Hard Rain (1976)
1. Maggie's Farm
2. One Too Many Mornings
3. Stuck Inside of Mobile
With the Memphis Blues Again
4. Oh, Sister
5. Lay Lady Lay
6. Shelter From the Storm
7. You're a Big Girl Now
8. I Threw it All Away
9. Idiot Wind
 
By the mid 1970's, it became apparent
that when Bob Dylan would play live, not only would his performances not
replicate his original recordings, but that he would radically change
things up even, from tour to tour. This became obvious on his first live
record, Before the Flood, and that
trend continues on this record, released only three years later.
Like that first live album, Dylan doesn't really seem that concerned with
putting on any type of immaculate show. No, that simply wasn't the
style back then. Rock concerts were apparently an excuse to kick back
and have fun. It should therefore not be fair to blame the
artist when things sound very jumbled and hodge-podged. His band this
time became known as The Rolling Thunder Review, and they were
significantly different than The Band, which not only were featured on
his last live album, but his back-up band that he would be associated with
for close to a decade.
Although not regarded by most as anything terribly significant, this
record, along with its companion piece Live
1975 ranks as one of my favorites. He never embarrasses himself,
and the music stays true to how it was intended to sound, which
depending how you see it, could have been decided fifteen minutes before
the band took the stage. Some songs, no matter how they're tweaked,
just can't sound as good as the originals. Lay Lady Lay for
example, from Nashville Skyline was
such an eclectic piece that it would probably sound horrible if he
did try to match it perfectly. So, yes, it was pleasurable to
hear it in the set (it's also on Before the
Flood), yet repeated listens prove it's not as good as the original.
Then there are other songs, such as Maggie's Farm and I Threw
It All Away (also, ironically from Nashville Skyline) that sound much more
refreshed and, dare I say, better than the originals. When I hear those
titles first pop into my head, it's these versions that I first
hear. Safe to say, the whole album is just a matter of personal taste.
Yes, it could be argued as inconsequential, and even though it might not
be as good as the later released representation of performances from roughly the
same period, Live 1975, it's still nice to
have a nugget from a period that Dylan was making a lot of headlines for
good reasons.
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