Bob Dylan - Live at The Isle Of Wight Festival 8/31/69

So I'm a bit of a recent Dylan convert. For the longest time I thought he was simply a joke whose best days were behind him, but after reading a bit about the Basement Tapes I was rather intrigued. The Basement Tapes are simply aural bliss, which led me to find the Tree With Roots collection, which led me to listen to his early works. I now recognize how blind I have been all these years. Generally I think I have a very open mind when it comes to music, and not to make excuses for my ignorance but when you grow up with the surrounding culture mocking someone, if you don't know any better it just kinda sinks in. Yeah, that sucks, but I acknowledge my errors when I make them. Okay, I try to at the very least. That said, I'm not saying that all of Dylan's stuff is gold, and the level of respect bestowed upon him seems based purely upon his early successes, but that doesn't mean he's not worthy of it.

Anyway, in researching his late sixties, early seventies output, I came upon the rather confusing Self Portrait. I enjoyed it, although it's clear that the general consensus is pretty divided on that one. Some of my favorite bits from it were the four songs recorded at the Isle Of Wight festival in 69 which led me to find a copy of the show. Dylan was backed by The Band at this gig and the overall vibe is very good, making it a keeper. So why didn't they release the whole show? Yes, it could still happen, but it's still odd, especially when Sony/Columbia seems satisfied to squeeze every dollar out of Dylan's catalog, released and unreleased.

I'm disappointed to find that a high quality copy of this show is not in circulation, especially with it having been recorded for potential release, but a decent audience tape has existed for quite a while. The version presented here is "remastered" by someone named JTT from what may be the actual master reel, and again, it sounds good for an audience recording, so props to JTT and anyone else responsible for the circulation of great gigs like these. With the bootleg industry finally dying, and record labels going with them, maybe people will release great quality recordings more often rather than hoard them in their private collections. Or not.

Okay, more plausible expectation... Maybe the industry will get with the times and begin releasing more fan-oriented releases in lossless quality digital packages with limited physical equivalents available upon request, similar to the NIN model. OR NOT.


Bob Dylan - Live at The Isle Of Wight Festival 8/31/69

01 She Belongs To Me
02 I Threw It All Away
03 Maggie's Farm
04 Wild Mountain Thyme
05 It Ain't Me Babe
06 To Ramona
07 Mr. Tambourine Man
08 I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
09 Lay Lady Lay
10 Highway 61 Revisited
11 One Too Many Mornings
12 I Pity The Poor Immigrant
13 Like A Rolling Stone
14 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
15 Quinn The Eskimo
16 Minstrel Boy
17 Rainy Day Women #12 & 35