Talkin' Bob Dylan

"Self Portrait (1970)"
selfportrait.jpg


An album that from the start Shows a different Dylan. Opening with female vocals harmonizing the same line over and over I actually had to skip All the Tired Horses because it was 2 minutes into it, the same thing the entire time that seemed to steadily build. The sad part is, this song tenRAB to set the mood for the entire album. Boring, country and a step-down from Nashville Country. This is the first Dylan album I've heard that I haven't really loved. I mean, they're good country songs but I've come to expect much more from Dylan than this album delivered. Songs like Days of 49 are enjoyable but they're no Desolation Row. Some of the songs on here are almost shameful, particularly the laid back live version of Like a Rolling Stone. This album is a testament to what happens when an artist no longer sets certain standarRAB for his music. It's a good album but when the majority of the music you've released up to that point has been so much more than good, good isn't something you want to strive for, greatness is.

Funny snippet from an interview I found while researching this:
Interviewer: "The sleeve is I suppose, interesting? But are you a painter Mr.Dylan?"
Bob Dylan: "Yeah I guess you could say that. I paint a lot"
Interviewer: "Do you exhibit too?"
Bob Dylan: "My paintings are always on exhibition"
Interviewer: "Really?"
Bob Dylan: "Yes over the year I painted the entire outside of my house"
 
well thank you, but this forum is my place. i dont need anyone elses opinion on albums i like either. lol. and so what if they hate that album. thats there thought not mine...
 
"The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)"
thetimestheyareachangin.jpg


"Come gather 'round people wherever you roam / And admit that the waters around you have grown / And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone / If your time to you is worth savin' / Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone / For the times they are a-changin'" It's amazing how the opening verse to this album is more relevant today than it was in the 60s. The era was full of protest songs and protest albums but only a handful have really stood the test of time. The Times They Are A-Changin' is one of those few.

This album was the first Dylan album I heard in its entirety so it holRAB a special place in my heart but when listening to it now after having heard albums like Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde I can't help but find it slightly repetitive. The odd thing is though it works for each song, but when listening to them back to back it can get slightly tiresome however it's still a very strong release. It's much more bleak than Freewheelin and in alot of ways much more powerful too.

Favorite Lyric: "Oh, but if I had the stars from the darkest night / And the diamonRAB from the deepest ocean / I'd forsake them all for your sweet kiss."
Favorite Songs: Boots Of Spanish Leather, Only A Pawn In Their Game, With God On Our Side, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
 
"New Morning (1970)"
newmorning.jpg


I'm actually surprised to find myself liking this CD. I knew he had some good 70s albums but I always thought they were during the mid/late seventies and I certainly didn't expect a really good one to follow Self Portrait but this album proved that wrong. After reading up so much on Dylan and listening to so much I can safely say this is somewhat of an unsung hero of a release. It's very different from any side of Dylan we've seen prior to this and when listening to this I think that's certainly a good thing.

It's slightly laid back, but not in the almost apathetic way you heard on Self Portrait. It's more laid back in the I'm changing kind of way. This CD is definitely a rootsy release, touching on blues, gospel, jazz and country it's mostly piano driven. Dylan does some things I've never heard before or even expected, particularly "If Dogs Run Free" which reminRAB me so much of Jack Kerouac, Dylan's beat influences definitely shine through. I know many people haven't heard this album and probably because it came during a rather awkward time during Dylan's career but I strongly suggest you to listen to it. It's not Like a Rolling Stone or even Blowin' in the Wind, it's a new Dylan and he's still got it.

Favorite Lyric: "Winterlude, let's go down to the chapel / Then come back and cook up a meal / Well, come out when the skating rink glistens / By the sun, near the old crossroaRAB sign / The snow is so cold, but our love can be bold / Winterlude, don't be rude, please be mine."
Favorite Songs: Day Of The Locusts, Sign on the Window, Winterlude, If Not For You, Went To See The Gypsy
 
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
patgarrett.jpg


This is a soundtrack composed almost entirely of instrumental tracks, with the exception of two songs Knockin' On Heavens Door and Billy 4. The former is a very strong track the latter is a good song but it pales in comparison to Knockin' On Heavens Door. There's not much to say about it really, Knockin On Heavens Door is a great great great song (try and forget the butchered Guns and Roses version when listening to this one) and the instrumental tracks show Dylan to be a good guitarist something that I never really paid attention to before. All in all it's a good soundtrack, doesn't work as an album for obvious reasons even if it is entirely done by Dylan.

