It may be his first live album in six years, but
Real Live
still is his fourth live album in ten years, and, as such, it still feels a little redundant. Nevertheless, it doesn't feel anywhere nearly as unnecessary as
At Budokan
and if it doesn't capture a historically significant tour, as
Hard Rain
did with
the Rolling Thunder Revue
, this is a better record all the same, capturing a working band -- a working band featuring ex-
Stones
guitarist
Mick Taylor
, no less -- on a pretty good night. That means there are few revelations -- though diehards will certainly revel in
"Tangled Up in Blue,"
which has several brand-new (not necessarily better) verses -- but it's still pretty good all the same, providing lean, relatively muscular renditions of
Dylan
's great songs. This isn't an important, necessary
record, but it's a good, solid live album, his best live album since
Before the Flood
, even if it's hardly as monumental as that. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine