Hi 

Good to see that we all rate Chronicles so highly last month. I guess  a rather predictable Top Ten this time around with so many clear “leaders” to follow. (?? Maybe we shouldn’t??)

I seem to have spent much of this month playing the many (but not so varied) 1993 “pre board” tapes that seem to be circulating right now.

If you are not aware there seem to be some  37 so far.

Namely:

Dublin 2-5
London 7,9,11,12,13
Utrecht 2-15,16
Einhoven 2-17
Hanover 2-18
Wiesbaden 2-20
Pentange 2-21
Paris 2-23
Belfast 2-25
Nashville 4-13,14
Radford 4-16
Knoxville 4-17
Ashville 4-18 I was There!
Huntsville 4-19 here too!
Monroe 4-21
New Orleans 4-23
London 6-12
Tel Aviv 6-17
Beersheeba 6-19
Haifa 6-20
Athens 6-22,23
Pisa 6-26
Marseilles 6-29
Toulouse 6-30
Barcelona 7-1
Vitoria 7-2
Waterford 7-4
Huesca 7-6
Gijon 7-8
La Coruna 7-9
Merida 7-12
Cascais 7-13
Bern 7-17

They are not all complete but most are. Exactly where they have come from is still unknown, the quality generally is pretty amazing, with incredible clarity. The only one I would suggest you avoid is Hunstville, which suffers from many multiple breaks in the recording which rather spoil the whole thing. The fact that they represent most of the European leg of that year suggest a leak from someone on the desk. As far as I can see the only missing shows from that tour are:

London 2-8 (there may be 4 songs somewhere, but most of the how wasn't taped apparently)
Louisville 4-12
Naples 6-25
Milan 6-27
Porto 7-10 

I would like to say that they all show Bob in fine form, delivering the goods. Sadly this isn’t so. There are many high points of course Merida and Bern are particularly nice. Unfortunately your recollections of Hammersmith may take a shaking here. On many of the songs Bob loses the lyrics, this often runs into the following song with Dylan starting a few words or a line or so in. Funny, but I cannot say I really noticed it that much at the time. His voice is also often off-key on these shows. The one area it does throw into interesting view is Bob’s guitar playing, which is often inventive and quirky.

I think that many of these deserve better attention, and time permitting I’ll have ago next month, but if you get the chance in the meantime pick a few of them up. They are worth the listen, and the education.

Till  Next Time.