Maps of Music

Before the Flood (1974)

Where the lyrics of Before the Flood take you, and where it was really made.

Most of this live album came from the final three Los Angeles Forum concerts, and only one song was taken from the New York shows.

Key places

New York: one song from Madison Square Garden (1974)

Recording site Madison Square Garden — Three sessions were recorded at Madison Square Garden on January 30 and 31. Only Knockin' on Heaven's Door was taken from the New York shows for the album. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording venue listed as Kia Forum (1974)

Recording site Los Angeles Forum — The album was compiled from the final three Los Angeles Forum shows in Inglewood. A MusicBrainz recording entry names Kia Forum, so this point marks that listed venue. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Before the Flood: live album by Bob Dylan and the Band
• Released 20 June 1974 on Asylum Records in the United States and Island Records in the United Kingdom
• Dylan's first live album, released as his 15th album overall
• The seventh album by the Band
• Documents the joint 1974 American tour of Dylan and the Band
• Peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200

Background

• Dylan's new record label Asylum planned professional recordings before the tour began
• Ten separate recording sessions were planned in total
• Dylan and the Band had recorded the studio album Planet Waves before the tour
• The title is thought to derive from the novel Farn Mabul by Yiddish writer Sholem Asch
• Dylan had a personal relationship with Moses Asch, son of Sholem and founder of Folkways Records
• Few songs from Planet Waves entered the tour setlist, and none appear on this album

Recording

• Sessions were held in New York, Seattle, Oakland and Los Angeles
• Three New York sessions took place at Madison Square Garden on January 30 and 31
• Only Knockin' on Heaven's Door was taken from the New York shows
• The album was compiled from the final three shows at the Los Angeles Forum in Inglewood, California
• Location recording was done by Wally Heider Recording
• Mixing took place at Village Recorders and mastering at Kendun Recorders

Cover

• Photography and design by Barry Feinstein

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota; raised in Hibbing, Minnesota.
• Moved to New York City in January 1961 to pursue a music career.
• Signed to Columbia Records after playing harmonica on Carolyn Hester's album; debut album Bob Dylan released in 1962.

Members

• Solo artist; backed over the years by bands including the Hawks/the Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and his touring band led by bassist Tony Garnier.

Career

• Breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963); protest songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements.
• Went electric with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966), provoking controversy among folk fans.
• Motorcycle accident in 1966 led to nearly eight years without touring; Basement Tapes recorded with the Band.
• Converted to Christianity in the late 1970s and released gospel albums; won Album of the Year Grammy for Time Out of Mind (1997).
• Has toured since 1988 on the Never Ending Tour; won an Academy Award and ten Grammy Awards; awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Robert Christgau in Creem: described the band as intensifying Dylan's old songs for the arena, calling it the craziest and strongest rock and roll ever recorded
• Christgau also wrote that all analogous live albums fall flat
• Tom Nolan in Rolling Stone: less enthusiastic, saying Dylan's vocal emphasis and the Band's busy arrangements make for an awkward listen
• Nolan found the revamped versions of It's All Right, Ma, Like a Rolling Stone and All Along the Watchtower successful
• Voted the sixth best album of 1974 in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll
• Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it second on his own list

Reappraisal

• Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune: called the album epochal in a retrospective review
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic: described it as one of the best live albums of its time
• Greil Marcus: wrote that the music touched rock and roll at its limits
• Dylan himself later disparaged the tour as overblown, saying he was just playing a role
• Scott Hreha of PopMatters: found the acts not collaborative as on The Basement Tapes
• Hreha: the album remains a worthy but inessential item in Dylan's catalog

Records

• Peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200
• Reached No. 8 on the popular album chart in the UK
• Certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
• Remastered digipak version issued on 31 March 2009 by Legacy Recordings/Columbia

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Dylan's first live album, though live recordings of earlier performances were released later
• The title may come from Sholem Asch's Yiddish novel, tied to Moses Asch of Folkways Records
• After the double album, Dylan signed a new contract with Columbia Records for his next studio album, Blood on the Tracks
• The Band continued to record on their own for Capitol Records
• A remastered digipak version was issued in 2009 by Legacy Recordings/Columbia, now part of Sony Music Entertainment

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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