Bob Dylan
In Concert-Brandeis University 1963
Columbia Legacy
www.legacyrecordings.com
By George W. Harris

Sort of like a musical version of the play “Our Town,” this short but sweet disc features music from an all too long forgotten period, when Bob Dylan was a struggling singer/songwriter. Left undiscovered for decades and just recently revamped, this music captures the young Mr. Zimmerman right after his first album, and moments before his Freewheelin’ disc was about to come out. This is pre-“Tambourine” and “Blowin…” so it’s a fascinating study of a man still under the influence of Woody Guthrie, and yet branching out on his own.

His signature political and social cynicism are in over-abundance, as tunes like “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues” and “Talkin’ World War III Blues” capture the angst of the pre-Kennedy assassination period perfectly. His tunes “Masters Of War” and “Ballad Of Hollis Brown” have a rhythmic and vocal intensity that reaches the audience in a visceral level, something missing in most of today’s singers. The rawness of the music captures the nascent folk movement of the early 60s perfectly. Not just time in a bottle, but a reminder of what music is for; to get the audience thinking and motivated.