''Hard Rain'' is a live album by American singer-songwriter

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, released on September 13, 1976 by Columbia Records. The album was recorded during the second leg of the

Rolling Thunder Revue The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–1976 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with numerous musicians and collaborators. The purpose of the tour was to allow Dylan, who had now become a major recording artist and concert perfor ...

. The album was partly recorded on May 23, 1976, during a concert at Hughes Stadium in

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 169,810 at the 2020 census, an increase of 17.94% since 2010. Fort Collin ...

; the penultimate show of the tour, the concert was also filmed and broadcast by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

as a one-hour television special in September. (''Hard Rains 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 Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accordin ...

. Neither the album nor the television special was well received. "Although the band has been playing together longer, the charm has gone out of their exchanges," writes music critic Tim Riley. "''Hard Rain''...seemed to come at a time when the Rolling Thunder Revue, so joyful and electrifying in its first performances, had just plain run out of steam," wrote

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin h ...

, then a music critic for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...

''. In his mixed review for ''Hard Rain'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

criticized the Rolling Thunder Revue as "folkies whose idea of rock and roll is rock and roll clichés." A representation of the earlier 1975 portion of the Rolling Thunder Revue was released in 2002 on '' The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue''. A more comprehensive 14-disc collection entitled '' Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings'' was released in 2019 to coincide with the Netflix documentary-film '' Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese''. Despite heavy promotion that placed it on the cover of ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporate ...

'',

's television broadcast of the May 23rd concert drew disappointing ratings. The album peaked at in the U.S. and in the UK. ''Hard Rain'' eventually earned gold certification.

Track listing

Personnel

*Bob Dylan -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music ( arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six string instrument, strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or Plucked string instrument, plucking the strings with the dominant hand, w ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

Additional musicians

*Gary Burke - drums *

T-Bone Burnett Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist and songwriter. He rose to fame as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. He has received multiple Grammy awards for his work in film ...

- guitar,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

David Mansfield David Mansfield (born September 13, 1956) is an American musician and composer. Mansfield was raised in Leonia, New Jersey. His father, Newton Mansfield was a first violinist in the New York Philharmonic. David played guitar, pedal steel guita ...

- guitar *

Scarlet Rivera Donna Shea, better known as Scarlet Rivera is an American violinist. She is best known for her work with Bob Dylan, in particular on his 1976 album ''Desire'' and as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue. Career Bob Dylan is said to have discove ...

- strings *

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session music ...

- guitar on "Maggie's Farm" *

Steven Soles Steven Soles is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and guitarist. Known also as J. Steven Soles, he was asked by Bob Dylan to join the band for his 1975–1976 "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour, he appeared on Dylan's album "Desire" and h ...

- guitar, background vocals * Rob Stoner - bass, background vocals *

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

- guitar, background vocals * Howard Wyeth - drums, piano

Technical

* Don DeVito - production *Don Meehan - recording and mixing

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

* Ken Regan - cover photo *

Paula Scher Paula Scher (born October 6, 1948, Washington, D.C.) is an American graphic designer, painter and art educator in design. She also served as the first female principal at Pentagram, which she joined in 1991.Scher, Paula." (n.d.): Oxford University ...

- cover design *Lou Waxman - chief of tape research

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1976 live albums Albums produced by Bob Dylan Albums produced by Don DeVito Bob Dylan live albums Bob Dylan video albums Columbia Records live albums Columbia Records video albums