Lending his songs to baby grand piano arrangements and seemingly improvised styles with veteran hands-on stage, Bob Dylan has once more reinvented himself. The Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, and the stop-offs on the Outlaw Music Festival tour with Willie Nelson, has been a constant stream of incredible surprises. Evergreens / Roll, Roll, Roll, is hard not to love. An outstanding first disc of the compilation. Dylan performing Johnny B. Goode is a bold opener for the compilation, not because of the quality (it’s one of the better interpretations of the classic Chuck Berry track), but because it relegates Dylan’s original material below the shock of a cover. What a cover it is, and there’s plenty of quality to be found throughout, both from further pieces inspired by others as well as a handy collection of Dylan’s songs, old and new. Rough and Rowdy Ways is given the focus here but it’s the occasional slipping in of a Not Fade Away or Gotta Serve Somebody that’ll no doubt excite.
A cover of Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind is likely the most shocking inclusion, and though it’s only a snippet, it warrants a listen. You would be hard-pressed to find a more excitable crowd than the one there. But what follows that snippet, that taste of what’s to come, is some of the most remarkable music Dylan has put to stage in his half-decade of Rough and Rowdy Ways touring. Dylan would keep those covers for parts of the US tour in 2023, so it’s nice for us Europeans to hear what he can bring to his peers. Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, the works of Grateful Dead, they’re all pulled on by Dylan and an exemplary ensemble of musicians. Long-serving bassist Tony Garnier is crucial to this sound, leading the rest of the band and focusing on where Dylan takes the song. That’s a knowledge which comes only from working together for decades. Evergreens / Roll, Roll, Roll highlights that wonderfully.
“Oh, he’s got a hat on,” to open Watching the River Flow is delightful. Little details like that are the sweet reason to head into bootlegs. There can be some nastiness aimed at these crowd members at first, they’re talking over a new interpretation, but just think on what the recording is. Evergreens / Roll, Roll, Roll is a chance to siphon off a little of that community spirit which comes from attending gigs. You would be hard-pressed to find a situation that brings about this level of emotion so well. Watching the River Flow sounds remarkable, too, without the crowd noise. Some later songs like Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine) and Mother of Muses are wonderfully placed, too. Lighter instrumental tones to those hard-hitting classics and modern tracks are a necessity.
At times on this compilation, Dylan sounds phenomenal. Head back to Watching the River Flow for an example of just how great he is. When he has the right set up on-stage, there’s no stopping how great Dylan can sound with these gentler arrangements. Some real delightful experiences to be found here, where the band seem to enjoy the lighter approach to some of the heavier-hitting material to be found in Dylan’s discography. He, too, sounds to be having the time of his life across this bootleg, a fantastic showcase of what the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour has done for his sound. Nothing short of monumental, but those lucky enough to attend any of the shows from Dylan on this tour would know that.
