Bob Dylan unveiled the first taste of his forthcoming Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Recordings box set, which comes out June 7 via Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings in digital, CD and 12″ vinyl formats. Dylan’s “One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)” was recorded during rehearsals for the famed Rolling Thunder Revue tour that took place at Seacrest Motel in Falmouth, Massachusetts on October 29, 1975.
The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Recordings is made up of all five of Bob Dylan’s full sets from the groundbreaking run that were professionally recorded as well as newly-discovered audio of rehearsals at New York City’s S.I.R. studios and the Seacrest Motel, along with a bonus disc showcasing one-of-a-kind performances from the tour. All told, the box set features 148 tracks including 100+ that were never previously released. A 52-page insert featuring an essay by novelist/musician Wesley Stace and a bevy of rare and never-before-seen Rolling Thunder Revue photos accompanies the CDs.
Read a description of the tour:
Launched in the fall of 1975, Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue flouted the touring conventions of the time by featuring an eclectic cast of characters and playing small and unusual venues with little advance notice. The shows would often stretch to more than four hours long, generating some of the artist’s most dramatic and dynamic on-stage performances ever. Dylan debuted the new songs he’d written for his forthcoming Desire album (which became one of the most acclaimed and popular in his canon) with a fire and intensity that Dylan had reached ten years earlier with his incendiary tours with musicians who became The Band. He also took wild, interpretative rides through his back catalog and broke out some unexpected covers.
Dylan gathered amazing friends and collaborators for his ensemble – dubbed Guam for the tour – that included T Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, Joan Baez, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Bobby Neuwirth, Scarlett Rivera, Ronee Blakely, Steven Soles, David Mansfield, Rob Stoner, Howie Wyeth and Luther Rix. Poet Allen Ginsberg and Joni Mitchell also brought their talents to the show’s encores. Dylan, the consummate band leader, managed to take these musicians from various backgrounds and sensibilities and mold them into a tight musical unit on stage.
The box set accompanies Rolling Thunder Revue – A Bob Dylan Story By Martin Scorsese, which premieres June 12 on Netflix. Listen to “One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)” here:
