Prime Bob Dylan In Effect On ‘The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

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The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert is not an entry in The Bootleg Series of  Bob Dylan’s, but it achieves the same effect as the most significant releases in that archive project. That is, it definitively clarifies one of the pivotal points in the 2016 Nobel Laureate’s long career.

This two-CD set is actually a cull from a massive box of thirty-six discs released in the fall of 2016, capturing every known recording of Dylan’s fifty-year old concerts with the Hawks, nee the Band, during a tour of the world. As one of the most famous bootlegs of our time, The Royal Albert Hall Concert was actually taped in Manchester England’s Free Trade Hall, formally released in 1998 as The Bootleg Series  Vol. 4.

The two packages are identical in song sequence and contain complete concerts, as presented in two sets, one acoustic solo and one electric with the group. And while The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert isn’t so lavish as its predecessor, its stripped-down graphics, in particular the kinetic array of color photos inside the digi-pak, suit the music, while the new digital mastering imparts new immediacy to the recordings, originally intended for a live album.

Dylan is riveting on stage by himself as performs songs including “She Belongs to Me” and Visions of Johanna” with a scintillating clarity and it’s not just the pointed vocals backed with acoustic guitar: hear the intricate harmonica coda to “Mr. Tambourine Man.” With the  rough and tumble accompaniment of the Hawks, rearrangements of older material such as “One Too Many Mornings,” are proportionately more intense, whether in terms of personal expression, as on “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)” or more broadly topical “Ballad of A Thin Man.”

Turning the volume up (HIGH) brings out the power in the ensemble playing in more ways than one, but even then, neither Rick Danko’s bass nor Mickey Jones’ drums boom; still, they resonate in their own way like Robbie Robertson’s guitar, the sound of which which cuts like a scythe on “Baby Let Me Follow You Down.” Meanwhile, a variety of colors glint and glimmer from the keyboards of  Richard Manuel and Garth Hudson, matching the wild imagery of songs like “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.” And with his mannered vocals, Dylan accentuates a spontaneity that serves the music well: despite the uniformity of the setlist, there’s nothing pat in this performance.

Dylan’s quick but gracious ‘Thank you’ at the end of the show suggests the pleasure he took in playing with the group, not to mention the obvious relish he savored in offering fresh material  from the just-released Blonde on Blonde. In fact, it’s the exultant abandon he shares with these kindred spirits of his on stage that make The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert worth owning, even apart from its historical significance.