She Belongs To Me
To Ramona
Gates Of Eden
It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Desolation Row
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Mr. Tambourine Man
Tombstone Blues
I Don't Believe You
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
From A Buick Six
Maggie's Farm
It Ain't Me Babe
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Like A Rolling Stone
Personnel:
Robbie Robertson (guitar)
Levon Helm(drums)
Al Kooper (piano)
Harvey Brooks (bass)
An amazing find, this nearly complete line recording documents the second of only two shows to feature the Robertson/Helm/Kooper/Brooks lineup, and the second ever Dylan concert to feature a full electric set. Like the Forest Hills concert six days earlier, this concert featured a full solo acoustic set, which was apparently well received, and a full electric set, the reception of which is hard to tell here because it's a soundboard recording and very little audience interaction can be heard. It seems likely, though, that there may have been some hostility, but probably less than at the previous concert. After all, this was an LA crowd, used to west coast folk-rock bands and possibly more open to new musical trends than east coast folk purists.
This tape first came into circulation on a CD-R (recordable CD) from Wild Wolf called Western Electric, which eliminated two songs so that it would fit on a single disc. The two missing songs were both from the electric set: "Tombstone Blues" and "It Ain't Me Babe". The more recent We Had Known a Lion from Vigotone presents the entire concert, except for the missing start of "Tombstone Blues". There is also a problem with the ending of "Mr. Tambourine Man" which appears to be the result of the original acetate or transcription disc sticking. On some tapes I have heard the sound just cuts off at that point, but on the Wild Wolf CD, there is a fade during the stick. These are the only detectable flaws in this otherwise excellent sounding soundboard tape.
As for the performance itself, it is very much like the Forest Hills concert, with wonderful versions of "Desolation Row", "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", and "Ballad of a Thin Man", but "Like a Rolling Stone" is just a mere shadow of the song it would become by the time it was performed during the last days of the 1966 tour. At times the keyboard playing is thin, especially on "Like a Rolling Stone". It really needed the power and imagination of Garth Hudson to make this song come alive.
I am unsure of the origin of this tape and how it came into circulation, but I suspect that it may have been in the vaults of radio station KRLA, or in the hands of a former employee, because the announcer at the end of the concert mentions that the show was presented by KRLA. It is unknown whether or not KRLA actually taped any of the shows they sponsored, but it does seem like a possibility.
CDs:
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