Bob Dylan At Budokan took a critical kicking when it was released in 1979. While a jaunty Mr Tambourine Man complete with Steve Douglas’s dancing flute is still disconcerting, perhaps the press were being a bit hard on Bob, although what those same writers would make of a previously unreleased supper-club instrumental of A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall is anyone’s guess.
There’s a touch of Elvis In Vegas about these dense, big-band arrangements. Love Minus Zero/No Limit could be a distant cousin of Burning Love, but it’s then-new songs such as Is Your Love In Vain? from Street-Legal and groovy Dr John-ish updates of Oh, Sister and One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below) from Desire that come off best.
