Archival Interview on Bob Dylan and Rolling Thunder
On May 17th, 1976 I, Liam Aposeur, Chief Editor of Seering Stone Magazine interviewed Metamorpho as part of a series we were running at the time. We invited many well-know luminaries to discuss the greatest musical influences over the last decade. Metamorpho, just back from a spiritual speaking tour of Europe, arrived at our office in New York at about 1 o'clock. It was a balmy,bright spring day. Just right for a balmy personality. He was certainly dressed for the occasion, wearing a white linen outfit with matching seer's hat. I admit, a vision of Colonel Saunders entered my mind, which quickly dissipated when he puffed a magikal cigar circle in my direction. This was an indication that he was ready to proceed.

L: How did your tour go this time Metamorpho?
M: Pretty well. My guides kept me out of trouble although, dare I say it?
They tried to get me to party at some bar called The Tabernacle.
L: I think I've heard of that. Didn't Hemingway frequent that place?
M: (Laughing) Yes, in-between watching the Bull Fights.(puffing on cigar).
L: Anyway- today we are here to discuss the musical scene of the past 10
years.
M: Yes,Yes. I have reflected extensively on that topic.
L: And do you have comments for us today?
M: Yes (adjusting seer's hat). Has to be Bob Dylan. He is an artist who
is on my wavelength.
L: Well, you are known as the Seer of a Generation. You do know that?
M: I ignore that. I am not fond of labels. I don't speak for anyone but
myself.
L: Well, people take a liking to what you do. How would you characterize
what you do.
M: A circus clown (Laughing)
L: Not a prophet and visionary of the masses?
M: No. How about a rodeo cowboy with white make-up?
L: That sounds like Bob Dylan on last year's Rolling Thunder Revue.
M: Precisely (flicking a cigar ash).
L: Do you have a comment about that?
M: Well- I did go up to Massachusetts one evening to see it. It was
amazing. He had an entourage of excellent musicians and they played
alot of his songs alot differently than what we've heard before.
L: You mean he reinvented his classics?
M: (looking to the sky for spiritual energy) Oh no. I don't think with
an artist like Dylan you could say that.
L: How so?
M: Well, with any creative process that change is a universal law.
Recreating music is what most people want. Dylan has, and always will,
do what he wants. That is what makes him so special. He's just like me
in many ways.
L: What about the message in the music?
M: Certainly injustice is a theme as in "Hattie Carroll" and "Hurricane".
Also odes to women like "Sara" and "Just Like a Woman".
L: Anything else?
M: (furrows his brow) Yes. With Dylan you get so much. Desolation, deep
emotion, the ache for celebration, the struggle within the soul to be
free. And , of course (bordering on haughtiness) all told with the goal
of eternal truth.
L: But, back to the sound? How did it all sound to you?
M: Well- alot of the songs he did had a different meter and some almost
approaching a waltz I'd say. Many had a country feel to them with
slide guitar. That is most interesting. There were parts of the sound
I didn't expect and, yet, it was a novel and pleasurable experience.
L: How so?
M: You hear, all of a sudden, with new ears.
L: That may anger some devout fans.
M: Dylan doesn't care. Why should he? Besides, the songs he did were very
crafty in their arrangement.
L: Didn't he do any just acoustic songs?
M: Oh yes (peering into the air and laughing- remembering the experience)
He was most effective with "Baby Blue" and "Love Minus Zero". So well
done. Even his duets with Joan Baez had a much different flavor to them
than that totally acoustic concert in 1964.
L: With some of the same songs - aren't they similar?
M: Not at all. That is what makes the Rolling Thunder Revue so special, in
my humble opinion.
L: It's a shame we all couldn't hear this concert.... just to judge for
ourselves.
M: Well, (remembering) I do recall a Columbia sound crew there with some
recording equipment.
L: Do you think Bob will release this concert soon? Now you've got me
excited!
M: Hmmmmm.... (snuffs out cigar stub)...I don't know. I have done serious
refection on this, and I did come to a prediction.
L: What? What? Share the prophecy with us! Please Metamorpho?
M: Well....ok....since that was a delicious, well-earned fawning - I must
say....
L: And.....?
M: (grinning ear to ear-or seer to seer?) We might see a release this
year.
L: Wonderful!!!!!
M: But, if I were Columbia, you know what I'd do?
L: What?
M: Oh....wait about 3 decades to release it. Could you imagine the demand
then?
L: (shrieks and begins to sob). And so we conclude "sniff" our inteview.
M: (offering a white linen hankerchief)..... here.

Can I Please Crawl Out The Window?
There are periods of Dylan's career that I'm not crazy about, but I can understand why others might cherish them. Except for this one. It sounds as if everything he knew about performing throughout the 1960s, and even on his previous album (Blood on the Tracks), went right out the window. His songs don't get soulful or even clever phrasing - they get a forced emotional scream on the loud numbers, a trembling, gravelly, highly emotive whimper on the slow songs. Its as if Dylan is in some strange, country-influenced broadway musical about his career. Which I understand Twyla Tharp has actually gone on to create, and although I haven't heard it, her version could not be any worse than this.

Its over-the-top, coke-fueled, 60s nostalgia through a 70s-rock lens. Not surprisingly, Dylan quickly abandoned it for Vegas, then quickly abandoned that for evangelical Christian rock, and then somehow found his way back to earth.

What else can I say but...I wish I had seen the show in person
This is probably one of the best live albums I have had the pleasure to own. Live unrehearsed just playing music for people.

Dylan is king!
These discs have been in my cd player since I purchased them a month ago. Dylan's painted face allows him to be more diverse. It has songs that feature just Dylan and his guitar and others with his stellar band. For any Dylan fan interested in the bootleg series, this is a great starting point. I have several others in teh bootleg series, but few are as fun as this one. He just rocks!

perhaps lower expectations are in order
Some of you are not going to like this review, but buyers will need some candor here. Dylan really is great, and his often great work in the 1970s is generally underappreciated. But this live set is not the place to learn to love Dylan. If you're curious about this title, my recommendation is go pick up his studio recordings of the mid- to late-1970s, beginning with the remastered titles. These are lovely, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes groovy, and often superb. If you already have these, then, if you choose to get this title, you might set your expectations a little lower.

The main problem with Live 1975, as a reviewer below notes, is the singing--or, as one might better say, the bellowing. Dylan has one of rock's great voices and in his studio recordings, including his studio recordings of the 1970s, he sings with astounding emotional authority (where does he get that, one wonders--how does anyone get that?!). In these Live 1975 tracks, however, Dylan is out of voice, bellowing either to be heard or else to "voluminate" in lieu of giving a more emotionally nuanced vocal performance. This is not an uncommon failing of concert recordings, but the present case is quite pronounced and I agree with the reviewer below that it seriously taints the enjoyment of these disks.

I may as well go on to note that the sound of the band is quite dense here. I think it's not a performance problem or an engineering problem, but one of arrangement: there are too many instruments crowding the middle range, so it sounds a bit like an undifferentiated wall of sound. Again, rather characteristic of the 1970s live sound, but rarely the case with Dylan's studio recordings.

In short, if you're curious about Dylan in the 1970s, there are better places to look. My favorite of the Live albums is the 1964 one.