The Endless Highway - Field Recordings, 1999
Girl From The North Country - February 24
John Brown - July 26
Mama, You Been On My Mind - July 6
Tryin' To Get To Heaven - April 7
Boots Of Spanish Leather - November 18
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues - July 6
Highlands - November 18
Down Along The Cove - November 8
I Want You - October 26 (Evening)
Big River - November 8
Man In The Long Black Coat - November 8
I & I - November 10
Not Dark Yet - July 6
Lossless Links:
MP3 Link:
Greetings Friends,
This is not to be missed. One of the peaks of the
Never-Ending Tour, 1999 may be one of Dylan's finest years on-stage. After
years of building credibility throughout the 1990s, the performances exploded
at the turn of the century. It would be difficult to listen to this "Girl
From The North Country" or "Boots of Spanish Leather" and not be
moved. Similarly, it would be tough to not laugh at the meandering narrative of
"Highlands" or feel a chill at the
menacing "John Brown." You can groove along with the country raves in
"Mama, You Been On My Mind," "Down Along The Cove," and
Johnny Cash's immortal "Big
River." The
renditions of "I Want You" and "Man In The Long Black Coat"
are definitive to my ears, despite other excellent airings of these songs.
The set is '60s-heavy, but only because Dylan was truly in
touch with whatever spirit moved him to write these songs more than three
decades earlier. Songs of a later vintage are no less impressive, and you can
hear on this record the debut acoustic performance of "Tryin' To Get To
Heaven." "Not Dark Yet" is truly monumental and an appropriate
climax to the record - give it a listen.
Hope you like this one. Words won't do it justice. Don't
forget to turn up the sound.
If you enjoy it, and would like to purchase the original studio recordings of these songs, you can find them at the following links:
Next week we will explore the various tours of 2000; this includes the very highly regarded Portsmouth, Santa Cruz, and Anaheim shows, among many other classics. It will be similar in format and sound to this week's release, but with an exciting selection of the very best songs from that year's shows. Until then, keep yourself healthy and listen to some good tunes.
-CS
Incredible. I thought the 1995 comp would be hard to beat, but this... so many stand-outs, but the first and last tracks book-end it perfectly. Great work.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I agree about Prague '95. As great as that residency was, my preference is for the songs here. Luckily, we have both! I'm glad to hear that you enjoy the CD.
DeleteOn a related note, this version of "Girl of the North Country" has got to be one of the best, and it's not part of a notable concert, tour, or anything of that sort. Just hidden away. I'd never encountered it before beginning work on this compilation, but it deserves to be heard widely.
And as you said about "Girl of the North Country", this is ONE reason why I treasure your compilation so much. I probably have already every single recording on this CD BUT when you hear it in a different context, in different order, on a different compilation, suddenly your ears pop up and hear something that was hidden all those years before. Thank you CS, yo do a wonderful job and I truly enjoy your hard work and efforts.
DeleteSo many wonderful collections on this site and well, you can't eat all this stuff in a single bite. But this one is particularly impressive.slightly fewer instrumental interludes would have been an improvement, but to hear Bob so well connected with songs old and new is always a joy. Thank you again.
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