Product Description

This live double album, recorded in Tokyo in 1978, is practically a best-of in disguise. Dylan focuses on the older material in his repertoire, reaching back to the '60s for such tunes as "Blowin' In The Wind", "All I Really Want To Do" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'". Wisely, he also includes a couple of songs from his finest '70s album, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS. These tunes, "Shelter From The Storm" and "Simple Twist of Fate", differ radically from the original recorded versions, as has always been Dylan's wont in a performance situation.
One thing that differentiates BUDOKAN from Dylan'sother live albums, is the approach toward arrangements. Both earlier and later concert recordings present Dylan as the leader of a ragtag gang that blazes its way through the tunes in a spontaneous manner. Here, backed by studio vets like Ian Wallace, Alan Pasqua and Steven Soles as well as a three-woman choir, Dylan takes a much more thought-out, even "professional-sounding" approach, to the extent that this could almost pass for a studio re-recording of some of his finest compositions.

Track Listing

1. Mr Tambourine Man
2. Shelter From The Storm
3. Love Minus Zero (No Limit)
4. No Limit
5. Ballad Of A Thin Man
6. Don't Think Twice It's Alright
7. Maggie's Farm
8. One More Cup Of Coffee
9. Like A Rolling Stone
10. I Shall Be Released
11. Is Your Love In Vain
12. Going Going Gone
13. Blowin' In The Wind
14. Just Like A Woman
15. Oh Sister
16. Simple Twist Of Fate
17. All Along The Watchtower
18. I Want You Woman
19. All I Really Want To Do
20. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
21. It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
22. Forever Young
23. Times They Are A Changin'

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9250 in Music
• Released on: 1996-06-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

Most Likely Go Your Own Way.......
I clearly remember the 1979 release of this album. I was not a dylan fan then and I think it fair to say that this album would not be the ideal gateway.

Roll on 30 years and I have been converted to the wonders of Dylan. Ok it just took me a bit longer to get it than the rest of you.

This album still remains an enigma. It sounded hoplessely out of date in 1979, time has not improved this offering. With Jerry Scheff on base I guess obvious parallels could be drawn with Presley's Vegas years. Flutes, annoying saxes this is surely a live low point. It does not get more 'Dylan live in Vegas' than this.

Put another way how did we get from 'Hard Rain' to Budokan? Search me. To be fair there are a few gems on there but they are few and far between. Not even for committed fans is this a must.

For 'completists' only.

Commercially appealing.....
This live album from 1978 saw Bob Dylan playing in Japan, contracted by the Japanese sponsors to "play the hits" or they wouldn't pay up ! So, therefore we get this "greatest hits" concert and not bad it is, either. Many Dylan fans reject it for obvious reasons of commerciality and the use of a flautist and the omnipresent saxophone from the legendary Steve Douglas. Nevertheless, if one takes this into account and listens to the album at face value it has some attractive points. The version of "Love Minus Zero" is just lovely and "Mr Tambourine Man" has a poppy appeal rarely heard in Dylan's live cuts of the song. "Like A Rolling Stone" though is nowhere near as incendiary as the version from "Before The Flood" and the album lacks that one's verve, rawness and intensity. It has to be admitted that this incaration of Dylan is a strange one - satisfying the masses with a trawl through his most well-known songs delivered in a crowd-pleasing manner. Personally, I much prefer the "Rolling Thunder" live cuts included on "The Bootleg Series" from two years earlier, but I am not blind to the charm of some of this album's renditions.

My most played tape/CD over the last 30 years
I first heard this whilst driving around Snowdonia as a teenager. The tunes and riffs entered my brain and have never left.
If I had to take one album on a desert island - it would be this one. Why? Because like the best pieces of music, it catapaults you to a different world; a different time; a different life. The purists will correctly complain its not the essential Dylan - so what, its a glorious album and the reworking of some of his older songs are melodious, energetic and exciting.
If you are new to Dylan, get this album - its brilliant.
If you're old to Dylan - get this album unless your a son/daughter of Pete Seegar and have no direction home.