Another hour of exceptional performances from The Rolling Thunder Revue is one hell of a treat. Bob Dylan had some of his finest moments on stage during this tour. A little snippet of You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere feels like a nice preamble to what is an outstanding boxset of bootlegged pieces from a tour with plenty of depth to it. The Rolling Thunder Revue features some of the best-ever renditions of some truly great songs. Take The Times They Are A-Changin’, for instance, a remarkable stop-off in a collection of songs which the bootlegger admits are in rougher shape than other inclusions. Fine enough, there are six CDs prior to this that feature the top-of-the-range recordings. There’s much to pull from the seventh CD, too, a last gasp of great material from a tour that is deserving of its reputation as one of the best Dylan ever embarked on. Even through that tinny quality, through the rough cuts, you can hear what’s so special about this tour.
A magnificent performance of It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, features a slightly faster tempo and a phenomenal vocal performance from Dylan. The almost upbeat acoustic guitar addition is the difference maker here, a chance to hear the song turned into a call to arms. That energy flowing through Dylan’s performance here, that urgency to go start anew, it’s a phenomenal experience. A blistering harmonica solo, too, adds that something special. Remarkable instrumental work here which sounds as though it’s never going to let up, and then it’s on to a rehearsal of Isis and a frankly beautiful version of You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go. A lot of the songs featured here are given the similar instrumental changes to those featured on Hard Rain, though they never featured in that magnificent performance.
For those who enjoyed Hard Rain, then Best of the Rolling Thunder Revue (Pt. 7) is a must-listen. For every song that sounds like a convincing argument to upend your life, there’s a song to put build up the calmness. You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go is just that. A real calmer side to The Rolling Thunder Revue, which was outed less often than the electric guitar-led mania found in the best spots of this tour. Just staggeringly emotional performances the whole way through. Dylan had imploded as an artist, returning to the stage just two years before the bulk of these performances and dealing with a personal crisis which prompted one of his best albums. You can hear the effect of all that on One of Us Must Know, though not every song on this tour holds the emotional complexities which lend themselves to profiling Dylan as a person, rather than a performer.
There are moments throughout Best of the Rolling Thunder Revue (Pt. 7) that detail Dylan as a man of multitudes. That much was never in doubt, but the likes of Tangled Up in Blue and If You See Her, Say Hello, are remarkable additions. They’re must-listen experiences even with the lesser tape quality found across this bootleg. There have been more important performances in worse quality, released officially or unofficially. You can power through the crunch of tape degradation for these songs, each a fantastic example of how Dylan was dealing with his return to releasing music and performing. The Rolling Thunder Revue package found across these seven discs is a magnificent counter to the official releases. It’ll scratch the itch of those wanting to hear more from a fantastic tour.
