POP MUSIC REVIEW : Bob Dylan, Friends: Back at Full Strength

“It Ain’t Me, Babe,” Bob Dylan sang as his capper Wednesday at the Hollywood Palladium.

“Is too,” the response of the faithful would have it.

Loyalists who in recent years have rarely been able to arrive at any consensus on whether a particular show of the bard’s was a blast or a blowout seemed in rare unanimity that this was exactly the Dylan they were looking for--loose and playful, yet creatively alert and respectful toward his material.

And really, really singing, as if he’d never forgotten how.

Certainly there have been those who have wondered aloud in recent years if his instrument was just, well, shot. Such suspicions were based largely on a couple of disastrously mumbled TV appearances earlier this decade, along with the fact that, even in his better concert appearances, Dylan’s irreverent rephrasing of the classics can easily be mistaken for carelessness. Also, he seemed to be studiously avoiding his higher registers in recent years for a kind of blustery-at-any-cost delivery.

Amid the obvious vocal conviction and delight Wednesday (the first of three nights at the Palladium), though, none of these concerns seemed relevant.

The three-song “unplugged” segment mid-show was most telling. Dylan sang “Mr. Tambourine Man” not as a weary bleat, but as a gentle and sweet lullaby from one not sleepy. “Masters of War,” far from the walk-through of the infamous Grammy telecast, here was clearly and softly enunciated against tense, low-key strumming, with short bursts of harmonica as recurring fusillade. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” too, had a tender quality, sounding almost like a superior “Pat Garrett” outtake with the band’s warm, campfire arrangement discreetly supporting his subdued, rueful reading.

This wasn’t just a plug for Dylan’s new “MTV Unplugged” album, though, and most of the 90-minute-plus show was suitably electric, in both senses. The trade-off for his seemingly regained sensitivity to the potency of his own voice and words was that this appearance wasn’t quite as inherently high-energy nor, dare we say, grungy as some of those rollicking affairs of recent years at the Greek and Pantages.

Yet when the band did achieve full cranky force, the effect was more fully felt in the less polite confines of the Palladium. The choice of hall may have cost Dylan a few ticket sales among oldsters, but the continued immediacy of his approach is well-suited to a room that brings its own legitimate rock ‘n’ roll vibe.

* Bob Dylan plays tonight at the Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., 8 p.m. Sold-out. (213) 962-7600. Also Saturday at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, 1122 N. Milpas St., Santa Barbara, 7 p.m. $22-$31. (805) 568-2695.