Gone Wrong were ditched entirely for this and instead a stomp through dependable classics was featured. Knocked by a lack of faith in his abilities, his return to classic tracks of his early discography is remarkable. Something clicks back into place – the rare fires which were kindled for the likes of The Times They Are A-Changin’ are booming once more. It would spur on some of the finest writings of his career just three years later with Time Out of Mind. MTV Unplugged may not get the credit it deserves but it serves as a moment of clarity for Dylan. And yet it could have been different to what the session and The MTV Unplugged Rehearsals are. A decision to make some greatest hits-like experience for fans but with the acoustics which birthed these impressive tunes is the right move, though Dylan would likely have been more comfortable with a collection of covers and traditional numbers – as he would focus on the latter half of the 2010s.  

Thankfully he was convinced to revisit the songs which formed him and, to some degree, still define him. Love Minus Zero / No Limit may be a bitter one to swallow for some listeners but its run-through of Dignity and With God On Our Side towards the end is frankly euphoric. Dylan was finding his groove again and with these performances, refused official release, there is another side to the MTV Unplugged experience not heard in the official album. These are the additional pieces of a man piecing together what would become a monumental run of good form. The MTV Unplugged Rehearsals are another side of Dylan, and it may be surprising to hear the risks taken with such familiar efforts.