BOB DYLAN : THE POET & THE PLAYERS

 

Disc One (56:07)

  1. Most Likely You Go Your Way, And I'll Go Mine

  2. Lay Lady Lay

  3. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

  4. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

  5. It Ain't Me Babe

  6. Ballad Of A Thin Man

  7. Stage Fright (The Band)

  8. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (The Band)

  9. King Harvest (The Band)

  10. When You Awake (The Band)

  11. Up On Cripple Creek (The Band)

  12. All Along The Watchtower

  13. Ballad Of Hollis Brown

  14. Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Disc Two (66:19)

  1. The Times They Are A-Changin' 

  2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

  3. Gates Of Eden

  4. Just Like A Woman

  5. Its Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

  6. Rag Mama Rag (The Band)

  7. This Wheel's On Fire (The Band)

  8. The Shape I'm In (The Band)

  9. The Weight (The Band)
    Bonus Tracks :

  10. Forever Young

  11. Highway 61 Revisited

  12. Like A Rolling Stone

  13. Maggie's Farm

  14. Blowin' In the Wind

Label : no label

Venue : Madison Square Gardens, New York City, NY, USA

Date : January 31th, 1974 (early show)

Quality : Soundboard Recording (A+)

Review (Bobsboots) : This is a very good direct line recording from the MSG afternoon show of January 31, 1974. That being said, the quality is not quite what one would hope for from a line recording. It is, however, as good as any circulating tape of this era. The vocals are powerful and upfront, and all instruments and backing vocals fit nicely into the overall mix. The interesting aspect of this title is that the MSG show is presented in its entireity, with no in-between song editing. It gives you the feel of being there.

Review about the confusing setlist (Ty Raterman) : There were two shows performed on Jan. 31, 1974 that supposedly have the same setlist, but are clearly different recordings. It's not that they are different sources of the same show, but that they are different shows altogether. Dylan says different things between songs, for example. According to Olaf Bjorner, however, the setlist as it appears here was performed only once... and that was the 1/31/74 afternoon (NYC). So how are there two different recordings of Dylan and the Band playing this setlist ? I posted the question on Dylantree, and the illustrious Bill Clinton came through for me. He said that one of these (the one on which Dylan says "It's great to be back in New York... it's a rare privilege to be here" is in fact not the afternoon show, but rather the bulk of the 1/31/74 EVENING show spliced together with the end of the Oakland 2/11/74 evening show. This splicing creates a 'show' that has the same set list as the NYC 1/31/74 afternoon show, but that nonetheless, contains NO music from that show. This (according to Clinton) is what The Poet and the Players, Bittersweet, Before and After the Flood, and Forever Young  all are - a splice job of NYC1/31/74 evening up through The Shape I'm In and then Oakland 2/11/74 evening from The Weight through Blowin' In the Wind. I was unconvinced of this until I stuck in my own recording of Oakland 2/11/74 evening and played it against the relevant tracks from my copy of "The Poet and the Players" and found that they were completely in sync.  The fact is, all of these boots are all splice jobs. None of them are, as has been claimed, the afternoon show from 1/31/74. My recordings, together will this discussion with Bill Clinton, seem clearly to suggest that Dylan said "It's great to be back in New York... it's a rare privilege to be here" between songs 1 and 2 of 1/31/74 evening, and said "Thank you, it's an honor to be here" between songs 1 and 2 of the afternoon show (and that this show has not been pressed onto any commercial bootleg)