ROLLING THUNDER ROLLING ON
September 5, 2008 – 5:49 amBob Dylan’s 1975/76 tour was like a carnival and it was a blast, perhaps that’s why fans have fond memories of the shows.
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BOB DYLAN
Tales Of Thunder 1976 [no label, 2CD]
Various live dates between April and May 1976. Very good soundboard.
If it was any other artist, to do what Bob Dylan did between 1975 and 1976 would have been the achievement of a lifetime.
Throughout 1975, Dylan was recording his Desire album. Then he went on tour in the fall of 1975. The Rolling Thunder Revue was like a carnival. Robert Shelton, who wrote Dylan’s biography, No Direction Home, commented: “Spontanety dominated the tour, including itinerary changes, improvisation and guest appearances… Joni Mitchell did two New Haven shows and reappeared. Arlo Guthrie came along in Springfield. Old friends David Blue, Gordon Lightfoot and Robbie Robertson popped up. Roberta Flack was at the prison and New York concerts. Joan (Baez) said she’d never seen such a spirit. Even after arduous shows, the cast would sing their way along on the bus.”
Joan Baez said: “The feeling is good, because everybody has some room on stage… Bob has so powerful an effect on so many lives…” Apart from Baez, other musicians on the tour included Roger McGuinn, T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson and David Mansfield.
In his book, Behind The Shades, Clinton Heylin wrote: “The Rolling Thunder Revue shows remain some of the finest music Dylan ever made with a live band… Gone was the traditionalism of The Band. Instead he found a whole set of textures rarely found in rock. The idea of blending the pedal-steel syncopation of Mansfield, Ronson’s glam-rock lead breaks, and (Scarlet) Rivera’s electric violin made for something as musically layered as Dylan’s lyrics…[Dylan] also displayed a vocal precision rare even for him, snapping and stretching words to cajole nuances of meaning from each and every line.”
Desire was released on January 5, 1976 and went on to become one of Dylan’s top-selling albums. A second leg of the Rolling Thunder was added in 1976 which, according to Robert Shelton, was “primarily to raise money to produce the film Renaldo And Clara.” The film was finally released in 1978. And in November 1976, Dylan would appear at The Last Waltz with The Band.
The May 23, 1976 show was shown as a TV special and certain tracks were released on the Hard Rain live album. The tour has also been documented on The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue.
Here then are more tracks from the tour. In his review, music writer Dave Thompson wrote: “This is certainly an excellent compilation for the less-than-hardcore fan… that is, anyone who doesn’t especially care about hearing every single song, but still wants to know why this tour ranks among Dylan’s most memorable. And the rest of us? Well, we’re already dedicated to spending the rest of our lives seeking out a tape of the Salt Lake City show, in the hope of hearing Dylan and Baez duet across Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts.”
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (these are high quality stereo MP3s - sample rate of 192 kibit/s). As far as we can ascertain, this recording has never been officially released.
These tracks are no longer available for download. Kindly email us at mybigo@bigozine.com if you want to download them at a later date.
Disc 1
Track 101. Mr Tambourine Man [A]
Track 102. Visions Of Johanna [B]
Track 103. If You See Her Say Hello [B]
Track 104. Spanish Is The Loving Tongue [C]
Track 105. Vincent Van Gogh [A]
Track 106. Weary Blues From Waiting [B]
Track 107. I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight [B]
Track 108. Maggie’s Farm [A]
Track 109. One Too Many Mornings [D]
Track 110. Isis [E]
Track 111. Seven Days [B]
Track 112. Blowin’ In The Wind [F]
Track 113. Railroad Boy [F]
Track 114. Deportees [F]
Track 115. I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine [G]
Track 116. I Pity The Poor Immigrant [A]
Track 117. Rita Mae [A]
Disc 2
Track 201. Shelter From The Storm [A]
Track 202. I Threw It All Away [D]
Track 203. Stuck Inside A Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again [A]
Track 204. You’re A Big Girl Now [A]
Track 205. You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go [E]
Track 206. I Want You [H]
Track 207. Going, Going, Gone [E]
Track 208. Mozambique [E]
Track 209. Lay Lady Lay [A]
Track 210. Like A Rolling Stone [G]
Track 211. Idiot Wind [A]
Track 212. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall [F]
Track 213. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door [A]A: New Orleans, May 3, 1976
B: Lakeland, April 18, 1976
C: San Antonio, May 11, 1976
D: Hattiesburg, May 1, 1976
E: Fort Worth, May 16, 1976
F: Fort Collins, May 23, 1976
G: Clearwater, April 22, 1976
H: Oklahoma, May 18, 1976
Click on the link to order Bob Dylan
Click on the link to order Bob Dylan
16 Responses to “ROLLING THUNDER ROLLING ON”
Thanks for that one! Great music!
All the best,
Paul
By Paul on Sep 5, 2008
The Big-O is the source of the BEST “Rolling Thunder” cuts I’ve ever come across; that weren’t abused by Columbia. Thanks for the unbiased, real Dylan and Company on the “Rolling Thunder Tour”.
Cheers-
By platterpile on Sep 5, 2008
Thanks! Pity no “Romance in Durango” — but hey thanks!
By Heli0tr0pe on Sep 5, 2008
always a pleasure!!! you’re god !!!
By jonas on Sep 6, 2008
Maybe the best Bob Dylan’s Tour!
By Rochacrimson on Sep 6, 2008
Thanks for sharing–the best Dylan tour ever.
By Christopher on Sep 6, 2008
thanks!
i shall now again go and worship at the shrine of his holy bobness ..
By Mark on Sep 7, 2008
thanks so much for this!
By Edwin Crump on Sep 7, 2008
It won’t get better!!
By Yomina on Sep 7, 2008
Thanks very much, this is a great one
Greetings from Germany
By GuitarSGreat on Sep 10, 2008
Yes, some nice stuff here… But, “Visions” is NOT S.B., it’s a crummy audience recording.
Thanx for this posting, !!!
By Timmy on Sep 12, 2008
this is from my favorite Bob tour…so many stories around it and just in MY town! When I get a chance I’ll dig out my handbill from the tour and scan it in and send it to you as a thanks for all the great music you’ve posted here.
By Duncan Walls on Sep 19, 2008
Thanks, for another goodie. Saw him in Plymouth, Mass, for Rolling Thunder. It all comes back, like it was yesterday. Tickets were $10.00. Those were the days. have a happy holiday season. Jim
By Jim G on Dec 12, 2008
I attended the April 18,1976(Easter Sunday)show @Lakeland Civic Center. I was 17 yrs old at military school in St.Pete. I talked a buddy of mine into going AWOL w/me. We took a cab to the Trailways station, rode a bus and got to Lakeland an hour before the show. I squeezed my way through to the front.(literally had my elbows on the front of the stage) Dylan & Co were magical, there was electricity crackling through the air on every song! David Mansfield was playing mandolin, flattop guitar, pedalsteel, you name it. Bobby Neuwirth drank almost a whole bottle of CuervoGold by himself and was still strummin’ acoustic like a champ! Joan Baez lead a stirring rendition of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” everyone in the audience was singing it with her and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! Dylan was the ringmaster, watching & playing with such intensity, all the while making history right there on the stage… It was worth the 15 hrs of marching duty I received when I got back to military school at 2am!!
By Robbie Mac on Mar 25, 2009
thanks for the amazing Bob stuff
great site
keep up the great work
By tbonedaddy on Jul 27, 2009
bob`s been with us so long folks forget to be amazed..long live bobby!
By sluggo on Mar 13, 2010