Bob Dylan at Budokan - Reception

Reception

Bob Dylan at Budokan received some of the worst reviews of Dylan's career. Critically savaged, it was derided as "slick" and "sterile." Rolling Stone compared the new arrangements to Las Vegas lounge music

In a sarcastic review published in his "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau gave the album a C+ rating, writing "I believe this double LP was made available so our hero could boast of being outclassed by Cheap Trick, who had the self-control to release but a single disc from this location. Although it's amazing how many of the twenty-two songs—twelve also available on one of the other two live albums Dylan has released since 1974—hold up under slipshod treatment. And not only that, lyrics and poster are included." Critic Jimmy Guterman named it one of the worst albums ever released in the history of rock.

However, the album received stronger reviews in Europe, and critic Janet Maslin (then a music critic for Rolling Stone magazine) defended the album in her review. "However much they may offend purists, these latest live versions of his old songs have the effect of liberating Bob Dylan from the originals. And the originals—however lasting, however beautiful—constitute a terrible burden...this time the old songs have been recast sweetly, without that self-defeating aggression, in what sounds suspiciously like a spirit of fun...Many of the more recent ones, like 'Oh, Sister,' 'One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)', both from the album Desire and 'Shelter from the Storm,' from Blood on the Tracks are vastly improved, as if, when they were first recorded, they hadn't been fully thought through. "Is Your Love in Vain?", by no means the prettiest song on Dylan's much-underrated Street Legal, is prettier still...It is the only song that it would not have been released when the performances took place. Dylan is heard saying, "Try guess which one this is!" before starting to sing the song. The method here is hit-or-miss, and the results are correspondingly spotty...The low point of the set is 'The Times They Are A-Changin"...The fire and brimstone are behind Dylan, this hardly means the fight has gone out of him: Bob Dylan at Budokan is a very contentious effort—and, for the most part, a victorious one." Ironically, fire and brimstone were to again become very much a part of Dylan's music, with the release of his gospel rock album Slow Train Coming later in 1979.

Bob Dylan at Budokan reached #13 in the US and went platinum, while simultaneously peaking at #4 in the UK. The album was collected by a talking tree in the PSN game DeathSpank in 2010.