I still believe to this day that the 1966 Dylan world tour with the Hawks
represents the best live rock and roll music ever created. The music was
dynamic, the music was powerful, and the music was like none other being
performed at the time. The chemistry between Dylan, Robertson, and Hudson
was spectacular. There was major telepathy going on there. One element that
made Dylan's 1966 concerts different from anyone else's was the amazing
way the tempos were deliberately slowed down rather than speeded up, as
most groups had been doing in order to generate more live excitement. Dylan's
songs were so dramatic that slowing them down was the only logical way to
present such profoundly different rock and roll, and the effect was stunning.
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Partial and complete PA tapes exist for:
- Sydney, Australia 4/13/66 (complete)
- Melbourne, Australia 4/19/66
- Copenhagen, Denmark 5/1/66
- Dublin, Ireland 5/5/66
- Belfast, Ireland 5/6/66
- Birmingham, England 5/12/66
- Liverpool, England 5/14/66
- Sheffield, England 5/16/66
- Manchester, England 5/17/66 (complete)
- Edinburgh, Scotland 5/20/66
- London, England 5/26/66
- London, England 5/27/66
Partial and complete audience tapes exist for:
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The best and most famous 1966 boot is
Guitars Kissing and The Contemporary Fix, which is an excellent
2-CD boot taken from the complete stereo DAT tape of the Manchester
5/17/66 concert that was originally intended for official release as
The Bootleg Series Vol. 4. This presents a different mix than
the official release (now known as
Live 1966:
The "Royal Albert Hall Concert"). Also of interest is the
recently circulated Sydney 4/13/66 concert (although this date is in
dispute). It presents an entire concert, with a slightly incomplete
She Belongs To Me, in excellent sound except for an unusually
loud placement of Dylan's vocal and harmonica in the mix. The most
surprising thing about this tape is the substitution of Positively
4th Street for Like a Rolling Stone as the final song of
the second set.
Only small portions of the other shows exist - Dublin's acoustic
half (incomplete), five songs from the electric show at Liverpool
(one of which was released on the flip-side of I Want You
in 1966), parts of the acoustic and electric sets at Melbourne
(about 45 minutes worth), one song from Belfast (released on Biograph
- but if you believe Clinton Heylin, it actually comes from Dublin),
two excellent electric songs from Edinburgh (Like a Rolling
Stone - best version ever - and One Too Many Mornings),
and about a third of the first London show. This is not nearly
enough considering that the entire tour was taped!
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The audience tapes are mostly very poor sounding and suffer from a hostile
audience reacting negatively to the electric half which ended the show each
night. Some of the halls were a little too echoey, which was pretty typical
of the average rock and roll show in the mid '60s, and the band was playing
way too loud for the primitive recording equipment being used (it's been
said that Dylan and the Hawks were the loudest band playing in the large
halls at the time). There are at least two complete shows on audience tapes:
Edinburgh 5/20/66 and Bristol 5/10/66 - both poor recordings but both showing
the band at their peak. The Edinburgh show is probably the best of the entire
tour.
This is what currently exists for each of the PA tapes in circulation:
This is what currently exists for each of the audience tapes in circulation:
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CDs:
- Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert": The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (official album - complete Manchester 5/17/66)
-
Biograph (official album - various)
- Masterpieces (official album - Tom Thumb from Liverpool)
- Genuine Live 1966 (8-CD set featuring all known PA recordings)
- Guitars Kissing and The Contemporary Fix (complete Manchester)
- Royal Albert Hall (Manchester electric half)
- Manchester Prayer (Manchester and London 5/27 acoustic)
- Before the Crash I & II (London 5/26-27, Manchester)
- Melbourne 1966 (Melbourne acoustic and electric)
- Adelphi Theatre, Dublin, May 5, 1966 (Dublin acoustic)
- Play Fucking Loud (various)
- Pill-Box (Edinburgh 5/20/66)
- Get Loud (Bristol 5/10/66)
- A Week In The Life (various)
- Mr. Tambourine Man Volume 3 (Manchester electric)
LPs:
- Royal Albert Hall (various labels)
- Zimmerman - Looking Back (Zerocks label - best RAH)
- Live Acetates I (Manchester 5/17 and London 5/26)
- Live Acetates II (London 5/27 acoustic)
- Stars of 66 (London 5/26-27 + Manchester and others)
- While the Establishment Burns (Dublin 5/2/66 acoustic)
- Burn Some More (more Dublin + Edinburgh 5/20/66)
- Live in Melbourne (Melbourne 4/19/66 acoustic)
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