Before The Flood [Live With The Band, 1974] [Live]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Dylan has issued a large number of live albums in his day, but 1974's Before the Flood deserves special mention because of the presence of the Band behind him. Dylan had recently brought the Band into the studio to record the chart-topping (yet still somehow underappreciated) Planet Waves, which was the first (and, as it turned out, only) studio record he made after leaving Columbia for Asylum. He then asked them along on the subsequent tour, which at the time became the most successful rock tour in history. The fruits of that partnership are contained on this two-CD set, which actually ignores Planet Waves completely in favor of older classics. Although the album includes several strong collaborations, the highlights ironically come during Dylan's solo-acoustic portion, which yields powerful and gritty versions of "Don't Think Twice" and "It's Alright Ma," and during the Band's own exhilarating numbers with Dylan sitting out. --Marc Greilsamer

Tracks:

Open The Gates (Excerpt) - Cantor Alberto Mizrahi
Hashkiveinu - Hans Peter Blochwitz
Hudi Mitn Shtrudl - David Krakauer
III. Modere - Juilliard String Quartet
Old Jerusalem - Ana Maria Martinez
III. King David Dancing Before The Ark - Robert Vernon
Sheyibbaneh Beit Hamikdash - Cantor Benzion Miller
IV. Dance Of The Phantom Spirits - Gerard Schwarz
VII. Hinei Ma Tov - Vienna Boys Choir
VII. Psalm 126 - Prague Philharmonic Chorus
El Melekh Yoshev - New London Children's Choir
I. Demon's Welcome - Richard Stoltzman
Service Sacre L'Kha Dodi - Prague Philharmonic Chorus
The Flood, Part I - Fritz Weaver
Adon Olam - Academy Of St. Martin-In-The-Fields
IV. Camini Por Altas Torres - Lucy Shelton
Sheva B'Rakhot (Excerpt) - Cantor Simon Spiro
Mayn Goldele - Nell Snaidas
The Heavenly Host Delivers The Commandments To Moses/The People Dance Around The Golden Calf - Ian Denolfo

Album Description

The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music is a vast recorded panorama of the rich body of Jewish music, both sacred and secular, that has developed over the course of American history. This recording features nineteen tracks representing the broad scope of the Archive recordings.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful introduction to a distinguished new series.......2003-09-29

I can't express how excited I am about this new series from Naxos and the Milken Archive! There is some absolutely stunning music on this sampler, and I can't wait until the full recordings are released. Especially notable are Ernst Toch's "Cantata of the Bitter Herbs" (what gorgeous choral & orchestral writing), Paul Schoenfield's Viola Concerto (utterly fantastic excerpt "King David Dancing Before the Ark"), the excerpt from Joseph Achron's suite from The Golem, "Open the Gates" from Dave Brubeck's Gates of Justice, and the lovely duet from Joseph Rumshinsky's Yiddish operetta "Di goldene kale." Also, if you're not familiar with Jewish liturgical music or with klezmer, there are wonderful examples on this disc. My only disappointment is that, because of economic reasons, most of the recordings had to be made with European ensembles. Although the performances are excellent (under directors Gerard Schwarz, Neville Marriner, Yoel Levi and others), it's just a shame that this music, which, in addition to being Jewish, is also very AMERICAN, cannot be preserved on CD by American ensembles. At any rate, I'm pretty certain that within the next couple of years, I'll have collected all the 50 discs in this project. You don't have to be Jewish to appreciate this great music. And at around $7.00 a disc, they're an incredible value. This marvelous sampler will get you hooked on some fabulous music.

Average customer rating:

Texas blues + Texas noise

"Days Before the Flood"

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00005KC6C
Release Date: 1999-08-01

Tracks:

!*!
Nag
Devil Times Five
Sterno
Cutting Out
Hatchet for a Honeymoon
Inferno
Snake Oil
Left Ear
Hard Time
Last Legs
Toothache
Feast of the Mau Mau

Customer Reviews:

Texas blues + Texas noise.......2001-07-19

Because they're from San Antonio, not Austin these guys seem like they sometimes fall through the cracks when people talk about cool, art-damaged Texas bands. I'd have to say I've always found their "sloppily tight" take on noise rock meeting the blues pretty listenable. There's no substitute for seeing them live when the beer is flowing, but "Days Before the Flood" comes pretty close. "Devil Times Five" and "Snake Oil" with their spazz-tick tangles of noisy guitar and lock-groove rhythm work are great, but it's also nice to hear them slow things down for a quieter kind of chaos on sleazy, bluesy things like "Hatchet for a Honeymoon." Plus, they've weird enough to do justice to a skroked-out version of Screamin Jay Hawkins' "Feast of the Mau Mau." If you're a fan of the demented side of the Lone Star State (Scratch Acid, early Butthole Surfers, Pain Teens, etc.) you might think about picking this up.

