tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41197904051310790252024-02-21T16:20:32.478+00:00BobBoxThe journey of a Dylan neophyte through the Complete Album Collection.minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-46504263194737928592016-02-09T17:46:00.002+00:002016-02-09T17:46:33.595+00:0042. Side Tracks (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWjCmmV1T7xcMD8xr0DYsKp3m50LGrwzpBHvS46XNTsCJkI5d6uIBKi7NBkijvHztcVU95K31zY_r5x4khFeuBV9nhso2Ystw2q4yg8OJ0upaoXJQCdfPRe-SdrXxZ3J07ykKbW6_8swM/s1600/dylan+side+tracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWjCmmV1T7xcMD8xr0DYsKp3m50LGrwzpBHvS46XNTsCJkI5d6uIBKi7NBkijvHztcVU95K31zY_r5x4khFeuBV9nhso2Ystw2q4yg8OJ0upaoXJQCdfPRe-SdrXxZ3J07ykKbW6_8swM/s200/dylan+side+tracks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And so we get to the last album in the BobBox, a little over a year since this blog began. The 2-disc Side Tracks compilation was put together especially for the Complete Album Collection, and still hasn't had a separate CD release, except for a limited Japanese edition. A 3-LP version was later put out for Record Store Day in the US, and a European release by 'Music On Vinyl' followed shortly afterwards. If you fancy the vinyl version, I hear it sounds spectacular and will set you back around 45 quid.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Side Tracks does a similar job to The Beatles' Past Masters volumes, gathering together previously released material that doesn't appear on the studio albums. So here we get tracks that have appeared on compilations like Greatest Hits 1 and 2, Masterpieces and Biograph, including single releases. Unlike the very thorough Past Masters, it doesn't collect up every stray b-side, so although for a Dylan newbie like me it's absolutely great in rounding out the BobBox, it's probably not enough to satisfy the hardened Zim-head.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The material likely to generate most interest (certainly to me, anyway) are the album outtakes, which make up one-third of Side Tracks. The earliest is <i>Baby I'm In The Mood For You</i> from Freewheelin', a charming, carefree ditty first heard on 1985's colossal Biograph set. In fact 19 out of the 30 songs here are drawn from this game-changing 5LP compilation, including Blonde On Blonde outtakes <i>I Wanna Be Your Lover</i> and <i>Jet Pilot</i> (the latter merely a sub 1-minute sketch), and 'Times' outtake <i>Percy's Song</i>, which is </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">heavily influenced by the folk song "The Dreadful Rain and Wind"</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, and told from the point of view of a man whose friend has been sentenced to 99 years in prison. </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll Keep It With Mine</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> is an especially great unused track from BIABH, with Bob alone on piano and vocal, bookended with harmonica. The original fuzzy demo recorded in '64 can be found on Bootleg Series Vol. 9, and a rough full-band rehearsal from the BOB sessions appears on BS Vols. 1-3.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A second outtake from 'Times', <i>Lay Down Your Weary Tune</i>, is particularly outstanding for lyrics like:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"I stood unwound beneath the skies</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>And clouds unbound by laws</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The crying rain like a trumpet sang</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>And asked for no applause"</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wow.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even better is <i>Caribbean Wind</i>, recorded during the Shot Of Love sessions, and a good example of Dylan's baffling decision-making when it comes to picking album tracks, dropped as it was in favour of stuff like <i>Trouble</i> and <i>Lenny Bruce </i>(I know, right?). But by far the best outtakes here are from the sessions for two of his very best albums: Blood On The Tracks and Desire. The second I heard <i>Up To Me</i> I could tell it immediately that it was from the BOTT era, since it sounds like a hybrid of <i>You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go</i> and <i>Simple Twist Of Fate</i>. It's as beautiful and consumed by loss as anything on BOTT, sharing the matter-of-fact narrative style and lack of self-pity that serves to magnify the heartbreak. I can't believe I've been missing out on it all this time, and frankly I'm cross with the readers of this blog for not pointing me in its direction. Desire cast-off <i>Abandoned Love </i>is simply superb, its dumping in favour of the turgid Joey surely a bigger crime than any of which Mr Gallo was accused. Written during the breakdown of Dylan's marriage to Sara, this song, along with <i>Up To Me</i> makes me yearn for a Bootleg Series volume concentrating on 1975-76. Surely this has to be next?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BwV36JL_G0s" width="450"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As well as previously unknown songs from album sessions, there are a couple of other outtakes; a demo of <i>Forever Young</i>, an alternate version of <i>Quinn The Eskimo</i> from the Basement Tapes, and the magnificent New York take of The Song That Can Do No Wrong: <i>You're A Big Girl Now</i>. It really is lovely, although it still doesn't beat the Hard Rain version, quite possibly my favourite Dylan recording ever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Three other Basement Tapes songs make an appearance in re-recorded form: <i>Down In The Flood, I Shall Be Released</i> and <i>You Ain't Goin' Nowhere</i>. Bob had put forward</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> the original versions for his Greatest Hits Vol. II in 1971, but they were deemed unsatisfactory by label boss Clive Davis. With the help of Happy Traum they were redone especially for the compilation (as well as a version of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only A Hobo</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, which wasn't selected, but can now be found on BS Vol. 10), and I must admit that I prefer these newer ones, mainly because The Band rather get on my tits, tbh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Along with studio material, Side Tracks also includes half a dozen live cuts. I'd heard a demo of <i>Tomorrow Is A Long Time</i> on BS Vol. 9; the one here was recorded at a 1963 concert at New York Town Hall. As well as a rendition of <i>I Don't Believe You</i> in Belfast from 1966, a lovely solo acoustic <i>Visions of Johanna</i> from the (real) Royal Albert Hall the same year, and a much better <i>Heart Of Mine</i> than appeared on Shot Of Love, we get a fizzing <i>Isis</i> and a typically stop-start <i>Romance In Durango</i> from the Rolling Thunder tour. The latter performance, recorded at the Montreal Forum, was also filmed, and appeared in 1978's Renaldo & Clara.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This collection boasts eight non-album singles, from 1962's US-only <i>Mixed-Up Confusion</i>, sung in his young man's old man voice, through to late-period material such as Oh Mercy outtakes <i>Series Of Dreams</i> and <i>Dignity</i>. To those unfamiliar with the tribute to murdered Black Panther leader <i>George Jackson</i>, the rollicking <i>Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?,</i> and the acerbic <i>Positively 4th Street</i> which sees Bob at his bitter best, Side Tracks becomes essential.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>George Jackson</i> was written during Dylan's relatively quiet stretch in the early '70s. This period also produced two more singles, both under the guiding hand of Leon Russell, and seem to reflect Bob's feelings during what many perceive to be a bout of writer's block (relatively speaking of course). <i>When I Paint My Masterpiece</i> has a sense of waiting for things to fall into place, with the lyric <i>"Someday everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody</i>", whereas on the blues-rock of <i>Watching The River Flow</i> (blues being something that Dylan would often fall back on in times of low creativity) the narrator complains <i>"What's the matter with me, I don't have much to say..."</i>, while being content to wait, keeping an eye on the ever-changing waters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The album wraps up with 2000's <i>Things Have Changed</i>, the Grammy and Oscar-winning single from the Wonder Boys OST and a fitting title to end this wide-ranging collection that spans almost four decades of Dylan's career.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L9EKqQWPjyo" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(For some reason this video from Dylan's official</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">youtube channel cuts out the 8-second intro. It's also</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">a great example of Bob's idiosyncratic miming style.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Side Tracks does a great job of filling in some gaps, and for those who've yet to investigate the vast Bootleg Series it serves to demonstrate how frequently first class songs were left off Dylan's studio albums, either to become standalone singles or just left in the vault. It's also enjoyable as an alternative whistle-stop tour of a lengthy recording career; sequenced in strict chronological order, it's possible to chart Bob's many styles and voices, from the husky folk troubadour, through the speed and electricity-fuelled rock star, country-loving family man and broken-hearted singer-songwriter, all the way up to the elder statesman at the turn of the century where the husk in his voice is real. It's a little light on the 80s and 90s, but I'm certainly not going to complain about that.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For those who already have most of the albums in the BobBox but not the compilations from which this collection is drawn, I'd definitely urge you to seek out Side Tracks. For those who have very little or nothing in the way of Dylan's work, and who have been reading this blog since it began on February the 5th last year - what are you waiting for?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: left;"></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £123.64 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £115.80</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £99.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 9/02/2016</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Right then, I'm off to listen to Shadows In The Night :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-56339752947611467692016-01-26T15:35:00.001+00:002016-01-26T16:48:24.586+00:0041. Tempest (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5RDZsl_sJKrSThzPE8Wp3wbcr-gE7ULig3KsaXEcHgLA1M4CHaTWdFR8dbim396T_ZlKM55eM7xIsBzPURHsD15sl5zzlwL3HmREcbkDsY8gTF9SKA167CrS8KXA92SzcUt05crYSWk/s1600/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Tempest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5RDZsl_sJKrSThzPE8Wp3wbcr-gE7ULig3KsaXEcHgLA1M4CHaTWdFR8dbim396T_ZlKM55eM7xIsBzPURHsD15sl5zzlwL3HmREcbkDsY8gTF9SKA167CrS8KXA92SzcUt05crYSWk/s200/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Tempest.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This post is a little later than planned. On January the 11th I was all ready to start listening to Tempest, Bob's 35th studio album and number 41 in the BobBox, when Dame Bowie shuffled off this mortal coil. Inevitably I've spent much of the last couple of weeks revisiting his huge catalogue, and what with this, a lot of music received for Christmas, and some excellent new year album releases (including David's own incredible Blackstar), poor old Bob didn't get much of a look in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So anyway, now I've made my excuses, let's finally have a look at Tempest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once again Dylan takes us back to a time before he changed the musical landscape, employing the same pre-rock 'n' roll palette as on his last few albums. Charlie Sexton has returned to Bob's touring band, and multi-instrumentalist David Hidalgo makes another album appearance. Dylan is clearly happiest overseeing his own work these days, as this is yet another 'Jack Frost' production. The familiar themes of love, sex, God and death are present, but overall Tempest is darker and more violent than anything that's come before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Things start innocently enough with <i>Duquesne Whistle</i>, whose 43-second intro of cheery ragtime pedal steel and piano could be straight out of an episode of Theme Time Radio Hour, before it breaks into an engine-chug of brushed drums and thunking upright bass, Bob croaking malevolently <i>"Listen to that Duquesne whistle blowing, blowing like it's go' kill me dead"</i>. As opening tracks go it's a corker, and unsurprisingly was the lead single. The video for it takes an equally black turn after its peppy start.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mns9VeRguys" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Soon After Midnight</i> progresses in much the same way; this initially romantic ballad moves through lyrics about money-grabbing harlots, someone dragging a corpse through mud, and a disturbing mention of "the killing floors", the latter all the more chilling for the gentle way in which it is sung. Dylan's voice on Tempest shifts between three main vocal styles: throaty gargle, soft growl and half-arsed drawl. The gargle reappears on blues number <i>Narrow Way</i>, which sounds great against the saw-like riff as he snarls <i>"If I can't work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me some day"</i> at the end of each verse. </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Long and Wasted Years</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> is a wistful tale of a long-dead relationship, its achingly sad descending guitar riff perfectly expressing the regret and resignation of the couple painted as </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Two trains runnin' side by side, forty miles wide"</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've seen <i>Pay In Blood</i> described as "a bit radio-friendly". I don't think this was meant as a compliment, but for me it's certainly one of the best songs on Tempest. It's more expansive and hummable than its companions, but still fits in well. It's written from the perspective of someone brutalised into becoming as though <i>"made of stone"</i>, now only capable of<i> "grinding my life out, steady and sure"</i> and forever sleeping alone. Bob's Old Testament growl is suitably grim.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A7D1GycSf7qgYN4WgplOn0E" width="300"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Scarlet Town</i> describes a desolate place filled with beggars, sinners, the dying and a "flat-chested junkie whore". Violin, piano and picked banjo provide a rich deathbed, and Sexton's guitar break is just lovely. Bob makes use of the riff from Mannish Boy for the workmanlike <i>Early Roman Kings</i>, angrily railing against the crooks (bankers?) <i>"..in their sharkskin suits"</i>. When he moans <i>"I ain't dead yet, my bell still rings"</i>, it sounds as though he wishes it didn't. Although the running time is around five minutes, its repetitive nature makes it start to drag early on, so it seems much longer.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Things get bloodier on murder ballad <i>Tin Angel</i>, whose story of a love triangle is similar to that of <i>Black Jack Davey</i> on Good As I Been To You, only this time all three come to a sticky end. Bob's menacing barks are underpinneded by wonderfully doomy bass. <i>Tin Angel</i> is almost twice as long as <i>Early Roman Kings</i>, but is much more engaging both musically and lyrically.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The title track and centrepiece of the album (actually second-to-last song, but you know what I mean) is a 14-minute epic telling of the sinking of the Titanic 100 years before. Over 45 verses Dylan combines historical fact with the 1997 movie version, plus a good deal of his imagination, describing acts of desperation, treachery and sacrifice, as all the while the ship's watchman lay asleep at his post, dreaming of the vessel sinking. There's no chorus, but Bob's expressive delivery and arresting imagery make it compelling to the end, and the Irish melody played by Hidalgo on accordion and Donnie Herron on fiddle keeps it rolling along. Musically, it would have benefited from more frequent instrumental breaks - there are only three very short ones - but I suppose that would have made it even longer!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A19scNzd4ogVsHrNWsms8Rg" width="300"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The only turd in the swimming pool is final song <i>Roll On John</i>, a mawkish, rather hackneyed ode to Lennon that references Beatles and solo lyrics as well as autobiographical details. It's not as bad as his awful tribute to Lenny Bruce, but it's a piss-weak ending to an otherwise very good album.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tempest is full of one-way journeys into oblivion, from the Duquesne train that <i>"Sounds like it's on a final run"</i>, through the husband pursuing his errant wife, to the death of Lennon on distant shores. These songs of finality are populated with heroes and villains, where quite often it's the women who are portrayed as the least appealing; as well as the aforementioned junkie whore, there's an adulteress, reference to <i>"a bitch and a hag"</i>, and a <i>"greedy-lipped woman"</i>. Dylan's world was once inhabited by goddesses and redemptive figures, but here the pedestals sit empty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Musically, Tempest treads the same water as his other 21st century work, drawing on folk, pre-war pop and (snore) the blues. The band play beautifully, though the repetitive nature of the melodies makes for monotony in some cases, and the lack of instrumental breaks and interesting fills means that a couple of songs drag quite badly. But apart from the odd predictable rhyme, his lyrics are engrossing, and as long as you're a fan of his shredded voice, there's much to enjoy here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'd rate Tempest as not as good as "Love And Theft", but better than Together Through Life. There are no new revelations, but at this point in his career Dylan is a collector and an historian, and Tempest further consolidates his millenium renaissance, adding to his legacy rather than taking away from it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is the last new album of Bob's own material and I'm a little sad to have come to the end of his career (so far) as a songwriter, but I'm also excited about listening to the final album in the BobBox: the 2-disc collection of previously released non-album songs Side Tracks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: left;"></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £128.63 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £113.26</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £99.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 26/01/2016</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-17424726340881000122015-12-17T14:38:00.000+00:002015-12-17T14:38:29.153+00:0040. Christmas In The Heart (2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-ojrfPPC9oNfISfvQvAzlU19i5obCpxjljDnnE0HACdMC-mJvxLpdl6q6ffUCXsWUwA-hrHuKWX1Z-DuZl1igDwhLUAapvJVQEaB2FUnpXHeF9Mze7Gq77DoAk0FqVUPjOYBMmiUsVw/s1600/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Christmas_in_the_Heart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-ojrfPPC9oNfISfvQvAzlU19i5obCpxjljDnnE0HACdMC-mJvxLpdl6q6ffUCXsWUwA-hrHuKWX1Z-DuZl1igDwhLUAapvJVQEaB2FUnpXHeF9Mze7Gq77DoAk0FqVUPjOYBMmiUsVw/s200/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Christmas_in_the_Heart.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In October 2009, just five months after the release of Together Through Life, Bob took his fans by surprise and released a Christmas album. Christmas In The Heart is a collection of popular seasonal songs, traditional carols and a couple of slightly more obscure festive covers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On their own, both Dylan and Christmas can be very polarising subjects, so you can just imagine how the combination of the two split the opinions of critics and the public at large on its release. Happily, I'm a huge fan of Christmas music, and since I began the BobBox blog back at the start of this year I've steadily become a fan of Dylan too, so you won't be surprised to hear that I loved CITH, which is the most surreal, fun, shmaltzy, likeable and daft thing he's ever recorded, and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">reveals Bob to be the coolest of Christmas cats, albeit one that sounds as though he's trying to dislodge a series of massive furballs from his airway.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He's joined by the same members of his touring band as appeared on his last album (including David Hidalgo from Los Lobos), with the addition of Patrick Warren on a variety of keys, R&B guitarist Phil Upchurch, and a Mike Sammes Singers-style vocal group of wholesome sounding guys and gals. Bob, producing under his suddenly very appropriate moniker of Jack Frost, plays it absolutely straight with smooth, traditional arrangements and an old-fashioned, sweet, but not sickly sound. Steel guitar and violin lend a gentle country air, and occasional sleigh bells add a bit of tinsel about the place. Those familiar with his most recent work will know that his singing voice is now very gruff and phlegmy, which for me contrasts wonderfully with this conventional backdrop, although it may come as a shock to those unaware that his vocals these days resemble the gargle of someone who's swallowed a packet of razorblades and washed them down with a bottle of Harpic.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On first listen, my main reaction was that of hilarity, from the opening <i>Here Comes Santa Claus</i> with its ching-ching-ching sleighbell intro, brushed drums and Jordinaires-style male backing chorus, to the end of final track <i>O' Little Town Of Bethlehem</i> with its closing "amen", as Dylan weakly croaked his way through all forty-two minutes like a drunken hobo crashing a carol service. Indeed, the album's comedy value is absolutely priceless. But this sense of amusement - which didn't wane over subsequent listens - was soon joined by a glow of sentiment and admiration when it became clear that CITH is no tongue-in-cheek, countercultural exercise in irony, but a sincere, heartfelt attempt to share some beloved childhood songs and actual Christmas cheer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On nearly all of the songs, the boy-girl choir not only provides backing vocals, but also trades lines with Dylan, sometimes taking an entire verse or chorus before handing the reins back. The best example of this is <i>Winter Wonderland</i>, where the ladies sweetly sing,</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"In the meadow we can build a snowman,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>And pretend that he's a circus clown,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>We'll have lots of fun with Mr Snowman..."</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">before Bob gleefully chips in: <i>"Until the other kids all knock him down!"