Bob Dylan – Best of The Rolling Thunder Revue (Pt. 6) Review

There was no greater tour for Bob Dylan than the Rolling Thunder Revue. Should this be contested, it only takes a listen through of the Best of The Rolling Thunder Revue compilations to change your mind. Pair that with the official live album, Hard Rain, and it’s tricky to find examples of a better tour than this. What may come close is the Time Out of Mind tour, a series of shows with a fantastic bootleg for seemingly every date on the tour. But the strengths of those performances can be found here, on the Best of the Rolling Thunder Revue, an outstanding, hour-long compilation filled with deep cuts. For those who have listened to the previous releases of this bulky bootleg, the sixth part will mark a major change. A selection of rehearsals can be found in this collection, though the bulk of the compilation still highlights the strength of the Rolling Thunder Revue in action. All-time greats can be heard in this package. 

Just take a listen to those early moments like Abandoned Love and Wild Mountain Thyme. The latter has Joan Baez join Dylan on stage. Those who are well-versed in their collaborative efforts will pick up on that rather quickly. It’s an incredible performance which precedes the first great rehearsal tape. The Ballad of Hollis Brown sounds excellent here, Dylan can be heard ironing out a few minor instrumental choices but, ultimately, the song is ready for the stage. Hearing the process behind inventing new instrumental routes through classic tracks is as interesting a decade after their release as it is four decades later. The only real difference is the instrument Dylan is interested in pursuing for the song. This tour would have him riff on electric once more, taking the electric controversy to its next level, now that the public had warmed to folk artists (and musicians in general) against using those forbidden tools.  

By the time the Rolling Thunder Revue came to be, the sentiment had shifted far away from whether it was right or wrong of Dylan to use such instrumentals. We can be thankful it had shifted, as otherwise songs such as Like a Rolling Stone and Most Likely You Go You Way (And I’ll Go Mine) would be strangely controversial moments. Excellent versions on this compilation, all the same, along with a great rendition of Just Like Tomb Thumb’s Blues. Not everything on the Rolling Thunder Revue tour was a blowout of instrumentals. Some were tender, stripped-back experiences with the folk classics of Dylan’s previous decade. The Ballad of Hollis Brown is the best example of those softer touches. A song which relies more on the intonation of Dylan as a roaring, raging voice than any instrumental addition. It’s the opposite for When I Paint My Masterpiece, an upbeat and swinging rock and folk blur.  

Each is well-placed on this compilation. Both sides of Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Revue tour are at play here. Not as strong a listen as previous instalments but if you’ve made it this far into such a large compilation, you might as well finish it off. A few golden moments but a few passive tracks within. No duds, of course, nothing here should alarm returning listeners. There are just a handful of songs which would serve Dylan better elsewhere, be it on another tour or in the studio. It’s not the Rolling Thunder Revue itself which is the problem in those moments, rather the limitations of this specific version. A small price to pay, wading through the riches of bootleg tapes to hear some all-time great moments. Continue on, then, with Best of the Rolling Thunder Revue (Pt. 6) more like a deserved but disappointing encore to the brilliance before it.