Damn, bought the 3LP reissue but haven't gotten it yet. Can I ask what the reviews are saying?
I've not read any reviews that have come out within the last month. But when the set was released in 2002, it got mediocre scores from most of the major sites. That said, the Rolling Thunder tour recordings have always been very mixed among fans. They're a bit ragged and raw and they rework some stuff. I like it quite a bit, though, and I probably will get a copy as well, but Western Stars and the new Neil Young release are much more interesting.
Bootleg Series volume 5 takes 22 songs from the tour. Some are obvious choices, others are a bit weird. "The Water Is Wide" is a strange one I remember. There were way more songs that could have been chosen for the tour. (Check out:
https://www.setlist.fm/stats/albums/bob-dylan-1bd6adb8.html?tour=2bd6d0fe to get an idea.)
While maybe not the best to go to for music reviews, Ultimate Classic Rock ranked it last when it ordered the bootleg series in regards to quality and wrote:
"
11: 'The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue' (2002)
Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue from 1975-76 has divided fans for years. The expanded touring band – which included Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn and Mick Ronson, among others – added both heft and bombast to Dylan's most extravagant road show. This two-disc set collects songs from a number of concerts and drastically reworks some old favorites along the way."
Rolling Stone gave it 4/5 stars (they're not hard to get 5 stars from and notoriously overscore things). Here's an excerpt:
"In contrast to the Band's murderously precise country soul, the Rolling Thunder crew at times sounds so loose it threatens to collapse, only to be kept on course by Rob Stoner’s pliant bass lines.
It's not a Down in the Groove or Knocked Out Loaded, but it's not the best presentation of a really good era and at the end of the day, it's probably way more rewarding to pick up a decent copy of "The Hurricane Carter Benefit" from a month later (December 1975).
I think my takeaway even though I'll get is that the stuff they put on the 3 LPs simply isn't the best from that tour. You could easily cut three better LPs with the stuff that made it onto the CDs that will be released. I had nearly the same criticism when they released More Blood on the Tracks. That said, Trouble No More (Volume 13) actually did a really good job at pairing stuff down. At the end of the day, it's just a lazy approach.
Although, I'm sure that when Bob ultimately does pass (which I hope is a long long time from now), Columbia will do a rerelease of all this stuff in a way that will make the Bowie releases look tame by comparison.
app.vinylmeplease.com
app.vinylmeplease.com
onlychildtyrant.bandcamp.com
