Original released on Double LP CBS/SONY 40AP 1100-1
(JAPAN 1978, August 21)
Sadly, this is an often underrated album! Why, I can't understand! This is a "Greatest Hits" given a live rendering! Most songs are given new exciting arrangements, with backupsingers and sax, and he sings in a more melodic fashion than his usual experimental live-style (most likely to not scare off the japaneese audience, and because he knew this was recorded). A few songs like "Simple Twist of Fate" and "Going, Going, Gone" are even given new lyrics! And it all sounds very fresh and lively indeed! The instrumentation is comprehensive, and fleshes every song out compared to the original. The full band treatment especially complements the originally acoustic songs. This album doesn't have many rough edges (save perhaps "It's Alright, Ma") and some may call this album his "sunday school" album... But as Dylan has many faces we all love, I also like Dylan when he pulls himself together and gives the audience his very best! (Kim Alsos in AllMusic)
SIDE ONE: Mr Tambourine Man; Shelter From the Storm; Love Minus Zero/No Limit; Ballad of a Thin Man; Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
SIDE TWO: Maggie's Farm; One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below); Like a Rolling Stone; I Shall Be Released; Is Your Love in Vain?; Going, Going, Gone
SIDE THREE: Blowin' in the Wind; Just Like a Woman Oh Sister; Simple Twist of Fate; All Along the Watchtower; I Want You
SIDE FOUR: All I Really Want to Do; Knockin' on Heaven's Door; It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding); Forever Young; The Times They Are-a-Changin'
Bob Dylan: vocal, guitar, harmonica
Billy Cross: lead guitar
Steve Douglas: saxophone, flute, recorder
Bobbye Hall: percussion
David Mansfield: pedal steel, violin, mandolin, guitar, dobro
Alan Pasqua: keyboards
Steven Soles: rhythm guitar and vocals
Rob Stoner: bass, vocals
Ian Wallace: drums
Debi Dye, Jo Ann Harris and Helena Springs: vocals
Recorded in Japan, 28/02 and 1/03, 1978, Nippon Budokan, Tokyo
Having recorded two live albums in the recent past, Dylan was not looking to issue a tour souvenir, let alone one before the band and the complex new arrangements really bedded down. With 115 dates booked in advance, there was no sense of hurry. But Dylan had not reckoned with the determination of Sony Japan who wanted something to lay before those who had politely attended his ten shows there, his first visit to the land of the rising sun. Dylan had a new manager too, Jerry Weintraub, who also handled Neil Diamond and Frank Sinatra - both made of sterner commercial instincts even than Bob - and was unlikely to turn down so easy a pay day. But the album sold so well on import to the UK and US, particularly among those curious to hear in advance what they had booked up tickets for, that it was eventually issued in both the UK and the US, due to popular demand. Dylan later complained, rightly, «they asked me to do a live album for Japan. We had just started findin' our way into things on that tour when they recorded it.» Then the criticism continued. «Writers complain the shoe's disco or Las Vegas. I don't know how they came up with those theories. We never heard them when we played Australia or Japan or Europe. I made an album called "New Morning" and we used singers on just about every track. I used the horn sound in Nashville on "Rainy Day Women". There isn't really anything new, just a bunch of pieces put together.» But the double album was a sumptuous package all the same, with a clarity of sound to match. The front cover is a stunning colour photo by Joel Bernstein of Dylan onstage, intent and alert and in discreet eyeliner, and there was three more such portraits by Hirosuke Katsuyama on the original vinyl issue, one flanked by members of his band. The original vinyl also had a lyric book, but it was written in Japanese! It also boasted some lovely monochrome shots of Dylan in Japan.
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