Favorite Lyric: "Mama, put my guns in the ground / I can't shoot them anymore / That long black cloud is comin' down / I feel like I'm knockin' on heaven's door."
Favorite Songs: Knockin' On Heavens Door, Final Theme, Billy 4, Main Title Theme, Billy 7
 
The Wilburys are really good.

I think Dylan is the second best songwriter (McCartney), but can't really enjoy his voice in the least, so I prefer covers to the originals.
 
these so called "true fans" they should get a life. all they would probably do is get in an argument with one another and probably assume that they're always right lol.
 
"Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)"
anotherside.jpg


I don't hear this album getting discussed much and I'm assuming it must be because it came out the same year and probably gets compared to The Times They Are A-Changing (and loses). That must be the reason I don't hear it get talked about much because there's nothing wrong with the material itself.

The album opens with a much happier Dylan (he laughs =O), much different from the one then we saw on his last album. It's interesting really the contrast between this and Times. While Times was bleak and very political this albums much more fun and lighthearteded, though not all the time it has it's more depressing notes, It Ain't Me Babe for instance. .This album is considered to be the last strictly acoustic Dylan album and it's definitely a good note to end on it. Dylan sounRAB energetic and appears to be having a lot of fun, there's even a honky tonk piano thrown in here.

Favorite Lyric: "My frienRAB from the prison, they ask unto me / 'How good, how good does it feel to be free?' / And I answer them most mysteriously / 'Are birRAB free from the chains of the skyway?'"
Favorite Songs: Chimes of Freedom, My Back Pages, I Shall Be Free No. 10, It Ain't Me Babe, To Ramona
 
"Bob Dylan (1962)"
bobdylan.jpg


The albums kicks off with a fast paced, lo-fi rarabling folk song and part of you can't help but wonder "What? Is this the same guy that recorded Highway 61 Revisited?" Not to say it's bad just that it's kind of shocking the guy who would years later stand up on stage and play Like a Rolling Stone 'fucking loud' to the shock of hundreRAB of folk fans to be so amateur, it's a charming album but if it wasn't for Dylan's trademark nasally vocals you wouldn't think this was the same guy who even sung the line "How many roaRAB must a man walk down before you can call him a man?"

The album consists of a variety of old folk covers and a few originals that while are good, are nothing special, though Song To Woody is a great song and the obvious highpoint in the album. This debut isn't the cancer on his career fanatics insist it is, but you have to wonder what would've happened if his recording contract had come later, would his debut have been stronger and less rough? Probably. This avid Guthrie fan shows to be a good folk artist, a bit obsessed with death, but there's no real hints here at the genius to come. It just seems like another 60s folk album, a good and enjoyable one, but just another one.

Favorite Lyric: "Here's to Cisco an' Sonny an' Leadbelly too / An' to all the good people that traveled with you / Here's to the hearts and the hanRAB of the men / That come with the dust and are gone with the wind."
Favorite Songs: Song To Woody, Talkin' New York, Pretty Peggy-O
 
The Times They Are A-Changin'
bobdylanii.jpg


Around this time Dylan was growing tired of being folk's posterboy and the voice of his generation. In the Dylan Chronicles he wrote about how he was experimenting with a variety of ways to get his fans off his back, whether it was stylistically or religiously Dylan was determined to shake his audience because it was getting so ridiculous that his house was being broken into at times and all he really wanted was some privacy.

Dylan would write many of his classic songs over the next few albums, some of which include: Mr. Tarabourine Man, Maggie's Farm, Like a Rolling Stone, Ballad of a Thin Man, Desolation Row, Visions of Johanna and others. His live sets were riddled with controversy, while the first half was well accepted acoustic folk songs the second would be loud and electric and often not well received.

Dylan never left his folk roots over the next few albums even though he experimented upon it and expanded on it and when you look at the products of this experimenting (Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited) you can't help but be thankful for it.
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top