Bob Dylan – True Confessions Review

An odd tour to say the least for Bob Dylan in the mid 1980s. He hardly had a grasp on what sound he wanted in the studio, let alone on stage. It leads to some odd and awkward moments, but also some fascinating stop-offs, most of which are backed by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Even at his lowest, Dylan still had some sway. This was a decade deemed to be his lowest to date, and yet he still collaborated with Mark Knopfler, Jeff Lynne, and George Harrison. The latter two, granted, as part of The Traveling Wilburys, but True Confessions, a synth-heavy showcase in Nagoya, Japan, comes before that. It’s a bootleg worth listening to if you want to hear how Empire Burlesque affected Dylan, albeit briefly. Taking to the stage with a rocked out rendition of Positively 4th Street highlights the best and worst of Dylan during this period in quick succession.  

His ear for reinventing these songs is still present, but how he reinvents them is relatively limited. A whining voice and a stodgy, plodding rock noise from song to song, it’s a tough ask to get anyone invested in True Confessions. Is that setlist worth sticking around for? Considering it’s a staggering hits collection, features Lenny Bruce, and has Dylan jamming out with Petty for twenty-five or more songs, it is worth sifting through. Not a full listen, doing so means getting through the lull of a Hank Snow performance, When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky, and a cover of Lonesome Town. It’s as if Dylan is serving himself, and while he did once opine that somebody must be served, himself is not the right answer, not least for a show of this calibre. There are some real, left-field choices here. Across the Borderline and Seeing the Real You at Last, tucked away for the end of the show, is inspired work. But the renditions let down the experience of rarities here.  

Dylan is unable to shake this tired-sounding rock and roll experience. Each song ends in predictable fashion, with a big percussion build to a smattering of applause and then a little break as Dylan figures out the first note or so to the next track. Plenty of covers here, much of it classic rock and roll, which was no doubt listened to by Dylan in his formative years. Using Petty as a backing band member is just about the strongest choice Dylan makes on True Confessions. The instrumentals may be uninspired but at least they’re consistent. A handful of performances are worth listening to, not because they’re any good, but because they’re so unlike how Dylan would perform them elsewhere. A slightly off-tempo Ballad of a Thin Man is a fascinating one, and after getting so used to hearing backing vocals build with Dylan from early in the song, it’s nice to hear they’re not used as frequently here.  

An encore featuring Blowin’ in the Wind and Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door is, too, a nice time. There are fragments of truth on True Confessions, moments that will linger that little bit longer than the relatively underwhelming portions of the set. Blowin’ in the Wind is given a roving, country swing to it that’s quite unlike anything else featured on the set. It’s a performance of confusion within the Dylan camp as he’s pulled this way and that with the sound he wants to showcase. It would be a muddled continuation of the gospel-like rock that had served him well at the start of the 1980s. He wasn’t quite capturing the magic of that period again, but there are moments where that bright and brilliant songwriting style cracks through and, however brief it may be, it’s always nice to hear.