Bob Dylan… The Troubadour returns to Tokyo
For his fans in the United States of America, and a group of critics and followers, the performances that Bob Dylan performed in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, during the month of February 1978, were a shock and disappointment. As for his artistic biography and the history of popular music in general, the event represented an important cultural turning point.
Those who knew and loved Dylan as a contemporary wandering poet, writing beautiful, poignant poems, composing them and singing them, accompanying himself on the guitar in the poetic, quiet and delicate style of American folklore, did not like to ascend the stage of the Nippon Budokan, the prestigious Japanese hall, with a performing band, more like a band. Expanded rock and roll, where electric guitars blare and drums blare through giant speakers, while gentler, more lyrical instruments such as flute, saxophone, and a female backing vocal, in the style of gospel, struggle to hold back the noise.
As for Dylan himself, his choice stemmed from a cultural intuition about the inevitability of change, and a recognition of the decline of one era and the emergence of another. When the mid-seventies seemed to be the culmination of a golden age for rock and roll music, the thirty-seven-year-old artist felt the necessity of adapting to the musical language of the era, aware of the fact that singing poetic protest, in the traditional blues style, with a solitary use of the charming word and gentle tone, as was the case in the sixties, was not It is designed to fit in with the taste of the rising youth crowding in the big halls and gyms, the men who wear tight, felt, long shirts and bell-bottom trousers that are narrow below the waist and loose above the ankles.
Especially since the decade of the seventies is already about to end, and that there are new trends that will dominate and lead the next decade through electronic music, such as funk, disco, and hip-hop, addressing generations of listeners. Dylan and his veteran contemporaries have become like members of the Beatles. The Rolling Stones, in their view, are as old as their fathers.
All of this happens in light of the absence of the legend Elvis Presley following his sudden death in 1977 at the age of 42, the void he left, and the question he raised about what comes after Presley? Therefore, the American troubadour, the wandering poet, has no choice but to explore distinct artistic paths that might help him survive in a century characterized by acceleration and vitality, and the tendency towards successive changes in customs and traditions.
Two weeks ago, in celebration of the 45th anniversary of Nippon Budokan, Columbia, Legacy and Sony jointly released the complete live recording collection of the 1978 performances that are so pivotal in Dylan’s career and the history of popular music for the past century. Meticulous sound engineering and high-tech sound remixing were carried out for more than twenty-four tapes, and two full-length shows were hosted in the Japanese Hall over two evenings. Fifty-eight tracks were produced, of which thirty-six were released to the music market for the first time.
Immediately upon hearing the first track, the colorful embrace of the rock and roll sound is culminated in the intro to the song, A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, which Dylan wrote in 1962. Drops of rain are heard thundering on the drums. If the listener follows the content of the words, he will realize that the scene of rain here is not for the purpose of drawing a poetic picture, but rather to broadcast a warning about the fate of mankind, if he does not work to avoid igniting wars and exert tireless efforts to protect planet Earth from devastation and destruction. It is said that Dylan composed the song’s lyrics in direct, simultaneous reaction to the crisis of the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba near the United States, which almost led to the outbreak of World War III, which would end civilization.
In Track 25, under the title, Don’t Think Twice, it’s All Right, the worlds of Caribbean music, or what is known as Reggae, which spread globally with the glow of the icon Bob Marley, and whose songs included political content and protest messages, are examined. Stylistically, Dylan seeks to mix and cross between reggae and blues, by employing the well-known Caribbean duet rhythm and his traditional instruments such as the conga and bongo, in order to enter into a jazz-flavored dialogue, with a flute performing graceful, decorative improvisations, while he sings with his usual bluesy character. Thus, instead of adopting the reggae approach completely, he creates a transcendent mixture, exposing the identity of the artist over the pure identity of folklore.
While he always sought to celebrate and show loyalty to his cultural cradle, Dylan, during most of his concerts and recordings, used to re-present some immortal blues songs in the cover style, that is, when the artist performs a song for someone else in his style. From what the newly released collection documents, Budokan does not appear to have been an exception.
One of the classic blues songs, Love Her With A Feeling, charted on track 31. Since it was written and recorded by Tampa Reed in 1938, it has been sung by a number of major blues and pop stars, the most famous of which remains Freddie King’s version in 1961. As for his Japanese version, which was not published before the last version, Dylan appears as one who preserves the authenticity of the blues through its harshness. The rhythmic beat, and the virility of the singing style mixed with heartbreak and a sense of isolation, are accompanied by saxophone and piano improvisations, with the support of a women’s gospel choir. Although all of them remain musical components within the natural blues environment.
Perhaps Bob Dylan would not have lived so long artistically, become one of the greats in the history of American music and poetry, and been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, if he had not had the ability to capture the spirit of the times and respond well to the tastes of his contemporaries, both creatives and listeners. For the authentic artist, there is always a precise criterion that achieves a balance between artistic stubbornness, which preserves personal originality and protects it from drowning in the turmoil of the prevailing, and artistic flexibility, which helps in renewal, thus providing opportunities for artistic survival, and Budokan’s recent collection of recordings is the best evidence.
