When Bob Dylan went electric to play the Newport Folk Festival back in 1965, people were shocked. Playing electric guitar was a big deal for an old folkie like Dylan; not only did it fly in the face of what the purists deemed a legitimate use of tradition, but it seemed to define Dylan less as a folk singer than as a rock and roller. For Dylan, plugging in was definitely an important move.
Going unplugged, on the other hand, seems no big deal. Dylan's last two albums of new material, "Good as I Been to You" and "World Gone Wrong," were made without electric guitars, and he even did an acoustic set at Woodstock. So it really would be stretching things to say there was anything special about the "MTV Unplugged" with Dylan that airs this evening (8 p.m. on MTV).
Provided, that is, you don't confuse "not special" with "not good."
In fact, Dylan's "Unplugged" performance is about as good as it gets for the singer these days. Granted, that's not going to cut much ice with those who think of him as an eccentric old crank who couldn't carry a tune if it had handles -- in other words, much of MTV's usual viewership.
Nor does Dylan make it any easier for the uninitiated. As is his wont these days, he tinkers with the melody on even his best-known tunes, takes guitar solos regardless of what anyone else in his band is doing, and often sounds more like a parody act than like the real Bob Dylan.
So why even bother? In part because it's fascinating to hear how Dylan reworks familiar favorites like "All Along the Watchtower," "The Times They Are A-Changin' " and "Like a Rolling Stone," refitting the arrangements and at times even reworking the melodies. But the real thrill of Dylan's "Unplugged" is catching an occasional glimpse of his true power and greatness.
Take this version of "The Times They Are A-Changin'," for example. Instead of the ragged, waltz-time guitar strum that originally drove the tune, Dylan and his band rethink the song completely, adding bluesy guitar and sweet, soulful organ fills over the slow, supple pulse. By deliberately cutting the tempo, they change the whole sense of the song's melody and lyrical cadence, making the song less a plangent prophesy than a weary observation. It's almost as if we're hearing the song for the first time again.
Then there's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," which Dylan handles with such savage intensity that it seems hard to believe others have treated the tune as a feel-good ballad. And when he launches into the impassioned, politically charged cadences of "Dignity," there's such fire and intensity in his voice that it's tempting to join the MTV audience in its ovation at the end.
Dylan's "MTV Unplugged" isn't perfect, of course. Although it starts off strong, with an authoritative "All Along the Watchtower" followed by a lovely, pedal-steel-flavored "Shooting Star," by the time he gets to "Like a Rolling Stone," he's down to that rasping croak fans refer to as his Popeye voice.
Worse, his enunciation is bad even when his voice is good. At the start of "With God On Our Side," for example, he sounds something like this:
Omma nay bidda nuthin'
I ay ginna nuv
The country I come from
Is comma nid wev.
Unfortunately, no one at MTV thought to add subtitles.
But even those failings aren't enough to undo this edition of "MTV Unplugged." It may not be as electrifying a performance as what Dylan delivered a few decades ago, but its best moments offer enough of a jolt to make the broadcast worth catching.