Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Volume 4: Live 1966 ‘The Royal Albert Hall Concert’

Also known as the ‘Judas’ show after a particular heckle from an audience member, this along with the 1965 Newport show is one of the more pivotal accounts of fan reaction to the electric Dylan. Fan response is pretty warm through the first (acoustic) half and then a touch more sour in the electric set. While the audience isn’t quite as venomous as I was expecting (to be fair I was expecting Newport again) the main difference between this and Newport is that the equipment actually sounds pretty good so the reaction is significantly less justified.

The show itself is really good. My favourite aspect is how a lot of older acoustic material is transliterated to the electric band and vice-versa. I prefer the electric set. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down, I Don’t Believe You and One Too Many Mornings are my favourite tracks from this album, each being a well defined reimagining of their original acoustic versions.

The album sounds really good as well, with the original 3 track masters being used. One has to wonder how many more shows were recorded in this manner. Hopefully the ban on Dylan material on Dime is indicative of an official store for this sort of material online.