BOB DYLAN
02 Arena 2009 [Silent Sea, 1CD]
Live at the O2 Arena, London, England, April 25, 2009. Very good soundboard.

The folks at collectorsmusicreviews.com are only too glad that a good soundboard of the show has surfaced, never mind that it's an incomplete show or that there are some blemishes. "Distortion is present, especially in the louder parts, and there is a strange flutter on the tape during 'Till I Fell In Love With You [Ed: roughly 2:00 to 3:18] and Highway 61 Revisited."

The rest of what's usually the backstory is odd prattle, chestnuts about how Dylan doesn't do the songs the way you hear them on the old records -- "...the "laidback" or easy-listening stance here - it sounds as if you can waltz through this set - may prove uncomfortable for some."

4:17 p.m. Friday
Dylan Digest at Isis Magazine (covering Bob Dylan since 1985) reports that Dylan recording a Christmas album in the spring.

It is a personal project of Dylan himself rather than an idea put forward by his record company.... The album is said to have been mixed and finished in June.

So far, five songs have been mentioned, none originals. Two reported directly to ISIS were "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" ... and "Silver Bells."

Several other outlets, including Billboard, Paste, Tablet and Christianity Today, point to an unsourced item at Bully! Pulpit that adds "Must Be Santa," "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "I'll Be Home For Christmas" to the Dylan holiday songlist.

Billboard says it has confirmed these reports.

If Dylan is going for the posthumous annual rotation (Bing Crosby lives and imprints new generations as long as White Christmas does), I hope it's with "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."