Those “fan recordings” are already circulating for the new tour, and it’s no longer in any doubt: Dylan has ditched the Steinway for a Hammond B3. Or, presumably, he’s just flipped a switch on his electronic keyboard. Nevertheless, he’s got the organ sound going on every song. At first, I thought it sounded funny and cheesy and really wouldn’t work on every tune. But the more I hear it the more I like it. It adds different colors to everything, including the old warhorses like All Along the Watchtower. And don’t take my word for it: listen to a sample of that one from Stockton on April 4th, at this link.

Sometimes the organ sounds carnivally, sometimes Manzareky, and sometimes mad-horror-movie-organist-ish. What it doesn’t really ever sound like to me is the organ from some of Dylan’s sixties’ records, be it Al Kooper’s licks on Like a Rolling Stone or the organ on Queen Jane Approximately or what you’d hear on Blonde on Blonde. It’s not like that; it’s different. But good.

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