Some people say that Dylan was at his very best when he did the RTR tour, and it's probably true; his four-hour movie ,"Renaldo and Clara" featured numerous live performances but there was too much in it that should have been edited : thus it was a flop at the box office and one dreamed of a compilation of the songs performed by Dylan and his first -class cast.Some sequences (Jack Kerouac's grave, the Indians ) were already included in Dylan-directed work,but Martin Scorcese made them aborbing and we are treated of the delight of incredible live performance (Dylan in close shot seems possessed ,almost frightening); "the lonesome death of Hattie Caroll ",notably ,is given hard-rocking treatment which makes the version on "the times they are a changin" look like a demo ;and to sing it along with "Hurricane" connects the links of the chain .There are interventions (Dylan ,Baez, Scarlet Rivera , david Mansfield) filmed some forty years after the event .Like in "Renaldo and Clara" , (remember the title and "the woman in white" ) ,all the artists have pseuds :for instance Joni Mitchell is "the musician" and they laude her courage to perform unreleased material -"coyote" is performed in a hotel room with support from Dylan and McGuinn.All the movie is absorbing and there's an interesting parallel with the political events of those years ;the only moments I could do without are Sharon Stone 's sequences which are a little off the subject ;on the other hand , all that concerns the boxer is proof positive that music can right a few wrongs.
Review of Rolling Thunder Revue
