Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue Bob Dylan/Canada 1975 Upgrade

The Rolling Thunder Revue is the pinnacle of Bob Dylan’s 1970s. It’s still fresh in our memory that the official content for 1975 was compiled into the wonderful “THE 1975 LIVE RECORDINGS,” but it was also confirmed that not all performances were multi-tracked. Dylan and the Revue performed great shows throughout the tour that year, but the three shows in Canada from late November to early December, which reached their boiling point, were all so over the top that they were called the ultimate masterpieces of the 1975 Revue. However, during this period, which is truly worthy of being called the peak, the only multi-track recording was made in Montreal on December 4th. The fact that similar recordings were not made at the two previous Toronto shows was also revealed by the release of “THE 1975~,” and it is also true that enthusiasts around the world were quite disappointed. As Montreal showed, Dylan and the Revue’s stages at the three Canadian shows were just over the top. To get to know these great performances, we must rely on audience recordings. Fortunately, the Toronto performance has a truly wonderful stereo audience recording, and the sound quality on December 1st is the best. It has a good sense of distance and a wide sense of presence, and yet it is an exquisite balance that captures the performance with plenty of power. Therefore, it was used as a supplementary member in old masterpieces such as “GET READY! TONIGHT BOB’S STAYING HERE WITH YOU” and “COWBOY ANGEL BLUES”, which mainly used the PA sound board at the beginning of the tour, and even the voice of the audience (perhaps a friend) near the taper shouting “Visions Of Johnna!” should have been a familiar sound source to enthusiasts. Even if the PA sound board of this day was excavated, it would not be possible to reproduce such a magnificent sense of presence and listening comfort, and the masterpiece that recorded such a famous audience in full for the first time was “FLAGGING DOWN DOUBLE E’S”. In the 1990s, this was a highly popular masterpiece released by a maniac Dylan label. However, since it was released during the cassette trade era in the 1990s, it is true that the generation drop and pitch deviation were not fully addressed. On the contrary, since “FLAGGING DOWN~” (hereinafter referred to as the “already released version”), the upper version of this audience recording with the best sound quality and performance has not appeared for a long time. Moreover, since the low generation version of the original sound source was widely distributed when the 21st century arrived, this must be said to be a serious situation. So this time, the release of the upper version based on this low generation version will finally be realized, but the difference in sound quality is clear compared to the already released version. From the first half of the live, it seems as if the hiss noise has been lowered and the thin skin has been removed, and in the second half of the live, the difference in sound quality finally appears. For example, if you compare it with “Hurricane”, the difference is clear. Above all, the previously released version had a major drawback in that the opening “When I Paint My Masterpiece” started with a fade-in, but this time it was recorded from Bob Neuwirth’s MC before the performance began. In addition, the bonus follows the style of the previously released version, which recorded the sound source of the next day’s Toronto. This is also based on the master version released by KRW_CO earlier this year, so the difference from the previously released version is clearer than the previous day. Originally, the sound quality on this day was slightly inferior to the previous day (although it was still the best at the time), making it perfect as a bonus member, but in addition, the previously released version had noticeable deterioration in sound quality and pitch deviation due to gene drop, making it much easier to hear this time. The previously released version was also packed with sound sources from performances before December, but this time it was smartly put together with the concept of only two days in Toronto, which was the ultimate masterpiece. The incredible performance of the first day of Toronto, captured by such a superb audience, is a masterpiece. At the beginning of the live performance, Mick Ronson’s guitar is very sharp, and he plays it as hard as he can. Therefore, the appeal of the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue is that it is recommended to people other than Dylan fans. Furthermore, the charm of the recording balance, which allows you to clearly hear the bass line of Rob Stoner, the bassist who was also the bandmaster of a large band, has not faded, and in fact there is no other sound source that has been captured with such quality in the audience recording of the 1975 review. By the way, the original sound source captured the entire review over a long period of time, but because of this, cuts due to tape changes were frequent, and the cut that comes in as soon as “It Ain’t Me, Babe” ended was the best example. In order to make such scenes less noticeable on the previously released version, the editing was done by cross-fading in a way that cut into the sound, which resulted in the recording time being shortened, but this time, the advantage is that the recorded parts were recorded to the maximum extent by just pinching the cut itself. And above all, Dylan is in high spirits. The first half of the live performance was full throttle, and the way he sang calmly after the acoustic corner with Joan Baez was also wonderful. In addition, in the Dylan singing corner, he carefully sang famous songs such as “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”, and you can even feel the silence of the arena. Please enjoy to your heart’s content the upper version of the 1975 review’s ultimate performance and recording, which you can’t hear even in the official box. Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON, Canada 1st December 1975 PERFECT SOUND Disc 1 (67:22) 1. When I Paint My Masterpiece 2. It Ain’t Me, Babe 3. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll 4. Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You 5. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry 6. Romance In Durango 7. Isis 8. The Times They Are A-Changin’ 9. Dark As A Dungeon 10. Never Let Me Go 11. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine 12. I Shall Be Released 13. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue 14. Love Minus Zero/No Limit 15. Simple Twist Of Fate Disc 2 (66:17) 1. Oh, Sister 2. Hurricane 3. One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below) 4. Sara 5. Just Like A Woman 6. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door 7. This Land Is Your Land Bonus Tracks Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON, Canada 2nd December 1975 8. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall 9. Blowin’ In The Wind 10. Wild Mountain Thyme 11. Mama You Been On My Mind 12. Mr. Tambourine Man 13. Tangled Up In Blue Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar) Bob Neuwirth (guitar) T-bone J. Henry Burnett (guitar) Roger McGuinn (guitar) Steven Soles (guitar) Mick Ronson (guitar) David Mansfield (steel guitar, violin, mandolin ,dobro) Rob Stoner (bass) Howie Wyeth (piano, drums) Luther Rix (drums, percussion) Ronee Blakeley (vocal)