Before The Flood (live album) by Bob Dylan & The Band

An enjoyable live album. The Band certainly don't have that sense of energy that they had when they backed Dylan as the Hawks in the mid sixties, still, if you're a fan of both Dylan and the Band, you can't help but enjoy the record. Nothing special, but a lot of fun.

From Brandon8 04/02/2016 00:32

This album was a disappointment for me. The song selection was great but the performances not so much. Dylan's yells his songs and the song quality isn't where it should be.

I saw this tour and have to say the show was great. Being a huge Dylan and Band fan this was my first opportunity to see either of them live and together no less. A great time was had by all and I was stoked to get the record. What a let down and I lay that at the feet of Garth Hudson. The keyboard sound he choose just sounds cheesy. Maybe it just didn't transfer well to record or maybe it was the way this album was produced. That's all I hear though when I listen to this set, the keyboards.

This was not as good as I thought it would be, but necessary I think to enable the Last Waltz to be as good as it is. Great songs just not performed as well as they could have been. Perhaps the Band were sick of being backup to Dylan by this point, which is why his cameo at the end of the Last Waltz works better then this live recording of one great artist and one great band nearing the end.

A very good live album from a tour that had historical significance. Generally I prefer the Dylan tracks and think the show seems to drag when he walks away and lets The Band go on their own songs. It seems to accentuate how much better they are when they rely on Dylan.

From MrRetardization 02/27/2014 08:14

Most of the songs sound kinda similiar, and not sure why Bob hade to shout through all of them. It's Alright Ma and the four last songs on this are awesome! The rest is just really good.

From Mercury 12/01/2013 19:32

1 December 2013

This is a live album from '74 when Bib Dylan and the Band were touring after releasing "Planet Waves". This was sort of a come back for Dylan. He hadn't toured for 8 years prior to this.

I'm not hugely enthusiastic about live albums. I just want to get that out of the way. They aren't really generally my cup of tea. But I do like this album. I'm loving the playful and loose vibes here. And the Band really rock throughout here. They are really on their game. Dylan vocally is also quite good.

These 2 disks definitely cover a lot of ground both in Dylan's and the Band's discography.

Highlights are the very emotional rendition of "I Shall Be Released", and the very energetic takes on "Most Likely You Go Your Way", "It Ain't Me Babe", "All Along The Watchtower", and the whole acoustic set that starts off disc 2. It's fun to hear the crowd reaction during "It's Alright Ma.." When Dylan says the legendary line "Even the president of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked." They ate it up! (Nixon's scandal was fresh at the time of this album.)

I don't really love The Band separate from Dylan, and there are whole sections where Dylan is nowhere to be found here. That is my main gripe. Otherwise, the missteps here are few ("When You Awake" is kinda shit) and the energy is there. This tour was a good primer for the absolute work of genius which was to follow the next year.

Grade 79/100

From Romanelli 01/15/2012 21:44

The players, the setlist...this should be one of the greatest live albums of all time. What happened?