Bob Dylan July 5, 1984 St. James' Park Newcastle, England 1984 European Tour Concert Tradeable
2 DVDs D027.asu Audience Master PAL 4:3
Yes Yes 1 1
DVD ONE (57:22) - Highway 61 Revisited [start clipped] - Jokerman [start clipped] - All Along The Watchtower [2:52 - start clipped, end cut] - Just Like A Woman [intro clipped, end cut] - Maggie's Farm [2:35 - splices, end cut] - I And I [intro clipped, splice near end, end clipped] - License To Kill [2:50 - cut both ends] - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall [start clipped] - Tangled Up In Blue [clipped both ends, splice near start] - Simple Twist Of Fate [first verse cut] - Masters Of War [start clipped] - Ballad Of A Thin Man [cut both ends] - Enough Is Enough [3:07 - cut both ends]
DVD TWO (41:46) - Every Grain Of Sand [clipped both ends] - Mr. Tambourine Man [clipped both ends, splice] - Girl From The North Country [virtually complete - last few seconds lost only] - It Ain't Me, Babe [clipped both ends, splice] - Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat [start clipped] - Tombstone Blues [start clipped] - Blowin' In The Wind [start clipped, end cut] - Knockin' On Heaven's Door [start cut]
Three TV reports about the 1984 Tour
Most of the tracks are cut at the beginning and/or end. Very good technical video quality although a bright spotlight in the second half causes too much contrast. DISCD027.asu SOUND Warm audience tape with a few brief problems, most notably in T Man (partial channel drop-out) but overall very enjoyable and a significant improvement on previous (D027.a) audio. IMAGE Here's what I wrote about this film in a previous review:
A left-centre, stage-front, hand-held film in which we see lots of heads, none of which cause the (lanky?) taper (or us) the least bit of trouble. (What they do do, rather, is add presence and immediacy). Shakes also are too few to worry about, with the camera remaining under impressively close control throughout. There's regular right-sided panning to take in Taylor's solo work (also, when he's on, Santana's) and an occasional swing left so as not to forget McLagen/Sutton. For two-thirds of the gig, until about the end of Every Grain, picture quality (thanks to abundant daylight - see screenshots) is surprisingly good. Then, as dusk starts to fall, so does image-definition, though again what remains is acceptable enough. Overall, this film constitutes a valuable record of D '84 and its creator deserves high praise.
All that still applies - and, even though D027.a was supposedly "off-master" my impression is that pictures this time around are fresher and brighter - indeed, image quality here throughout Disc One is impressively good. RUNNING TIME Disc One: 57:22. Disc Two concert footage: 33:55, bonus TV clips: 7:53. None of the songs are clip/cut-free (toggle blue link above for details) though most are 90%+ entire and all perfectly listenable.
PERFORMANCE See D027.a review COMMENTD027.asu's bonus (access via the block of text at the top centre of the menu screen) comprises three television news reports of the Newcastle gig - two from the BBC and one other - running in total just under eight minutes. The first and most substantial comes from Look North, an early evening local news programme fronted by Mike Neville. Clocking 5:50, it features short interviews with Tour Director Bill Graham and a couple of members of Lindisfarne (local band who played the date), vox pop, venue footage and a snatch of live Samba Pa Ti from Santana. When the camera pulls back from the stage to show the size of the crowd, you realise just how lucky we are to have so fine a feast of close-in amateur footage as these DVDs offer. Next up is a brief fifty second clip of unknown provenance (possibly Irish channel RTE?) then finally, though not exclusive to this disc (see D574), a bland 1:15 bite of BBC Breakfast, presumably from 6 July. Note: all three clips include the same short snippet of live Jokerman from the "Guru of Rock", the "Music-Man from Minnesota" (yes, and more besides). TAK Viner ES, author HW too. STARS If you like '84 you'll love this - just a shame about so many clips and cuts. A high four.
