The Rolling Thunder Review
The 1975 Live Recordings (2019)



Sampler
 

  1. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You (rehearsal)
  2. If You See Her, Say Hello (rehearsal)
  3. Easy and Slow (rehearsal)
  4. A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
  5. It Ain't Me, Babe
  6. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
  7. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
  8. Isis
  9. Romance in Durango
  10.Hurricane

 

Though not formally issued under the Bootleg Series banner, The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings fits comfortably within the same archival philosophy that has defined Bob Dylan’s retrospective catalogue over the past three decades. This release, like several of its predecessors, exists in multiple formats—most notably a sprawling 14-CD box set, as well as a more concise single-disc sampler. The latter serves as a distilled glimpse into a famously unorthodox and artistically fertile period of Dylan’s career.

The Rolling Thunder Revue tour of 1975 has long occupied a mythic place in the Dylan canon: a travelling caravan of musicians, poets, and personalities that blurred the lines between theater and concert. Its spirit was captured with immediacy in The Bootleg Series Vol. 5, released in 2002—a two-disc compilation that remains a definitive document of the tour’s vitality. Given that context, one might reasonably ask: what does this new release offer that the earlier volume did not?

The answer, at least as far as the sampler edition is concerned, is incremental rather than revelatory. The performances—though uniformly strong—do not significantly deviate from what listeners have already encountered on Bootleg Vol. 5. The arrangements remain largely the same, the vocal delivery similarly impassioned, and the setlist familiar. For those already acquainted with the earlier release, this sampler may register more as a supplementary footnote than a necessary addition.

What perhaps distinguishes this release most is not the music itself, but the broader cultural context into which it has been reintroduced. Martin Scorsese’s 2019 documentary Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story—a surreal blend of fact and fiction—serves as both companion and counterpoint, casting new light on the performative nature of the tour. For prospective listeners, viewing the film may provide the clearest indication of whether further immersion into the 14-disc set is warranted.

In short, the sampler disc functions well as an overview, but it is unlikely to alter the perception of this period for those already familiar with its contours. For the completist or the archivally inclined, the full box set may hold greater appeal. For most, however, The Bootleg Series Vol. 5 remains the more essential chronicle.

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