A comprehensive anthology of music from the mythic first leg of Bob Dylan's groundbreaking Rolling Thunder Revue, this 14CD box set includes all five of Dylan’s full sets from that tour that were professionally recorded. The collection also provides the listener with an intimate insider's seat for recently unearthed rehearsals at New York's S.I.R. studios and the Seacrest Motel in Falmouth, MA plus a bonus disc showcasing one-of-a-kind performances from the tour.
The collection features 148 tracks in all, with more than 100 of those never previously released. Included in the box set is a 52-page booklet featuring rare and never-before-seen Rolling Thunder Revue photos and a revelatory essay by novelist/musician Wesley Stace. Concurrent with the release of the 14CD box set will be a reissue of The Bootleg Series Volume 5 on vinyl, back in print for the first time since 2002 as a 3LP set with a 64-page booklet.
Launched in the fall of 1975, Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue flaunted the touring conventions of the time by featuring an eclectic cast of characters and playing small and unusual venues with little advance notice. The shows would often stretch to more than four hours long, generating some of the artist's most dramatic and dynamic on-stage performances ever. Dylan debuted the new songs he'd written for his forthcoming Desire album (which became one of the most acclaimed and popular in his canon) with a fire and intensity that Dylan had reached ten years earlier with his incendiary tours with musicians who became The Band. He also took wild, interpretative rides through his back catalog and broke-out some unexpected covers.
Dylan gathered amazing friends and collaborators for his ensemble – dubbed Guam for the tour – that included T Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, Joan Baez, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Bobby Neuwirth, Scarlett Rivera, Ronee Blakly, Steven Soles, David Mansfield, Rob Stoner, Howie Wyeth and Luther Rix. Poet Allen Ginsberg and Joni Mitchell also brought their talents to the show’s encores. Dylan, the consummate band leader, managed to take these musicians from various backgrounds and sensibilities and mold them into a tight musical unit on stage.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: There's never any need really to tell you what Bob Dylan sounds like, but it's definitely worth noting how this package is almost certainly the most precise and engrossing live recordings you're likely to hear. Full of unreleased gems, official soundboard recordings and previously unearthed live-only experiences, this is an essential purchase for any and all fans of Bobby D.
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP Box Set Info: 3 LP box set.