</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWb8q5TrCmsM8efo0CH9yUWotLiCDZOV5OrsMhRHBZuT6RUim65ee8DQ081lrFzuGOHgIhiGsVrT_lB4TVibKp1YceI-X_6BU8E8hrNXgRICvs-7cGVRRHpfxO4ePxcjGOWPQtyD-ink/s1600/bettie+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoWb8q5TrCmsM8efo0CH9yUWotLiCDZOV5OrsMhRHBZuT6RUim65ee8DQ081lrFzuGOHgIhiGsVrT_lB4TVibKp1YceI-X_6BU8E8hrNXgRICvs-7cGVRRHpfxO4ePxcjGOWPQtyD-ink/s320/bettie+page.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This image of model Bettie Page appears<br />inside the jewel case version of the CD,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and is included in the hardback book<br />accompanying the BobBox set.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On a small handful of songs he sings alone. I was in stitches the first time I listened to his rasping solo rendition of <i>Do You Hear What I Hear?</i>, but accompanied by a marching beat, twinkling piano, swooping violin and velvety guitar, he hits all of the important notes (just), and further listening revealed the croak to be tender, vulnerable</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, and ultimately moving. On </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Christmas Song</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Jack Frost tugs at your heartstrings just as hard as he nips at your nose. There's pathos aplenty in the devastatingly lonely <i>I'll Be Home For Christmas</i>, and on <i>Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas</i> Bob reinstates the line <i>"But 'til then we'll have to muddle through somehow"</i>, adding a tinge of sadness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strike></strike></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He comes over surprisingly well on the carols, and even seems to have cleared his throat for the recording of <i>Little Drummer Boy</i>, a suitably solemn performance accompanied by military drum rolls and chiming guitar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JcXW0Se4HMs" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His Latin pronunciation in the first verse of <i>O' Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)</i> needs a bit of work, but it's charming nonetheless, as are the warmhearted renditions of <i>The First Noel</i>, where the choir take the middle verse, and <i>Silver Bells</i>, which Dylan sings alone. <i>Hark! The Herald Angels Sing</i> is rather a hoot, with the soft female bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span> bringing Bob's wheezy yelp into sharp relief as he strains to hit the high notes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The most fun to be had is from the less traditional numbers. <i>"Aloha-ay, aloha-ay"</i> coo the ladies as Dylan sings on <i>Christmas Island</i> of spending the holiday away across the sea. The gals counter with lines about stockings hung on a coconut tree and presents arriving in a canoe, while Donnie Herron's steel guitar sways in the background like a hula girl. <i>The Christmas Blues</i> is a tremendous whisky-soaked Dean Martin cover where all Santa brought our hero was a case of the blues. There's even a now-rare snippet of harmonica before a repeat of the last verse.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Best of all though is <i>Must Be Santa</i>, a demented polka on which Bob plays to his strengths of singing fast and cramming loads of words into each line without tripping up. He uses the Brave Combo's arrangement (which he played on his 2006 Theme Time Radio Hour Christmas special), pairing furious accordion with jolly call-and-response lyrics, with his own twist of substituting the names of past American Presidents with some of Santa's reindeer. It's awesome, and the video is pretty great, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a8qE6WQmNus" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christmas In The Heart has been on heavy rotation chez moi over the last week and a half, along with Bing, Frank, Gene Autry and the other usual suspects, and I've come to love it as much as them all. In fact, I'd put it right up there with my two favourite seasonal albums, Phil Spector's <i>A Christmas Gift For You </i>and the cheesy but fabulous <i>Tijuana Christmas</i> by the Torero Band (if you're a reader of my other blog, you'll know this is high praise indeed!). It's clear that Dylan is sincere, and I love the way that he's thrown himself wholeheartedly into the album, which is full of Christmas cheer, good will to all men, and an endearing affection for the music of the 40s and 50s.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, his voice these days makes Shane MacGowan sound like Andy Williams, but if you can get past this and surrender yourself to the curious mix of asthmatic lead, angelic backing vocals and traditional instrumentation, it's joyful and triumphant. Christmas music is now a kind of folk music in itself, including the many secular 'pop' tunes that have become part of the Great American Songbook, so it should have come as no surprise when Dylan chose to record his own set. He's been doing this kind of thing for the whole of his career (not least on Self Portrait), and those expecting 'Dylanised' reinterpretations may have been disappointed with the straightforward versions here, but as the man himself said during an interview in 2009, <i>"There wasn't any other way to play it. These songs are part of my life, just like folk songs. You have to play them straight, too"</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His festive spirit extends to the donation of all royalties in perpetuity to various charities around the world, which is another great reason to buy it. I'll almost certainly be getting it on vinyl before next year - if indeed I haven't already succumbed by the time you read this. I have to admit that last week, the prospect of listening to this album not only filled me with excitement, but also a small amount of fear; I love Bob and I love Christmas, but what if I hated </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christmas In The Heart</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">? Luckily, it's no turkey at all, but the icing on the (Christmas) cake of my Dylan-filled 2015. As Tiny Tim (almost) said: Bob bless us, every one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*********</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The BobBox will be taking a Christmas break now, and will return in the New Year to finish off the two remaining albums. I hope you can join me then. Merry Christmas! xxx</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: left;"></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: left;" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £86.98</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £99.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>NEW:</b> Sony Legacy UK - £70.00 (plus £10.00 p+p)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 17/12/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-50523696262128924702015-12-11T11:45:00.006+00:002015-12-12T11:15:41.154+00:00BobBox Price Drop Alert 11-12-15<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's been drawn to my attention that the BobBox is currently available in the UK on the Sony Legacy website for just £70 (plus p&p, presumably).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://store.wearesonylegacy.com/home/bob-dylan-the-complete-albums-collection-vol-one.html?utm_content=nllink-48992386-Red+box+set+button&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ukcolumbia-bobdylan&utm_campaign=email%7C1217992879%7C20151211&cid=nl%3A1217992879">http://store.wearesonylegacy.com/home/bob-dylan-the-complete-albums-collection-vol-one.html?utm_content=nllink-48992386-Red+box+set+button&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ukcolumbia-bobdylan&utm_campaign=email%7C1217992879%7C20151211&cid=nl%3A1217992879</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now's the time to strike if you've been waiting for a decent price. It's unlikely to get lower than this!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>***Update: UK shipping is £10.***</b></span>minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-56769573945859223722015-12-08T20:13:00.002+00:002015-12-08T20:21:20.705+00:0039. Together Through Life (2009)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSPwodLfutFpjEW9C4jKIRLNrJsOJAkUycDIAsPsdADfQsWv0Rwj_jtvLbdoAqpeXItGNlUR9wvBVoYNh9OP6IrVAeLlpI26wVPYLjhlI-3adJmP_ufs1Cg0NuS2Bowhb-Sg1ilkac7E/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Together_Through_Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSPwodLfutFpjEW9C4jKIRLNrJsOJAkUycDIAsPsdADfQsWv0Rwj_jtvLbdoAqpeXItGNlUR9wvBVoYNh9OP6IrVAeLlpI26wVPYLjhlI-3adJmP_ufs1Cg0NuS2Bowhb-Sg1ilkac7E/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Together_Through_Life.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dylan's 33rd studio album came about after a request from filmmaker Olivier Dahan for songs to soundtrack his new movie <i>My Own Love Song</i>. Bob roped in former collaborator and Grateful Dead lyricist Rob Hunter to give him a hand with the words, and between them they came up with nine tracks, plus a tenth written by Dylan on his own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have to say that after the previous three albums, Together Through Life came as something of a disappointment to me. In its favour, the songs are generally shorter than those on Time Out Of Mind, "Love And Theft" and Modern Times (the longest song clocks in at 5:53), but compared to all of these, TTL is less interesting both musically and lyrically.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob continues his 21st century tendency to be tangled up in the blues, but this time there's a more exotic edge. Three of the musicians from his touring band are joined by Heartbreaker Mike Campbell on guitar and mandolin, and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on accordion and guitar. The sound is essentially a bluesy bar band with a Tex-Mex flavour, sometimes with a romantic Cajun atmosphere. Multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron contributes to the spicy mix by adding trumpet to his armoury, but sadly the album lacks standout songs and catchy tunes. Subject matter is mainly love and lust, with a smattering of old man's melancholy. There seems to be a lot less "borrowing" of others' words, which may have pleased some, but the lyrics are poorer for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Opener <i>Beyond Here Lies Nothing</i> gets things off to a decent start, its swampy blues rock recalling 'Black Magic Woman', </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob gruffly proclaiming </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Well I love you pretty baby"</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and Herron's trumpet jostling with Campbell's lead guitar for top billing. Unfortunately the sequencing means that this initial energy is immediately squandered by it being followed up with <i>Life Is Hard</i>, a beautifully wistful but slooooow lament on lost love. Dylan sings each syllable carefully and deliberately (struggling with the high notes), accompanied by trilling mandolin and sleepy Hawaiian steel. It's a very pleasant song, but really belongs at the end of the first side at the earliest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>My Wife's Home Town</i> is next, and it was at this point on my first listen that exasperation set in, firstly due to the placing of another excruciatingly slow song so early on, and secondly because of the lyrics, of which the expression "lame-ass" would be a charitable description. I enjoy Dylan's sandpaper voice, but </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the music is sparse, dull</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and sounds bored with itself. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The tune is clearly that of 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You', and writer Willie Dixon is given credit in the sleevenotes, perhaps due to the litigious nature of his descendants, not to mention previous criticism of Bob's appropriation of material.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hidalgo takes centre stage on the accordion-led <i>If You Ever Go To Houston</i>, which has a much fuller sound thanks to the combination of pedal steel, organ (played by Dylan) and mandolin. It also provides a welcome increase in pace after the last two draggers, although the accordion riff becomes wearing long before the song fades out after nearly six minutes. Much better is <i>Forgetful Heart</i>, which begins in a shambling manner with a sour, Neil Young-ish guitar chord and shimmering percussion. The accordion takes more of a back seat, embedded in the dense mix of fuzzy guitar, organ and violin that's almost Lanois-esque but not as soupy. Despite the slight melody it's the best song yet on TTL, and shares a darkness with Time Out Of Mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gWB7-7ycO-w" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The band really gel on <i>Jolene</i>, Dylan's mucoid ruckle underpinned by a solid rhythm section, his own organ-playing and a fabulous Bluesbreakers riff from Campbell. The lyrics are perfunctory, but just right for this lusty blues number. <i>This Dream Of You</i> is my favourite track on TTL. It was written by Bob alone (yet bears more than a passing resemblance to <i>Save The Last Dance For Me</i>), and I must say that this shows in the lyrics, which are the most interesting on the album. The subject matter is again of a love lost, and has a romantic Parisian street café feel, with violin and accordion swooning and swaying together like tipsy lovers.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rL805Ji7C7s" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Shake Shake Mama</i> is another sleazy blues song, with lyrics as simple and earthy as <i>Jolene</i>. It's followed by <i>I Feel A Change Comin' On</i>, a meditation on relationships late in life that's plastered in accordion and shot through with Dylan's lusty snarl. It's a great-sounding song </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">with a</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n almost funky rhythm and licks aplenty from Campbell, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">but there's not much of a tune to be found. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The best line is </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Some people they tell me, I've got the blood of the land in my voice"</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, to which I can't help adding "Yes, and the phlegm of the world in your throat". Final track <i>It's All Good</i> marks a brief return to social commentary, with a vague list of the world's ills summed up with the sarcastic title line. It's a well-played, groovesome blues, but not the best song to end with, recalling for me his feeble socially conscious material from the 1980s.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Together Through Life was recorded with the whole band live in the studio, Dylan's favourite way of doing things and one that suits this kind of material. Like much of his recent work it's fairly reliant on standard blues templates, which coupled with the more straightforward lyrics co-written with Hunter makes for an amiable but somewhat generic sound. It does represent a dip in quality after the last few records, but comparison is probably unfair, as it was a quickly-evolving project instigated by a soundtrack request, with no songs or even ideas stashed away in the bank to make use of. Taken on its own terms, it's not a great album by any stretch of the imagination (no matter what some breathless critics would have had you believe on its release), with no real musical hooks or memorable lines, and of the latter, certainly none that have the power to move. I'm sure I'll listen to it again, but it won't be among the first to be pulled out of the BobBox.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm expecting no shortage of tunes in the next album, as it consists of many well known and much-loved songs. Yes - up next, and just in time for the festive season is Christmas In The Heart! As a fan of Christmas music both good and wonderfully dreadful I've been looking forward to this for some time, and have had to be very strict with myself since December the 1st in not adding it to my seasonal listening.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £108.90 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £86.41</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 08/12/2015</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-6574660097353477202015-11-30T19:14:00.002+00:002016-11-30T08:26:22.647+00:0038. Modern Times (2006)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHa85ytuVO88qljDJiYpWLxpaBVtcbMQhQUwR86cn8HRT-N7NIAymt945pqlUoXO0YJv1OtdBVTuUoppXitETSGi1Hclef-k_8sNGypZby_sMsJ89EnKzC_1Aeks6Fc7QMTazzxcBmpT8/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Modern_Times.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHa85ytuVO88qljDJiYpWLxpaBVtcbMQhQUwR86cn8HRT-N7NIAymt945pqlUoXO0YJv1OtdBVTuUoppXitETSGi1Hclef-k_8sNGypZby_sMsJ89EnKzC_1Aeks6Fc7QMTazzxcBmpT8/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Modern_Times.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A suitable alternative title for this record might be "Bob Dylan Rocks, But Gently". Like its predecessor "Love And Theft", Modern Times sticks firmly to the pre-rock'n'roll era, mixing sedate tea-dances with frisky, polished blues and stately ballads, only here the sound is more restrained. Dylan retains Tony Garnier on upright bass (plus on this occasion cello), and they are joined by the latest touring band comprising Donnie Herron on steel guitar, viola, violin and mandolin, Stu Kimball and Denny Freeman on guitar, and George G. Receli on drums. Once again the words are cherry-picked from a wide variety of sources, including Civil War poet Henry Timrod, Roman poet Ovid, and many snippets of song lyrics, but this time Bob caused some eyebrows to raise with his wholesale lifting of some of the arrangements and melodies without crediting their originators. Whether you believe that this is simply a part of the long-standing "folk tradition", or in actual fact taking the piss a bit, hopefully shouldn't affect your enjoyment of Modern Times, for it's a very fine album indeed, continuing Dylan's late-career hot streak.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A terrific old-fashioned guitar intro launches the steady R'n'B of <i>Thunder on the Mountain</i>, whose Chuck Berry riff underpins a baffling set of verses, including references to his faith and a startling mention of Alicia Keys. Six minutes later it ends with a flourish, and we're into the Western Swing of <i>Spirit on the Water</i>, a gentle love song that at twenty verses and nearly eight minutes unfortunately outstays its initial welcome. This style of song was my favourite on L&T, but there they were all around the 3-4 minute mark, so never got the chance to become this tiresome. Also the music is a little thin, sounding unfinished or perhaps under-rehearsed. It's a lovely number though, and the final chorus,</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"You think I'm over the hill,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>You think I'm past my prime,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Let me see what you got,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>We can have whoppin' good time"</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is followed by a pretty outro featuring creamy guitar and for the first time in a couple of albums, Bob's harmonica.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On <i>Rollin' and Tumblin'</i> Dylan re-interprets and significantly extends a blues song best known for the version by Muddy Waters. This is one of the tracks that by being credited solely as 'written by Bob Dylan' got the critics in such a tizz, but when he cries <i>"I've been conjuring up all these long dead souls from from their crumblin' tombs"</i>, it strikes me that this is <i>exactly</i> what he's doing on Modern Times; bringing the words of the long dead into the 21st century - albeit using the music of some not-so-long-dead folks. <i>When the Deal Goes Down</i> appropriates the melody of Bing Crosby's trademark song <i>Where the Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)</i>, marrying it to new lyrics that could be read as devotion to either his god or perhaps a lover, a long familiar theme. There's no ambiguity as to what 'the deal going down' is, though; clearly the end of life is still a preoccupation for this 65 year-old man, though not on the same scale as on Time Out Of Mind.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CEoGqUqy-0w" width="450"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">further</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> muddies the waters of copyright with </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Someday Baby</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, a re-working of the blues song </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Trouble No More</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">. Over a shuffling beat and brisk guitar the narrator threatens to kick out, even murder, the woman he hates to love, with the refrain </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry po' me any more"</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He moves from murderous to defiant yet hopelessly resigned on piano ballad <i>Workingman's Blues #2</i>. There's a rather clunky first verse about the <i>"...buyin' power of the proletariat"</i> and America's low wage economy, that has echoes of the abysmal <i>Union Sundown</i> from Infidels, and it has the same demo-ish quality as <i>Spirit on the Water</i> where the band don't quite gel, but overall it's a classic-in-waiting with a haunting chorus:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Bring me my boots and shoes,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>You can hang back or fight your best on the front line,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Sing a little bit of those workingman's blues"</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Beyond the Horizon</i> is another leisurely love song, this time with a darker undercurrent and set to the tune of <i>Red Sails in the Sunset</i>, a standard recorded by the likes of Guy Lombardo and Bing Crosby in the 1930s, and Nat King Cole and Big Jim Turner in the '50s. It's followed by probably my favourite song on Modern Times, <i>Nettie Moore</i>. This moody acoustic ballad uses the title, the first line of the chorus and a partial melody from a 19th century folk song. Receli provides a simple, heartbeat-like thud as Bob sings of being <i>"...the oldest son of a crazy man, I'm in a cowboy band"</i>, and the <i>"Blues this morning fallin' down like hail, Gonna leave a greasy trail"</i>. Muted strings join him on the achingly beautiful chorus, where the quiet yearning and depth of sadness in his voice are devastating:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Oh I miss you, Nettie Moore,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>And my happines is o'er,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Winter's gone, the river's on the rise,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I loved you then, and ever shall,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>But there's no-one left here to tell,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The world has gone black before my eyes"</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A1meT5RL2ffrm15cee84oVt" width="300"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Flood is probably a metaphor for the End Times on <i>The Levee's Gonna Break</i>, the third reworked blues cover on Modern Times (<i>When the Levee Breaks).</i> Having said that, it's given a very chipper musical backdrop, with some excellent work from the two guitarists accompanying Dylan's piano and croaky drawl.