Bob Dylan And The Band :: The 1974 Live Recordings

If the people behind Bob Dylan’s new 1974 Live Recordings had a sense of humor, the set would come plastered with a sticker reading: “FOR SICKOS ONLY.” With 27 discs containing 431 performances (more than 24 hours!) drawn from Dylan and the Band’s hotly anticipated return to the stage in early ‘74, it’s a massive archival haul aimed at the ridiculously obsessed, the hopeless completist. If that’s not you, stick to the three-LP “highlights” release from Third Man. But if you’re like us and love this kind of deep immersion in a very specific Dylan era, you gotta get the whole thing. Admit it: you’re a sicko, too.

The Band :: Wollman Skating Rink, Central Park, New York City, June 30, 1971

The Band certainly went through the ringer — alcoholism, drug addiction, shady business dealings, mental health woes, etc. — but when they stepped onstage together, that all disappeared. Check ‘em out on this audience tape from way back in 1971, entertaining the throngs in Central Park on a warm summer night. The Band weren’t jammers; they generally stuck pretty close to the script in a live setting. But the songs have an added warmth, those irreplaceable/irrepressible voices blending magically with deceptively complicated arrangements. There’s a sense of support amongst the quintet that you don’t hear in many other places, an all-for-one spirit that lifts both the musicians and audience.