Before the Flood

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Before the Flood
Before the Flood cover
Live album by Bob Dylan & The Band
Released June 20, 1974
Recorded January-February 1974
Genre Rock
Length 92:38
Label Asylum, Columbia
Producer Bob Dylan & The Band
Professional reviews
Bob Dylan chronology
Planet Waves
(1974)		 Before the Flood
(1974)		 Blood on the Tracks
(1975)
The Band chronology
Planet Waves
(1974)		 Before the Flood
(1974)		 The Basement Tapes
(1975)

Before the Flood is a 1974 live album by Bob Dylan and The Band, documenting the Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour.

Contents

[edit] History

Before the tour even began, a live album release was already planned; a substantial number of the performances were professionally recorded. When it came time to compile the album, most of these recordings were taken from the final three shows at the Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood, California. After the tour ended, Rob Fraboni and Phil Ramone were both recruited to edit and mix the multitrack recordings so gained, drawing also on shows from New York City, Seattle, and Oakland.

The title of the album is thought to be taken from a novel (Farn Mabul) by Yiddish writer Sholem Asch; Dylan had a personal relationship with Moses Asch, son of Sholem and founder of Folkways Records. Another theory in regards to the album's title is that the live album was released before the inevitable flood of bootlegs could surface, and saturate the underground market.

A double album released on Dylan's then-label, Asylum Records, it was a source of contention for The Band, who at the time were struggling to gather enough material to fulfill their contract with Capitol Records.

Before the Flood was a modest commercial success, reaching #3 in the U.S. and #8 in the UK.

Reviews for Before the Flood were generally positive as critical consensus was strong enough to place it at #6 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1974. "At its best, this is the craziest and strongest rock and roll ever recorded," wrote critic Robert Christgau in one of the more generous reviews. "All analogous live albums fall flat. The Rolling Stones are mechanical dolls by comparison, the Faces merely sloppy, the Dead positively quiet. The MC5 achieved something similar by ignoring musicianship altogether, but while the Band sounds undisciplined, threatening to destroy their headlong momentum by throwing out one foot or elbow too many, they never abandon their enormous technical ability. In this they follow the boss. When he sounded thin on Planet Waves, so did they. Now his voice settles in at a rich bellow, running over his old songs like a truck. I agree that a few of them will never walk again, but I treasure the sacrilege; Uncle Bob purveying to the sports arena masses. We may never even know whether this is a masterpiece." Christgau graded the album an A.

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Bob Dylan, except where noted.

[edit] Disc one

  1. "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" – 4:15
  2. "Lay Lady Lay" – 3:14
  3. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" – 3:27
  4. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" – 3:51
  5. "It Ain't Me, Babe" – 3:40
  6. "Ballad of a Thin Man" – 3:41
  7. "Up on Cripple Creek" (Robertson) – 5:25
  8. "I Shall Be Released" – 3:50
  9. "Endless Highway" (Robertson) – 5:10
  10. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (Robertson) – 4:24
  11. "Stage Fright" (Robertson) – 4:45

[edit] Disc two

  1. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" – 4:36
  2. "Just Like a Woman" – 5:06
  3. "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" – 5:48
  4. "The Shape I'm In" (Robertson) – 4:01
  5. "When You Awake" (Manuel/Robertson) – 3:13
  6. "The Weight" (Robertson) – 4:47
  7. "All Along the Watchtower" – 3:07
  8. "Highway 61 Revisited" – 4:27
  9. "Like a Rolling Stone" – 7:09
  10. "Blowin' in the Wind" – 4:30

[edit] Credits

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard

Year Chart Position
1974 Pop Albums 3
1974 Pop Albums 3

Single - Billboard

Song Year Chart Position
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) 1974 Pop Singles 66
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