Tangled Up In Roseland (no label)
Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY – October 19th & 20th, 1994
CD1 (71:48) October 19, 1994: Jokerman (cuts in), If You See Her Say Hello, All Along the Watchtower, You’re A Big Girl Now, Tangled Up In Blue, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), Mama You Been On My Mind, One Too Many Mornings, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
CD2 (79:48): Shelter From The Storm, Maggie’s Farm, Like A Rolling Stone, It Ain’t Me Babe. October 20, 1994: Jokerman, If You See Her Say Hello, All Along the Watchtower, Simple Twist of Fate, Tangled Up In Blue, Positively 4th Street
CD3 (73:37): Mama You Been On My Mind, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, Boots of Spanish Leather, God Knows, Joey, Maggie’s Farm, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), My Back Pages, Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, Highway 61 Revisited
The appearance several months ago of the two Bob Dylan Roseland Ballroom soundboards a couple months back on Positively West 52nd Street (PAS BPDOS52) ranks as among the best bootleg release of the year. With excellent sound, it ranks as good if not better than an official release.
Tangled Up In Roseland is a direct copy. It has the exact same disc timings and sound quality. The only difference is the packaging, which is a fatboy jewel case instead of a glossy cardboard sleeve. For those who already own the first title, this one in unnecessary. But, since it’s now hard to find Tangled Up In Roseland is a second chance to own a silver pressed edition of the tapes.
A detailed review by Stuart can be found in his review of Positively West 52nd Street. New York is the location for several important shows for Dylan in 1994 which were instrumental in bringing him more artistic credibility after a massive slump in the eighties. On August 14th he played at the second Woodstock festival and in November he taped an Unplugged show for MTV.
Among them were the three shows at Roseland Ballroom on October 18th – 20th. Almost to confirm its impact upon the younger generation, Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth posted:
“I don’t know what/whose show YOU saw last week, but what I saw was the best show I’ve seen Dylan do in maybe FIFTEEN years, a MASTER at the height of his POWERS, singing (singing real good!) playing just INCREDIBLY, with a CRACK band supporting him (finally!), playing songs from EV’RY PERIOD of his lengthy CAREER and just doing everything right.
“I’m talking about before, LONG BEFORE Neil and Bruce came out during 3rd encore and place went ultra-nuts. When they were sitting with GINSBERG (& GE Smith) in VIP area, and Dylan was singing ‘Only TIME WILL TELL who has fell and who’s been left BEHIND’, how could they have felt???
“Here he was, just beautiful, singing strong and loud, no mumbles – if you stop trying to force the songs to sound like his old vocal stylings and just lissen, he is doing really amazing versions – of MY BACK PAGES, JOEY, BOOTS OF SPANISH LEATHER – songs from ev’ry one of his MANY times.
“Dressed in impeccable black pin-striped suit, I felt he’d finally come through, after a decade of alkie/druggie/sexxee troubles and lame shows, he finally seemed ready to assume the mantle which he RIGHTLY DESERVES – the same respect that Neil (f’rinstance) has. It also occurred to me that in a way his lame shows of past years have actually PROTECTED him, that his not succeeding to be more successful has PREVENTED him from having to try to get over to ARENA-ROCK size audiences – the slow death of anybody good.
“He played fukkin’ ROSELAND! THREE NIGHTS! Hello, Axl? Mad Donna? Oh JaggerKeefHenleyMichaelPink… Eddie… Stipe… Fukkin WEEZER n SHIT… WAKE UP!!!”
And as if to confirm this, Jon Pareles, in reviewing the set for the New York Times, pointed out that: “Bob Dylan doesn’t act as if his songs are classics. He is a throwback to an era when a musician’s job was to perform live, not to perfect a studio arrangement. His music stays in the present tense.
“Mr. Dylan won’t recreate his old recordings; with every new band, and sometimes with each performance, he toys with tempos, rhythms and melodies, rarely content to sing a line the same way twice. Over a three-decade career, some of his live efforts have been garbled, even perverse. But with his current band, Mr. Dylan has reclaimed his place as a great American musician: an improviser with deep, broad roots.
“‘Me, I’m still on the road/Headin’ for a another joint,’ Mr. Dylan sang (at a playful double speed) in ‘Tangled Up in Blue,’ and he still treats his music that way. In an era when most big-time rockers shun spontaneity, Mr. Dylan is an oddball, and a precious one.”
There are copies circulating ont he internet with the opening of the October 19th “Jokerman” filled in by an audience recording. In one form or another these are essential shows and tapes to have for the collection.
