DEEP BENEATH THE WAVES vol 13

Date:    Tue, 17 Oct 1995 10:45:36 +050)
From:    xyx  
Subject: DEEP BENEATH THE WAVES vol 13

  Greetings from THE DEEP once again. For any newcomers, the purpose of
this column(?) is to review the latest releases of Mr.D (no, not "GH 3"
and the like, but the non-Sony product that miraculously materializes on
the average of 5-7 times per month, sometimes more & sometimes less). The
12 previous DEEP adventures can be found in Karl Erik's award-winning
"Expecting Rain" Dylan home page. Consult the FAQ for directions.
   Let's begin:

"AVIGNON"  2CD   Avignon, France  25 July 1981 (Moonlight)
  The complete circulating soundboard tape (not the whole show, as "Slow
Train" is cut and MrTMan is missing) presented in excellent quality (note:
part of this show was previously issued on "True Stories" in wrong order).
Sound here is clear and well balanced, with the vocal's right up front, and
Dylan's performance is very energetic and forceful, to say the least. Perhaps
still recovering from a reported bout with the flu at this show (witness
Oslo two weeks prior), his voice takes on added nuances and expression, IMO,
which only adds to the quality of the show. Preferable to me are the acoustic
& sparser sounding numbers (Girl From NC, Thin Man, In Summertime, Let's
Begin very fine performance, Just Like, Blowin, It Ain't Me, Knockin'
finale). The subtleties are sometimes lost in the "wall of sound"
arrangement employed on a lot of the "louder" songs, although Dylan's
charismatic vocals
never fail to cut through the busy mix. I must add that Fred Tackett does
some fine work on guitar,  particularly on "When You Gonna Wake Up" and
"Heart of Mine" and the back-up singers, while annoying in some
places, are well suited to some of the arrangements on this tour. 27 tracks
in all, including 3 with lead vocals by the back-up singers which, perhaps
surprisingly, fit in to the show nicely.
   Overall, an excellent set from Moonlight, who have yet to put out a dog.
The packaging is timely ('81 shots) and decent but won't win any awards.
Now, if they could only find the complete soundboard from Oslo of that year
we'd be in business.


"NORTH STAGE"  1CD  Woodstock Festival, NY   14 Aug 1994  (Crystal Cat)
   A late entry to the rather long list of Woodstock performances on CD,
and the best of the lot. Complete and in excellent STEREO sound w/clear
separation of the band and full-frontal vocals. Some drawbacks of other
Woodstock disks included MONO presentation and stretching the performance
out over 2 CDs. No problems of that ilk here, and no need for review beyond
energetic, glorious, beautiful and from the heart - a watershed performance
that justifiably generated renewed interest and acclaim for the man of
TODAY!
   Exceptional packaging adds to the desirability of the disk, with a
color contact sheet of great photos as the front cover, and clear disk
tray allows viewing of a close-up pic of Bob signing autographs. First
rate job from Crystal Cat.

Upcoming: the long-awaited Philly TLA '95 "The Peddler Now Speaks" from
  Razor's Edge, along with 4 recent German and Spanish shows rumored to be in
  the works. Also, the '78 tour rehearsals from Razor's Edge, plus the
  Marriott Hotel '86 lounge show mentioned yesterday. Just rumors, yes,
  but they always seem to become fact, eventually.

                                    Love & Mercy - xyx

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 T-list CDs