Collected works from tour preparation offer some valuable insight into how Bob Dylan prepared for gigs. Enough is Enough: The Best of the Rehearsal Tapes 1971 – 1989 shines a light on some truly unique performances. An unofficial addition to the officially released Bootleg Series. Bootlegs of the bootleg series. We are through the looking glass now. Trust in those Dylan compilers, though, bootleggers with decades of collective experience. They know how to suss out a great moment. They certainly manage throughout Enough is Enough, which focuses on the post-heyday, pre-return to form period of Dylan’s long and acclaimed career. From after Nashville Skyline to before public interest was renewed in him with the MTV Unplugged performance, Dylan was still performing. Hundreds of shows a year, often with the occasional instrumental change. It develops naturally over time, unnoticeable to the passing fan.
But those who listen to Enough is Enough will get a clearer picture of how, why, and when these instrumental changes, the vocal differences came into effect. Many of the songs featured here are ripped from Grateful Dead rehearsal tapes, a mighty compilation on its own. But for those who are overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of such a collection, the choices on Enough is Enough are a dependable taster session. John Hardy, Gonna Change My Way of Thinking and Stealin’, in particular, are standout moments. This is not a compilation relying on the hits of Dylan’s warm-ups; those versions are all too easy to find. No, this is a collection of rarities. If not rarities, then songs which are rare to see in Dylan’s setlists, torn apart and overhauled so they sound different to the studio offering. Those reclusive-sounding, rocked-out tones are a stark contrast to the blues groove heard on the World Tour Rehearsals.
A slowed You’re a Big Girl, Now, paired with Stop Now, is a brilliant double bill. Dylan sounded very keen to abandon the rock and roll style of Hard Rain and would instead invest his time adapting songs to the gospel and blues of the 1950s. It works a charm for songs like Tomorrow Is a Long Time and Ballad of a Thin Man. These moments are as close as you will get to clear hits from the Dylan discography on Enough is Enough. The rest of the selection is dedicated to rarities like The French Girl and Walking Down the Line. Both Shelter from the Storm and Isis, from the European Tour Rehearsals of 1984 and pre-Rolling Thunder Revue prep are monumental. So incredibly different to their studio origins, but fundamentally the same in theme and tone.
Some all-time great revisions from Dylan here to some of his most understated songs. These are the golden moments bootleggers are keen to share. A series of rehearsal performances, which, in full, is a tad overwhelming. Compilations have evolved for the better. Enough is Enough offers a brilliant collection of Dylan at his very best during a period when critics were out to get him, when fans were unconvinced by his spell of work in the 1980s. Here are signs of life in the artist who would reinvent himself just a few years after the Little Queen of Spades performance found here. Dependable work, some truly great moments which, for one reason or another, did not translate well enough to the live shows of the time. Not the Rolling Thunder Revue, more the 1980s output. A shame to hear it all fall apart, because what occurs in the rehearsal room is magnificent.
