A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall: The Rolling Thunder Review Box

Bob Dylan

The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings  

(Columbia)

Sometimes I ask myself the question, “How much is too much?” I mean, I was quite excited

to receive the new Rolling Thunder boxed set­­, but at 14-discs, it’s almost Dylan overload. Hearing endless versions of “One More Cup of Coffee,” “Hurricane,” “Isis” and others makes me feel that the producers could have just chosen the best version of each song played during the tour and kept the set to a reasonable length. That said, there are very many highlights during these concerts and rehearsals, all recorded in 1975. The band and Bobby sound at the top of their game during their show from Harvard Square Theatre, Cambridge, MA, from “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” to “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” to “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.” The energy never lets up during the entire show. “Hurricane” is delivered with heart and passion, as is “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Romance in Durango.”

The Rolling Thunder Review took place in 1975 and ’76, and consisted of two “legs,” touring the USA and Canada, with Dylan’s album Desire dropping in between the two legs of the tour. The stage was packed with musicians, including the band he used for his new album, as well as Joan Baez, who opened most of the second sets with Bob dueting on “Blowin’ In the Wind;” Joni Mitchell; Ronee Blakely and many more.

There are S.I.R. Studio rehearsals, Seacrest Motel rehearsals, and full shows from Worcester, MA; Boston; and Montreal; as well as live tracks from New York City; Lowell, MA; Providence, RI; Tuscarora Reservation, NY; Augusta, ME; and a version of “Hurricane” from Madison Square Garden and the benefit “Night of the Hurricane.”

Martin Scorsese’s feature documentary on the Review began airing on Netflix in June. The voluminous back story and history of Rolling Thunder truly helps one appreciate this massive undertaking. It is truly an exhaustive archive of a tour that was panned by some and praised by others in the media. As for this writer, even given my bitching about it being “too much,” I think it contains some of Dylan’s finest live work ever recorded.

 -Michael Buffalo Smith