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like so many albums before it, Modern Times concludes with an epic closer. <i>Ain't Talkin'</i> is nearly nine minutes long and the chorus borrows its tune from the finger pickin' <i>Highway of Regret</i> by Dylan's beloved Stanley Brothers. There's finger picking here too, but much more delicate, as well as mournful violin and the occasional soft 'chink' of tambourine. It's the only song on the album where the music is as unsettling as the lyrics - no chirpy blues or sentimental supper club whimsy accompany this chilling struggle of faith. The narrator walks endlessly through a world gone wrong, in search of an elusive peace. I love the phrase <i>"Walking with a toothache in my heel"</i>, and feel a bit bad for wondering where Bob might have pinched it from. Faint hope remains as <i>"The fire gone out but the light is never dyin'"</i>, and after seventeen verses we leave him still traveling, still searching this garden of Eden that even the gardener has deserted,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Ain't talkin', just walkin',</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Up the road, around the bend,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Heart burnin', still yearnin'</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>In the last outback at world's end"</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Modern Times continues the mood set by "Love and Theft", but has a more mature, dignified air. The band never let loose, but their sensitivity complements Dylan's now frail voice and the most stirring moments are more likely to be provided by the words and their delivery than by the music underpinning them. Bob no longer pushes his voice; his growl is now a purr, and his phrasing is used to great emotional effect, in particular the odd tiny whimpers that are so expressive and so moving. The new relaxed, comfortable style that began on L&T suits him in the strange way that his cowboy hat and pencil 'tache do; it doesn't for a moment diminish his ability to powerfully ruminate on sin, love, God, loss and this terrible, wonderful world in which we live. Some criticised Modern Times for the length of the songs; to begin with I agreed, but as time went on this no longer bothered me as much, and in the case of <i>Ain't Talkin'</i> I'd be quite happy for it to last as long as <i>Highlands</i>, the 16-minute closer on TOOM. If I were feeling mean I might describe MT as "Love And Theft Lite", as sometimes it feels more sleepy than sparkling, but from an artist of now pensionable age, and after a career of more than forty years, I'm both astounded and grateful for the fact that he's still putting out material of such high quality.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £125.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £86.51</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 30/11/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-8670357621846424592015-11-23T18:35:00.000+00:002015-11-23T18:35:16.098+00:0037. "Love And Theft" (2001)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpBevwOD3g1qMTUuOay5yxa1MCgi-4RAqwcEvvrs9oDKwbvyTQxiNEou3dxoXT2lKn93TXO6kSoZJCKTZMtdDCEwd_C2fnZ1Enxx9OS2Hj0CkwjccH94BkREceyBoyplTBTGCumiEG2Q/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Love_and_Theft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTpBevwOD3g1qMTUuOay5yxa1MCgi-4RAqwcEvvrs9oDKwbvyTQxiNEou3dxoXT2lKn93TXO6kSoZJCKTZMtdDCEwd_C2fnZ1Enxx9OS2Hj0CkwjccH94BkREceyBoyplTBTGCumiEG2Q/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Love_and_Theft.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well he's certainly perked up, hasn't he? Where on Time Out Of Mind Dylan seemed mostly preoccupied with death, on "Love And Theft" he is very much alive. He's shed the weariness of the last few albums and sounds vital and more comfortable in his skin than he has in a long time. This has resulted in a record that's witty, confident, relaxed and for the first time in ages <i>fun</i>. He and his touring band plus organist Augie Meyers (who played on TOOM) are clearly having a heck of a good time, and their mixture of roadhouse blues, swing, country, folk and jazz is for me one of Bob's most immediately enjoyable albums in years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The lyrics are his most interesting in years, too. Less personal (overtly at least), they are full of outcasts, criminals and lunatics, plus characters like Fat Nancy, Black-eyed Susan, Aunt Sally and phony Mr Goldsmith, as well as more recognisable names like Charles Darwin, Big Joe Turner, and figures from Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He kicks off the new millennium with rumbling retro-rocker <i>Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum</i>, a nursery rhyme song better than any on Under The Red Sky. After a fade-in, this comic, sinister tale begins with:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Tweedle-dee Dum and Tweedle-dee Dee</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>They're throwing knives into the tree</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Two big bags of dead man's bones</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Got their noses to the grindstones",</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the grotesque imagery continues with <i>"Brains in the pot beginning to boil, they're dripping with garlic and olive oil".</i> Guitarists Larry Campbell and<i> </i>Charlie Sexton trade licks easily and naturally, and it's clear that the band's ultra-tight yet laid-back vibe is a consequence of months spent relentlessly touring. It's a great start, but is immediately upstaged by instant classic <i>Mississippi,</i> an unused song from the TOOM sessions, here re-worked and recorded anew. This beautiful song sounds like it's always existed, and at the same time, despite it's history, is the freshest, youngest-sounding track on the whole album. Bob's not fibbing when he sings <i>"Stick with me baby... things should start to get interesting right about now"</i>. It shares the same feeling of disconnect that dominated its intended parent album, thanks to lines like <i>"Your days are numbered and so are mine"</i>, <i>"Sky full of fire, pain pourin' down"</i> and <i>"Feeling like a stranger no-one needs"</i>. I love it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For some reason the "Love And Theft" songs aren't on YouTube, so here it is on Spotify:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A6iCUV1fm0Ag3Jg8zFniarc" width="300"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ringing guitar introduces the jump-blues rhythm of <i>Summer Days</i>, and drummer David Kemper sounds as though he's pounding on a dustbin lid - in a good way. Dylan's attitude is as full-tilt as the music; he's <i>"...drivin' in the flats in a Cadillac car"</i>, spending all his money and using all his gas - little wonder as he's <i>"...got eight carburetors and boys, I'm using 'em all"</i>! The album is a groan-orama of bad puns and worse jokes, and on <i>Summer Days</i> we're told of a politician who's <i>"...got on his jogging shoes, he must be running for office".</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On <i>Bye And Bye</i> Bob is <i>"...sittin' on my watch so I can be on time"</i>, accompanied by Hammond organ and a breezy soft-shoe shuffle. There are a few of these old-fashioned jazzy smoochers on L&T, and they are probably my favourites. Dylan crams an unbelievable number of words into the lines of <i>Floater (Too Much To Ask)</i>, while slide guitar and fiddle swoon together in the background. The lilting, swaying ballad <i>Moonlight</i> is set to brushed drums and lap steel, and the romantic, lullaby lyrics take a dark turn as Bob creepily croons:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Well I'm preachin' peace and harmony</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The blessings of tranquility</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Yet I know when the time is right to strike</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I'll take you 'cross the river dear</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>You've no need to linger here</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I know the kind of things you like",</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">which made me think of my favourite Dylan meme:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq40YmjbO8r6LNZi8WDR09gHUGu3Mpu2AiyYCBp4ju0eBbxD61-TjzDCnTv_PDR1EjBkloNR8DdCxi38dPv8d9I_qfJFoADOnJz0O72Ckk-1n2jzaPK1-x-vkeRi-tBKsVbTQDrqSSXtc/s1600/creepy+bob+dylan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq40YmjbO8r6LNZi8WDR09gHUGu3Mpu2AiyYCBp4ju0eBbxD61-TjzDCnTv_PDR1EjBkloNR8DdCxi38dPv8d9I_qfJFoADOnJz0O72Ckk-1n2jzaPK1-x-vkeRi-tBKsVbTQDrqSSXtc/s320/creepy+bob+dylan.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another old-timey ballad suitable for a tea-dance is <i>Po' Boy</i>, whose lyrics are also packed in tight, seemingly without effort. The melody struck me as extremely familiar, and made me wonder where he pinched it from.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There's plenty of blues on L&T; he snarls and growls his way through <i>Lonesome Day Blues</i>, over Sexton's meaty, menacing guitar riff and Campbell's buzzing interjections. The verses don't seem to have anything to do with one another, except they all refer to some sort of loss, or something that's missing. The most poignant phrase, which seems to come out of nowhere and stands out like a sore thumb, is <i>"I wish my mother was still alive"</i>. Beatty Zimmerman had died the year before, aged 84.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A23gBv22PzANoNi0up9Qots" width="300"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It struck me during <i>High Water (For Charley Patton)</i> what a beautifully produced album L&T is, and I was quite surprised to find that it's a 'Jack Frost' production, Dylan's psuedonym. Here he pays his debt to Patton (also referencing a couple of other bluesmen) with a </span>doom-laden tale and a <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">country-folk backing featuring banjo and mandolin. There's dirty schoolboy humour too, my favourite line being the saucy <i>"Jump up into the wagon, love, throw your panties overboard!".</i> </span>His voice is somewhat drowned out by screeching guitars and thunderous percussion on bluesy rocker <i>Honest With Me</i>, and at almost six minutes it's a bit too long. Misplaced loyalty and betrayal are lamented on <i>Cry A While</i>, which alternates between a chug and a swing. To my mind it's the least essential song on the record, as by now there have been several similar sounding ones and it adds little.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Final track <i>Sugar Baby</i> has more in common with TOOM than its stablemates on L&T. There's no percussion, but lots of atmosphere, with the echo of distant slide guitar and a haunting vocal performance, as well as faint hiss and a few barely discernible crackles. The dirge-like melody, Lanois-style production and helpless lyrics end the album on a bit of a downer, but it showcases Bob's voice for what it has once again become: his finest instrument. Not only are his tone and phrasing better than ever, the gravel is now authentic, lending further weight to his words.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I read that Dylan had poached words and melodies from all over the place to make "Love And Theft", including the title, which is acknowledged by the quotation marks. This patchwork of stolen and original language gives the lyrics a jumpy cut-up feel that matches the energy of the music. Bob continues with his homage to early music, in this case American music of the first half of the 20th century, but it's unmistakably a Dylan record. It has more shape and colour than TOOM; the instrumentation is more distinct, there's more melody, and the whole thing is wonderfully lighthearted. It's as though he's finished grieving for his youth and all that disappeared with it, and is now revelling in late middle age. Elder wisdom is mixed with a youthful puerility; he's plenty to say regarding age, but now there's a wicked grin and two fingers up to the Grim Reaper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apart from some songs being a tad too long, and <i>Cry A While</i> perhaps being superfluous, there's really nothing to complain about on "Love And Theft". I read that Bob was much happier with this album than the last one; perhaps its rootsy, pre-rock'n'roll sound was the one he'd been shooting for on TOOM before Lanois got his box of tricks out. It doesn't matter whether this is the case or not; TOOM was a fine album in its own right, and after all the "comebacks" and false dawns in Dylan's storied career, to have it followed up with an ever better record was an unlooked-for joy. If he keeps this up, the final stretch of the BobBox is going to be plain sailing*.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £108.90 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £85.69</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 23/11/2015</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*I expect some readers will know better :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-43768607477222418092015-11-11T18:10:00.001+00:002015-11-12T07:34:57.480+00:0036. Time Out Of Mind (1997)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHVOsbr6N-bXPKYmgtNZoRay9uTasaTEkIcEPHe87pA_nEI5hfJLjsEdy-OKnboNw9LKd-DSrEPO_MgFokYzJWkjT6L2bIalyHxlrTjw5rgQRsqEksvE1WaeO4x2g5m_UNN6i7dlf-t8/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Time_Out_of_Mind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizHVOsbr6N-bXPKYmgtNZoRay9uTasaTEkIcEPHe87pA_nEI5hfJLjsEdy-OKnboNw9LKd-DSrEPO_MgFokYzJWkjT6L2bIalyHxlrTjw5rgQRsqEksvE1WaeO4x2g5m_UNN6i7dlf-t8/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Time_Out_of_Mind.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Time Out Of Mind arrived seven years after Under The Red Sky, an unprecedented gap between albums of original material. This post arrives over a fortnight since the last, an unprecedented gap in the short history of the BobBox blog. Dylan's reason was likely a lack of inspiration; my excuse is that it took me a long time to get a grip on TOOM (although 10 days of domestic upheaval, plus the arrival of the Bootleg Series Vol. 12 also played their part).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Producer Daniel Lanois returned to oversee this album of brooding modern blues and love songs, his soft, dense music bathing the mostly painful words in a haze of echo, distortion and compression. At times this drains the songs of energy, but it also lends heft to the weaker material. The overarching theme of Bob's 30th studio album is loss; that of love, of friends, sometimes of his sanity, of youth, and of time. There's fear, too, of being left behind, left alone to face what's coming. It's a record only an older person could write, although I had to remind myself that he was actually only 56 when it was recorded, a mere spring chicken compared with the man currently touring Europe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His constant touring is reflected in the lyrics - there are many references to traveling: riding trains, being Dixie-bound, wanting to take to the road, people on platforms waiting, walking in the middle of nowhere (there's a LOT of walking), as well as trying to get to some distant place or other.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Love Sick</i> begins with some brief tuning up, then an organ stabs from left to right (TOOM is really a headphones album) before Dylan informs us that <i>"I'm walking, through streets that are dead"</i>. His voice is close-miked and growly, dialled up to at least Medium Phlegm. Engineer Mark Howard explained that Bob wanted a retro, '50s sound to his voice, like it was coming out of a radio or a gramophone. Using old microphones, his vocal was run through a distortion pedal into a small amp, which was itself miked, to provide an "old sound". This was blended 50/50 with the "clean vocal" to achieve a vintage feel, one that Dylan described as "spooky". It works well, and sounds like nothing he's done before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Dirt Road Blues</i> is a fidgety rockabilly number with criss-crossing guitars and a bluesy choogle. It's generic, but enjoyable nonetheless. After endlessly walking down a dirt road, the motion continues in <i>Standing In The Doorway</i>, which sees the protagonist walking through summer nights and riding a midnight train after losing at love. Slide guitar, churchy organ and Shadows-style strumming help amplify the hopelessness, and we leave him <i>"...standin' in the doorway cryin', blues wrapped around my head"</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zIEiDBFoXFY" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The hopelessness lingers for <i>Million Miles</i>, a funky crawl through the dirt with slinky, jazzy guitar chords, and Bob plagued by voices in the night, trying in vain to bridge the gap between himself and his lover. Distance is again the enemy in ballad <i>Tryin' To Get To Heaven</i>, as heartbroken and alone he wearily seeks salvation. The music is a dense fog of compressed harmonica, organ, violin and a whole bunch of guitars. We're back to the blues for <i>'Til I Fell In Love With You</i>, boasting jazzy electric piano courtesy of Jim Dickinson, and a sinuous guitar riff.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Time is running away"</i> during <i>Not Dark Yet</i>, for me the most affecting song on TOOM. A ghostly tambourine rattles in the distance as Dylan looks over the past while keeping one eye on the future, the end seeming much too close for comfort. It finishes with the moving <i>"Don't even hear the murmur of a prayer, it's not dark yet, but it's getting there"</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Clattering percussion, thunking bass and a cloud of guitars provide the backdrop to Bob's woes on <i>Cold Irons Bound</i>. He's losing his mind over love, and losing himself in the process: <i>"I'm beginning to hear voices and there's no-one around"</i> and <i>"God, I'm waist deep, waist deep in the mist, it's almost like, almost like I don't exist"</i>. The whole thing is submerged in cavernous, intimidating echo.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3HAjuE9kZdE" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't know where <i>Make You Feel My Love</i> came from, but it's like nothing else Dylan has written before. Perhaps its stands out so much because of the the songs that surround it, but this sentimental love ballad has an enormously strong melody. The lyrics are straightforward, and Bob accompanies himself on piano, joined by just quiet bass and funereal organ. Depending on your point of view it either nicely breaks up what can be a rather stodgy album, or kills the mood entirely. I've not quite made up my own mind, but whatever you think of its place on TOOM, its beauty and strength</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> cannot be denied. Little wonder that it's been covered by Billy Joel, Garth Brooks and of course Adele, among others.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Can't Wait</i> is another song of lost love, and a minor one in comparison to the many similar songs here. With our hero <i>"...walkin' through stormy weather"</i> and strolling through the graveyards of his mind (he must be exhausted by now), it acts as a stepping stone between the moonstruck <i>Make You Feel My Love</i> and the rambling epic that is album closer <i>Highlands</i>. Partly indebted to Robert Burns' "My Heart's In The Highlands" (1789), once it finds its groove it stays there, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">drifting airily over a gentle blues riff</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> for 16½ minutes. There's mention of the king of long songs Neil Young, and a lengthy detour into a restaurant resulting in an odd conversation with a waitress (but thankfully not as baffling as Neil's "hip-hop haircut" in his 28-minute <i>Driftin' Back</i>). The rest of the time is spent describing a sense of disconnection and a yearning to be elsewhere in both time and space: <i>"I wish someone'd come and push back the clock for me"</i>, <i>"Well, I'm lost somewhere, I must have made a few bad turns"</i>. It's an odd combination of depression and playfulness, and the hypnotic quality of the music means that even at over a quarter of an hour it doesn't drag, although I'm glad he didn't use the rumoured 35-minute original!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In an interview for Newsweek in 1997 Dylan confessed that <i>"I don't feel in tune with anything"</i>, and this out-of-time figure haunts TOOM with his archaic turns of phrase and fixation on loss and finality. The death of Jerry Garcia may have influenced the songwriting; although Bob's not exactly fixin' to die just yet, it sounds like mortality has been weighing on his mind.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lanois' production, though skillful, is sluggish for the most part. His tasteful soundscapes are like a thick soup, and it took me many listens to appreciate all that was going on beneath the murky surface. The lack of "fills and frills" can make for a rather shapeless musical experience, which only took on an interesting form with much concentrated listening under headphones - I'd recommend this tactic to those unmoved by first impressions, as the rewards are rich.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Of course the critics went over the top at the time of release, hailing it as a masterful return to form. I suspect that this had more to do with the prospect of confronting the reality of a world without Dylan (due to a serious illness he suffered between its recording and release)</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">than the actual content of TOOM, as although it marked one of his best albums in years, I don't think it quite deserved the hyperbole it attracted.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">TOOM's sense of utter loneliness reminds me a lot of Blood On The Tracks, except that now Bob has been around for much longer, and has lost an awful lot more. It's often said that the greatest art comes from the deepest pain, and although I really hope he feels happier soon, in a selfish kind of way, I really don't.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £108.90 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £85.67</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 11/11/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'd love to know what you think of TOOM. Do tell me in the comments below.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-74128028147485744142015-10-27T18:29:00.002+00:002015-10-27T18:29:10.927+00:0035. MTV Unplugged (1995)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXieF3vJlYQmMd_vp_c1kUYzc_m5YLLs83RMJK6eCe2mCG0TMPOv9Lmk1Nw_whDFtnUw26PHYJvLxghfC6-fglxXCKBlQCkW8BQRG7bJ43LGaY3aRDISoCQY1GQQFyVZ5ME5bnizMNOc/s1600/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_MTV_Unplugged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifXieF3vJlYQmMd_vp_c1kUYzc_m5YLLs83RMJK6eCe2mCG0TMPOv9Lmk1Nw_whDFtnUw26PHYJvLxghfC6-fglxXCKBlQCkW8BQRG7bJ43LGaY3aRDISoCQY1GQQFyVZ5ME5bnizMNOc/s200/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_MTV_Unplugged.