Bob Dylan & The Band - Oakland Flood (2001)

Although Bob Dylan officially documented his 1974 U.S. tour with the Band via the Asylum live release Before the Flood, that set (a disjointed composite culling material from multiple shows) captures little of the energy and character of the tour's highlights. Serious Dylan enthusiasts will find themselves far better served by the bootleg market, where releases like Oakland Flood more accurately represent a given stop on this lucrative but erratic tour. Assembling material from both the early and late shows at Oakland County Coliseum on February 11, 1974, this two-disc edition distills the full scope of the tour, not always to positive effect. The set list proves surprisingly predictable and even tame, focusing on warhorses like "All Along the Watchtower," "Like a Rolling Stone," and "Blowin' in the Wind" while eschewing material from Dylan's latest LP, Planet Waves, and for all their shared history and combined brilliance, he and the Band never recapture the ferocity and kinetic excitement that characterize their finest work both together and apart. That said, the sheer irreverence and caustic wit of the music is gripping. Dylan grinds through his songbook with all the grace and respect of a buzzsaw, dead set on reinventing these canonical works for a new era and tossing out whatever fails to make the grade.