This show, taped for
MTV
, finds
Dylan
turning in an 11-song set, with eight of the songs dating from his 1963-1967 heyday, including such
standards
as
"The Times They Are A-Changin'"
and
"Like a Rolling Stone."
(
"John Brown,"
a powerful antiwar song from 1963, had not been released on a
album previously.) The '70s are represented by
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door,"
and the '80s by
"Shooting Star"
"Dignity"
(a trunk song, the studio version of which had emerged only the previous November on
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3
).
, accompanied by a competent five-piece band, approaches his material in a gentler fashion than on some of the originals --
"With God on Our Side,"
for example, seem sadder and less defiant than they did back in 1964. Otherwise, unlike some other
Unplugged
performances, this one doesn't offer a noticeably different view of the artist's work. But then,
has been unplugged for much of his career, anyway. ~ William Ruhlmann