Desire

Description

After the painful introspection of the acclaimed Blood On The Tracks, Desire marks a notable return to the spontaneity of live performance and narrative songs. Back in New York, he reconnects with the city's musicians and begins to improvise on stage like in his youth. During an impromptu jam session in a café, he crosses paths with an intriguing violinist with a very swift style, Scarlet Rivera. The musical chemistry is so intense that he hires her on the spot, giving the entire album a gypsy tone. One evening, at the café "The Other End," Bob Dylan randomly meets Jacques Levy, a former psychologist turned director and occasional lyricist for Roger McGuinn, the leader of the Byrds. Levy encourages him to write great narrative songs based on real stories. The recording sessions take place in New York, where Bob Dylan invites all available local musicians. A band gradually forms, including Scarlet Rivera, an unstoppable rhythm section with Rob Stoner on bass and Howard Wyeth on drums. For the backing vocals, Bob Dylan chooses singer Emmylou Harris, who previously collaborated with the great country singer Gram Parsons. All the tracks were recorded live on July 30, 1975, and according to the musicians, the atmosphere was ecstatic. Driven by sparkling and exotic music and a fiery Dylan, Desire reached number one on both sides of the Atlantic and remains one of his finest albums. A collection of nine songs that stand among his very best, where his genius in expressing human experiences has one goal: to demonstrate that all our actions and feelings are motivated by Desire. But Dylan subtitled his album "songs of redemption," which is not innocent, as he has always chosen his words scrupulously. What our "desire" obtains comes at a cost. Desire will be the perfect vehicle for the epic Rolling Thunder Revue tour, where the singer, accompanied by a large group, will produce fierce versions, documented in his film Renaldo and Clara.