Before the Flood

Infobox Album
Name = Before the Flood
Type = Live album
Artist = Bob Dylan & The Band


Released = June 20 1974
Recorded = January-February 1974
Genre = Rock
Length = 92:38
Label = Asylum, Columbia
Producer = Bob Dylan & The Band
Reviews = * Allmusic" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:7e811vdjzzza link]
* Robert Christgau (A) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=2820&name=Bob+Dylan%2FThe+Band link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/bobdylan/albums/album/97348/review/5943573/before_the_flood link]
Chronology = Bob Dylan
Last album = "Planet Waves"
(1974)
This album = "Before the Flood"
(1974)
Next album = "Blood on the Tracks"
(1975)
Misc = Extra chronology 2
Artist = The Band
Type = Live album
Last album = "Planet Waves"
(1974)
This album = "Before the Flood"
(1974)
Next album = "The Basement Tapes"
(1975)

"Before the Flood" is a 1974 live album by Bob Dylan and The Band, documenting the Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour.

History

Before the tour even began, a live album release was already planned; a substantial number of the performances were professionally recorded. When it came time to compile the album, most of these recordings were taken from the final three shows at the Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood, California. After the tour ended, Rob Fraboni and Phil Ramone were both recruited to edit and mix the multitrack recordings so gained, drawing also on shows from New York City, Seattle, and Oakland.

The title of the album is thought to be taken from a novel ("Farn Mabul") by Yiddish writer Sholem Asch; Dylan had a personal relationship with Moses Asch, son of Sholem and founder of Folkways Records. Another theory in regards to the album's title is that the live album was released before the inevitable flood of bootlegs could surface, and saturate the underground market.

A double album released on Dylan's then-label, Asylum Records, it was a source of contention for The Band, who at the time were struggling to gather enough material to fulfill their contract with Capitol Records.

"Before the Flood" was a modest commercial success, reaching #3 in the U.S. and #8 in the UK.

Reviews for "Before the Flood" were generally positive as critical consensus was strong enough to place it at #6 in "The Village Voice"'s Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 1974."At its best, this is the craziest and strongest rock and roll ever recorded," wrote critic Robert Christgau in one of the more generous reviews. "All analogous live albums fall flat. The Rolling Stones are mechanical dolls by comparison, the Faces merely sloppy, the Dead positively quiet. The MC5 achieved something similar by ignoring musicianship altogether, but while the Band sounds undisciplined, threatening to destroy their headlong momentum by throwing out one foot or elbow too many, they never abandon their enormous technical ability. In this they follow the boss. When he sounded thin on "Planet Waves", so did they. Now his voice settles in at a rich bellow, running over his old songs like a truck. I agree that a few of them will never walk again, but I treasure the sacrilege; Uncle Bob purveying to the sports arena masses. We may never even know whether this is a masterpiece." Christgau graded the album an A.

Track listing

All songs by Bob Dylan, except where noted.

Disc one

#"Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" – 4:15
#"Lay Lady Lay" – 3:14
#"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" – 3:27
#"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" – 3:51
#"It Ain't Me, Babe" – 3:40
#"Ballad of a Thin Man" – 3:41
#"Up on Cripple Creek" (Robertson) – 5:25
#"I Shall Be Released" – 3:50
#"Endless Highway" (Robertson) – 5:10
#"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (Robertson) – 4:24
#"Stage Fright" (Robertson) – 4:45

Disc two

#"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" – 4:36
#"Just Like a Woman" – 5:06
#"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" – 5:48
#"The Shape I'm In" (Robertson) – 4:01
#"When You Awake" (Manuel/Robertson) – 3:13
#"The Weight" (Robertson) – 4:47
#"All Along the Watchtower" – 3:07
#"Highway 61 Revisited" – 4:27
#"Like a Rolling Stone" – 7:09
#"Blowin' in the Wind" – 4:30

Credits

*Rick Danko: Bass guitar, fiddle, vocals.
*Bob Dylan: Guitars, harmonica, piano, vocals.
*Levon Helm: Drums, mandolin, vocals.
*Garth Hudson: Hammond organ, clavinet, piano, keyboards, saxophones.
*Richard Manuel: Piano, electric piano, organ, drums, vocals.
*Robbie Robertson: Guitars, vocals.
*Bob Dylan and The Band: Producers.
*Phil Ramone: Recording engineer.
*Rob Fraboni: Recording & mixing engineer.
*Nat Jeffrey: Mixing engineer.

Charts

Album - BillboardSingle - Billboard