Bob Dylan met Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican recently, just as a 39-disc Rolling Thunder Revue box set arrives with 381 tracks, including 371 previously unreleased recordings.
You couldn't make this one up. Dylan paid a visit to Pope Leo XIV on November 4 during a break in his Italian tour, and the meeting came with a little exchange of gifts. The Pope presented Dylan with a rosary, while the legendary songwriter handed over a copy of his autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One. A nice, thoughtful exchange. Still, I can't help wondering what might have happened if Dylan had shown up carrying a rather different present. I hope he didn't give the Pope one of these enormous box sets. Imagine explaining that His Holiness has 39 CDs of live Bob Dylan performances to get through before Christmas. That's quite a commitment, even for a man with a direct line upstairs.
As luck would have it, Dylan's The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings arrives November 6, and this is no ordinary collection. The 39-disc set gathers professionally recorded performances from the second leg of the legendary 1976 tour, all sourced from original tapes. It contains 381 tracks, with 371 previously unreleased, plus rare photographs and liner notes by Mikal Gilmore. The musical company is something else, too. Joan Baez reunited with Dylan for memorable duets, while the lineup included Scarlet Rivera, Rob Stoner, Howie Wyeth, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield, Steven Soles and T Bone Burnett. That's a remarkable snapshot of a remarkable musical moment. The Pope may have received Dylan's autobiography, but the rest of us get an entire chapter of rock history, 39 discs at a time. #MTLmusic #mtlpop #mtlblog