Rolling Thunder Review
In the fall of 1975 Bob Dylan and company set out on tour to save Rubin Carter. Part traveling caravan and part minstrel show, Dylan sought to bring an eclectic assortment of characters to a theater near you. Hot off the heels of recording his new album Desire, Dylan assembled his session musicians (Bob Neuwirth, Rob Stoner, T-Bone Burnett, Scarlet Rivera, etc...) and friends Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell to join him on tour through North America until his grand finale at Madison Square Garden in spring of 1976. Larry Sloman, a reporter for Rolling Stone at the time was along for the ride.
Originally intended as an intimate affair played at club venues, with recitations by Allen Ginsberg this concept was quickly abandoned in favor of larger arenas with higher ticket prices and double performances. Sloman, under pressure from his editors at Rolling Stone, attempted to address these issues with the Dylan Camp resulting in his exile from the tour by Dylan's handlers. Ultimately Sloman would discover that it was the seventy-plus person film crew that was documenting the tour and shooting a scripted movie with Dylan, that was driving up the cost of the tour.
Originally intended as an intimate affair played at club venues, with recitations by Allen Ginsberg this concept was quickly abandoned in favor of larger arenas with higher ticket prices and double performances. Sloman, under pressure from his editors at Rolling Stone, attempted to address these issues with the Dylan Camp resulting in his exile from the tour by Dylan's handlers. Ultimately Sloman would discover that it was the seventy-plus person film crew that was documenting the tour and shooting a scripted movie with Dylan, that was driving up the cost of the tour.
Accused of not having enough access to the tour by Rolling Stone and of having too much access by Dylan's tour manager Lou Kemp, Sloman severs ties with Rolling Stone, goes awol and joins the tour on his own dime and this serves as the basis for his novel. This, of course, is after many humorous attempts made by Dylan's people to sabotage Sloman's car, destroy his articles, ban him from shows and kick him out of hotels.
While Slomans book lacks the trashed hotel rooms and half dead hookers of other tour books in the rock and roll canon you get the sense he's searching for some deeper meaning to the rock and roll lifestyle. His interviews with Dylan, Baez, McGuinn and Cohen are intimate, and often over breakfast, over a cup of coffee or after a dinner party. Sloman perhaps best captures the revue's original intention of intimated encounters with the artists. Often playing it loose (for which one can criticize) Sloman at times prods his subjects to address larger issues - even at the expense of making himself a nuisance. But the reason this books works is because Sloman also talks to the man on the streets. A 20 year old kid waiting for tickets to the show in the cold, a struggling guitar player's take on Dylan, a groupie, and some proto hipsters in an all night cafe are all interviewed in this books. It sets up a nice juxtaposition to hear Dylan's own roadies say "the sound of the Rolling Thunder Review is the sound of cash registers ringing."
As for the music, when the tour gets rolling, the show becomes an all star jam. Dylan is at times angry and fierce and at others calm and floaty. Many of Sloman's subjects, which includes performers and fans, say that Dylan was 'loose' and more comfortable that his tours in pervious years. Released only as a bootleg, the recordings from the tour got a proper release in 2002. Below are some video clips of the tour.
While Slomans book lacks the trashed hotel rooms and half dead hookers of other tour books in the rock and roll canon you get the sense he's searching for some deeper meaning to the rock and roll lifestyle. His interviews with Dylan, Baez, McGuinn and Cohen are intimate, and often over breakfast, over a cup of coffee or after a dinner party. Sloman perhaps best captures the revue's original intention of intimated encounters with the artists. Often playing it loose (for which one can criticize) Sloman at times prods his subjects to address larger issues - even at the expense of making himself a nuisance. But the reason this books works is because Sloman also talks to the man on the streets. A 20 year old kid waiting for tickets to the show in the cold, a struggling guitar player's take on Dylan, a groupie, and some proto hipsters in an all night cafe are all interviewed in this books. It sets up a nice juxtaposition to hear Dylan's own roadies say "the sound of the Rolling Thunder Review is the sound of cash registers ringing."
As for the music, when the tour gets rolling, the show becomes an all star jam. Dylan is at times angry and fierce and at others calm and floaty. Many of Sloman's subjects, which includes performers and fans, say that Dylan was 'loose' and more comfortable that his tours in pervious years. Released only as a bootleg, the recordings from the tour got a proper release in 2002. Below are some video clips of the tour.
Tangled Up In Blue
Isis
It Ain't Me Babe
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