Bob Dylan: Bootleg Series Vol 5: Live 1975

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * *)

In 1975 Dylan took off across America on the famous Rolling Thunder Tour which carried an odd and interesting cast. It began in Plymouth and included a visit to Jack Kerouac's grave.

If the line hadn't been taken by Easy Rider you might say he went "in search of America" with poet Allen Ginsberg, Ziggy Stardust guitarist Mick Ronson, violinist Scarlet Rivera, playwright Sam Shepherd, guest Joan Baez and others. In pancake makeup, Dylan revisited his back-catalogue and often reconfigured the songs to the bewilderment then delight of his audience.

This double disc, with a two-track DVD and fat booklet, draws the best versions of songs from four shows and, while the songs from his then-current Desire are fairly faithful, the best is the rest: the meaning he pours into Tangled Up in Blue, the slide-embellished Just Like A Woman, the delicacy of Love Minus Zero, the different lyrics in Knockin' on Heaven's Door (with guest Roger McGuinn) which create a new context for the song. Ragged and rough-edged sure, but there's beauty in its bared emotion and raw, elemental sound.

Sony