Dylan’s 1966 “Royal Albert Hall” Performance: Two Interpretations by Cat Power and Robyn Hitchcock

Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concertwas recently released, documenting Cat Power’s take on the now infamous recording of Bob Dylan’s performance at the Manchester Free Trade Hall on May 17, 1966, which was mistakenly attributed to his performance at the Royal Albert Hall nine days later. As all Dylan obsessives know, the 1966 tour was tumultuous as fans’ response to Dylan playing with the all-electric rock ‘n roll band The Hawks was divisive, to say the least. The Manchester show includes a fan yelling out to call Dylan “Judas” and Dylan yelling back to the heckler from the stage, “I don’t believe you. You’re a liar.” Then, he instructs The Hawks to “play it fucking loud” before the opening of “Like a Rolling Stone”:

The recording of the performance by Dylan and The Hawks was bootlegged before finally receiving an official release by Dylan’s camp in 1998. Cat Power’s November 2022 performance at the actual Royal Albert Hall is a lovely and a fitting tribute, but it is not the first recorded take on the renowned Dylan performance. Singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock performed his own charged version of the Royal Albert Hall electric set in 1996 and eventually released it as part of the Robyn Sings album in 2002. 

There’s no better way to compare Hitchcock and Cat Power’s different renditions of Dylan’s classic than with a slightly tongue-in-cheek, arbitrary assortment of categories!

Format
This category clearly favors Cat Power as her entire endeavor is conceptually stronger than Hitchcock since she performs both Dylan’s acoustic and electric sets and is playing in the actual Royal Albert Hall. Hitchcock only plays Dylan’s electric set in a single performance in London on the second disc of Robyn Sings, while the first disc is a grab bag of covers of Dylan songs recorded across the United States. Some of these acoustic numbers were drawn from Dylan’s Royal Albert Hall acoustic set, including “4th Time Around”, “Desolation Row”, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and two different takes of “Visions of Johanna.” 

Advantage: Cat Power, though deductions to both artists for not extending the tribute to its full conceptual endpoint by performing the concert in Manchester and labeling it as a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. 

Instrumentation
Cat Power’s recording includes the full array of instrumentation that Dylan and The Hawks used for the 1966 show, while Hitchcock’s electric set does not include the Garth Hudson organ sound that is an essential part of the 1966 Dylan and The Hawks experience. But Hitchcock gets bonus points for his liner notes in which he doesn’t list the instruments that his bandmates played, but rather labeling them as Mr. Danko, Mr. Manuel, Mr. Robertson, Mr. Jones, and himself as Mr. Dylan. 

Advantage: Even

Speaking to the Audience
Cat Power mostly skips addressing the audience, except for once exclaiming, “This is fun!” Hitchcock on the other hand is a Chatty Cathy throughout Robyn Sings. He introduces the first performance of “Visions of Johanna” by saying that it was the song that led him to becoming a songwriter. He also endears himself to the listener by referring to Dylan as “Uncle Bob.” At one point during the electric set, Hitchcock utilizes his typical dry wit by saying, “Sorry it’s so sweaty but towels weren’t invented in 1966.” Before his performance of “One Too Many Mornings”, Hitchcock even re-creates Dylan’s mumbled, drawn out story to diffuse the audience members slow-clapping him, ending with “If you only wouldn’t clap so hard.” 

Advantage: Hitchcock

Music Nerds Yelling “Judas”
Because the electric set of Robyn Sings is an audience recording rather than directly taken from the soundboard, the listener can hear audience members yelling “Judas” throughout the performance. This grows tiresome and less and less funny as the album proceeds. However, at one point, an audience member calls out for “Jokerman,” and Hitchcock responds, “Edit!” Before Cat Power’s elegant rendition of “Ballad of A Thin Man,” someone yells “Judas,” and she responds by saying simply, “Jesus.” She leaves the “Judas” calls before the last song unanswered. 

Advantage: Cat Power, though deductions to both for not yelling “Play it fucking loud” before their respective takes on “Like a Rolling Stone.”

Harmonica Playing
Aaron Embry handles the harmonica playing for Cat Power’s release while Hitchcock takes the task on himself. Both attempt Dylan’s circa 1966, other-worldly note extension, but can’t quite meet that lofty standard. Still, Hitchcock successfully pairs his harmonica with the electric guitar during “I Don’t Believe You,” a beautiful expression that appropriately channels Dylan’s “thin, wild mercury sound.” 

Advantage: Hitchcock

Phrasing
When singing this set of songs, Hitchcock mostly utilizes Dylan’s phrasing, adding a touch of an English accent, of course. It’s not pastiche as Hitchcock, at this point in his career, has already established his own powerful personality and presence that comes through his vocal delivery. Like Hitchcock, Cat Power has grafted the original material to her bones, yet she is able to bring the singular Cat Power phrasing which forces the listener to even reconsider Dylan’s words because of her line readings. This is showcased best during “Ballad of a Thin Man” as her singing has a jazzy feel that regards Mr. Jones, accepts him for who he is, and then gently puts him aside. Her vocal styling does mean a favorite bit of the original 1966 performance is omitted: when Dylan pauses after singing the title phrase of “One Too Many Mornings” and then blissfully harmonizing the word “behind” with Danko as previously discussed on Recliner Notes. Despite this exclusion, Cat Power’s phrasing offers a glimpse into how Dylan himself might retrospectively approach this particular group of songs. There’s no higher praise than that. 

Advantage: Cat Power

Peaks
Cat Power shines the most during the acoustic set, illustrating her deep understanding of and connection to the songs. She knows the loneliness of long, dark nights that innate to “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and it is reflected in her performance:

It’s in the electric set that Hitchcock truly impresses. His renditions of the material have a ragged swagger that truly captures the sound and feel of Dylan and The Hawks, who took each stop on the 1966 tour as an opportunity to lay waste to towns and destroy communities:

Advantage: Even

Overall
Cat Power is stately and more faithful in her treatment of the 1966 material. She does not subject any of Dylan’s songs to the radical transformation that she previously brought to classic material as in her cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Instead, Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert is a beautifully rendered interpretation of material deeply loved by the performer. Hitchcock’s love of Dylan is equal to Cat Power’s, but Robyn Sings embodies a punky, defiant feel to the material that is especially necessary when delivering Dylan’s 1966 songs. 

Image: Postcard of the Royal Albert Hall with an inset of the Albert Memorial in London, circa 1903. Size: Standard (140 x 89 mm). Brand / Publisher: Raphael Tuck & Sons.