Bob Dylan – Live on TV 1976 – Part One Review

Presumption does the heavy lifting for Live on TV 1976. We can assume these are post-Desire performances from Bob Dylan. Assume also, that the performances from the Rolling Thunder Revue performance at Hughes Stadium, are what is compiled here. More Dylan is good Dylan, but not making clear the source, as is the case for Live on TV 1976, is troubling. Not because we cannot place these moments but because it muddies the waters when we do try and work it out. Only the keenest of ears and sharpest of minds will figure it out, not those who are four coffees in and spent their morning fixing a blown-out speaker, caused by the loud crackles of a Marty Robbins record. Opener A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall is doing no favours with its heavy bass and screaming crowd, but what an atmosphere this compilation presents, albeit a brief slice.  

Dylan, Joan Baez and the rest of the touring musicians are fantastic on this tour, even if they were running out of steam at the time of this recording. Leftfield song choices like Railroad Boy and I Pity the Poor Immigrant are enjoyable. There are better listening choices from the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, Hard Rain still stands as an excellent compilation of the feel of these shows, the rage that guided the likes of Idiot Wind, for instance. But Live on TV 1976 serves as a spotlight on other tracks, and it seems Shelter from the Storm is the only overlap. We are spoilt for choice when it comes to bootlegs of this tour, but Live on TV 1976 is a sweet starting point. A so-called official release, one of the many playlists dumped quietly onto Bob Dylan’s YouTube channel, the ideal listening experience, naturally.  

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall and Blowin’ in the Wind features, aside from Shelter from the Storm, the best part of this compilation. That continued instrumental and Baez praising the crowds. This is a time where their on-stage chemistry was a thin veneer, an opaque image which, when analysed that little bit closer, was poorly hiding a backstage breakdown of faith in the project. A smattering of folk-like numbers where Baez and Dylan share vocal duties are heard on Railroad Boy give us not a nod to their early days but a continuation of their overlapping love of folk music. Their growth as artists, independent of one another in-between those Newport days and the performance heard here, adds that necessary extra layer to Railroad Boy and follow-up Deportee.  

That latter song, a Woody Guthrie cover, features on the other Rolling Thunder Revue compilation, Shelter from a Hard Rain. It, like the other tracks, comes from the live performance the Revue gave in Fort Collins, Colorado. I Pity the Poor Immigrant and Shelter from the Storm confirms it. A nice listen, especially when some of these songs were not featured on Hard Rain. You can find the full performance out there in the wild, though not on Live on TV 1976, the first of two parts. Why it has been split in two, we must turn to the team behind Dylan’s YouTube channel for answers. Releases like this are a fascinating symptom of selling his discography, a small and strange cycle of sharing those lesser-known performances, packaged as something to fool the passing listener.