1975, most Dylan bores would more than happily inform you, was a fine vintage amongst the man's embarrassingly frequent career peaks. This, after all, was a year in which he released one of his greatest albums, 'Blood On The Tracks', and recorded another, the criminally underrated 'Desire'. The famously chaotic Rolling Thunder Revue from which these recordings are taken defines the character of the latter album: some of Dylan's most artfully crafted and controlled songs performed by a troupe of 60s casualties with a collection of instruments and styles culled from several lifetimes worth of globetrotting.
A collective of musical gypsies, prone to line-up reshuffles at a moment's notice, the Revue was something that Dylan had long harboured an ambition to drag around America. United behind the cause of the wrongfully imprisoned boxer and civil rights spokesperson, Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a band was assembled that, at various points numbered Roger McGuinn, Mick Ronson, frequent Dylan collaborators Joan Baez and Rob Stoner as well as occasional guests like Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell. The whole thing was directed with wayward flair by writer and theatre director Jacques Levy, who also helped Dylan bring the vivid imagery and elemental power of 'Desire' to fruition.
The madness can be measured by Dylan's insistence on performing the tour behind a mask of white face paint and by the inexplicable omnipresence of the quintessential hippy, beat poet Allen Ginsberg. That this belated issue from the many bootlegs in circulation should be so incomparable with the live album that Dylan released in the wake of the tour (1976's 'Hard Rain') is an indication of the diversity of sets played on the Rolling Thunder Revue. And, by some distance, this is the better of the two albums.
'Live 1975' captures the collective that created 'Desire' playing most of these songs about as faithfully as Dylan live ever gets. The deceptive breeziness that characterises the bittersweet charm of 'Mozambique' runs throughout the interpretations of classics like 'I Shall Be Released', 'Love Minus Zero/No Limit', 'Tangled Up In Blue' and 'Just Like A Woman'. But it's the painfully beautiful and uncharacteristically honest lament of 'Sara', the Hebrew incantations of 'One More Cup Of Coffee', the enraged 'Hurricane' and other offerings from 'Desire' that make this album such a perfect companion piece to that endlessly engaging record.
Unusually for this sort of catalogue trawling exercise this album is utterly essential: it captures arguably the most influential figure in the history of popular music at one of his thrilling creative peaks. And it's packaged with the love and care that has marked all Columbia's previous Dylan Bootleg releases. Rescue your loved ones from the fetid ocean of U2, Nirvana, Stone Roses, Bowie and, err, Westlife Best Of compilations and all other lazy bids for your Christmas pound. Instead, surprise them by slipping this wonderful album under the tree.
