Hard Rain [Live]

Bob Dylan | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000257V
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,286 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

A perfect blend of the Fort Worth and Fort Collins shows that were part of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Maggie's Farm; Lay Lady Lay; Oh, Sister; You're a Big Girl Now; One Too Many Mornings , and more!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SOAKED WITH EMOTION, August 16, 2000

By 

"craig_paul" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Rain (Audio CD)

This is a few notches away from Dylan's most polished work, and I love it. The album might just as well been titled "For Anyone Who Didn't Hear Me The First Time." Dylan and his band tear through the formerly low - key "Shelter From The Storm," turning this rocky and raw version into something more meaningful, if that's possible. "One Too Many Mornings" is another great example of Dylan's ability to rework his songs to fit his mood, and this treatment works wonderfully well amidst the commotion of this album.

"Memphis Blues Again" and "You're A Big Girl Now" also sound great, though I wish Bob would leave "Maggie's Farm" off the song list every once in a while. It's a classic, but one, maybe the only one, that Dylan did to death over the years in concert.

The explosion here is "Idiot Wind." The studio track dripped blood. This live rant just splatters it all over the place. The beauty of the song is that Dylan's voice and phrasing are just so perfectly annoying that they take this hymn of hate way over the top, right where it should be. When Bob gnarls "I kiss goodbye the howling beast on the borderline which separated you from me," it makes "It Ain't Me, Babe" sound like "You Light Up My Life."

"Hard Rain" is Dylan at his near - best, at least as far as live recordings go. It's a must - have.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very underrated, October 4, 2003

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hard Rain (Audio CD)

If you sometimes find yourself shouting "Judas" at the radio when Bob Dylan comes on playing something band-backed, this record is probably not your thing.
Me, I love it. It's too short by far, but Dylan and the Rolling Thunder band rock like never before or since. In my opinion, the intense "Hard Rain" is just as great as the fabled "Live 1966" (the so-called Royal Albert Hall concert from the Free Trade Hall in Manchester).

Bob Dylan and his band play some of the hardest, rawest and most ragged rock n' roll music of his entire career - just listen to him tearing through a spiced-up "Maggie's Farm" or doing a melodic folk-rock interpretation of "One Too Many Mornings".
But the highlight of "Hard Rain" has to be the closing ten-minute rendition of the venomous "Idiot Wind". Dylan sneers and shouts his way through a magnificent version of one of his most memorable songs - that one cut alone is worth the price of admission. Powerful stuff!

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's not pretty, but it's alive., July 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hard Rain (Audio CD)

After seeing the Hard Rain TV special of the Rolling Thunder Revue, I snatched up this album ASAP. At first, it was disappointing that much of the material from the special was not included. But after a few listens, it didn't matter. Hard Rain offers up a loose, inventive and somewhat tortured picture of Dylan. As ever, Dylan reinterprets his songs with uncanny brilliance. The ragged edge of the Revue adds to the effect and the documentary production values suit the performance perfectly. Sure, Bob wails off-key and his voice is ragged, but the emotion he conveys in "One Too Many Mornings" and "You're A Big Girl Now" is riveting. The chiming guitar riffs of Memphis Blues Again, with Dylan howling "can this really be the end?", are spellbinding. The selections from his two then-current releases are equally superb. The heartache and bitterness expressed in "Idiot Wind" in the studio is taken to a higher level, and the quiet restraint of "Shelter from the Storm" gives way to a crackling electric guitar fury. Hard Rain has been subjected to poor reviews generally, though undeservedly. It has a raw, ragged beauty. You can almost feel the rain on your face and hear the slop of the muddy ground. Put it on and soak in the experience.