REVIEW: BOB DYLAN - SHADOW KINGDOM

4/5

Kingdoms In The Night.

Tokyo, Japan. Fortunately this writer was finally able to see Bob Dylan live last month. A once in a lifetime experience akin to a religious one. Blooming in the epic Eden of the cities Garden Theatre as he painted his masterpiece. The sublime set list part of his huge world tour supporting the 'Rough and Rowdy Ways' album that only COVID could stop in a brief hiatus. In this age of curating collections digitally for the great American songbook, Dylan's new live album like this 'Shadow Kingdom' sits on a throne above any bootleg. Shining a light on a live classic whilst all looking to make a quick buck off the inspired icon cower back into the darkness from which they came. 

This soundtrack to a concert film from Thom Zimmy, shot during the pandemic when the closest we could get to all the stars was a laptop screen, is a big score. Even without the black and white smokey look of a soundstage that smouldered like Norah Jones. Lucky for us, we now get to hear 13 of these tracks hand-picked by the man himself. Outstandingly opening with the art of 'When I Paint My Masterpiece' and the brilliant break-up ballad of 'Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I Go Mine)'. A double-act threat that anyone who recently saw him in concert will be nostalgically and fondly familiar with. 

"Now when all of the bandits that you turned your other cheek to/All lay down their bandanas and complain/And you want somebody ya' don’t have to speak to/Won’t you come see me, Queen Jane?/Aw, won’t you come see me, Queen Jane?" Zimmerman asks approximately on 'Queen Jane', revisiting 'Highway 61'. The gravitas of the gravel in his voice isn't lost on the 82-year-old who once declared that he couldn't sing. But he'll be your baby tonight as you kick off your shoes and bring the bottle over here. Poetically yearning, "Well, that Mockingbird's gonna sail away/We're gonna forget it/That big, fat moon is gonna shine like a spoon/But we're gonna let it, you won't regret it", as his classics lull you into a mystic reverie at the bluesy live show that brings you folks to somewhere in New Orleans like a Tennessee train. 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues', classic standard after classic standard plays out over strings and harmonicas that sing. You'll be given a heavy dose of the 'Tombstone Blues' for the pain you thought would kill you. All before his words are right beside you like 'To Be Alone With You' in an ode to the heart, never to depart. 

'What Was It You Wanted'? Compelling classics like that, singing, "Was there somebody looking/When you give me that kiss/Someone there in the shadows/Someone that I might have missed?/Is there something you needed/Something I don’t understand/What was it you wanted/Do I have it here in my hand?" Evergreen records like this will stay 'Forever Young', just like we wish we could. Lyrics carved in stone, or engraved in Grammys, rhyming "May God bless and keep you always/May your wishes all come true/May you always do for others/And let others do for you/May you build a ladder to the stars/And climb on every rung/May you stay forever young" to the reason of this beautiful devotion to your dearest. On the 'Blonde and Blonde' of 'Pledging My Time', Bob asks and promises "Won’t you come with me, baby?/I’ll take you where you want to go/And if it don’t work out/You’ll be the first to know." Although a hobo steals his baby away like 'A Wicked Messenger'. 

The storybook of this live show continues its chapters 'Watching The River Flow' to words that stream the same, whether on Spotify or on the paper in your mind's eye. 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' he breaks again on the powerful, penultimate live take that's so lovingly cared for that it sounds like a studio session. Poetry for the microphone, clicking, "The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense/Take what you have gathered from coincidence/The empty-handed painter from your streets/Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets/The sky, too, is folding under you/And it's all over now, Baby Blue/All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home/Your empty-handed armies are going home/Your lover, who just walked out the door/Has taken all his blankets from the floor/The carpet, too, is moving under you/And it's all over now, Baby Blue." 

And then it is, as the shimmering 'Sierra's Theme' sails you away like Sara, in smoke and a reflection of bar mirrors below the bottles on the wall. In black and white, Bob Dylan, like The Beatles, has been covered more times than manholes, rock and soul. But nothing compares to the testimonials he dedicates to his own live takes of his greatest hits. Twisting and turning like the cigarette smoke that stains the ceiling, as the spirits in these bars carry on up above into the skies. All the way to the heavens that only the purest forms are allowed in. From Michelangelo to Beethoven. Concerts of chapels and churches. This is how you paint your masterpiece. TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Playlist Picks: 'When I Paint My Masterpiece', 'Most Likely You Go You Way (And I Go Mine)', 'Forever Young'.