One Of The Hurricane Night (Mainstream MAST-123/124)
Forum, Montreal, Quebec, Canada – December 4th, 1975
Disc 1: When I Paint My Masterpiece, It Ain’t Me Babe, Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, Romance In Durango, Isis, Blowin’ In The Wind, Dark As A Dungeon, Mama You Been On My Mind, Never Let Me Go, I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine, I Shall Be Released
Disc 2: It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Tangled Up In Blue, Oh Sister, Hurricane, One More Cup Of Coffee, Sara, Just Like A Woman, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, This Land Is Your Land
Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue appearance in Montréal is considered by some to be not only the best show from the tour but his all time greatest concert. Opinions being what they are, One Of Hurricane The Nightmakes a strong case for this to be true. Like many tapes from this era only Dylan’s sets have been captured on tape, omitting all of the other artists. But this is the source of many official releases and perhaps the show’s legend owes as much to these as anything else. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, “Romance In Durango”, “Isis”, “Never Let Me Go”, “One More Cup Of Coffee”, and “Sara” appear in the film Renaldo And Clara. “Never Let Me Go” and “It Ain’t Me Babe” are on the Renaldo And Clara EP, “Isis” and “Romance In Durango” appear on Biograph, and finally “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You”, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” appear on the Bootleg Series Vol. 5.
It’s the officially released material that the boot labels have focused on in the past but this Mainstream release is surprisingly the first appearance of the entire audience recording. It is distant with heavy echo as many cassette recordings from the seventies. It is enjoyable once you get used to it and sounds great under the headphones. From the beginning notes of “When I Paint My Masterpiece” the intensity and confidence shines through and grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. The confidence the band has lead them to play some truly unique arrangements and to jam away at every possible opportunity.
“Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll”, whose original arrangement was in a triple meter, is played in very aggressive waltz tempo with an interesting Mick Ronson solo. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” is played almost in swing mode with a very heavy walking bass line and several heavy metalish guitar solos. “A young lady over here, Miss Scarlett, she plays with us too, can you see her? Here’s a song about marriage, this is called ‘ Isis’, this is for Leonard, if he’s still here” he says before a rambunctious version of that track. “Tangled Up In Blue” is also given a different arrangement, much softer than the famous Boston version. It’s different although doesn’t really work. But ultimately One Of Hurricane Night is another great Mainstream release that is essential.
