An unofficial bootleg which boasts a seven-hour runtime is either confident of its selection or compiling every song Bob Dylan even considered performing. The Early Days Are Gone offers a complete overview of Dylan on stage in the summer of 2022, a time when the Rough and Rowdy Ways setlist had taken its place. But break it down a little, as the compiler thankfully has done, into the listenable chunks. Things Aren’t What They Were kicks off this varied selection of summer performances. Still enough to choke on, but more manageable than the seven-hour surplus awaiting listeners who fear they missed a detail or two when Dylan rocked the world. Things Aren’t What They Were offers some elongated instrumentals, touch-ups of recent studio achievements, and a sense that the songwriter has more to prove to audiences old and new. That is what any person would want of a creative, and it is what this compilation offers.
Repeating songs is bound to happen on a compilation as large as this, though it is a testament to Dylan for performing with such nuance, and a ring of quality to the bootleggers for noting the subtle difference. Some will suggest seeing an artist more than once on tour is a futile endeavour, an impractical choice of your time and money. Those are the people who have given up on the pursuit of true satisfaction. They are the people who will never hear an eleven-minute version of Watching the River Flow, performed at Salt Lake City to a buzzing crowd. What we receive from live performance is a closer look at the intentions of the artist, we are given a peek inside their mind, a chance to understand their creative urge. The more we listen, the more we learn. The longer we look, the better chance of appreciating their efforts we have. There is no difference but financial in listening to an artist on repeat, and seeing them multiple times on one tour.
Those instrumental extensions are where the real joy comes from in hearing these songs time and again. Little flickers of change to the hits of the past, like Every Grain of Sand and a nicely tucked-in Friend of the Devil cover. Those moments are crucial. They inform the contemporary material, the tone the likes of False Prophet and Key West (Philosopher Pirate) offer. Rough and Rowdy Ways is likely one of the best albums Dylan has offered since his heyday, decades ago. It is one of his most accessible pieces, for sure, and one of his best. That much is offered up on the likes of I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You and even Goodbye Jimmy Reed, the latter track not quite gelling on the album but coming into a life of its own on stage.
For those unconvinced by Rough and Rowdy Ways, the Things Aren’t What They Were compilation offers a decent taster session of what could be his best since Love and Theft. Dylan seeks out some revolutionary instrumental momentum here, parts of his religious trilogy are exorcised and find new life in these modern-day performances. Part of the charm, then, is hearing their new context. What they offer to the songs of now, what those contemporary moments give back to the hits-laden discography. A song like Every Grain of Sand or Gotta Serve Somebody feels fitting when paired with Mother of Muses. These are deeply moving moments from Dylan on stage, where the songwriter finds the time to account for the joys of returning to a live performer, time and again.
