Limited 150gm vinyl LP pressing including digital download. Hard Rain is a live album by singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, released on September 13, 1976 by Columbia Records. The album was recorded during the second leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue. The album was partly recorded on May 23, 1976, during a concert at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado; the penultimate show of the tour, the concert was also filmed and later broadcast by NBC as a one-hour television special in September. (Hard Rain's release coincided with this broadcast). Four tracks from the album ("I Threw It All Away, " "Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, " "Oh, Sister, " and "Lay, Lady, Lay") were recorded on May 16, 1976 in Fort Worth, Texas.
For the last few months of 1975 and the first few of 1976, Bob Dylan led two tours, both unoffically called "Rolling Thunder." The tours were a kind of travelling circus, with many guest musicians (Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez, T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, Ronee Blakely) and some weird hangers-on (Dennis Hopper, Sam Shepard). Out of these notorious shows came Dylan's much ballyhooed (and largely unseen) four-hour film RENALDO AND CLARA, a TV concert special, and this live album, released in late 1976.
Often dismissed as one of Dylan's lesser recordings, HARD RAIN is actually, in some ways, one of his best. Partially inspired by Patti Smith and by a chaotic personal life, this album captures Dylan's music at its most raucous. Indeed, some have called it his "punk" album. His singing, especially on "Idiot Wind" and "Shelter From the Storm," has never sounded more venomous. Older material like "Maggie's Farm" and "One Too Many Mornings" is drastically rearranged. HARD RAIN should rightfully be compared to Neil Young's TIME FADES AWAY as a wrongfully overlooked live album by a major artist.
Personnel: Bob Dylan (vocals, guitar); Mick Ronson, David Mansfield (guitar); Steven Soles (guitar, background vocals); T-Bone Burnett (guitar, piano); Scarlet Rivera (strings); Howard Wyeth (piano, drums); Rob Stoner (bass, background vocals); Gary Burke (drums).
- Format: Vinyl
- Genre: Pop
- Recorded live in Texas in 1976.
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Tracklist
| A1 | Maggie's Farm | 5:31 |
| A2 | One Too Many Mornings | 3:51 |
| A3 | Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again | 6:06 |
| A4 | Oh, Sister | 5:02 |
| A5 | Lay, Lady, Lay | 4:59 |
| B1 | Shelter From The Storm | 5:24 |
| B2 | You're A Big Girl Now | 7:00 |
| B3 | I Threw It All Away | 3:22 |
| B4 | Idiot Wind | 10:11 |
