Also, there are the rainbows

“It shoots little rainbows that are so cute the bad guys’ heads pop off.”

location: Cardiff Wales

boblink: http://bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-c06.html

opener: Humming Bird

personal favorites played: Tangled Up In Blue, Things Have Changed, Moonlight

Bob factor: This is one of those nights when Bob just wants to get through things. The performance isn’t bad, but he prominently features the trick he described in his Chronicles book of rushing up to the 3rd beat of the measure. We’re used to it, and apparently so is he. But in some places in this show, it gets in the way as he stumbles to keep his vocal in rhythm.

performance: This version of the band featured two highly competent sidemen, blues guitarist Charlie Sexton and multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell. They start out with an acoustic attack that is sharp and bright, if perhaps a little too neat. This runs into a very album-like 60s take on “It’s Alright Ma” that gives no hint of the blues burner it would become later in that summer. Whatever else might be wrong with the performance, punters certainly got their money’s worth. The program runs almost 2 and a half hours without resorting to filler from other shows.

recording: Another liberated bootleg. I’ve never figured out why all the soundboard recordings seem to come from Europe these days. Perhaps American venues have tighter security or something. Regardless, this one is in fabulous condition. The acoustic guitars are jarringly crisp at times, but everything is fairly well-balanced.

highlights: The early 80s song “Solid Rock” is a seldom heard gem. 2002 is the year when “Tangled Up In Blue” came to full fruition. “Wicked Messenger” is a nice rocker and a pleasant surprise.

lowlights: Back-to-back 7-minute versions of shelf stock “Positively 4th Street” and “Lonesome Day Blues” are a bit wearing, even if the sound and musicianship is top-notch. As much as I love “Visions Of Johanna” 9 minutes pushes even my patience.

decision: Another great show, in great quality.

location: Zurich, Switzerland

boblink: http://www.bobsboots.com/cds/cd-m12.html

opener: Cocaine Blues

personal favorites played: “Not Fade Away” is the Buddy Holly song, but done in the Grateful Dead’s wide-open arrangement that I love.  Tacked on as an extra track to pad out the second disc, a rare appearance (and fabulous performance) of “Visions Of Johanna.”

Bob factor: The voice is in good form here.  The vocal on “Not Dark Yet,” for instance, might be better than the record version.

performance: This is the tail end of the Bucky Baxter era.  Here Larry Campbell is credited with guitar, and Bucky is credited with pedal steel and banjo. I don’t have any information to go off of beyond the often-wrong label on the bootleg, but it sounds about right.  Many people (me included) thought Bucky wasn’t a good fit as the primary guitarist.  He seemed to be on a different page than Bob as far as what he wanted most of the time.  But adding color with steel and banjo is a good job for a guy who has too much tendency to hot dog, and it comes out sounding good in the end.

recording: This is what they call a “liberated bootleg,”  which is to say that it was originally an illicit recording sold for profit.  But since the bootleg CD industry is essentially dead and things like this are now fileshared all over the place, the diligent bootleggers really just did the world a favor.  We have here a wonderful soundboard recording.  It might even be mixed for the recording.  Most soundboard tapes use the “house mix”–which is often slightly distorted due to the oddities of the performance space–but this one is very coherent, with even crowd noise in good balance.

highlights: “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall” is kind of a tricky one to do right, but he has the kind of band at this point that he feels comfortable trying it with.  “Can’t Wait,” a tune buried at the end of Time Out Of Mind that I didn’t even recognize, is wound into a tight little spiral that sounds like it could have come off of Infidels (this is praise when I say it, though that’s not the case for everyone).

lowlights: “Tangled Up In Blue” doesn’t suit this band all that well.  The arrangement is there, but it will take a little more fine tuning (and a different drummer) before it becomes the stomper it is by 2002.  Many of the wordier 60s songs like “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” are taken a bit too slow, making them a difficult listen.

decision: This one is a slam dunk.  A great show all the way around, and one I’d completely forgotten about.  Treasures like this are why I’m doing my listening project.

We took the kids up to see him briefly over the weekend.  Yakko was the most visibly upset, and couldn’t stay long.  He might have been the only one who really comprehended how much work had been done on Grandpa.  Whacko thought the tubes coming out of him made him look like Iron Man.

At any rate, everyone seems to be doing okay at the moment, and I’ll pretend like that’s a good enough excuse for not having posted in weeks.

“Why do you need to go to the basement?”

“I want to beat Whacko to the computer.”

A reasonable point, except that it was 4:45 am on a school morning.

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that too much, honey…”

An update to the pitching situation:  Check your game program, fans.  If you have John Smoltz’s autograph on page 17, congratulations! You’re the new Braves reliever.  Report to the customer care desk to get your uniform…

Young Blaine Boyer is working himself into a hole and struggling mightily, so of course Bobby Cox will keep going to him beyond all reason.  That’s why guys love to play for Cox, but it tends to give Braves Nation heartburn.