Eight songs from a jam at the Savoy Hotel offer real insight into the direction of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez’s careers. The latter performer was keen to give the audiences what they think they want, a chance to connect with them on a deeper level through a shared interest in folk music. Dylan sounds about ready to jump to a different genre, to reject what had made him an acclaimed songwriter. Choppy quality, but any quality highlighting the back and forth between Dylan and Baez just months before an electric twist of fate for one is magnificent. It’s the last months of a musical style which tied the two together. Savoy Hotel is definitely of the historically interesting variety rather than listenable entertainment, but the former is just as valuable as the latter when it comes to artists with decades of experience. Baez and Dylan come across well here, their musical partnership highlighted brilliantly.
Performances heard on the Savoy Hotel tapes highlight the brilliance of contrast for these two. Baez stands out on the Wild Mountain Thyme cover because she can hit higher notes than Dylan, but the deeper octave and lower tone the Mr. Tambourine Man songwriter can hit upon are a welcome balance. It’s heard time and again on stage, but how little we know of the perfection which goes into that. You can hear it throughout, some brilliant and brief moments with the duo. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry may be less than a minute, but it marks a fascinating moment. Take Savoy Hotel as a highlight reel of what the duo could do together on stage, that is how it is best experienced. Short and sweet work on Remember Me offers a harmonising Baez and a lead vocal from Dylan. It isn’t quite the glory days of It Ain’t Me, Babe but it does highlight the chemistry between them.
That is what Savoy Hotel does best. It showcases two outstanding musicians whose chemistry together spilt over into their personal lives. Even then, it does not draw anything away from the performances. An outstanding musical relationship which would be best served during the folk days, though it would occasionally light a new fire on the Rolling Thunder Revue. Crucial too is the suitable tone found on these recordings. Lost Highway, like Remember Me, offers a light country tone with Baez harmonising. Dylan leads the song but Baez is as important, if not more than the lead vocals, because she adds a character which would be lost with just the one artist. That is the sign of a musical partnership working in expected form.
Baez and Dylan set a high bar for their collaborative works, and you can hear the spoils of their preparation here. Said rehearsals captured on the Savoy Hotel tapes offer a shared interest in the classics of the time, which is perhaps more a reason for their stage presence together than the chemistry between the two outside of music. Those listening to the Savoy Hotel tapes may feel inclined to return to Don’t Look Back. Do. An incredible documentary on this tour and the frustrations of a performer with a new angle present in his studio recordings. It’s what would, in a way, fracture the initially strong on-stage partnership between Dylan and Baez. The latter would stick to softer tones, and it would hinder her reach as an artist. But neither was doing this for the reach of an audience. They both performed, together and independently, because their story was worth telling. That much is highlighted on the Savoy Hotel tapes.