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the early 1990s stars as big as Clapton, McCartney and Rod Stewart benefited from their appearances on MTV's Unplugged series, both in terms of sales and how they were perceived by the generation below, so when Dylan was asked to take part it must have been an easy decision for him to make. But of course nothing is simple in Bobland, and his desire to perform a solo set of traditional music à la Good As I Been To You/World Gone Wrong was rejected by MTV bods as not being suitable for a mainstream television audience. Instead he brought the hits, with a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In another typical Dylanesque move, he turned up to record his episode of a show entirely based on acoustic values with what can only be described as a semi-electric band; we have John Jackson playing acoustic-electric guitar, Bucky-Baxter skillfully switching between pedal steel, dobro, steel guitar and mandolin, Tony Garnier on upright bass, Winston Watson thwacking a full rock drum kit, and Brendan O'Brien sat behind a vast Hammond. Bob himself sticks to his trusty acoustic guitar and gob iron. These musicians constituted his touring band at the time, and this shows in the almost effortless way they gel, and there's the sense that they know exactly what Bob is about to do at any point. After the Dead's all-at-sea floundering on the previous live album, it's absolutely heavenly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They begin with <i>Tombstone Blues</i>. Although I love the garage-band original, the country flavour given to it here suits it well, and the swirling organ is wrapped round a surprisingly good lead vocal. Dylan is clearly in fine voice right now, and sounds engaged and energised.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_SyzcnGcNps" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We hop from 1965 straight to 1989 next for a beautiful <i>Shooting Star</i>, the final track from Oh Mercy. Bob provides a decent enough harp solo, and the instrumental outro from the band as a whole is just gorgeous, O'Brien's Hammond gently tangling with Baxter's weeping slide. With no pause for breath, they're straight into a rendition of <i>All Along The Watchtower</i> that's midway between the acoustic original on JWH and the searing electric Hendrix reading. Dylan's lead guitar is impressive, but his voice sounds as though it's beginning to falter.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Times They Are A-Changin'</i>, once sung in youthful defiance, is transformed into a country ballad delivered with the weary resignation of a man now on the other side of the generation gap. But Bob is able to reach into his guts for a bitter performance of anti-war song <i>John Brown</i>, which he first recorded in 1963 under the pseudonym Blind Boy Grunt for a compilation called Broadside Ballads.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An otherwise dreary version of <i>Rainy Day Women #12 & 35</i> is elevated by drunken lap steel replicating the woozy brass of Blonde on Blonde, and a truncated <i>Desolation Row</i> replaces Charlie's McCoy's delicate counter-melody with a rich, busy sound that's able to remain suitably mellow. The pace picks up again with Oh Mercy outtake <i>Dignity</i>, first heard on Greatest Hits Vol. 3 in its original rockabilly incarnation. This rockier MTV version was released as a CD single.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m5NbvGJJ3tM" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The set isn't marred by the annoying audience noise that plagued Neil Young's Unplugged episode, but the European version of <i>Knockin' On Heaven's Door</i> was apparently overdubbed with a section of whooping and whistling, on a repeated loop. Luckily the CD in the BobBox is the US album, so is free from the 'whoop loop'. Dylan sounds pretty nasal here, but at least he decided against doing a reggae version. There's a nice harmonica break, and the heavily textured backing is glorious.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On <i>Like A Rolling Stone</i> he bunches the words up at the beginning of each line, and the phrase <i>"do you want to make a deal?"</i> seems like it's reluctantly forced out - quite amusing from the former King of counterculture as he sells his services to a cable channel. (I wonder how that feels?) The remainder is sung with more intensity, and goes on to fill over nine minutes.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The set was recorded over two nights in November 1994 in NYC's Sony Music Studios, and final track <i>With God On Our Side</i> is the only recording from the first night used on the album. Like <i>Desolation Row</i> it's shortened by a couple of verses; in this case the ones mentioning the Holocaust and the Russians are omitted, and like '<i>Times</i>' there's a resigned weariness in Bob's voice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As well as being a relief after the horrors of Dylan & The Dead and Real Live, it's good to hear Bob in full-band mode after two pleasant but rather minimalist studio albums. The public seemed to feel the same way, rewarding him with his first gold album for six years; I expect the fact that there were no wildly altered melodies or arrangements had something to do with it. Other songs recorded at the sessions but not used included <i>Hazel, Absolutely Sweet Marie</i> and <i>My Back Pages</i>. The concert DVD (of course I bought it, I'm not MAD) boasts an additional performance in the shape of a fairly underwhelming <i>Love Minus Zero/No Limit</i> (also included on the European CD release) which again sees him bunching up his words at the beginning of each line. There's almost no between-song chat and Dylan remains inscrutable behind his shades for the duration. The 80s mullet and designer stubble are gone, and with his spotty shirt and dark jacket he rather resembles his mid-60s self, much as the mixture of organ and Nashville twang resembles his mercurial mid-60s output.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Verdict: A highly enjoyable set of mellow but stirring country rock. More plugs than expected. Opt for the DVD if you can.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £115.00 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £84.66</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 27/10/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-45581162845753938742015-10-20T17:49:00.000+01:002015-10-20T17:49:01.615+01:0034. World Gone Wrong (1993)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR3DBOOysbq_-hk2DJH5T2kbT-4wY5rdRROlclm3Q-UTZ02f4sKIylITygCHhyphenhyphenFTjGXNRYM5nOQ7NVAGd4ti6MY7HYuAy2gVrEKdDVax0ihSkk0bp0BzHefobazBzxkNwYnVZJgg5zIpQ/s1600/wgw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR3DBOOysbq_-hk2DJH5T2kbT-4wY5rdRROlclm3Q-UTZ02f4sKIylITygCHhyphenhyphenFTjGXNRYM5nOQ7NVAGd4ti6MY7HYuAy2gVrEKdDVax0ihSkk0bp0BzHefobazBzxkNwYnVZJgg5zIpQ/s200/wgw.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">World Gone Wrong is essentially Good As I Been To You Part 2, with baffling liner notes. Arriving on the shelves one year on from its predecessor, this shorter, 10-track collection of covers is more blues-based, and for the most part sustains a more subdued atmosphere. It too was recorded over a short space of time in Dylan's home studio (reportedly without a single change of guitar strings!), but this time no producer other than Bob himself is credited.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps because of the outcry over the lack of song credits on GAIBTY, here Dylan provides lengthy, fairly comprehensive and (I suspect) deliberately bewildering sleeve notes, citing his sources and explaining them in his own inimitable style. These are playfully titled "About the Songs (and what they're about)".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The album opens with the title track, a blues lament learned from the 1930s version by the Mississippi Sheiks. Dylan's voice is a little clearer on this song than it was on the previous album, but this doesn't last long, as by the second track,<i> Love Henry</i>, it's back to the familiar slur. For some reason I didn't mind so much, perhaps because I'd grown used to it, or more likely because I made sure I had the lyrics to hand from the outset this time. Whichever it was, I really enjoyed his telling of the murder of Henry at the hands of his treacherous <i>"pretty girl"</i>, particularly the last verse about the deeply (and rightly) suspicious parrot, witness to murder and refusing to approach his mistress lest he suffer the same sticky end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Willie Brown's <i>Ragged and Dirty</i> is another Mississippi Sheiks number, the lustful <i>Blood in My Eyes</i>. A video for this was shot in Crouch End, London, with Bob wandering around and signing autographs in the street. The album's cover image was taken in a cafe during the video shoot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nz542iQchN4" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob rounds off Side 1 with a song by Blind Willie McTell, one of his biggest heroes. He covers <i>Broke Down Engine</i> which he describes in his notes as "a masterpiece" and "about variations of human longing". It does indeed contain all the blues tropes: poverty, a woman who done left him, and a reference to the Georgia crawl. He also writes that "it's about trains", which is less clear. The line <i>"Can't you hear me, baby, rappin' on your door?"</i> is illustrated with a few knocks on the body of his guitar, and the croaking delivery is suitably desperate.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Side 2 begins with more loss and betrayal in the form of murder ballad <i>Delia</i>, a story of gambling and unrequited love that ends with the heroine shot down <i>"with a cruel forty-four"</i>. Dylan's voice is tender, and he sings the heartbreaking <i>"All the friends I ever had are gone"</i> mournfully, communicating the loneliness perfectly. There's more murder next with <i>Stack A Lee</i>, a traditional song also known as 'Stagger Lee' and 'Stack O' Lee'. This starts with brisk strumming and cheerful harmonica (the only time this instrument gets an outing on WGW) before we learn of Billy Lyons, shot dead in a bar by his friend over a John B. Stetson hat, and going on to haunt his killer's jail cell. Less seedy but equally tragic are the deaths in <i>Two Soldiers</i>, a war ballad learned from Jerry Garcia, where battlefield promises cannot be kept. Like Bob, Garcia was a repository for obscure American folk music. Unlike the rest of the album this song had actually been present in Dylan's live shows for a few years, and he describes it as being from "...before the Wild One, before the Children of the Sun - before the celestial grunge, before the insane world of entertainment exploded in our faces". For some reason the songs from WGW are not currently available on Youtube (at least in the UK), so here's <i>Two Soldiers</i> on Spotify.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="380" src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A0VVt7RZS3yWqMeKyZA9Dsi" width="300"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like <i>Canadee-I-O</i> from GAIBTY, the Tom Paley ballad <i>Jack-A-Roe</i> tells of a young woman disguising herself as a man and following her true love to sea. It's nice after all the bloodshed to have a story with a happy ending, with the couple marrying after her lover narrowly escapes death. But the sadness returns for final track <i>Lone Pilgrim</i>, learned from Doc Watson. Bob sings softly of the pilgrim's death from <i>"contagion"</i> on this most sombre of songs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although World Gone Wrong suffers from Dylan's same lack of diction as on GAIBTY, and the mood is darker and more sorrowful, I enjoyed it a little more. Perhaps the more dominant blues theme suited his rough style; the unvarnished, lo-fi approach is certainly preferable to the ham-fisted attempts at modern production that plagued most of his output in the decade before. Also, his voice sounds less strangulated, which was a surprise - perhaps he'd warmed up a little. Things might have been improved with the inclusion of a couple of more upbeat songs; there's no <i>Froggy Went A-Courtin'</i> here to lighten the load, which makes for hard going at times. For this reason I feel that like some of the other less outstanding albums in his catalogue, the songs on World Gone Wrong would work best as part of a mixed playlist.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £115.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £84.00</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 20/10/2015</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">****************</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(I'm sorry that this isn't a more interesting blog post; at this stage in the BobBox I'm definitely flagging a bit, plus after its very similar predecessor I'm finding little to say about World Gone Wrong that I haven't already said about Good As I Been To You. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully these two albums served their purpose as a recharging exercise for Dylan's songwriting. I guess I'll find out</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-91235017896666946422015-10-12T18:01:00.002+01:002015-10-12T18:01:21.087+01:0033. Good As I Been To You (1992)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii90SFC4UoAeIUAklpSUC0tOy5YyphYmkqQXap-g_crzK8j3tHHgXZBR7BkUCkBroeuZjVFBF1r_KdA4vN6lQmX3lDDJf6bZ87M88iL5rV0HRWEQ633PuDHmEk1fgQ6w2m7SKks7cKytc/s1600/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Good_as_I_Been_to_You.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii90SFC4UoAeIUAklpSUC0tOy5YyphYmkqQXap-g_crzK8j3tHHgXZBR7BkUCkBroeuZjVFBF1r_KdA4vN6lQmX3lDDJf6bZ87M88iL5rV0HRWEQ633PuDHmEk1fgQ6w2m7SKks7cKytc/s200/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Good_as_I_Been_to_You.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two years after the release of the disappointing Under The Red Sky, and once again suffering a bout of writer's block, Dylan decided to lace up his boots and get back to his roots in order to meet his contractual obligations. With producer/guitarist David Bromberg and a semi-electric band he put down enough folk and blues cover versions to fill an album, then went off on tour leaving Bromberg to mix it. On his return he decided to record some solo acoustic numbers to add a bit of light and shade, and it was during these sessions that the thirteeen songs that make up Good As I Been To You were committed to tape, the Bromberg recordings being completely discarded*.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This resulted in his first entirely acoustic album since 1964's Another Side, and here the "seen everything" world-weary tone of voice he was going for then is now real. With the pressure of songwriting temporarily lifted from his shoulders, over thirteen songs of murder, deceit, adventure and love lost, Bob uses the words of others to recalibrate and to drill down to what's most important to him: age-old truths told plainly, in an intimate setting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The songs he chose are mostly folk ballads, and one of the best known opens the album; his reading of <i>Frankie and Albert</i>, otherwise known as <i>Frankie and Johnny</i>, is that of Mississippi John Hurt which appeared on the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Harry Smith Anthology of Folk Music, a collection much-loved by Dylan. Rather more obscure is the cowboy ballad </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Diamond Joe</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, about a penny-pinching master who treated his employees cruelly, or the sorry tale of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jim Jones</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, convicted of poaching and transported to Australia. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The former uses an arrangement popularised by Ramblin' Jack Elliott, a man who exerted a significant influence on the young Dylan. Like several arrangements here, Bob did not credit those responsible in the sleevenotes, and faced criticism (and some legal action) as a result.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of my favourite of the folk tunes is <i>Hard Times</i>, written by American songwriter Stephen Foster and first published in 1854 as <i>Hard Times Come Again No More</i>. Listen as Dylan sings <i>"'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary"</i> with his own fatigued moan:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MyWiQt3zecU" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Possibly the oldest of the folk covers is perennial US children's favourite <i>Froggie Went A-Courtin'</i>, which has its origins in sixteenth century Scotland. Several variants and dozens of recordings exist of this tale of marriage between Froggie and his Miss Mouse, one of my favourites being the exuberant version by Bruce Springsteen on his 2006 Seeger Sessions. Bob plays it deadpan here, but it's not much less enjoyable for it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other than folk, the rest of Good As I Been To You consists of the blues, and on <i>Step It Up and Go</i> (a standard otherwise known as <i>Bottle Up and Go</i> or <i>Shake It Up and Go</i>) he makes an entertaining racket. He even gets his harmonica out for <i>Sitting On Top of the World</i> and love song <i>Tomorrow Night</i>; funnily enough he played harmonica for Big Joe Williams on his 1962 recording of the former.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/obpOi2xVLlg" width="450"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan's guitar playing throughout the album is rough, but his picking is surprisingly nimble and the style suits the low key, down-home feel of the record, which conjures up images of Bob sitting on his front porch by the screen door, playing to no-one but his dogs and the crickets. In actual fact it was recorded in the garage of his Malibu home, which although it had a lawnmower resting in one corner, was no doubt a much posher garage than yours or mine.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far so good, eh? Well yes, but Dylan has a habit of chucking a spanner in the works of a potentially great album, and here that spanner is his singing. Not his voice - it's nicely aged, and I'm comfortable with the nasal quality - but his actual singing, namely the lack of enunciation. With the type of music performed here the power lies primarily in the story, and if the words cannot be understood, this power is lost. To my utter frustration he mumbles, mutters and slurs his way through the majority of the songs. Listening under normal circumstances, i.e. in a quiet room on the big stereo, I can perhaps make out one word in five. With headphones clamped into place, maybe one word in three is discernible to me. I was only able to enjoy the account of love and betrayal that is <i>Black Jack Davey</i>, for instance, when I googled the lyrics, this Scottish border ballad only becoming a pleasure to listen to once I could read along about the lady of means forsaking her husband and child for the love of the blaggard Jack. Without the lyrics in front of me as a guide, the album goes by in a bit of a homogenous blur. I'm not looking for Joan Baez or Peter, Paul and Mary levels of clarity, but just enough to be able to sit back and enjoy the story without having to try to translate Bob's incoherent mumbling. If Johnny Cash could manage to sing clearly with his weathered, often frail voice in his sixties, surely Dylan, in his early fifties at this point, could have too?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, there are no particular highs or lows. This may be because </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he felt very comfortable in his secluded recording studio (quite literally 'at home'), compared with his recollections of the ego-filled sessions for Under The Red Sky. Another factor may be the little or no direction from friend and producer Debbie Gold, who is said to have used a "hands off" approach to her job. Whatever the reason, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nothing on here can be described as riveting - although </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Froggie Went A-Courtin'</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is rather ribbeting...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The album as a whole has a timeless quality, like it could be a field recording,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and for this reason the blues covers work better as they don't have stories that require following. The tone of the folk songs make for a pleasant listen, but their most engaging aspect is agonisingly lost in translation. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read that the sessions were recorded with no notes or lyrics sheets, so well did Dylan know these songs. If only he'd provided the listener with such materials, or preferably gone beyond levels of Adele-like articulation, Good As I Been To You would have been orders of magnitude more enjoyable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gah!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*<i>Miss The Mississippi</i> from the Bromberg sessions can be found on Disc 2 of the Bootleg Series Vol. 8. A further track appears on its hard-to-find and overpriced 3-disc set.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £115.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £84.80</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 12/10/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-53461606428655334302015-10-03T20:05:00.002+01:002015-10-03T20:05:30.556+01:0032. Under The Red Sky (1990)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx55_3TtjqPC2o8ahwSDotrduPKMLhsls4R4rANp6vAjp67QJ5njdhDcamreU_OeDozQb88Yl1n6AH_-aoxpxgmbf3mfhRp2MrRmUCYx1-E5bJMpYglvzbkbm8fr3cInloTKRhDsFrzdg/s1600/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Under_the_Red_Sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx55_3TtjqPC2o8ahwSDotrduPKMLhsls4R4rANp6vAjp67QJ5njdhDcamreU_OeDozQb88Yl1n6AH_-aoxpxgmbf3mfhRp2MrRmUCYx1-E5bJMpYglvzbkbm8fr3cInloTKRhDsFrzdg/s200/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Under_the_Red_Sky.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under the Red Sky is a curious album. A glance at the tracklisting reveals the rummest set of titles since the Basement Tapes; <i>Handy Dandy, Cat's in the Well, 2 x 2</i> - all these, lyrics as well as song names, would have blended in well with those quirky, often nonsensical 1967 home recordings. But of course it's now 1990 and the music these ten songs are set to is very different, being tight, radio-friendly, R&B-infused rock.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The album was produced by Bob himself (credited on the sleeve as 'Jack Frost') and rock/pop producers and childhood friends Don Fagenson and Davis Weiss, better known as the Was brothers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things start badly with <i>Wiggle Wiggle</i> (no, I'm not making this up), which for a song that presumably is about sex ("<i>Wiggle 'til it whispers, wiggle 'til it hums, wiggle 'til it answers, wiggle 'til it comes"</i>) is distinctly unsexy, with the return of the doof-doof reverby drums and a total lack of funk or groove. Even as Bob exhorts whoever he's talking to to <i>"Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a swarm of bees"</i> there's a distinct lack of humour too, and I'm left wondering what exactly the idea is behind this oddest of songs. Maybe there isn't one, but oh mercy, at least it's short at just 2:10 minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things pick up with the title track. The strange lyrical content continues, with nursery rhyme references galore, but the music is much better, with some great slide guitar, a much improved drum sound and some fine organ. In fact it sounded so good that I was immediately moved to look up who was playing on the record, and to my surprise a whole roster of star names was listed, including my teen crush Slash (who apparently played on <i>Wiggle Wiggle</i> but you could have fooled me), Elton John, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Crosby, Al Kooper and George Harrison, the latter two providing the aforementioned organ and slide. Bob joins in with some rather decent accordion on this second track, but his vocals are decidedly dodgy at times. This probably wouldn't be as much of an issue if the words he were singing weren't so lame, but the combination of half-arsed delivery and half-written, repetitive lyrics spoils what could have been a really great song.