JOEL SAWYER

BEING a child of the 90s means that I missed out on the radical 60s and groovy 70s - but I'm glad to say Bob Dylan's magic touch is still alive and well today.

The man himself may be in the twilight of a stunning career that has spanned four decades - and hopefully more to come - but his legacy is still going strong.

The sixth in a series of bootleg recordings has hit the shelves and is billed as his 'historic Hallowe'en concert' at New York's Philharmonic Hall in 1964.

Although it is clich to say he is incomparable, even a 20-something in this day and age can understand why he was so revered.

His traditional concert opener of that period, The Times They Are A Changin', seems to take on a new and profound meaning both lyrically and thematically in this time of terrorism and unruly youths.

Who Killed Davey Moore? and It's Alright, Ma are powerful and challenging - something our current plastic fantastic chart acts have no concept of.

Mr Tambourine Man is as sweet and lifting as ever and one of my Dylan favourites I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met) features a great little bit of banter with the audience as he forgets the opening line.

Other favourites like All I Really Want To Do and It Ain't Me, Babe feature - as does then-folk queen Joan Baez in an unannounced guest appearance.

Other highlights are the hilarious Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues and the brilliant If You Got To Go, Go Now.

But what makes this release more than average is the fun Dylan has with the audience; cracking jokes between songs and taking encore requests.

Cracking stuff that will take Dylan fans right back to his initial and exciting peak and help newcomers get an insight into just what all the very-necessary fuss is all about.