Bound To Cross The Line (Thinman-106)
Stadio Lamberti, Cava Dei Tirreni, Italy – June 21st, 1989
(78:51): Subterranean Homesick Blues, Ballad Of Hollis Brown, Shelter From The Storm, Pancho And Lefty, You’re A Big Girl Now, Highway 61 Revisited, Barbara Allen, It Ain’t Me Babe, Mr. Tambourine Man, All Along The Watchtower, I Shall Be Released, Like A Rolling Stone, Times They Are A-Changin’, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Maggie’s Farm
Bound To Cross The Line is a single disc with seventeenth show on the 1989 tour of Europe. It contains the whole show in a very good to excellent sounding DAT audience tape. Three songs, “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Ballad Of Hollis Brown,” and “Pancho And Lefty” and included on the old CD release All The Way Down To Italy (Templar TCD20). But this is, however the first time the entire concert has been made available on silver before.
An energetic “Subterranean Homesick Blues” starts off the show with Smith on back up vocals and leads right into a heavy and dark arrangement of “Ballad Of Hollis Brown.” On an initial listen it sounds strange with an almost metal rhythm, but it pays off in the denouement with the resurrection of Brown’s family in the distance. “Shelter From The Storm” is followed by Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho And Lefty.” Owing much to the Willie Nelson cover, this is the first time Dylan performed it onstage.
The three song acoustic set in the middle begins with the ancient British ballad “Barbara Allen.” This is the second of two covers in the short set of a song that has played an important part of his live career. Both “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “Mr. Tambourine Man” are very energetic and fun to listen to. A dramatic version of “All Along The Watchtower” is the first song played when the entire band comes back on stage followed by “I Shall Be Released.”
“The Times The Are A-Changin'” is the first encore played acoustically and Dylan and Smith remain on acoustic guitars for the first part of “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” The band comes in and they finish the song on electric in a very powerful arrangement. Finally “Maggie’s Farm” is the final encore and song played in the evening as it is for a majority of shows on the first NET tours. Thinman’s mastering of the excellent quality tape is very nice and with the thick paper inserts is a great production.
