Decades on the road came to a sudden end through no fault of Bob Dylan’s. A global pandemic prevented just about everyone from performing, let alone touring. It would not be long before Dylan brought Rough and Rowdy Ways to the stage, a tour which is still going strong five years on. A masterstroke of an album which has been given a brilliant showcase on stage. Compilation efforts are the best way to access those live renditions for those who cannot make their way to one of Dylan’s shows. I Saw It Begin, a triple pack bootleg of Winter touring from 2021, is a listen worth making. Putting Jewels in the Crown, the first disc of the set, is a magnificent showcase of not just the contemporary material which still serves Dylan well, but the lesser-known tracks of his discography which are deserving of the stage still. They are adapted well by the slower tempo, the ongoing pursuit of new meaning in old songs remains for this collection.
You can hear it throughout, namely on Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) and Gotta Serve Somebody. Those two songs could not be further apart in where Dylan was in his career when writing them. A peak at one end, a religious fervour at the other. Both work under the broader, grand piano-led scope of Rough and Rowdy Ways. Utterly delightful performances from Dylan here. His vocals are clearer here than they would be on future dates, and that much can be heard on opening song, Watching the River Flow. A groovy, relaxed instrumental tone is crucial to this. That laid-back feeling is crucial to these Rough and Rowdy Ways performances. It doesn’t just suit the new material, but it gives wildly new, refreshing instances of classics.
When I Paint My Masterpiece is nothing short of glorious here. Not just because of the whooping crowd but because of the piano-led charms. The little flickers of new life in a song which could’ve sunk with the same instrumental arrangement over decades of performance. Few artists can find a fresh route to the heart of their songs, fewer still can reinvent a song time and time again. Dylan manages that even for the contemporary material. Inspired performances of Black Rider and My Own Version of You feature here, ripped from Washington and Hershey, respectively. It’s when the songs fall into those silent breaks, which Dylan sounds particularly fond of for When I Paint My Masterpiece that trouble starts to brew. Only briefly at least, but it’s certainly an instrumental style which improved over time. Those moments of contemplation, the quiet which precedes some boom of inspired vocal delivery, that has changed for the better.
Listening in to Putting Jewels in the Crown certainly highlights the improvements made over the last four years by Dylan on stage. The Rough and Rowdy Ways tour is a remarkable experience, and its early days are an interesting listen. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight has a swinging guitar structure which longs for the early years of rock and roll while Mother of Muses is far from the melancholic tone featured on the album. These differences are tremendous. Inevitably confident showcases of what Dylan and his dependable backing band can do when asked to improve or interpret these songs in different ways. That’s the clear draw for Putting Jewels in the Crown. Dylan remains a staggering stage presence, and you can hear that in the slow drawl, the stripped-back instrumentals which swell in all the right places as the veteran songwriter reflects on his career and his music. It’s a wonderful listen, a real highlight of the Rough and Rowdy Ways bootlegs.
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