In an alchemic mix of fact and fantasy, Martin Scorsese looks back at Bob Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour and a country ripe for reinvention.

In between going electric in the 60s and finding God in the 80s Dylan returned to his Greenwich Village cafe-culture roots taking with him the songs and sound of his 1974 album Desire plus an assorted collection of musicians, poets and performers to play small venues across America with little to no promotion.

The entourage of The Rolling Thunder Revue included the likes of poet Allan Ginsberg, singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell and playwright Sam Shepherd. Some would join for a few days, others were there for the whole ride including a core band with the likes of TBone Burnett, David Bowie’s former guitarist Mick Ronson and violinist Scarlett Rivera.

The intimacy of the venues and the carnivalesque approach created some of Dylan’s most enjoyably relaxed performances, originally captured in his film Renaldo & Clara and here expanded in Martin Scorsese’s “play-fast-and-loose-with-the-facts" documentary.

• Buy a Bob Bundle: get tickets for Don’t Look Back, With God on His Side, The Rolling Thunder Review and I’m Not There and get 25% off. Discount automatically applied at check out.

---