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History in the Making, trouble is, it sounds like it!!, 30 Nov 2005
This was the one that started it all, Band Aid, Farm Aid and Live8 can trace their inspiration back to this memorable night when George Harrison & Ravi Shankar decided to do something about the dying country that was Bangladesh.
George assembled a cast list of some of the great musicians of the day, with the only noteable exceptions his old mates John & Paul! Originally a triple album, it is good to see a decent re-release of this monumental concert.Listen to it all in one sitting, though and you are struck by how dated some of it sounds. Leon Russell's stuff is a lesson in endurance and misogyny, and even Billy Preston's 'That's the Way God Planned It' seems to have lost some of its verve over the years. George Harrison does creditable versions of some of his 'All Things Must Pass' era material; poor old Ringo completely loses his way in 'It Don't Come Easy' but inevitably it's the appearance, unconfirmed even at the last minute, of that maestro himself, Bob Dylan that makes this set worth the asking price. At the time of its release, there was little or no live Dylan stuff available apart from bootlegs, and so to hear him deliver some of his best songs with a new voice, albeit over the ponderous hesitant backing band, was a revelation! Even thirty years on, he brings new vigour to the songs, 'Just like a Woman' being a particular highlight. The first twenty minutes of sitar playing, with the famous line "Thank You, if you enjoyed the tuning up so much, we hope you enjoy the playing even more!", will probably be skipped by most, but persevere; the final Bangla Dun piece is in 16 time, so western ears can soon attune to the maginficent musicianship on display. This album is a relic, a piece of history, and it sounds like it here and there, but it does contain too many magnificent moments to ignore!
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