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Rating: In 1966, Bob Dylan was twenty-five and already felt old. He had written all the best of American folk music, following in the footsteps of the genre's founding fathers, above all, Woody Guthrie. In my opinion, though, he significantly raised the bar, both in terms of poetic writing and musical fluidity, as "his" folk was already tainted with rock (and blues). However, the early fans, connoisseurs of the genre, did not look beyond the battered guitar and the harmonica that accompanied the young Bob on stage. In 1965, Dylan had released Bringing it all back home and Highway 61 Revisited and was about to publish in 1966, before the concert in question, Blonde on Blonde, his famed electric trilogy. In 1965, he had already started his personal war with "his" audience on the American stage, his land, at the Newport Folk Festival. Here, we are in England, in London, because this, as rightly underlined by the title of the work on the cover, is the "Real," the true London live at the Royal Albert Hall, despite the many famous (and beautiful) bootleg live albums titled Royal Albert Hall, which actually capture the concert in Manchester nine days earlier. The setlist of the two concerts is identical, divided, as Dylan used to do at the time, into two parts: the first as a folk singer, with guitar and harmonica, the second rock, accompanied by those extraordinary musicians who would soon form The Band, the American Stones, in my opinion. From the first side (cd 1), I highlight the wonderful Visions of Johanna, sung with a voice that is at times sweet, a rare thing for Dylan of those years. However, the theme here is not political-social protest, but that of a woman, of two different female universes, that of the passionate woman and that of the sentimental woman. From the acoustic side, I also highlight the wonderful Desolation row, extended for twelve minutes in an artistic trance that gives you goosebumps, Mr. Tambourine Man which here exceeds eight minutes thanks to a masterful (and never repeated afterwards) harmonica solo, and the yet unpublished at the time of the concert, Just Like a Woman, followed by the warm applause of the audience, certainly aware of having listened to the preview of a masterpiece. The second side (cd 2) sees Dylan waging a true war with an audience that, as it was in Manchester, does not want electric instruments on stage and shouts all sorts of things at their former idol, who, already seasoned by the previous year's experience at Newport, responds with an unprecedented rock fury that at times foreshadows the musical anger of the future (still many years to come) punk. I point out the beautiful Tell Me, Momma, played on the organ by the great Garth Hudson, a style that Ray Manzarek, the true soul of the nascent Doors, would owe much to. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (with Dylan telling the audience before he sings "come on, they're all protest songs!!!", which I translate as... "what are you complaining about???"), the frantic Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat, which alone may be worth the entire discography of the Stones, the masterful Ballad of a Thin Man, also pervaded by an artistic trance of Bob that gives you chills (and Hudson's organ), and the concluding, furious and moving, Like a Rolling Stone, at the end of which the audience surrenders, giving a resounding applause: Bob Dylan has won with peace for folk and its masters.
Excellent audio quality. I recommend this work especially to those who do not know Dylan, it could be a good way to start loving him.
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