Honestly, I never gave My Brother Esau much thought. I knew that it was a b-side single and was the last song cut from In The DarkIn the Dark. On the surface it was just a Bobby song that fit this week’s theme. But I think this version made me a convert.
The recording here is really good. If the rest of the show is as well played and sonically viable I would think this might be a candidate for release. I can’t place my finger exactly on what made this stand out to me, perhaps it’s just that I’ve never really listened to the song this closely before. There are a lot of nuances to My Brother Esau that come to the fore in this version. It was played a remarkable 104 times between 1983 and 1987 and never revived again. That’s a lot of play in a little time, especially considering it was never unearthed again. It’s a shame it wasn’t played on the Spring or Summer 1990 tours. The band was on fire then and I would have loved to hear an attempt from that period. C’est la vie.
