Before the Flood — Bob Dylan and the Band
A 12" live album deep dive
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I hit up Desert Grooves today, which is geographically the closest record store to my home. It’s been around for a little less than a year. I’ve found some great stuff there, and today was no exception.
I have a thing for live concert recordings and a passion for music documentaries. Not long ago, I mourned the death of Robbie Robertson by watching The Band’s “The Last Waltz” and the excellent doc “Once Were Brothers.”
I knew a lot already — I have respected Robbie Robertson as a writer since his 1987 self-titled album, but much more so after learning about his contributions to The Band, to the films of Martin Scorsese, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Any serious fan of classic rock should be well-steeped in Robbie Robertson’s work, especially the unique work released by The Band.
Desert Grooves had a copy of The Last Waltz in their new arrivals bin, and it was considered — until I saw this Japanese pressing of “Before the Flood.” Not to get too far into the history of The Band, but they spent years touring as Bob Dylan’s backing band when he moved from folk to electric music.
Once Were Brothers did a good job of explaining the dynamic of that initial transition. Dylan’s folk fans were so mortified that he would begin making music more in keeping with what was popular at the time that they barely gave this initial combination the time of day.
The Band moved on from Bob Dylan and released their classic Music from Big Pink, which featured songs that pretty much everyone knows, like “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek.” They would put out six albums, becoming a tour de force on their own, before linking back up with Bob Dylan for his Planet Waves album and this 1974 live set.
I knew this copy was coming home with me the moment I saw it contained a version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” which has fascinated me for the last year or so. I have known this track since I was a kid, but I never knew Bob Dylan wrote it. I mean — EVERYONE has a version of this song! I guess I assumed it was a Waylon Jennings or Johnny Cash original from back in the day, but I was honestly shocked when I first heard a Dylan version on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. More on that later.
Now is when I will mention my feelings on Bob Dylan. See, I write songs. I mean, not Dylan songs by any means. I have always known his lyrics to have earned their spot in American (and worldwide) music and cultural history.
Thing is — his voice is really not appealing to me in any way. Dylan, to me, is like a Stanley Kubrick movie. It has an interesting premise, something original and unlike anything else, but then what that is actually packaged in is nowhere near as good as I think it should have been.
This was an album I at least had to hear. I figured that if Dylan ever appealed to me, it would be playing with The Band. The album mixed tracks by both acts so that I would get a lot of music I knew I liked. It starts with a full side of Dylan classics like “Lay Lady Lay” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” but I was illuminated by the opener “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)”- a song I had not previously heard.
Music from the Band’s catalog is heavily featured on the next two sides, and the listener gets versions of some of their best-known titles. I would call “I Shall Be Released” and “The Shape I’m In” my favorites to be featured on this set.
“Don’t Think Twice” opens side three and is (unfortunately) pretty true to Dylan’s original recording. However, the entirety of side four really evidences what great compositions Bob Dylan’s songs can be when performed with heart and energy.
“All Along the Watchtower” sounds closer to the Jimi Hendrix version everyone knows, and “Highway 61 Revisited” is the mean blues track it was born to be. “Like A Rolling Stone” is a perfect mixture of song and artist, with Garth Hudson’s organ, featured heavily and fantastic drumming by Levon Helm. It sounds like a celebration. An encore of “Blowin’ in the Wind” closes things out, naturally.
I have seen The Band’s The Last Waltz more than a few times and have always loved the film. It’s a fantastic document of The Band and their legacy and a touchstone in rock music history. Before the Flood feels like an equally important archive of the powerful combination these two legendary acts were when working together, and shows it in a more complete way than The Last Waltz could convey.
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