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nPf7Vxiv2rw" width="450"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(Don't you think the guitar on the intro sounds a lot like Barbra Streisand's <i>Woman in Love</i>?)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Unbelievable</i> is a neat little rocker, again with some great, lively organ from Kooper and solid drumming from Kenny Aronoff. Dylan's voice is for the most part good, but it occasionally veers off into an inexpressive "going through the motions" manner, and when at the end he sings <i>"It don't matter no more what you got to say"</i>, I believe him. <i>Born In Time</i> is the only ballad on Under the Red Sky, and although Bob's singing is invested with plenty of crackly emotion, sometimes it's hard to discern, as if he's not properly facing the mic all the way through. The song was originally intended for Oh Mercy and an outtake can be found on the Bootleg Series Vol. 8. I actually prefer this newer version though, particularly for David Crosby's beautiful harmony vocals and some touching lyrics like <i>"In the foggy web of destiny, you can have what's left of me"</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Presumably inspired by a visit to Hyde Park, <i>TV Talkin' Song</i> is a story about Speakers' Corner, where an anti-television orator eventually causes a riot. In an echo of <i>Black Diamond Bay</i> the observer watches the incident <i>"later on that evening"</i>, ironically on his TV. This song doesn't work well at all, the difference in quality between the band and the singer coming over like a karaoke session. I think it would have been more successful had it been done as a talking blues, as its title suggests. Perhaps it did start off this way but Dylan changed it for some reason. It certainly wouldn't be his first instance of last minute self-sabotage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We return to the realm of nursery rhyme on <i>10,000 Men</i>, a single-take bluesy rocker that sees Bob's vocal all over the place, and ends with possibly the worst verse of the album:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Ooh, baby, thank you for my tea!</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Baby, thank you for my tea!</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It's so sweet of you to be so nice to me</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>2 x 2</i> is a counting song that has the feel of a spiritual, and benefits from Elton John's electric piano and some more lovely backing vocals courtesy of Crosby.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v10vHrK3wew" width="450"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These last two songs mark the beginning of the second half of the album, which to me is by far the better side, especially as it contains my favourite track, a statement of faith called <i>God Knows</i>. It begins gradually, slowly building momentum before bursting into a melodic, energetic rocker with powerful, bluesy guitar licks from Stevie Ray Vaughan. Even Bob's wobbly warbling can't drag it down. It's another leftover from Oh Mercy, and again I prefer this newer version, as the one on Bootleg Series Vol. 8 lacks the terrific intro and guitar riff. Like a lot of songs on Under the Red Sky it seems as though Dylan wasn't sure how to end it, so as a result it doesn't fulfill its potential, simply fading out after three minutes.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hO2l9f3IIKc" width="450"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first ten seconds of <i>Handy Dandy</i> are thrilling and full of promise, mainly because Al Kooper's squealing organ intro is reminiscent of <i>Like A Rolling Stone</i>. But then in come dull, thudding drums and some off-kilter accordion farts. The promise is broken and the story of Handy Dandy (Prince? Reagan? Dylan himself?) with his <i>"...stick in his hand and a pocket full of money"</i> disappoints, becoming just so-so. Luckily, closer <i>Cat's in the Well</i> is on hand to round off the album with some simple but dynamic R&B where Bob's accordion playing and his singing both sound full of vim. Stevie Ray's brother Jimmy takes over lead guitar with an equal amount of spirit, and even the horse <i>"...is goin' bumpety-bump"</i>. It's a great finish, and more often than not makes me want to put the record straight on again - perhaps skipping over the opener, though.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under the Red Sky is a great sounding record with a fair share of decent tunes. However, despite the presence of its star players, it still somehow lacks a spark, and has an anonymous, generic sound that really could be any set of talented session musicians. Also, Dylan's vocals let him down; frequently unfocused and often set to Full Phlegm, they generally fail to get his message across, although when that message is <i>"Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a bowl of soup"</i>, I don't suppose it really matters. In fact some of the time he really does sound as if he's embarrassed by the words coming out of his mouth - and I don't blame him.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having said this, I think that some of the criticisms used to write off the album at the time of its release were a bit unfair; those about "childish" or "nonsensical" lyrics. Of course Under the Red Sky is full of them, but I bet if some of these songs had been recorded in a basement with a bunch of Bob's cool mates 25 years before, many fans and critics would be raving about their 'naive charm' and 'topsy-turvey nursery wit', or some such other bollocks about old, weird America.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't have a problem with the lyrics on their own, it's just that they don't sit well with the type of music underpinning them here. If you can get over this curious dissonance, it's a really enjoyable record; if you can't, then it's still a pleasant noise to have playing inoffensively in the background. If the songwriting were as tight as the playing, and if Dylan had injected more energy into his delivery, Under the Red Sky would have been an incredible album. As it stands, it's merely very good.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £118.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £85.64</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 03/10/2015</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-13812528372558068232015-09-26T10:28:00.002+01:002015-09-26T10:34:29.352+01:0031. Oh Mercy (1989)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsyjk0WbkZkPkYGBITuhbGHwCxycTU8u2Clux4Ebb17yXC7zZXBvnU9dNlWkqtIUljt07LMGLCUK08a3Ohak8_0tXp6N9V61pgSjnQ6oS7x3vr62fll8nTvsUjPpyybN9GcncNjaVvWI/s1600/oh+mercy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvsyjk0WbkZkPkYGBITuhbGHwCxycTU8u2Clux4Ebb17yXC7zZXBvnU9dNlWkqtIUljt07LMGLCUK08a3Ohak8_0tXp6N9V61pgSjnQ6oS7x3vr62fll8nTvsUjPpyybN9GcncNjaVvWI/s200/oh+mercy.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week when I wrote my post on Dylan & The Dead, the weather was cold and grey with nonstop rain. The following morning as I listened to Oh Mercy for the first time, the sun came bursting out from behind the clouds. Talk about a frickin' metaphor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right from the off it's clear that Bob is more engaged than he's been for years. Urgent opener <i>Political World</i> may be a weak start with it's repetitive Chris Rea chug and vague social commentary, but his singing is much more controlled. The whine has been tamed, and because he's more closely miked, his delivery is more intimate with no sign of straining. The addition of a chorus or a middle-eight might have livened it up some, and the lyrics are more <i>Neighbourhood Bully</i> than <i>Masters of War</i>, but to hear Dylan sounding like he gives a shit again is most welcome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh Mercy was recorded in New Orleans and produced by Daniel Lanois, whose success with U2 led to Bono recommending him. A tight group of musicians who'd recently played on the Lanois-produced Yellow Moon by the Neville Bothers were brought in, marking a big shift away from Bob's two previous studio albums that had consisted of material thrown together from a variety of sessions with dozens of personnel. This, coupled with Lanois' trademark sound and his quite controlled - some say strict - way of working, led to Dylan's strongest, most cohesive and most satisfying album in a decade; clean yet "swampy", spacious yet submerged, heavy on reverb and light on percussion, with no famous friends, no cover versions, and no bloody backing singers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course none of this means a thing without some decent material, and Bob's songwriting has taken a distinct turn for the better, too. <i>Where Teardrops Fall</i> opens with some beautiful slide guitar and, oh my gosh, a TUNE! A simple one, yes, but a pretty country tune. It's accompanied by Dylan's gruff but tender vocal that's also more clearly enunciated than ever. Maybe it was the music, maybe I was just having one of those days, but on the first listen I got quite misty-eyed, especially when the sax came in at the end. At just two and a half minutes it's short but very sweet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HCb7Rtixw-4" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The chiming rock 'n' roll of <i>Everything Is Broken</i> is a list of complaints signalling the author's dismay at the modern world, rhyming "broken" with words like "joking" and "croaking" like only an American can. The simple riff and propulsive beat are arresting, and there's a glimpse of a different harmonica sound, but as for the subject matter, well, we've been here before and this variant reveals nothing new.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's the next three songs that for me are the beating heart of Oh Mercy. Like the first rays of spring after a long, dark winter, it's lovely to hear the emotion returned to Bob's voice on the hymnal <i>Ring Them Bells</i>, which openly references his faith for the first time since the beginning of the decade. Despite the lyrics there's a hopeful quality that comes from both the solemn piano and the cracked beauty of his voice. The up-tempo live version on Bootleg Series Vol. 8 is also worth a listen.</span><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Man in the Long Black Coat</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is a proper old-fashioned ballad of doom, its air of menace and tale of temptation putting me in mind of Nick Cave's murder ballads. We can even hear the crickets chirping as the demon lover claims his bride, much like we did on </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day of the Locusts</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> from New Morning. Bob delivers the words in groups of mainly three syllables, as Lanios' musical marsh provides a suitably grim backdrop. It's remarkable that this particular song was written in the studio and then successfully recorded on the first take.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd already heard the bittersweet </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the Time</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on the soundtrack to High Fidelity, and for me this defiant, weary account of coping with love lost, with its mournful wash of guitars and echoing drums, is the most moving song on Oh Mercy. As elsewhere, the sympathetic instrumentation allows Dylan's words, here sung in a gentle, weathered croon, to hold the listener's attention.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IpnzjlqeF78" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The following trio of songs are less strong, but thanks to the consistent production they fit well. The piano, bass and acoustic guitar on the introspective <i>What Good Am I?</i> are led by a soft, heartbeat-like thud as Bob questions his own worth. I'm not at all keen on the rather clunky mis-step <i>Disease of Conceit</i> (worst lyric: <i>Conceit is the disease that the doctors got no cure, They've done a lot of research on it but what it is they're still not sure"</i> - erk!); the far superior outtake <i>Series of Dreams</i> would have been preferable. The verses of <i>What Was it You Wanted?</i> are separated by some harmonica that sounds very different to Dylan's previous style, so much so that I had to check the credits to see who it was playing. Like the change in his singing, it displays more control, perhaps another consequence of the producer's discipline. His faith rears its head again as the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane is referenced for the first time since Saved. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shooting Star</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, addressed to a former lover or perhaps his god - certainly someone to whom he's no longer close - is a beautiful bookend, summing up the combination of cynicism and vulnerability that is Oh Mercy, and the dissatisfaction and resignation of middle age. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apparently only recorded at night, the album has a dark, sometimes gothic feel, suffused with melancholy and self-doubt. Daniel Lanois surrounds the songs with a dense, mysterious fog that's able to conceal the shortcomings of the weaker material, making what might have been a middling album into a great one. He's said that he was going for a "swampy" sound and he achieved it; as well as giving the record a strong identity, it also allows me the pleasure of imagining a quiet, shadowy Louisiana mangrove forest, with Bob as a gnarly old snapping turtle, complaining that the frogs round here don't taste as good as they used to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But much of the credit also belongs to Dylan. His ability to write interesting, moving lyrics has returned, as has his knack for a tune. The level of engagement with his material shines through; he sounds like he cares once more about what he's singing, no longer just going through the motions. Long may it last.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Tomorrow will be another day</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Guess it's too late to say the things to you</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>That you needed to hear me say</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Seen a shooting star tonight</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Slip away</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>**************************</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £109.88</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 26/09/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-42204888127984319062015-09-16T18:11:00.001+01:002015-09-16T18:11:46.191+01:0030. Dylan & The Dead (1989)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuqikO_HazKUaKxjMJYgHBc9fHaNjNxCIXiAsHO9ItrnP7f1H9__tWwz1zEibnCvLhNAXR6EqOxsAxoa9ykrkZNbJSxHEta2oszpauJnndrYx5YCOPg4X_fpnnfxTnPAnqq2GvmLTybo/s1600/Bob_Dylan_and_the_Grateful_Dead_-_Dylan_%2526_the_Dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuqikO_HazKUaKxjMJYgHBc9fHaNjNxCIXiAsHO9ItrnP7f1H9__tWwz1zEibnCvLhNAXR6EqOxsAxoa9ykrkZNbJSxHEta2oszpauJnndrYx5YCOPg4X_fpnnfxTnPAnqq2GvmLTybo/s200/Bob_Dylan_and_the_Grateful_Dead_-_Dylan_%2526_the_Dead.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan & The Dead is the sound of one man not giving a shit, and some others trying to follow him. Recorded during a six-date stadium tour in the summer of 1987, this live album wasn't mixed until the following year, then sat in Columbia's vaults for another few months before eventually coming out in February 1989, by which time Bob's musical rehabilitation had begun with the release of Traveling Wilburys Vol.1.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of the seven songs here, the most recent are two from 1979's Slow Train Coming, beginning with a funky <i>Slow Train</i> recorded on the 4th of July in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It's pretty shaky, but the members of the Grateful Dead manage to just about hold things together. Dylan's voice and phrasing are good and he seems to be enunciating well, but unfortunately it sounds as though he's doing so from beneath a thick blanket, such is the mix. Its album-mate <i>Gotta Serve Somebody</i> is just as funky, even bouncy, and for a little while the band hit a groove. But Bob's delivery is tired, lacking the fervour of the original, and he's seemingly unsure how to end the song, leading to a long, drawn out finish with the Dead just kind of petering out. Guitarist Bob Weir's account of the rehearsals that describes Dylan as unwilling to work on each song more than a couple of times seems borne out by the ramshackle, aimless arrangement.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sogAlB5e9MI" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rest of the tracks are drawn from much earlier, including two songs that have appeared several times before on official live albums. The now-standard Hendrix version of <i>All Along the Watchtower</i> works pretty well despite Dylan's best efforts to drag it down with lifeless vocals. He later wrote about this period in his autobiography (or as I prefer to call it, his sorta-biography) how he no longer felt able to relate to his old songs, which certainly explains a lot, although as a professional musician you'd think he could have faked it for all the money he was making off this tour (a reported 70-30 split with the Dead). The Dead themselves come close to a jam, with a pleasant, if slightly awkward instrumental passage in the second half, but much like the rest of the record, their sound is too watery for the needs of the song. The most that can be said for the leaden warhorse <i>Knockin' on Heaven's Door</i> is that at least it's not another bloody reggae version.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The worst example of Bob's inability to take ownership of his compositions is <i>I Want You</i>, recorded in Oakland, California on one of the last dates. His singing is atrocious; enunciation is for the most part non-existent, and his embarrassing fluffing of the lyrics renders them meaningless. The chorus suffers from too many <i>"I wan-choo"</i>s and it seems he just can't be bothered to even try and do justice to what is one of his loveliest, most yearning pieces of work. The band trot along at a sprightly clip, and there's a nice little guitar solo (though not exactly earth-shattering, as some Deadheads would have you believe), but that watery sound again lets things down.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Directly following this butchering, <i>Queen Jane Approximately</i> comes as a welcome surprise. This is its first appearance on a live album, and is a real high point. It's still a tad sludgy and it lacks the optimism of the H61R original, but Garcia provides sensitive guitar all the way through, and Dylan's indifferent vocals are unable to spoil such a wonderful song. If you were wondering which single track makes D&TD worth getting, it's this.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/reSiftzAAy0" width="450"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The one least worthy of your cash I'd say is the ten-minute bore-fest <i>Joey</i>. This turgid ode to gangster Joey Gallo formerly polluted the exotic sands of 1976's Desire, and here it stinks the place up once again. Whereas on Desire I felt that it should have been ditched for superior outtakes such as <i>Catfish</i> or <i>Golden Loom</i>, here I'd have preferred it to make way for a couple of more interesting songs from the tour such as <i>The Ballad of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest</i> or <i>Wicked Messenger</i>, both John Wesley Harding tracks that the Dead apparently wanted to include but were rejected by Dylan.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to Garcia, Bob made his selections for D&TD by listening to cassettes on a $39 boombox, which may go some way towards explaining the final tracklist. Like many of his live albums, the songs chosen from what is always a wide pool are somewhat questionable. Why <i>Knockin'</i> and <i>Watchtower</i> AGAIN? Why not <i>Chimes of Freedom</i>, or even better <i>John Brown</i> which appeared at a Bob Dylan concert </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for the first time</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> since 1963? Like Real Live, it represents another wasted opportunity to let us hear lesser-heard live versions, those songs that usually make concert albums so attractive.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On paper, the coming together of the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan sounds like a good match, not least because the Dead already frequently covered Bob's songs at their own concerts. But instead of an acid-drenched celebration of rock, blues and Americana, what actually results from this great meeting of musical giants (both past their peak, true) is the sound of a jam band not jamming, and one of the most - if not <i>the</i> most - </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">influential</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">singer-songwriters of the 20th century forgetting his words and carelessly mumbling those ones he can remember, his unique gift for phrasing now a thing of the past.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob has always benefited from a strong, cohesive backing band, but here it just doesn't work. That they fail to gel is no doubt due to the limited rehearsals, but Dylan's lack of direction and inability to lead is probably why they do this so miserably. Neither party exudes much energy or emotion; I didn't exactly expect lots of between-song patter, but for those onstage to have at least sounded vaguely awake would have helped to make this live document less, well - <i>boring</i>. I'm not familiar with any of the Grateful Dead's other music, but the pleasing backing vocals they contributed to <i>Silvio</i> on Down in the Groove are miles better than what they provide on D&TD. Whoever's job it was to produce and mix the album can also take a small amount of the blame for the absence of atmosphere, as there's very little audience noise to be heard, but by and large it's Bob who must take the flak for this wretched little record.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £125.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £84.66</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 16/09/2015</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-37603591990083068272015-09-07T19:38:00.006+01:002015-09-07T19:38:39.953+01:0029. Down in the Groove (1988)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpVY-SnKcpogIm394V-xxxIyVx1togQhG8HZp36ogCO_lvxQ2ETlJpuOBbCB1ki6Q8Np18v0bju2QT3FOOs5lwHlNqLZ50sSRTgTmLRWys8PZ-cjAKuiaV3oxY8f1l8imKYHZ0INiGxE/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Down_in_the_Groove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrpVY-SnKcpogIm394V-xxxIyVx1togQhG8HZp36ogCO_lvxQ2ETlJpuOBbCB1ki6Q8Np18v0bju2QT3FOOs5lwHlNqLZ50sSRTgTmLRWys8PZ-cjAKuiaV3oxY8f1l8imKYHZ0INiGxE/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Down_in_the_Groove.