Context
Desire was released between the two legs of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour. By 1975, Dylan had extensive experience playing with a number of bands, but these groups were assembled by others. In the case of the Hawks (later known as The Band), the group had performed for a number of years before ever meeting Dylan.
Dylan's idea of forming his own band, who would later be known as the Rolling Thunder Revue, came when he saw Patti Smith and her group play at The Other End (formerly, and currently renamed The Bitter End) on June 26, 1975. Smith had yet to record an album, but she was already attracting a lot of attention from the music press and industry. According to Clinton Heylin, these were her first shows with drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, the culmination of four years spent "compiling a unique rock & roll sound". According to Smith, Dylan was immediately struck by the chemistry between Smith and her band, and expressed a wish that he had chosen to stay with a single band.
Dylan would spend many nights over the next two weeks in New York's Greenwich Village and The Other End in particular, eventually meeting Rob Stoner and reacquainting himself with Bob Neuwirth. Stoner would later join his Rolling Thunder Revue, and Dylan would meet the remaining members through Neuwirth. According to Smith, he was thinking about improvisation and extending himself "language-wise".
Read more about this topic: Desire (Bob Dylan album)
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