By Tony Attwood
The Absolute Highlight series came out of Mike’s massive “Never Ending Tour” series of 144 articles, complete with recordings – undoubtedly the most comprehensive analysis ever of Bob’s touring from 1987 until the Covid crisis, when everything stopped.
So massive was this series, and so impossible is it to take it all in, I decided to create a personal series of highlights from the tour. In each case, I chose one song and looked for two or three recordings that, for me, stood out from the rest, and then republished the recordings in a single article.
There were 31 articles in all, and the nature of the articles changed and meandered over time, but the central theme of trying to find recordings that I personally thought were really great remained constant.
This is not to say that I think you should agree with my thoughts, but rather that if on the list of 31 songs below there are one or two of your particular favourites, you might care to click on the link and listen to the selection.
There are of course many more recordings on the series – it ran for 144 episodes and there must be around 1000 recordings within the series, but since that seems a rather overwhelming number, I thought this little series might help guide your listening.
That’s not to say I expect you to agree with me – the complete series is still on line, and of curse in the coming weeks Mike’s three volume series on the Tour will be published, and I’ll be back with a book review at that point just to remind you.
But for now, here’s my series of the highlights from Mike’s recording selections publsihed between February 2020 and January 2024…
Meanwhile, below, there is an index to the Absolute Highlights series itself.
The (very personal) Absolute Highlights series
-
- 1: John Brown 1987
- 2: Desolation Row. 1990.
- 3: She Belongs to Me
- 4: Tangled up in Blue
- 5: I and I – power without meaning
- 6: It ain’t me babe – go lightly.
- 7: Perfection in desolation – Gates of Eden
- 8: Girl from the North Country.
- 9: When He Returns
- 10: It’s alright Ma
- 11: Satisfied Mind
- 12: Visions of Johanna
- 13: Dark Eyes
- 14: Man in the long black coat
- 15: Don’t think twice (2000)
- 16: Silvio (1998)
- 17: Gates of Eden (2000)
- 18: One Too Many Mornings 2001.
- 19: It’s all over now baby blue 1994
- 20: The Wicked Messenger
- 21: Positively 4th Street (1994)
- 22: I and I
- 23: Restless Farewell
- 24: Botony Bay
- 25: Blind Willie McTell
- 26: Desolation Row
- 27: Love Minus Zero – 1992
- 28: Spanish Boots in Prague
- 29: The Levy’s Gonna Break
- 30. Idiot Wind
- 31. Every Grain of Sand