A new 39-disc box set—or, for the less masochism-minded, two full concerts, released as separate sets—corrects that record. As the name suggests, The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings collects every inch of professionally rendered tape that sound engineer David Hendel captured between April 18, when the band began an 11-day stint in Florida, to May 25, when it ended in a long-since-demolished arena called the Salt Palace. That finale is missing, as are big chunks of several shows. These gigs were old-fashioned revues, too, with Joan Baez or Joni Mitchell or Roger McGuinn or a largely unknown T Bone Burnett taking lead turns of their own; this set, though, collects only the Dylan-led numbers, whether solo or in loose duets with Baez or backed by the band that came to call itself Guam.
Still, these 381 tracks dispel any idea that the 1976 tour is a footnote. At points, it is actually more electrifying and endearing than its 1975 counterpart. For the extreme Dylan devotee, there are rare delights aplenty: an astoundingly beautiful and ragged rendition of “Dink’s Song” with Baez, a shit-kicking early take on the tense and overlooked “Seven Days,” Dylan navigating a bomb scare in Florida, full shows for which bootlegs barely existed. But more importantly, it shows Dylan—edging toward divorce in a time of American political uncertainty—wrestling with notions of what he wanted his music to become, of how he could use his past and present as tools to become something new. On these tapes, he is funny, mean, sad, sentimental, hilariously sloppy, and unnervingly sharp. He is real, the mask of 1975 washed away by the effort of just being, replaced now by a bandana for soaking up the sweat.
Hard Rain was culled from two shows near the end of that spring 1976 run—Fort Worth, on May 16, and Fort Collins, a week later. Those concerts have now been reissued in full, too, both alongside many other complete shows in the box and as standalone releases. Hearing them explains away the initial frustration of Hard Rain; that set was like being told your favorite basketball player has had the best season of their life, then only being shown grainy highlights out of order and with no context, not knowing about the victories they helped create. These two tapes, though, are like watching a full playoff game, the early-season jitters and mishaps gone.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
