The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Live 1975-the ... - Dylan, Bob (CD 2002)

The first question hardcore Bob Dylan fans will ask themselves is do I need ANOTHER live album that documents the man's Rolling Thunder Revue? Well, yes. Hard Rain, released in late 1976, documented the more harried Spring ' 76 portion of the tour-this album catches Dylan & Friends during the fall of ' 75 and in fine form, I might add. This release shares only one common song with Hard Rain, Oh, Sister, and I think the version on this new set is superior.

This release also showcases a bit of the crazy caravan that Dylan envisioned running across the country which the 1976 part of the tour had begun to lack: Joan Baez shows up on four songs, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds appears on one track and the ample liner notes mention that poet Allen Ginsberg, playwright Sam Shepard and folkster Ramblin' Jack Elliot were along for part of the ride. Dylan used a number of the musicians from 1975's Desire as the core of his backing band: violinist Scarlet Rivera (who brings the same vitality to the shows as she did to Desire), Rob Stoner (bass), Howie Wyeth (piano-drums), Steve Soles (guitar-vocals) and Ronee Blakely (background vocals). David Mansfield (steel guitar), Bobby Neuwirth (guitar-vocals) and Luther Rix (percussion) are added as are two well respected guitarists in Mick Ronson (Ziggy Stardust era Bowie) and T-Bone Burnett (the Grammy winning producer of the O, Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack). They are not only up to the task but they actually become a band. They gloriously mix all the parts of Dylan's first decade and change as a recording artist about and come up with a warm and inviting mix that the man sounds right at home wading into.

The first thing you notice is how passionate Dylan was about the songs from Desire. Some of the songs on that album were a bit on the long side (a common criticism of the album) but here they are reconfigured slightly and trimmed a bit. Isis is a beautiful, nearly seven minute, loping ballad on Desire; here it has almost three minutes excised and becomes one of Dylan's hardest rocking numbers in the process. Dylan's return to social protest, Hurricane, is given a spirited reading (complete with a plea to free the still jailed Ruben Carter) that comes in almost a minute under it's album length. The other songs from the album, One More Cup Of Coffee, Oh, Sister, Sara and Romance In Durango get similar passionate treatments that seem to monkey with the tempo just a bit.

Such changes (be they subtle or nearly complete re-workings of songs) have become part of Bob Dylan's legacy as a live musician. Here he digs back to rewrite bits of lyrics (the opening track, Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You, is a fine example), rework arrangements and exhibits the sort of restlessness that kept pushing him into new corners of creativity and various artistic rebirths. Mama, You Been On My Mind, The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall and It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry are given extensive makeovers that force you to re-examine the old recordings and tip your hat to such an inspired musical scavenger. And bonus points to anybody who figures out why Bob REALLY wore white face paint for a good chunk of this tour.

Intimate versions of Mr. Tambourine Man,Love Minus Zero/No Limit and It's All Over Now, Baby Blue simply remind you of why you listen to Bob Dylan in the first place. Dylan's perfectly imperfect voice soothes and amazes with it's closeness as his lyrics are allowed to dance like poetry to only minimal musical accompaniment. It's such moments, when things just line up right, that makes this set such a pleasure. Waiting for a subtle change in phrasing, waiting for the best part of a favorite song, understanding that you are experiencing genius at work and the beautiful knowledge that genius can, indeed, make you wanna get up and dance.

I know that Columbia records is releasing the Bootleg Series for more than altruistic reasons (of course, they know Dylan still sells) but they have to be given credit for really doing some good work with The Bootleg Series. The first set featured a bunch of great rarities and the second set gave us the entire 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert. While this set is not as revelatory (for so many reasons) as the infamous ' 66 concert, it is still a top of the line live recording featuring outstanding sound quality. Above all it makes you wonder why these great sets are languishing in the vaults. One listen to this double disc set not only makes Hard Rain seem sadly lacking in meat (it has it's charms but it just doesn't equal this set...which was already waiting to be released) but makes something like that live Dylan/Grateful Dead album from the late '80's seem even worse by comparison.

Besides featuring twenty two songs and a running time of over an hour and forty minutes (sequenced from different shows, we are told, to simulate Dylan's part in an average Fall of '75 Rolling Thunder show) there is also a booklet featuring 50 plus pages of pictures and liner notes. You also get a DVD which features versions of Tangled Up In Blue and Isis from the film Renaldo and Clara, which Dylan made about the Rolling Thunder Revue. The DVD also contains the complete audio version of Isis (which is the version which was originally released on the box set Biograph, by the way). Not a bad deal for around twenty bucks. Serious Dylan fans will eventually need this, casual fans will eventually come to want it and I just hope that non-fans can get a taste. About the only thing else one could ask for is the outstanding vocal backing that Emmylou Harris lent to Desire...but that would make this album perfect and we all know that's a bit too much to ask for.

When a fan shouts out to the long parted ex-lovers Dylan and Baez that they make a lovely couple and Baez comes back wryly with "A couple of what?"...you know that this is an intimate work. When Baez announces that "Bobby will be back" after I Shall Be Released you get the notion that you are experiencing one hell of a snapshot. Being as I was just barely two years old when these songs were recorded, all I can say is thank God somebody had the good sense to catch this for posterity's sake. The Bootleg Series Volume 5 : Live 1975 is a worthy addition to Bob Dylan's catalog and that alone is saying something.

Best of all the liner notes mention,near the back, that 2003 will bring us Vol. 6 in the Bootleg series-a complete recording of the 1964 Philharmonic Hall concert.

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The Bootleg Series Volume 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975

recorded:
11/19/75- Worcester, MA
11/20/75- Cambridge, MA
11/21/75- Boston, MA
12/4/75- Montreal,Que,Canada

Disc One

1- Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
2- It Ain't Me, Babe
3- A Hard Rain's A-gonna Fall
4- The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
5- Romance In Durango
6- Isis
7- Mr. Tambourine Man
8- Simple Twist Of Fate
9- Blowin' In The Wind (w/Joan Baez)
10- Mama, You Been On My Mind (w/Joan Baez)
11- I Shall Be Released (w/Joan Baez)

Disc Two

1- It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
2- Love Minus Zero/No Limit
3- Tangled Up In Blue
4- The Water Is Wide (w/Joan Baez)
5- It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
6- Oh, Sister
7- Hurricane
8- One More Cup Of Coffee
9- Sara
10- Just Like A Woman
11- Knockin' On Heaven's Door (w/Roger McGuinn)

DVD

from 12/4/75 in Montreal:

1- Tangled Up In Blue
2- Isis
3- Isis (audio only)