This song was recorded on January 30, 1974, during a concert by Bob Dylan and The Band at Madison Square Garden.
In January 1974, Bob Dylan and The Band took their reunion tour to arenas across North America, before stopping in New York City at the end of the month for three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. Demand for tickets was feverish, and a handwritten sheet held at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shows that Yoko Ono, Miles Davis, David Bromberg, Bob Gottlieb, Allen Ginsberg, Murray The K, Mary Martin, Noel “Paul” Stookey, and Sid Bernstein were all on the guest list. (Paul Simon’s name was crossed out.)
John Rockwell of the New York Times was also present at the opening night on January 30, 1974. Yes, Mr. Dylan and the singers of The Band still sounded a little raspy from the rigors of their month on the road.he wrote. Mr. Dylan sang with a care and intensity that was extraordinary, even for him. Suddenly, as in the Philadelphia concerts earlier this month, everything came together: the rough, rumbling baritone, the emphatic voice, the laughing distortions at the end of phrases combined with the Band’s superb accompaniments to present Mr. Dylan’s songs in a completely convincing light. It wasn’t the same as on the records. But Mr. Dylan has always been a growing and changing artist, and he continues to grow. »
All three concerts were professionally recorded, but the only tracks to have been officially released are ” Knockin' on Heaven's Door “, excerpt from the first concert, on the album Before the Flood from 1974, and ” Highway 61 Revisited “, excerpt from the second concert, on the box set A Musical History from The Band, released in 2005. Dylan's recordings from these three concerts will be released in their entirety on September 20, as part of the 27-disc box set “ The 1974 Live Recordings “.
Discover here a preview of ” Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues ” on opening night at MSG. The Band was not on the original recording when Dylan composed the song for Highway 61 Revisited, but he played it with him every night on their legendary 1965-66 tour, where they were often booed by angry folk purists for playing electric music. No one booed them when they reunited in 1974, and the last line “ I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough ” of ” Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues ” was greeted with roars from the crowd at Madison Square Garden.
Almost all of the concerts from the 1974 tour have been captured by bootleggers, but this box set is the first opportunity to hear most of them in pristine sound. The Band's concert, which is composed of their own music, is not included.
