BOB DYLAN : BIRMINGHAM 2005

 

Disc One (79:19)

  1. Intro
  2. Maggie's Farm
  3. Tell Me That It Isn't True
  4. Watching The River Flow
  5. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
  6. Ballad Of A Thin Man
  7. Highway 61 Revisited
  8. Mr. Tambourine Man
  9. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
  10. Chimes Of Freedom
  11. 'Til I Fell In Love With You
  12. Visions Of Johanna
  13. Honest With Me

Disc Two (73:12)

  1. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
  2. Summer Days
  3. Like A Rolling Stone
  4. All Along The Watchtower
    Bonus Tracks :
  5. The Man In Me
  6. Bye And Bye
  7. Absolutely Sweet Marie
  8. If You See Her Say Hello
  9. I Shall Be Released
  10. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
  11. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
  12. Forever Young
  13. New Morning

Label : Crystal Cat Records

Venue : NEC Arena, Birmingham, UK

Recording Date : November 18, 2005

Quality : audience recording (A+)

Review (Bob's Boots) : Birmingham is an outstanding show. Perhaps the best of the tour. It is well represented here in this very clean audience recording.  The vocals are crystal clear. Dylan's voice is simply huge on this night. It's melodic, it's teasing, it's full of gruff beauty. Many of these versions are truly incandescent, and are among the best performances of the decade. The entire show is a highlight, with too many individual gems to even mention. The bonus tracks include rarities performed on the minor league baseball stadium tour of the USA earlier in the year. As for the package, CC is usually at the top of the heap as far as recordings and packaging goes. The aesthetics on this set are not quite as pleasing as those past, however. In an effort to get Bob pictured with the eye logo, the band photo is superimposed over it. Problem is, it looks superimposed, and borders on the cheesy. The special "find the lines" effect used on the images of the discs doesn't work. The beautiful images on the liner are, inexplicably, from decades past. While this package would probably rate higher if issued by an upstart, we have come to expect a little more from the Cat.