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a couple of years of procrastination that saw Bob touring with both the Grateful Dead and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, undertaking a multitude of different recording sessions, and appearing onstage with folks as diverse as Taj Mahal and Michael Jackson, he finally put out Down in the Groove in the first half of 1988. After a few days of procrastination that saw me do almost anything than deal with Down In The Groove, I set aside my now perfectly organised sock drawer and finally got stuck in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like its predecessor, DITG is a product of lots of different sessions in a variety of studios with another dizzying array of musicians; in fact I believe that no two songs here come from the same recording session. Although it was essentially finished in 1987, Dylan's constant fiddling with the tracklisting and Columbia's reluctance to put it out meant that it didn't hit the shelves until the following May, by which time Bob was getting his mojo back with the Traveling Wilburys.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's apparent from the outset is the improved production; gone is that tinny, reedy quality of the last few records, to be replaced by a richer band atmosphere, and the 80s special effects are now banished. With a better sound it's a shame that better songs couldn't be mustered. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's clear from the number of cover versions that Dylan's ability to write had almost entirely deserted him; of the ten songs here only four are originals, and two of these were co-written with Dead lyricist Rob Hunter. Three covers kick off the album, followed by the four self-penned songs, then three more covers bring things to a close. First up is a turgid rock-by-numbers </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's Stick Together</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which boasts some meaty guitar but suffers from a bored-sounding vocal and some rubbish one-note harp blowing. A nicely moody synth intro (courtesy of Madelyn Quebec) begins </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Did You Leave Heaven?</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> but once Bob's aimless 'singing' and seemingly random guitar twanging commences, it's rendered a horrible, tuneless mess that's barely a song. After two minutes or so of meandering nothingness it just sort of gives up and comes to and end. Compared with Big Bill Broonzy's tender version or Tony Martin's romantic original, it comes across as lazy "that'll do" filler whose inclusion is baffling and yet depressingly familiar.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sally Sue Brown</i> was soul singer Arthur Alexander's debut single, and here Dylan enlists the help of Paul Simonon and Steve Jones to record a passable cover. Bobby King and Willie Green provide excellent <i>"ah-umm"</i> backup vocals, but unfortunately Madelyn Quebec's bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span> are beyond irritating, tunelessly shadowing Dylan's competent lead all the way through.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZF07nXPQoNI" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Death is Not the End</i> was a Dylan original left over from Infidels, so features Mark Knopfler as well as Sly and Robbie. Overdubbed are some vocal harmonies from New Jack Swing artists Full Force, although like Simonon and Jones' contributions to the preceding track, you'd never know it without being told. The song starts promisingly with gentle harmonica and a lone drum beat, but once again it all goes pear-shaped as soon as Dylan opens his mouth. The lyrics are trite, the melody is embarrassingly sing-song in nature and repetitive, and Bob's ability to condense and stretch words to fit a line, displayed as recently as <i>Brownsville Girl</i>, has vanished, at its worst resulting in an uncomfortable <i>"law ab-id-ing citizen"</i>. At one awful juncture it suddenly gets louder, threatening to erupt into a mawkish crescendo, but thankfully it doesn't, and just returns to dirge, his weary vocal eventually fizzling to a close. I'd read that Nick Cave recorded a decent version on his Murder Ballads album, accompanied by PJ Harvey, Kylie and Shane MacGowan. I googled it hopefully, but found it to be acutely toe-curling by comparison, so kudos to Bob for simply boring us.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Had a Dream About You, Baby</i> written for the straight-to-video movie Hearts of Fire in which Dylan starred, features Ronnie Wood, Kip Winger and Eric Clapton (the version here being an alternate mix to the one used in the film). As you'd expect, the playing all round is great, including some very lively organ, and Dylan is in good voice too, but none of this is enough to make up for the distinct lack of a tune. At least Bob sounds awake here, which I suppose is something.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lowest point of the album, and possibly of the entire decade (the competition is fierce, mind), is the co-write <i>Ugliest Girl in the World</i>, which </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with it's generic blues-rock and dreadful one-joke lyrics</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is certainly a contender for ugliest song in the world. Dylan quite often runs out of words entirely, finishing one line with </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"mmm, yeah"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, as if he can't even be bothered to sing it properly - and this during a song that's barely written in the first place. Much better is the bouncy </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Silvio</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which jogs along with a Wilburys breeziness, possibly because the genius that is Nathan East plays bass. Members of the Grateful Dead provide backing vocals, their lighthearted </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"come on, wooh-wooh"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">s contributing to the energetic, collaborative atmosphere on which Bob actually sounds like he's having fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With its tambourine shaking, melodramatic piano and soulful male and female backing vocals, Bob's take on Hank Snow's song of a doomed affair <i>Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)</i> sounds like the extended intro to a gospel belter that never comes. His vocal is committed and mournful, making this a high point of the album for me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q2-naw6-q0M" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The final two covers feature more sparse instrumentation; the traditional song <i>Shenandoah</i> is just Bob on guitar, vocals and harmonica, backed by East's bass and a female vocal trio. The Stanley Brothers' <i>Rank Strangers To Me</i> is even more stripped down, with Dylan's lonely voice and guitar accompanied by just Larry Klein on bass, matching the loneliness and alienation of the lyrics beautifully.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As pleasant as the last few tracks are, there's nothing on Down in the Groove to make it a worthwhile purchase, let alone an essential one. Most of it is utterly forgettable, due to the uninspired arrangements and sub-par songwriting. Although several illustrious guests appear, for the most part they could be anyone, anonymised as they are by the generic sound that characterises much of the album. That's not to say it's terrible - there are no arse-clenchingly awful moments like on Knocked Out Loaded (although mine remains somewhat tense since the gruesome choir of kiddies on <i>They Killed Him</i>) - it's just... not very good. As a whole it beats its predecessor, but unlike KOL there's no single track that I'd recommend downloading.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ah, well. I'm led to believe that things pick up soon. Please tell me they do. Please?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £125.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £85.57</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.48px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 07/09/2015</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-18773781767323094042015-08-29T20:19:00.003+01:002015-08-29T20:19:49.022+01:0028. Knocked Out Loaded (1986)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGdp5XxXEYKxHmOiWBGfyP5p1LJRfz2QXtgEzDz2nxgYiycdK24xlRGJcdZlEqDvS0Wru77GFCuOe-U15g2BJZ7DFzinafwu7F-fgQSrmpC7IZB0Br1KN_Qb_uAsco59a4Ze4DHn9UjGs/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Knocked_Out_Loaded.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGdp5XxXEYKxHmOiWBGfyP5p1LJRfz2QXtgEzDz2nxgYiycdK24xlRGJcdZlEqDvS0Wru77GFCuOe-U15g2BJZ7DFzinafwu7F-fgQSrmpC7IZB0Br1KN_Qb_uAsco59a4Ze4DHn9UjGs/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Knocked_Out_Loaded.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Creatively adrift in the 1980s yet under pressure from Columbia to put something out to promote on tour, Bob cobbled together Knocked Out Loaded in the spring of '86 from cover versions, co-writes and a few warmed up leftovers from older sessions. He later described the album as "<i>...all sorts of stuff. It doesn't really have at theme or a purpose"</i>. The man wasn't kidding. Literally dozens of names appear on the credits, counting Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (with whom he was touring at the time); </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">several guitarists including T-Bone Burnett, Ron Wood and Dave Stewart; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">over </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">twenty</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> names for "background vocals"; six bassists including James Jamerson Jr.; plus a smattering of familiar old hands like Al Kooper, Steve Douglas and Steve Madaio. If all this sounds to you like it resulted in a bit of a mess, you'd be bang on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First up is a cover of Little Junior Parker's <i>Do You Wanna Ramble</i>. Opening with a long, farty bass note, it finds Dylan in good voice and features some nice R&B riffage and pleasant, low-key backing vocals. It doesn't really go anywhere, but after the last couple of turkeys in the BobBox it's a surprisingly decent start. But my goodness, what's up with those DRUMS? Mixed way too high and with a frankly ridiculous amount of reverb, they sound like a toddler bashing a dustbin lid with a rolling pin (albeit a toddler with great time), ruining what's probably the second best song on the album.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is immediately followed by the <i>worst</i> song on the album (and that's saying something): a cover of Kris Kristofferson's syrupy paean to Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Jesus, <i>My God They Killed Him</i>. I've not sought out KK's original, but to his banal lyrics Dylan heap</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">s on reedy brass, horrible echoing vocals and out-of-tune gospel bv</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">s</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, all wrapped up in tinny, paper-thin production. The vomit on the cake comes from a children's choir; thankfully after a couple of sickly lines they disappear as suddenly and as bafflingly as they arrived. Press play if you dare:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/izNemOyLlQc" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(It's just occurred to me that those kids sound exactly like Ned Flanders' boys.)</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The third cover on Knocked Out Loaded is a reggae-lite version of a traditional gospel hymn called <i>Precious Memories</i>, complete with steel drums. It's not terrible, but rather boring and dronesome. At this low point in his creativity I can understand why Bob would lean heavily on cover versions, but given the wealth of material out there, the songs he picked are all unremarkable and the execution just terrible. It feels like he was desperately looking around for inspiration and coming up with nothing, and then just losing interest, thinking "fuck it" and including anything that he thought he could get away with.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three of the five Dylan originals on KOL were collaborative affairs, no doubt undertaken in the hope of being jolted out of his writer's block. <i>Got My Mind Made Up</i> is a competent rocker written with Tom Petty. Musically it's one of the most interesting songs on the album, featuring as it does the Heartbreakers, but it's still very close to the outskirts of Dullsville. <i>Under Your Spell</i> is another nothing-song, this time co-written with Carole Bayer Sager. This faintly pleasant track was recorded at Eurythmic Dave Stewart's London studio and Dylan's voice here isn't bad; he at least sounds like he cares about what he's singing, which is more than can be said for much of the rest.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you've heard anything about Knocked Out Loaded you'll know that the most well-regarded (indeed the <i>only</i> well-regarded) track is <i>Brownsville Girl</i>, a song written with playwright Sam Shepard and originally called <i>New Danville Girl</i> in its first incarnation before being rewritten and re-recorded. Over 17 verses the narrator's reminiscenses flit between a half-remembered film and a series of better-remembered experiences, a product of Bob's half-remembered songwriting talent. The movie in question is 1950's <i>The Gunfighter</i> starring Gregory Peck, and the song is addressed to the Brownsville girl herself, an old flame. Dylan speak-sings his way through this long, rambling tale in a conversational style, and there are lyrical gems to be found among the vivid pictures he paints, such as <i>"...it blows right through me like a ball and chain"</i> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and more amusingly </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I didn't know whether to duck or run, so I ran"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. It's also full of unusually long lines that Bob seems able to fit in with ease, like </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Now I know she ain't you but she's here and she's got that dark rhythm in her soul"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter is that his name wasn't Henry Porter"</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Perhaps the most telling in terms of where he was at this point in his career is <i>"Oh if there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now, You know I feel pretty good, but that ain't sayin' much"</i>, which ironically, sums up all of Knocked Out Loaded except this unexpectedly great song. It's a shame that the canvas on which it's painted is inferior; the melody is merely so-so, there's once again a stupid amount of reverb on the drums, and it all gets a bit overwrought on each chorus with the frequently odd, OTT wailing from the Queens of Rhythm combining with screeching brass to replicate the sound of a cross elephant stuck in Vegas nightclub. Overall <i>Brownsville Girl</i> is a success, but it's not really able to sustain itself over the 11 minute running time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OReLdgZmCac" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This leaves the two Dylan-only songwriting efforts, and it's under this harsh spotlight that his writer's block is most plainly evident, as both are cast-offs from Empire Burlesque and both are no more than boring, repetitive, melody-free filler. <i>Driftin' Too Far from Shore</i> includes a lame 80s guitar break from Ron Wood, and Dylan's vocal on betrayal tale <i>Maybe Someday</i> is so heavily drenched in reverb that it sounds like he recorded it in the loo. Both suffer from the annoying EB production and those too-loud female backing vocals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, Knocked Out Loaded is cohesive in that it mostly sucks pretty uniformly, and it would seem that on its release, the public would agree, being united in their indifference on both sides of the Atlantic (it reached a high of no. 35 in the UK and no. 53 in Dylan's home country). As charming as it is, <i>Brownsville Girl</i> isn't enough to save it, and to those considering spending actual money I'd recommend either downloading the track individually, seeking out one of the compilations on which it appears, or even ripping the original <i>New Danville Girl</i> from somewhere like youtube.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This loss of identity that Bob seems to be going through at the moment is frustrating for me as a listener, so I can't imagine how despairing he must have felt at the time. It's as if the the only thing he knows for sure about Bob Dylan right now is that his real name isn't Bob Dylan. I can only hope he rediscovers his mojo soon, as there are still over a dozen discs left in the BobBox. Knocked out loaded? Perhaps. Down but not out? I'll have to wait and see.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £125.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £84.46</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 29/08/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-18361393607366298822015-08-22T07:30:00.001+01:002015-08-22T07:32:37.323+01:0027. Empire Burlesque (1985)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1C1Lfmh_OIYTnkQ49N3HFC2u3YAX0JKou2gJUVDI8LwFgsJgYrDlx3teHMcjWWWP1XR1bS0FmZSznJ7pQMJ6LxvoJoBtHDjmg50PxR_xaZzXWLPjLVqoUMuTog7h5coKMkarhzrLBK54/s1600/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Empire_Burlesque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1C1Lfmh_OIYTnkQ49N3HFC2u3YAX0JKou2gJUVDI8LwFgsJgYrDlx3teHMcjWWWP1XR1bS0FmZSznJ7pQMJ6LxvoJoBtHDjmg50PxR_xaZzXWLPjLVqoUMuTog7h5coKMkarhzrLBK54/s200/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Empire_Burlesque.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the 1980s many rock icons of the previous two decades began to incorporate new technologies and musical fashions into their work. In many cases this led to a pile of steaming turds as these failed to sit well with the artist's trademark sound (see McCartney, the Stones, Beach Boys, Clapton, Rod, Elton - the list goes on and on), but a few others like Springsteen were more successful. With Empire Burlesque Dylan falls into the first category; where previous album Infidels had begun to explore synthesised instrumentation, EB is drowning in the stuff and it seems to have been used carelessly in a desperate attempt to sound contemporary and mask inferior material.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also like Infidels, Empire Burlesque was recorded sporadically over a long period of time (in this case about eight months), but this time instead of a small, focused band, Dylan used a variety of different musicians at several different studios. He produced all of the sessions himself, handing the tapes over to turd-polisher-du-jour Arthur Baker to remix into the final record. Baker's influence is immediately apparent on opener <i>Tight Connection To My Heart</i>, where I was struck by its clean, brittle 80s sheen. First recorded during the Infidels sessions as <i>Something's Got a Hold of My Heart</i>, it's not a bad song at all; sunny, breezy and with some great input from guitarist Mick Taylor and drum and bass duo Sly and Robbie. The harmonica of the original version (which can be heard on the Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3) is replaced here with a synth sound that's somewhere between harmonica and accordion, and is rather unpleasant to my ears, but overall I prefer this do-over, mainly due to the addition of female gospel-style backing vocals which suit the song very well. Bob's voice is also sounding pretty great, something that at this stage of his career is not a sure thing from one song to next. Here's the promo video, shot in Toyko, with our hero managing at the end to pull <i>two</i> women at once. The old goat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nheBN2UWAaM" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, after this promising start the quality of songwriting drops off pretty steeply for most of the rest of the album. Like <i>"Tight Connection"</i>, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the next two tracks </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">could both be interpreted as being about either the end of a relationship or a cooling of faith. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seeing the Real You at Last</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> features members of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers plus someone credited as just "Chops" on horns. Unfortunately the song has a weak melody and no real chorus to speak of, and that familiar doof-doof drum sound doesn't help. Ballad </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll Remember You</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is utterly unmemorable; despite hearing it at least a dozen times over the past week I couldn't hum it to you now if you had a gun to my head.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More memorable is the twangy rocker <i>Clean Cut Kid</i>, which was first recorded during the Infidels sessions. I can detect some real harmonica and piano, plus there are some lovely bluesy guitar licks from guest Ron Wood. This straightforward song about the failure of a Vietnam veteran to adjust back to life on civvy street still has that hollow sound that dates it so well to the mid-80s, but compared to much of EB it feels positively organic, suiting Dylan's ragged vocals much better. The insipid production of <i>Never Gonna Be the Same Again</i> is less forgiving, showing up a reedy, tuneless croak, backed by even more out of tune yelping from the female trio who don't even seem sure of the words, let alone where to come in. Knowing Bob's way of working, it's most likely that they weren't afforded the opportunity to prepare, and probably thought that this take was just a run-through. Even worse - in my opinion at least - is the so very lame <i>Trust Yourself</i>, which suffers from banal lyrics, a weak melody and a dreadfully repetitious nature, with Jim Keltner's drumming almost entirely removed during the remix and replaced with nasty, clicky-clacky electronic percussion. After all the preaching of Dylan's religious period it's refreshing to hear him instruct us: <i>"Don't trust me to show you the truth, when the truth may only be ashes and dust"</i>. Since he put much of the responsibility for this album first in the hands of engineers and then Baker, it seems he doesn't have much faith in himself at all right now.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Emotionally Yours</i> is a little better, reminding me of <i>Is Your Love In Vain?</i> from Street-Legal. It's quite the plodder, and the production is harsh, but the outgoing instrumental is pleasant enough. The worst part is Bob's painful singing, particularly the odd pronunciation in the final chorus of <i>"I will al-ways bee-eee, mo-sha-na-lly yours"</i> as if he's recorded each syllable separately and stuck them together with Sellotape.