On the Road with Bob Dylan: Rolling with the Thunder

This is the one to read, as endorsed by The Man himself. Imagine covering Dylan at a time at which he had matured but was still "livin' on the edge" (at age 35 Dylan had crested as a musician & peaked as a performing artist, with his two Rolling Thunder Tours providing the proof). Larry Sloman did just that. Read his book along with the "Rolling Thunder Logbook" and then grab hold of one of the circulating tapes from 1975 (or for that matter, 1976) ... any complete, good-quality audience recording will beat the heck out of the offical release of this material. Most of us would prefer (and still patiently await) the offical release of the "holy grail" of Dylan gigs, i.e., the Montreal show of Dec. 1975.

Sloman's rant cuts to the bone and shares more than enough scraps from the feast of Dylan's mid '70's rock n' roll circus. His gonzo inspired adventure and inside/outside perspective are essential to understanding the status system of the stars on tour and the underbelly of the music industry. He writes with passion, humour, and desire. To be sure, he seems a pathetic sycophant at times, often treated like a mascot by the musicians and promoters, but his honesty and sincerity in not shying away from a less-than-flattering portrait of his situation makes one believe all the more in the truth of his tale. Anyone who feels that the book needs more Dylan and less Sloman clearly misses the point. His descriptions of Dylan as mystery man, his cogent intuitions about Rubin Carter, and his revelations about Joni Mitchell's songwriting process are bang-on. This is decidedly NOT a biography of Dylan, it is a story of one man's journey ON THE ROAD with a Bob Dylan tour. Any attempt on Sloman's part to disguise his experience behind a false veil of objectivity would render the story mute and destroy its delightful spirit. Hat's off to Ratso for a brilliant rendering of the Rolling Thunder Review.

Wow! I got this when it first came out in 1978 and I still have my well worn copy. Its a wonderful look at Dylan during theRolling Thunder review. "Ratso" as he came to be known, haswritten a very funny, very readable, very entertaining book. The "interview" with Dylan at the end is worth the price alone. If you are a Dylan fan, you should love this book!

I've read all the Bob books that're worth reading and this one is far and away the best, as close to the honesty--warts and all--and humor and power of Fear and Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72 as any book I've read. The Bloomfield interview is a stone classic. The Bob quotes and descriptions are priceless. The verbatim interview/transcript approach puts the reader in the room with the speakers. Most any single page of this book gives you more than you'll find in Shelton's entire book. I finished this book and turned directly back to page one and started it again.

This is without a doubt the best book on Bob Dylan and one of the best books on rock music, period. I read this when it first came out years ago, before Sloman worked with Howard Stern on his books. "On the Road with Bob Dylan" is a hilarious, compelling and poignant account of Bob's famous Rolling Thunder tour. But Sloman's genius is the way he covers both the famous musicians and the fans, groupies and shopping bag ladies that he encounters on the road along the tour. Great read, enhanced by a new fabulous introduction by Sloman's friend Kinky Friedman. Ratso rules!