Real Live in Bloomington, MN

It may be his first live album in six years, but
Real Live
still is his fourth live album in ten years, and, as such, it still feels a little redundant. Nevertheless, it doesn't feel anywhere nearly as unnecessary as
At Budokan
and if it doesn't capture a historically significant tour, as
Hard Rain
did with
the Rolling Thunder Revue
, this is a better record all the same, capturing a working band -- a working band featuring ex-
Stones
guitarist
Mick Taylor
, no less -- on a pretty good night. That means there are few revelations -- though diehards will certainly revel in
"Tangled Up in Blue,"
which has several brand-new (not necessarily better) verses -- but it's still pretty good all the same, providing lean, relatively muscular renditions of
Dylan
's great songs. This isn't an important, necessary
record, but it's a good, solid live album, his best live album since
Before the Flood
, even if it's hardly as monumental as that. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine