European Tour 2003
A CS production, February 2014
CD 1:
1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) - Zurich, November 3, 2003 - truncated version
2. Tryin' To Get To Heaven - Amsterdam, November 11, 2003
3. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Zurich, November 3, 2003 - truncated version
4. Million Miles - London, November 24, 2003
5. Desolation Row - Berlin, October 20, 2003
6. Can't Wait - Zurich, November 3, 2003
7. Jokerman - London, November 24, 2003
8. Queen Jane Approximately - Gothenburg, October 15, 2003
9. Cry A While - Zurich, November 3, 2003
10. Boots Of Spanish Leather - London, November 15, 2003 - truncated version
11. Highway 61 Revisited - Zurich, November 3, 2003
12. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall - London, November 25, 2003
CD 2 - Bonus Tracks:
1. Dear Landlord - London, November 24, 2003
2. Love Sick - London, November 25, 2003
3. Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) - London, November 23, 2003
4. Romance In Durango - London, November 24, 2003
5. Silvio - London, November 23, 2003
6. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again - Copenhagen, October 16, 2003
UNTRUNCATED VERSIONS
7. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) - Zurich, November 3, 2003
8. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - Zurich, November 3, 2003
9. Boots Of Spanish Leather - London, November 15, 2003
Every song on here is a treat, though. This speaks to what I most want to hear in Dylan's live performances: an artist on the edge. In each of the tracks presented, the sound threatens to fall apart. Even so, they keep it together. The band and the singer are exploring new angles to classic songs old and new. I mean, just listen to the sarcastic sneer of the opening songs, in which the singer notes "You say you've got some other kind of lover and yes, I believe you believe you do." The broken howl of the final chorus in "Tryin' To Get To Heaven" is a fleeting highlight before "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" returns the set to a jauntier nature. Koella's guitar is the standout on so many of the songs here, but he's really laying on the beautiful flamenco flourishes in "Tom Thumb." "Million Milles" brings out the jokes, as Dylan follows up the line "I don't tell them everything I knew" with an off-mike "I just tell 'em some of it." You can just hear the weariness coming through in every moment of this song. Then, with "Desolation Row," the band is aiming for new heights and they hit them. This is a looser rendition of the song, and I prefer the more nuanced performance from Dublin '03, but the sound quality and passion of this recording could not be rivalled. "Can't Wait" puts the listener immediately in the same, post-midnight neon haze of an urban landscape, with Dylan sounding knowledgable about those "on their way up," and those "on their way down." His reading of the line "the air burns" is so evocative. "Jokerman" contains the most inventive rhythms of the set, as Recile plays his heart out. "Queen Jane Approximately" is a towering monument to what a dedicated artist can do onstage. This is exquisite, and seems to contain all the heartache and desperation in the world, with the band and their leader totally in-sync. The vocals threaten constantly to break, and sometimes they do, but it adds to the masterpiece being presented to the audience. "Cry A While" is the polar opposite, a real barn-burner with some inspired growling. If you don't care for Dylan's rasp, you won't like this one; on the other hand, if you're like me it's just perfect. From that song, the band moves the music into a unique, almost baroque arrangement of "Boots Of Spanish Leather." Far from the introspective versions of 1995 or 1999, this one flows along as though the singer were narrating it with all of his hope and eventual anger plain to read. "Highway 61" is, like "Queen Jane," a definitive live performance; never before or again were these songs as powerful as they were on these nights, at least to my ears. Finally, the set closes with a transcendant, triumphant "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," building to a crescendo in the final chorus.
As you can tell from reviewing the dates of the recordings, my favorite show from the leg is November 3. This concert is top-notch from beginning to end. Though most nights of this tour, like any other, were uneven, I think Bob Dylan landed the mark with the twelve tracks found on Piano Blues and Barroom Ballads. If I could keep just one of the compilations presented on A Thousand Highways (and thank goodness I don't), it would be this one.
For the people who want to hear the song purely as it was played, you may be disappointed to find slightly truncated versions of "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I Go Mine," "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," and "Boots of Spanish Leather." To accomodate the runtime, something had to go, and I think those tracks hold up just as well with missing instrumental pasages. Note that the only vocal loss is the final repeated verse and chorus of "Most Likely." This is because the song loses its momentum, and is served better (to my ears) by the shorter cut. I am sure some listeners disagree with this decision, and will be happy to find extended cuts of these three songs in their own folder within the download. Similarly, a handful of bonus tracks round out the set. These consist of some notable performances ("Romance In Durango" chief among them) that are interesting, but which I didn't think met the quality of the other tracks recordings presented.
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