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Bob
Dylan - Guitar, Vocals and Harmonica
Guitars -
Mick Ronson, T-Bone Burnette, Steven Soles, David
Mansfield
Bass - Rob Stoner
Drums - Howard Wyeth, Gary Burke
Strings - Scarlet Rivera
Piano - Howard Wyeth, T-Bone Burnette
Background Vocals - Steven Soles, Rob Stoner
Produced by Don DeVito and Bob Dylan |
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Recorded
live in Texas in 1976.
For the last few months of 1975 and the first few of 1976,
Bob Dylan led two tours, both unoffically called
"Rolling Thunder." The tours were a kind of
travelling circus, with many guest musicians (Roger
McGuinn, Joan Baez, T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, Ronee
Blakely) and some weird hangers-on (Dennis Hopper, Sam
Shepard). Out of these notorious shows came Dylan's much
ballyhooed (and largely unseen) four-hour film RENALDO AND
CLARA, a TV concert special, and this live album, released
in late 1976.
Often dismissed as one of Dylan's lesser recordings, HARD
RAIN is actually, in some ways, one of his best. Partially
inspired by Patti Smith and by a chaotic personal life,
this album captures Dylan's music at its most raucous.
Indeed, some have called it his "punk" album.
His singing, especially on "Idiot Wind" and
"Shelter From the Storm," has never sounded more
venomous. Older material like "Maggie's Farm"
and "One Too Many Mornings" is drastically
rearranged. HARD RAIN should rightfully be compared to
Neil Young's TIME FADES AWAY as a wrongfully overlooked
live album by a major artist.
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