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On first listen to <i>When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky</i> I thought it a horrible, horrible sounding track. Not because the production is so of its time, as under other circumstances I absolutely love many of its ingredients - gated reverb on the drums, big dumb bass, histrionic guitar widdling, synth horns, sharp orchestral stabs - but because they are so shoddily, haphazardly thrown together. It has that huge, propulsive feeling of epic-ness that graced the title sequences of so many 1980s movies, but the whole thing is so clumsily tossed together that it's a messy old racket indeed. I've come around to it a bit since, but I still prefer the original version recorded with Roy Bittan and Steve Van Zandt (available on the Bootleg Series 1-3) for its major-key E-Street optimism as opposed to the busy, minor-key apocalyptic pop here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M2tIj4Jd_R0" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The apocalyptic overtones continue on the funereal march of <i>Something's Burning, Baby</i>, whose biblical references include Judgement Day. Bob's voice on this is shockingly nasal, and like the previous track there are some highly irritating shadow vocals from Madelyn Quebec. The overall sound is thin, and the song</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> seems more like a demo than anything else on Empire Burlesque. Add to all this the wailing bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span> and what you get is a proper stinker.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank goodness then that Dylan required a tenth track to finish off the album. The hymnal <i>Dark Eyes</i> was written at the eleventh hour and is performed solo with just harmonica and some simple acoustic plucking for accompaniment. On an earlier album it would have been a fairly minor song, but after what's gone before it stands out as a masterclass in songwriting and stark, understated performance. Bob's cracked, weary voice doesn't have to compete with loud, clashing background music and he once again sounds like a man in control of what he has to say.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eMgeeinO4HY" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The production style of Empire Burlesque suits Dylan about as well as the designer jacket he's posing in on the album cover. A voice like his doesn't match the precise, synthetic pop sounds of the era's chart hits, which better suit the clear, strong voices of newer singers such as Phil Oakey, Alison Moyet, Annie Lennox and a thousand other, younger acts of the 1980s. The scattergun use of technological innovations in post-production also works to the record's detriment; instead of being passed to Baker for remixing I think that it would have benefited from having had a clear-eyed, experienced producer from the start to keep a hand on the tiller. Sadly by the time Baker got his hands on the album it had no direction or strong identity, and coupled with some very weak songwriting what resulted was something half-baked and covered in gaudy sprinkles. Bob must have been feeling rather uninspired in trying to sound current and fresh; this is the first time in his career where he's seen to be following trends rather than doing his own thing and setting them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do you think of Empire Burlesque? I'd particularly like to hear from you if you're a fan. Do leave a comment below.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £125.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £82.83</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 22/08/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-60181247798050216902015-08-14T18:55:00.002+01:002015-08-14T18:55:13.310+01:0026. Real Live (1984)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTlAesebUGbIJCCX5YRNMOmxKUNYtI-CjOJLZ9gpFO1uHR6KCczABEFzmfA7gPay2O1UowBD5W2jbi47FUA4tuq_shFCW1Mrf7oSKKX4zRT4pkdn0Y-b8QjfpUz51ZhMjaZqP72uK6j4/s1600/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Real_Live.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdTlAesebUGbIJCCX5YRNMOmxKUNYtI-CjOJLZ9gpFO1uHR6KCczABEFzmfA7gPay2O1UowBD5W2jbi47FUA4tuq_shFCW1Mrf7oSKKX4zRT4pkdn0Y-b8QjfpUz51ZhMjaZqP72uK6j4/s200/220px-Bob_Dylan_-_Real_Live.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Real Live is the fourth concert album to feature in the BobBox and was recorded on the final three nights of his 1984 European tour. As well as Mick Taylor on lead guitar, the band also features bassist Greg Sutton, former Face Ian McLagan on keys and Colin Allen (Focus) on drums; a very basic five-piece setup that contrasts sharply with the one on the last live album Bob put out, the flute-ridden and horn-laden <i>At Budokan</i> (which I have come to love so much that I recently picked it up on vinyl at a record sale).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The opening roar of the audience sounds just like a football crowd, so I wasn't surprised to learn that the first track was recorded at Wembley, on Dylan's one and only stadium tour. The band begin with a chugging version of <i>Highway 61 Revisited</i> which immediately put me in mind of Status Quo, then launch straight into another oldie: yet another rendition of <i>Maggie's Farm</i>, the third time in a row it's been represented on an official live release. It suits the arena-rock setting well, in that it's a fairly meat-and-potatoes rendering of a well known song, but as well as wondering why this one was chosen over others, some may find the excessively gluey vocal quite hard to take. Bob's delivery too is now close to self-parody, with heavy emphasis on every two or three words. It's not pretty but I found it compelling, perhaps because this was the first time I'd heard him sounding so like the impersonations that always have me in stitches. If you too find this amusing you might also enjoy Sutton's comedy bassline - you know, the one used when the holiday camp compère introduces the house band halfway through the evening's cabaret - but on the other hand you might just consider it ridiculous and lazy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We leave Wembley Stadium for the next song, which was recorded at Ireland's Slane Castle on the very last night of the tour. I can't make up my mind about this version of <i>I and I</i>; on first play it sounded quite flattened in comparison to the original Infidels version which of course boasted Sly and Robbie, but on subsequent listens it surprised me by seeming more buoyant. Since then it's once again become lumpen to my ears, so all I can really say is that it's an okay live version of one of the better songs from an okay album. See what you think:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bYeA-TOEVds?list=PLknidvzcLCRFCf5oOIzWR1RJgiuYT4p0R" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end Taylor briefly doodles on his guitar, and for a few seconds it sounds like he's going to break into <i>Start Me Up</i> in a perhaps sarcastic nod to his former bandmates' last (ever) top ten hit, but no, we're off to St. James' Park in Newcastle for another Infidels track, a straightforward reading of <i>License to Kill.</i> This and<i> I and I</i> are two of the better tracks from their parent album, but it's a shame that room couldn't be made for the standout <i>Jokerman</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We're back to Wembley for the next four songs, beginning with a solo acoustic <i>It Ain't Me Babe</i>. The crowd provided my first set of goosebumps, lustily singing the first chorus for Bob and engaging in a positive feedback loop of excitability with his harmonica riffing at the end. It's absolutely wonderful, and sadly the only real 'moment' offered by Real Live.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/muLNiEjRCBU" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Equally well-received is <i>Tangled Up in Blue</i> (also solo acoustic, thankfully!), which here is given a radical re-write that the crowd seem to really go for, although I get the feeling that had Dylan presented them with a version of Humpty Dumpty played on a Bontempi keyboard, as long as he shouted "tangled up in blue!" every couple of minutes they'd have been just as satisfied. When asked about the new lyrics, Bob has stated in interviews that this is how <i>Tangled</i> should originally have been, but for whatever reason turned out differently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The full-on Dad Rock version of <i>Masters of War</i> that follows is certainly different, almost unrecognisable, although while it sounds less bitter it doesn't lose the haunting quality of the original. Like on most of the album Taylor turns in a blistering solo, and he does this again for the last time on Real Live on next track <i>Ballad of a Thin Man</i>. McLagan adds some great, spooky organ to rival Al Kooper's, although I now kind of miss the dramatic "dah-dah-DAH-dah" of the show-bizzy Budokan version. I wonder if Dylan, now 43 years old and part of rock's old guard, was aware of the irony in him choosing this song to represent the 1984 tour; I'm not saying he shouldn't have played it - it's an absolute classic, after all - but I think that he now has a lot more in common with Mr Jones than perhaps he'd like to think, twenty-something years into the business.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A nasal but tender <i>Girl from the North Country</i> is received rapturously by the Slane Castle crowd before it's back to Newcastle to finish with the lively boogie of <i>Tombstone Blues</i> featuring some fine honky-tonk piano from McLagan. Apparently Carlos Santana guests on this, but I wouldn't have known from listening - he must have reigned himself in a bit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sound quality on Real Live is muffled, so I was surprised to learn that it was produced by the talented Glyn Johns, and also that it's one of the 14 albums to be specially remastered for the BobBox (by whom, I cannot find out). My complaint about Mick Taylor being under-represented on Infidels is more than made up for here; his muscular, bluesy licks and solos are all over it, and some might say it makes Real Live sound a bit samey. It does indeed lack the flair and imagination of the colourful At Budokan, but the three solo acoustic numbers break up the rock stodge somewhat. Also, it perhaps suffers from the same problem as Bob's other live albums, that of timing, in this case with the recordings being from the end of the tour when the guys are past their peak (see Hard Rain compared to Live 75). In contrast, some have criticised At Budokan for being recorded at the start of the 1978 World Tour before they'd had time to warm up (but I love it - did I mention this?).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main issue for me is the odd song selection, considering the wealth of choices available.</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of those chosen had already appeared on live albums more than once (<i>Maggie's Farm, H61R, Ballad of a Thin Man</i>), and looking at some of the setlists online I'm puzzled as to why these were picked. I'd have particularly liked to have heard Dylan's duet with Van Morrison on <i>It's All Over Now, Baby Blue</i> from the Wembley date, introduced by Chrissie Hynde.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The song selection is also heavily weighted towards his 60s material; apart from one BOTT song and two from his latest album, everything else comes from no later than 1965. Because of this, for me it's not by any means an essential album. Big Dylan fans will find it of interest for the revised <i>Tangled</i>, but other than this Real Live offers nothing new or illuminating, with fairly uninteresting readings of oldies better served elsewhere (except for <i>It Ain't Me Babe</i>, largely thanks to the audience) and not even the best song from his most recent album. It's interesting that there's nothing at all from the relatively recent 'Christian era'; I suppose he'd been too badly burned by the response to these to risk further alienating his fans, deciding instead to keep this part of his life to himself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I dare say there's a wealth of boots out there containing material to better represent this tour, but for the casual listener there's little on Real Live to recommend it, and for the average Bob fan I'd advise giving it a listen on Spotify and perhaps downloading the two acoustic Wembley numbers: <i>It Ain't Me Babe</i> and <i>Tangled Up in Blue</i>.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £111.97 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £106.30</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 14/08/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-22435814853115236462015-08-07T18:16:00.002+01:002015-08-07T18:17:17.093+01:0025. Infidels (1983)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUcDVMt3IOnZSqbQbU_D6OkxGNcO52ofAQrs3Xva0eLv0MP2BzUQJZBV6AjZ9bFFyDlD0ds_EuiEtQ1E9bYdQjq-BfuyF0smeM4umJT37er839xYtfn2gEi7KKtbV0jKSoEFI7DHUtgQ/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Infidels.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUUcDVMt3IOnZSqbQbU_D6OkxGNcO52ofAQrs3Xva0eLv0MP2BzUQJZBV6AjZ9bFFyDlD0ds_EuiEtQ1E9bYdQjq-BfuyF0smeM4umJT37er839xYtfn2gEi7KKtbV0jKSoEFI7DHUtgQ/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Infidels.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this stage in the BobBox we're now very much in the 1980s, and the production values of this decade are beginning to make themselves heard. Infidels was recorded at New York's Power Station studios, with production duties split between former collaborator Mark Knopfler and Dylan himself. Enlisting the help of Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clarke, drum and bass legends Sly and Robbie, and former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, Bob took more time and effort than usual in the recording, overdubbing and mixing of this, his 22nd studio album, perhaps in an attempt to move with the times and bolster his sales after his last three rather preachy albums hadn't exactly set the charts on fire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the opening rattle of Dunbar's drums we're straight into the vocal of <i>Jokerman</i> and it's clear that although the sermonising has disappeared, Jesus is very much still a part of Dylan's world. Over a lilting Caribbean backdrop augmented with atmospheric organ from Clarke and expressive guitar from Knopfler that acts almost as a backup vocal, the lyrics conjure up powerful imagery that references both Christian and Jewish scripture. Although the overall message eludes me, <i>Jokerman</i> is an incredible piece of work, raising my hopes that Infidels might mark a return towards the potent mixture of vivid surrealism and social commentary of Dylan's past. These hopes would be rather dashed as the album unfolded, but <i>Jokerman</i> is still one of his best songs to date. And now that we're firmly into the MTV age there's even a promo video with some fine lip-synching from Bob, which is a bit of a novelty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1XSvsFgvWr0" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sweetheart Like You</i> is equally atmospheric but is brought down by a slight melody and one particular lyric that might been seen as condescending at best and misogynistic at worst; "<i>You know, a woman like you should be at home, That's where you belong, Watching out for someone who loves you true, Who would never do you wrong"</i>. Apart from this minor mis-step, the words, which appear to represent one side of a barroom conversation, are intriguing with no doubt layers of meaning lying beneath. I love Dylan's voice here; it's gluey as hell but tender, and the added echo does it no harm. The song itself is very Dire Straits-y with a fabulous solo from Knopfler playing us out.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After two pleasant but soporific numbers, the up-tempo <i>Neighborhood Bully</i> did a good job of jerking me awake, but not in a good way. The clumsy, sarcastic defence of Israel that reduces a complex situation to simplistic rhetoric is one thing, but in addition the song is a poor attempt to rock out 80s-style. The generic guitar riff is tiresome and there's no chorus to break up the eleven - yes ELEVEN - verses, making the four and a half minutes feel neverending. Taylor turns in some nice bluesy licks, but these are buried so far back in the mix that they may as well not be there. Like on most of the album Dunbar is relegated to the role of drum machine, the relentless doof-doof-doof seemingly all that was asked of him. What a missed opportunity and waste of talent.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first saw <i>License To Kill</i> on the tracklisting I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a Gladys Knight cover. At 3:38 minutes it's the shortest song here, and the time is spent dealing with Man's self destruction, taking in environmental concerns, space travel and war.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Now they take him and they teach him and they groom him for life,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And they set him on a path where he's bound to get ill,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Then they bury him with stars,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Sell his body like they do used cars"</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The melody bears a strong resemblance to <i>Señor</i> and the harmonica solo towards the end adds a welcome dimension, letting the song breathe. Like <i>Jokerman</i> it exemplifies the way in which the various elements of Bob's new band are able to superbly meld together, although the robotic drumming is still a drawback. If only Sly had been given license to drum, this could have been an even better track.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Country rocker </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Man of Peace</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> could have done with a livelier drum track, but it too is stuck with that dull thud. For me it's the weakest song on Infidels; in terms of song structure and melody we've heard it all before and better. Some unimaginative harmonica mingles with a Taylor solo to pleasant but generically bluesy effect, along with some twangy picking from Knopfler. Clarke's organ stabs are so low in the mix that they're barely audible without headphones, and as the longest song here it drags. The lyrics are more interesting than the music, based on 2 Corinthians 11:5-15 </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,;">('Satan transforms himself into an angel of light') and using blues imagery <i>("..the howling wolf will howl tonight, the king snake will crawl")</i> in order to illustrate Dylan's disillusionment with religious hypocrisy as he sees it.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,;">The aura of dissatisfaction continues with <i>Union Sundown</i>, which questions America's outsourcing of manufacturing, as well as again seeming to condemn space exploration. The former is a bit rich coming from the man who's outsourced his band membership to three Brits and two Jamaicans, and in terms of the latter, given his paranoid attitude on some songs of late perhaps he was worried about the possibility of future clothing factories on Mars.... The music has a driving Southern rock vibe; in fact it sounds a lot like a Chris Rea record, especially with the heavy vocal echo employed. After disliking <i>Union Sundown</i> for some time it eventually grew on me pretty well, although again it suffers from a particularly harsh drum sound, and Clydie King's faint backing vocals are another casualty of a poor mix.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,;">Sly is finally allowed to do his thing (well, a bit) on <i>I & I</i>, which begins with a lovely dubby rhythm as he locks in with Robbie's bass. From the title I was dreading this being an out-and-out reggae track, but over luminous piano and some stunning licks from Knopfler, Bob's internal struggles play out while a strange woman sleeps in his bed. Like <i>Jokerman</i> it's a high point of the album; introspective, mysterious and just a little spooked.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EXVsLZ-DvmM" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sense of self doubt persists into <i>Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight</i>, addressed to a lover. The reverb on the drums is just too much, and near the end Bob's harmonica and the lead guitar clash badly. I can't imagine the meticulous Knopfler allowing this to happen; I'm assuming that this was part of the mixing/overdubbing that Dylan continued to do after Mark had left to go on tour, that he later disowned. Bob himself later admitted that the songs had been much better before this 'tampering'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then it's over. Infidels runs for just 42 minutes - mercifully short, the less charitable might say, until you realise that Dylan's last-minute fiddling meant that several superior songs like the funky Southern rocker Foot of Pride and the outstanding lament Blind Willie McTell were left off. For whatever reason, he wasn't happy with the way they'd turned out and so gave up trying to capture whatever it was that he'd envisioned, but listening to them now on the Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 it's clear that they'd have bumped up what is essentially a third-tier Dylan album to a higher level.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this reason Infidels is a frustrating album. It's also quite a boring one, as the good points you'd associate with having Mark Knopfler at the helm - careful, thoughtful arrangements and recording - are accompanied by the dire traits that also come with him, i.e. a safe, reserved airlessness that impresses but fails to excite. Even with an ex-Rolling Stone on board it all just feels too <i>clean</i>. He succeeded in giving the album a strong cohesion, and the contemporary touches are for the most part subtle, fitting in well with Bob's songwriting, which has itself taken a turn for the better by still being informed by his faith but managing to leave the dogma behind. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rather pedestrian AOR sound, coupled with the muted, slightly depressing mood meant that it took many plays before all of the songs stood out for me. I feel that the talents of Sly and Robbie were much underused, and although I enjoy Knopfler's unique guitar sound, it dominates the record - it could have done with quite a bit more Taylor, who also is also under-employed, or perhaps just buried in the final mixes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob's questionable choices over tracklistings for both this album and the last, plus his difficulty in settling on a producer then overriding their decisions leads me to conclude that his judgement was a bit off at the beginn</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ing of the new decade. I'd been wondering who the infidels of the album title refer to (Christians, Jews, non-believers, his fans?), but as he seems to have lost faith in himself, perhaps the infidel here is in fact Dylan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £130.65 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £104.79</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 07/08/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Do you like Infidels? Hate it? Let me know in the comments below.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-64296616796232294752015-07-29T18:34:00.002+01:002015-07-29T18:34:51.710+01:0024. Shot Of Love (1981)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2QeJYrxpMgfnTWYlIPy73iItf1TzKIUXKfDanIx546K-0ZYB4SfYIIoqVtGzIeAdSzy541V2hV8TvpHQIK_w-taq-u4g-iGJ5_K0Cq1OPCJe7uFa5KE1jRMhxQKrPNqVzXyYZLLTjiw/s1600/shot+of+love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU2QeJYrxpMgfnTWYlIPy73iItf1TzKIUXKfDanIx546K-0ZYB4SfYIIoqVtGzIeAdSzy541V2hV8TvpHQIK_w-taq-u4g-iGJ5_K0Cq1OPCJe7uFa5KE1jRMhxQKrPNqVzXyYZLLTjiw/s200/shot+of+love.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I first pressed 'Play' on Shot of Love my immediate reaction was to wonder whether I needed to adjust my stereo, or check that something hadn't come loose; I really couldn't believe that this horrible tinny, thin sound, like it was coming out of laptop speakers, was what I was meant to be hearing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My second reaction, as the title track danced through my headphones, was to echo the first sentence of Greil Marcus' 1970 review of Self Portrait, and ask myself <i>"What is this shit?"