Before The Flood [Live With The Band, 1974]

Average customer rating:

Flat out amazing...
best dylan recording ever
Dylan + the Band = Brilliance
A Rocking Good Time
etc. spectacular album, and a correction to a previous review

Before The Flood [Live With The Band, 1974]
Bob Dylan , and The Band
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Bob Dylan Live 1975 (The Bootleg Series Volume 5)
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Hard Rain
The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live, 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall Concert"

ASIN: B0000025OU
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
Lay Lady Lay
Rainy Day Women #12 and 35
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
It Ain't Me, Babe
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Up On Cripple Creek
I Shall Be Released
Endless Highway
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Stage Fright

Tracks:

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Just Like A Woman
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
The Shape I'm In
When You Awake
The Weight
All Along The Watchtower
Highway 61 Revisited
Like A Rolling Stone
Blowin' In The Wind

Amazon.com

Dylan has issued a large number of live albums in his day, but 1974's Before the Flood deserves special mention because of the presence of the Band behind him. Dylan had recently brought the Band into the studio to record the chart-topping (yet still somehow underappreciated) Planet Waves, which was the first (and, as it turned out, only) studio record he made after leaving Columbia for Asylum. He then asked them along on the subsequent tour, which at the time became the most successful rock tour in history. The fruits of that partnership are contained on this two-CD set, which actually ignores Planet Waves completely in favor of older classics. Although the album includes several strong collaborations, the highlights ironically come during Dylan's solo-acoustic portion, which yields powerful and gritty versions of "Don't Think Twice" and "It's Alright Ma," and during the Band's own exhilarating numbers with Dylan sitting out. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews:

Flat out amazing..........2006-08-10

I have been to 4 Dylan concerts, and they have all been spectacular, with each one better than the last. The press always said he was mediocre live, but I never heard a mediocre concert of his. This album is ablaze with energy, precision, and passion. I play it a lot. Dylan infuses his old material with new arrangements (something he's done his whole career), and it all works. In fact, many of the songs here are superior to their studio versions, especially Like a Rolling Stone and Blowin' in the Wind. Hearing the audience scream (and I mean scream) when Dylan and The Band break into the chorus of Rolling Stone is chilling. The crowd is so massively into it. Even The Band's take on their material is superior to the studio versions. Everyone seems loose and relaxed here, but the playing is really tight. In fact, all the live Dylan albums I have (Before the Flood, Bootleg Vol. 4, Hard Rain, and Dylan and the Dead), only Dylan and the Dead really sucks. The others are magnificent. This is one of the greatest live albums ever...

best dylan recording ever.......2006-01-24

When Robert Zimmerman(Bob Dylan) started, he was a Woodie Guthrie clone. Many of the old Woodie Guthrie type folkies felt that the torch had been passed to a new generation. Many other young people,like myself,prefered Dylan songs done by popular rock groups of the time because Dylan's words were awsome, but the sound wasn't as good as rock music.
Dylan wanted to be a rock muscian, not a singing poet that was marketed as a Savior.
This Album is the dream realized for Bob Dylan. He was a rock star out on tour with "The Rolling Thunder Review"
Dylan gave Rock & Roll a new catagory. Rock music for people who can think.

Dylan + the Band = Brilliance.......2005-11-23

A strong live set from Zimmy and his ex-backup group, the Band. The energy here is everywhere, and though not as much as on Hard Rain, Before the Flood is my favorite Dylan live album out of the three I own, by a mile.
Since this is a live set with Dylan and the Band, not only are Dylan classics Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Just Like a Woman, It Ain't Me Babe, Don't Think Twice It's All Right, All Along the Watchtower, Like a Rolling Stone and Blowin' in the Wind included, but some of the Band's more popular numbers (the Weight, Stage Fright, Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up On Cripple Creek) are also played. Dylan and the Band are a very good match, and the songs are generally quite good. My problem is Bob's voice. He seems congested, and the same can be said for Hard Rain. Also, why does Lay Lady Lay sound so angry? Bob sings it the way he sang the studio takes of Positively 4th Street and Like A Rolling Stone. Isn't he supposed to be happy here?

A Rocking Good Time.......2005-11-09

This is the second record that Mr. D recorded for David Geffin's Asylum label before he went back to Colombia, (both this record and "Planet Waves" are now with CBS/Sony where all Dylan's stuff is now) and it's a rocking good time of a record. Dylan's voice is right up front and central, the Band's playing is strong. And Dylan performs a very, very angry, version of "It's Alright Ma," where the audience goes nuts when he shouts out, "Even the President of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked." You have to remember that this record came out during the Watergate scandal, seems Mr. Nixon wasn't to popular with the Dylan crowd. Five stars for this one.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

etc. spectacular album, and a correction to a previous review.......2005-10-05

I agree with the post being a bit "political" -hard not to with Bob - But lets not have them in reviews

Yes as the recent DVD (brilliant) clearly shows it was the tour in the UK the the "Judas" etc. booing took hold, I too find it so odd by this time -as said- Like a Rolling Stone was #1 (were they not shipping Lp's to the UK ?)
It did start not when the Band were his back-up band but at Newport with Mike Bloomfield's brilliant pick of side men.
Thinking of Dylan being booed for what is IMHO his best period of music is mind boggling but it was indeed a FOLK festival and Bob was not "unwise" to the power of the Press and keeping his popularity intact.
I must consider "Flood" the Live GEM of the magical match between these *6 men that created ONE Band!

R-
The Royal Albert Hall release is a treat but at that time the drummer was not Levon so this is really the true combination Live

Average customer rating:

Way Before the Flood

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
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Herbert Howells: Complete Songs for Voice & Piano

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