For longtime listeners of legendary songwriter Bob Dylan, there will be no hiding the lowlights. It is generally agreed that the period from Empire Burlesque up to Oh Mercy is a dark time, not just for the songwriter but for fans. A creative crossroads was reached. Dylan was more interested in articulating himself in the start of a so-called never-ending tour than he was in making sure his studio form was up to a high standard. Where there may be bootleg recordings of those incredible moments on stage, for the at-home listener, and now the next generation, there is little to suggest this was a lucrative time for Dylan. Even at the turn of the decade, he was feeling the burden of songwriting to be all too much. Heavy is the heart which carries the voice of a generation, after all. Dylan was close to calling it quits. His MTV Unplugged performance changed that.
Between Oh Mercy and the fabled MTV broadcast, Dylan put out three albums, predominantly cover songs. The originals on Under the Red Sky feel like a quiet final bow, pairing Dylan with famous faces he hopes to hide behind. He seemed to have run dry of his mind-blowing ways, his approach to songwriting shy after so many false steps. It does not help that the decade behind him proved taxing. Compilation albums were the real bread and butter for those wanting Dylan to return to the roots of his music, the folk hero ways or even the electrified rebel. He turned to what he knew best for an MTV performance, which not only proved Dylan still had appeal but that he still had what it takes to perform and create.
He did have some gas left in the tank. He showed as much by, for the first time in over a decade, giving people what they thought they wanted. Classic Dylan, song after song of originals which, while still staples of his live set, had not been performed in this stripped-down way, sometimes in decades. Where it may be the start of calls which would lead to a Chrysler-selling Dylan being told he had “sold out,” it was also a time when interest in the legendary songwriter rose. The album itself is like most of the official Dylan live releases. A solid listen with a few sparks of brilliance. These are incredible performances of patented Dylan, but he leans into the folk-rock aesthetic a little bit too much. It is one thing to play the hits as the studio designed them, another entirely to revive the polka dot shirt and sunglasses look.
It edges close to has-been, something Dylan never has been and never will be. He is the man who charted his own way even when it seemed an audience had abandoned him. Many will point to Time Out of Mind as a true return for Dylan’s sound, and that much is true. But here is where the interest began to flicker once more in him as an artist, as an individual with more than dusty old hits. This is the hip craze of an artist appearing on MTV to play a selection of their greatest works. Chart success for Dylan was alien at the time of MTV Unplugged. Its release saw him hit the top ten in the UK, which has always been a staple for Dylan’s commercial success (just look at his earliest folk releases for further evidence).
Revitalising his career with some commercial success and a new generation now in tow, thanks to an appearance on the youthful, edge-tipped stylishness of MTV, the turn in favour for Dylan is noticeable. Even then, it could have been a very different occasion, a completely different track for Dylan to follow. His intention to play covers, rather than his hits, played into his stock as an artist at the time. As Good As I Been to You and World Gone Wrong, enjoyable as they are, are not essential Dylan listening. Sony wanted that and got what they asked for. It is an example of Dylan being managed into success, which is brandished as his own. Just take a listen to the original Blood on the Tracks recordings as an example of Dylan as an artist with great ideas, but sometimes the wrong development. His brother intervened, as Sony did decades later, when it came to reintroducing him to a rebellious generation raised by the hippies of the 1960s.
Every action from Dylan following MTV Unplugged is dubbed a return to form. Perhaps that is because the generation who were initially unaware of Dylan until that TV performance are the critics of today. Maybe so. The more likely scenario is simpler. Dylan performed well, released a solid live album after a lull of quality originals and covers, and went on to pursue a brilliant new sound. It could be too easy to describe it as burnout, but you can hear the lacklustre spirit of the times with a song like Wiggle Wiggle. Dylan had nothing to prove in the MTV Unplugged performance, and while relevancy is a wavelength, he spikes it on that live show.
Take a listen to the rehearsals and cut tracks after the official live album. What becomes clear is that Dylan is invigorated, ready to perform at a level he had seemingly drifted from long ago. He had been toying with an acoustic sound a few years before MTV Unplugged, though. Good As I Been to You would mark the first time Dylan had performed acoustic, solo recordings since Another Side of Bob Dylan. Thirty years on, a live performance to celebrate the release of his debut album, and it all felt like a large, full circle moment for the songwriter. Look a little closer at his 1992 effort, and you find a singular reason Dylan plays the music he does now, writes the way he does, too.
He called the covers the “music that’s true for me,” and that is all he can do. Write from the heart. Perform with soul. It is what he offers covers, particularly in the lead-up to MTV Unplugged. It was not an acceptance of what was his popular period but a revisit, a reconciliation with a sound that had been alien to him before and long after too. Folk music provided a route to stardom, to musical freedom which few artists are ever afforded. Whether genuine reason remains for Dylan’s return or purely the return of steady acclaim, he went back to his folk roots and picked up where he left off. That is the most surprising part of all. He rekindled a love his audience had for him not by doing anything different, but by playing up to their expectations. That is our loss, and Dylan’s gain.
Challenging material did follow. He was not swept up in a wave of acoustic fervour for long. Time Out of Mind felt far darker than anything Dylan had released up to that point, bar the obvious Blood on the Tracks and Hurricane. Where the latter days of Dylan are swept up as overtime following a seasoned recording career, the efforts heard on MTV Unplugged are a second wind, a reminder of his artistic calling. These are acoustic efforts played with genuine desire for connection, though whether his performances of Like a Rolling Stone, Desolation Row and All Along the Watchtower are what he wanted to do is up for debate. Whatever the case, it is what he did do, and what he did do was revive his career with the MTV Unplugged showcase.