</i>. If anything needs a shot of love it's this song, which is basically four and a half poorly recorded minutes of sub-Rolling Stones claptrap where the take home message can be summed up as "drugs are bad, mkay?" Unbelievably produced by veteran Bumps Blackwell (Sam Cooke, Little Richard) this paranoid, angry rant is entirely devoid of love or empathy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read that Shot of Love was recorded in a variety of locations with a variety of musicians and producers, and I presume <i>Heart Of Mine</i>, if not recorded in the same place as the preceding track, was taped in a similar sized barn. Like many songs on the album, it's based on scripture, in this case Jeremiah 17:9 on the deceitful heart, here Bob's own. According to the sleevenotes it boasts an all-star (or all-Starr) cast of Ronnie Wood, Donald 'Duck' Dunn and Ringo. Dylan says that several good takes had been achieved with other musicians, but he chose this one because these guys were on it <i>"...and we did it in like ten minutes"</i>. No kidding. There's a discernible tune, but it sounds like it's being played by a bunch of learners, except for the organ, played by Benmont Tench (who wins the prize for Best Ever Name In Rock, as well as Musician Who Sounds Most Like A Geological Feature).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shot of Love was recorded mostly live with few overdubs, and although compared to his previous two albums it sounds extremely ropey, Bob succeeded in capturing the raw feel he was looking for. It certainly has an immediacy, and by third track <i>Property of Jesus</i> I decided to think of the album as a live bootleg, which improved things no end. This gospel-tinged rocker with rather self-satisfied lyrics is a swipe at those who'd criticised or questioned his faith, apparently including one Mick Jagger. Rather suitably (and deliberately?) it's the most Stones-y song here, and with its sneering vocals, corking bluesy guitar solo and soaring chorus wouldn't be out of place on Sticky Fingers. I dare say the phrase <i>"heart of stone"</i> was no coincidence either.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rtX-f9TTKuQ" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Accompanied by just simple guitar and piano, on <i>Lenny Bruce Is Dead</i> Dylan lionises the satirist and comedian, portraying him as some kind of hero/martyr type in the same way he did Billy The Kid and Hurricane Carter. Apart from the questionable lyrics, where it seems he's comparing Bruce's life to his own and even to that of Jesus, the song is a tiresome dirge that feels much longer than its 4:36 running time. Bob displays his occasional tendency to use lazy, crap rhymes, the worst of them being:</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"They stamped him and they labelled him like they do with pants and shirts</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts"</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yikes.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Watered-Down Love</i> expands upon 1 Corinthians 13:7 "Love.. believes all things, hopes all things", and seems to suggest that the love others seek is not pure enough and therefore not good enough in Dylan's opinion. This song could have been so much better if it weren't for its paper-thin sound, and what should have been a decent rock-soul crowd-pleaser is instead a watered-down version of one. As a result, the outgoing refrain becomes annoying and can't be over soon enough.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The b-side to the single version of <i>Heart of Mine</i> was a session outtake called <i>The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar.</i> Like many other songs Bob has inexplicably left off his records, <i>Groom</i> is superior to many of the tracks picked for the album, and it was added onto the cassette and CD versions of Shot of Love in the mid-80s after radio play proved it popular. A frenetic, ramshackle garage-blues with pounding piano from Carl Pickhardt and Steve Douglas doing his thing on sax, it would have slotted nicely onto Highway 61 Revisited were it not for the harsh, dry production. Still, it's a fabulous song and I can even forgive Dylan for trying to (and almost succeeding in) rhyming "January" with "Buenos Aires".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doubt and self-loathing rear their heads on the lilting, sort-of-reggae of <i>Dead Man, Dead Man</i>, where an exploration of the conflict between Bob's lifestyle and his faith are accompanied by Douglas' sax farting away in the background and some unfocused backing vocals from a similar, but less intrusive version of the female trio on Slow Train Coming and Saved. It's one of the weakest songs here, the human fallibility described in the lyrics matching that of his songwriting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Either <i>In The Summertime</i> is a vast improvement in terms of sound quality, or I was just getting used to it, but I really liked it immediately. It opens with the welcome sound of Dylan on harmonica, and his voice here is warm and affectionate. A love song that could be interpreted as being addressed to a former lover or to God, the final verse (before an oddly abrupt fade-out) is terrifically moving, ending with:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"And I'm still carrying the gift you gave</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It's a part of me now, it's been cherished and saved</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It'll be with me unto the grave</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And then unto eternity"</i>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The electric blues of <i>Trouble</i>, which is all about, erm, trouble, is the track that sounds most like a demo. The scuzzy guitar riff is suited to the rawer sound, but the repetitive nature of the song renders it boring. There's a disconcertingly loud "yeah" at around 3:43, as if Bob's fallen face-first into the mike for a second, the thought of which is most entertaining, possibly more so than <i>Trouble</i> itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like he so often does, Dylan saves the best for last. After two albums of mostly dogma he's finally able to express his faith in his own terms, uniting his gift for imagery with his new-found beliefs. <i>Every Grain of Sand</i> borrows from Blake's Auguries of Innocence:</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"To see a world in a grain of sand</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And a heaven in a wild flower,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And eternity in an hour".</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Using this idea as inspiration he reflects upon the question of whether the events of his life are within his control, consoling himself with the belief that even when he feels alone and despairing, his god is close; <i>"That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand"</i>. It's one of his most beautiful, transporting pieces of work to date, the introspective, spiritual lyrics elevated by cooing bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span>, piano and ringing guitar. The sound is much better and more intimate than on the rest of the album, and the overriding feeling of hope reminds me of Forever Young. Best of all are the two harmonica solos; they are soft, gorgeous and full of emotion, and if an instrument could ever convey a man's belief, acceptance and frailty all in a few bars, it is this one, in the hands of Robert Zimmerman. On the demo version on the Bootleg Series Vols. 1-3 the second to last line goes <i>"I'm hanging in the balance of a perfect, finished plan"</i>, but here it has changed to <i>"I'm hanging in the balance of the reality of man"</i>, signalling the ongoing struggle between the spiritual and the earthly. As well as summing up his feelings about his faith, from what I gather <i>Every Grain of Sand</i> also draws a line under his overtly Christian period in terms of his musical output.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/llK08ljfj7Y" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After displaying his versatility by writing some very decent gospel songs, on Shot of Love Dylan has returned to more familiar territory with a mostly rock sound. That he used several different studios over a longer recording period than usual shows in the varying sound quality across the album, with some potentially great songs spoiled by poor production. It seems that Chuck Plotkin, who co-produced the bulk of it, fought a losing battle over both mixing and song choice, failing to get superior works such as <i>Caribbean Wind</i> and <i>Angelina</i> onto the record. Dylan rejected most of Plotkin's "nice mixes" according to drummer Jim Keltner, who claims that "most everything you hear on that Shot of Love album turns out to be the monitor mixes". I believe him, but Bob was obviously happy with its sound, citing it as one of his favourites. That he wouldn't budge on the track choices is a shame; even less good outtakes like <i>Need A Woman</i> and <i>You Changed My Life</i> would have been preferable to <i>Dead Man, Dead Man</i> and <i>Trouble</i>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some remixing or remastering wouldn't go amiss; according to theseconddisc.com Shot of Love has "never received a sonic upgrade to date". Other sources disagree, so I'm unsure whether it was one of the albums to be remastered for the BobBox like Street Legal and Saved were, among others. If not, they've missed a trick.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even so, I enjoyed Shot of Love more than I'd expected to (the sleeve art wasn't very encouraging), and the stronger tracks make up for the weak ones, especially the transcendent <i>Every Grain of Sand</i>, which<i> </i>after the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tangible anger running through the album, and the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dominant theme of spiritual bankruptcy, acts as a soothing balm. If this song is a sign of where things are headed, the future looks bright indeed - but of course word of Bob's 80s reputation is unavoidable and it looks like the next few albums in the BobBox could be a struggle to get through. I do hope you can join me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £130.65 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £105.72</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 29/07/2015</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-16987561564045648522015-07-22T07:17:00.000+01:002017-05-28T21:52:08.376+01:0023. Saved (1980)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJ_v4VOCgKJcFwccR1nMOOtHkhgS-c0yRP5u267nvxOWz2zlVZQrmj5Fzh_abcEevBbPtS6NWih4fnut3PjiU3rvUMPaxRzqZbZz0xvaed30N06uQZt5CqF9Ioz0vW6vVYBOOIwayc60/s1600/saved.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJ_v4VOCgKJcFwccR1nMOOtHkhgS-c0yRP5u267nvxOWz2zlVZQrmj5Fzh_abcEevBbPtS6NWih4fnut3PjiU3rvUMPaxRzqZbZz0xvaed30N06uQZt5CqF9Ioz0vW6vVYBOOIwayc60/s200/saved.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After the less than positive response to Slow Train Coming, Dylan displayed typical stubbornness by releasing the equally fervently religious Saved in 1980. But this is no mere drawn-out genre exercise; in fact the rougher edges of this hastily recorded album served to convince me of his commitment to his new-found saviour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like STC it was recorded in a few days, and like STC it boasts Tim Drummond on bass, a trio of female backing vocalists (all but one the same members as before) and Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett on production duties. Musically, it couldn't be more different. Gone are the gentle piano grooves and tasteful Dire Straits guitar solos, to be replaced with the kind of rollicking gospel rock and modern spirituals that wouldn't seem out of place at a revival meeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Finally, the joy of the believer has made an appearance; Saved is a celebration of Bob's faith and personal redemption, filled with praise and gratitude rather than the serious, bland sermonising of its predecessor. That's not to say it's sermon-free, but Dylan's message is much better suited to the gospel idiom (it's one I'm used to hearing it from, at least) and therefore the pill is much sweeter. There's Hammond organ and gospel piano galore, courtesy of Terry Young and the legend that is Spooner Oldham (Saved is another Muscle Shoals production), and Jim Keltner's looser drumming style replaces that of the metronome that was Pick Withers. Fred Tackett's rockier guitar style takes over from the often antiseptic stylings of Mark Knopfler.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Things begin with a version of the country classic <i>A Satisfied Mind</i>, here acting as an introduction to the title track. Guitar doodles, a few piano chords plus lots of "mmms" and "yeahs" fill out this brief sketch, before the launch of <i>Saved</i>, a driving, sanctified rave-up co-written with Drummond. A twangy guitar riff and lively piano combine with Dylan's elation at being saved <i>"By the blood of the lamb"</i>. As he tells us over and over how glad he is, there's even some tambourine shaking. It's the fastest-paced song on the album, designed to raise a roof or two, and while Bob is busy thanking God, I'm thanking him too, for letting Bob lighten up at last.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We're able to catch our breath as the tempo drops for the next two tracks. <i>Covenant Woman</i> is one of his most touching compositions to date, a song of love and gratitude featuring a beautiful vocal and sympathetic playing, particularly on the organ. This is followed by the startlingly heartfelt <i>What Can I Do For You?</i>, which with its silky backing vocals, emotional harmonica solos and undoubtedly genuine sentiment would easily make my Dylan Top Twenty list should I ever get round to compiling it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4A_CYCfIiCA" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We go back up a gear next for the upbeat <i>Solid Rock</i>, whose title perfectly describes its contents. Dylan articulates the strength of his faith with the help of the riff from the Allman Brothers' <i>Midnight Rider</i> and a great blues-rock guitar solo, his vocals enthusiastically mirrored by the female trio. It's at this point I have to confess a little prior familiarity with this album, which I rescued from a car boot sale last year: <a href="http://carbootvinyldiaries.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/hit-me-with-music.html">http://carbootvinyldiaries.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/hit-me-with-music.html</a> In fact I liked <i>Solid Rock</i> so much that I used it as the opening track on my last cloudcast, which can be found here: <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-vinyl-diaries-episode-11/">https://www.mixcloud.com/CarBootVinylDiaries/car-boot-vinyl-diaries-episode-11/</a> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although Saved is less preachy than Slow Train Coming, biblical quotes abound. <i>Pressing On</i> references original sin, and also addresses those who doubt the existence of God. It's a stirring gospel belter with glorious backing vocals, although as the song builds, the ladies begin to wail and over-emote rather, drowning out Bob's own vocal. O</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n the covers album 'Gotta Serve Somebody - The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan', the music and bv</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">s</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> on the Saved tracks are more muted, allowing the words to be more easily discerned.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Still, <i>Pressing On</i> is a strong track, and the last of these to be found on Saved. That's not to say the final three songs don't have their good points, but they took a lot longer for me get into than P</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ressing On </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and the whole of Side 1.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps putting three plodders in a row was a bad idea. <i>In The Garden</i> discusses the story of the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and the betrayal of Christ, from the Gospels. The accompanying organ, smooth church choir backing vocals and pounding drums make a pleasant noise, but they aren't enough to compensate for the lack of melody. <i>Saving Grace</i> suffers similarly, and bluesy closer <i>Are You Ready</i> makes for a disappointing finale, letting the album just fizzle out, when Dylan usually finishes with something much more memorable.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3c6b59kXx88" width="450"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Despite this unsatisfactory ending, I enjoyed Saved very much. I prefer its grittier, less 'produced' sound, and although the simplicity and directness of the words and the constant refrains might be uncomfortable for some, they certainly get the message across, and if you already enjoy gospel music this shouldn't present any new challenges. The personal lyrics make for a more inspired feel, and the fewer threats of damnation - less evangelising, more testifying - result in a more inspirational experience. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dylan's lingering 'holier-than-thou' self righteous attitude, as if he's feeling a bit smug for being specially selected over others to serve his god, can be irritating too, but this was not to last; it seems he mellowed a bit after the release of Saved, and the next concert tour featured many of his old secular songs mixed in with the new, billed as "A Musical Retrospective" that must have come as a relief to lots of fans.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Overall, I think that Saved is his most honest record yet. Whatever the cost to his career and image, Dylan made an album that expressed the way he really felt at the time, and his songs of worship are unselfconscious and instinctive. And that's the Dylan I like best.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £130.65 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £97.63</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 22/07/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com4United Kingdom55.378051 -3.4359729999999912.188302499999999 -86.05316049999999 90 79.18121450000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-64040186571617416812015-07-15T20:56:00.002+01:002015-07-15T21:21:23.746+01:00BobBox Price Drop Alert - Amazon Prime Day<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As of a few minutes ago, the Complete Album Collection, aka the BobBox, is available to UK Amazon Prime users for a staggeringly low £62.99. This runs out in less than 2 hours time, so if you've been dithering over the decision to get the set, now might be a good time!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F6Y3FKW?ref_=gb1h_img_m-6_9307_1cde67fc&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F6Y3FKW?ref_=gb1h_img_m-6_9307_1cde67fc&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has been a special BobBox Price Check.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Edit: Wow, that sold out FAST.</span>minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-69092675689462965772015-07-14T13:38:00.000+01:002015-07-14T13:38:06.541+01:0022. Slow Train Coming (1979)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQ21rnKRxYcMapH76LCWr1PWG-H2xACZj5A2_mfrj1-2r9Yjim1MuZn-VHTck6ml0W_K_S5JGWrbclrbKECY12yrE-hieMFuA7qviSJFb5EuHIz_eVFmVfTRWZ0iJ7Ol60BGbswqrt1g/s1600/Bob_Dylan_-_Slow_Train_Coming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQ21rnKRxYcMapH76LCWr1PWG-H2xACZj5A2_mfrj1-2r9Yjim1MuZn-VHTck6ml0W_K_S5JGWrbclrbKECY12yrE-hieMFuA7qviSJFb5EuHIz_eVFmVfTRWZ0iJ7Ol60BGbswqrt1g/s200/Bob_Dylan_-_Slow_Train_Coming.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether the surreal, drug-fuelled turmoil of the electric trilogy, the domestic simplicity of the country phase, the almost unbearably painful soul-bearing of Blood on the Tracks, or any other period you'd care to mention, whatever Dylan is currently into, or going through, is somehow reflected in his work. A recent magazine article* used an old quote by fellow Greenwich Village alumnus David Blue; <i>"His songs were always true to the life they were written in"</i>. Slow Train Coming is no different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're a fan of Dylan you'll already know the official story of his conversion to Christianity; something along the lines of an audience member throwing a silver cross onto the stage in late 1978, Bob picking it up after the concert, and a couple of days later retrieving it from his pocket while in his hotel room and undergoing a divine visitation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was apparently an experience so real and intense <i>("Jesus did appear to me as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords") </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that it led him to become a born-again Christian, under the wing of actress and girlfriend Mary Alice Artes (credited on the sleeve of Street Legal as 'Queen Bee') and an LA organisation called the Vineyard Fellowship.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where on Street Legal Dylan seemed to be searching for something, on Slow Train Coming he's found it, although the answers weren't so much blowing in the wind as residing in the pages of the Book of Revelation. This transformation in Bob's faith is immediately apparent just by skimming through the song titles, <i>Gotta Serve Somebody</i> being a strong contender for the most pious. When Janet Maslin wrote in a review of At Budokan in Rolling Stone, <i>"The fire and brimstone are behind Dylan"</i> she couldn't have been more wrong. Arriving on Barry Beckett's slinky electric piano riff, this album opener informs us in no uncertain terms that as far as Bob is now concerned you either serve the Lord or the devil. He goes into list mode, detailing folks in high and low places (including himself, <i>"...a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage"</i>) who must choose whom they obey, prompting John Lennon to express his disgust with the parody 'Serve Yourself'. <i>Serve Somebody</i> won Bob his first Grammy and the single sold well, providing him with his last chart hit, but it also made no. 2 in a 2013 Rolling Stone readers poll of the worst ever Dylan songs, just above 'Wiggle Wiggle' (of which I've yet to have the pleasure - coming in just ten albums' time!).</span><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Listening to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Precious Angel</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on my first play through STC, I was surprised to hear it kick off with a very Dire Straits-y guitar riff, and a quick Google revealed that Mark Knopfler appears throughout the album, specially requested by Dylan who admired 'Sultans of Swing'. Also present is Straits bandmate Pick Withers, who provides a nice crisp drum sound on this song praising both earthly and heavenly love, the earthly passion probably being Artes, who was instrumental in bringing Christ into Bob's life. The version of Christianity here is not of the happy-clappy variety; as well as proclaiming <i>"Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground"</i>, he sings about a darkness falling from above where <i>"...men will beg God to kill them and they won't be able to die"</i>. I imagine that for many of his fans this quite ugly, heavy-handed rhetoric was hard to stomach, but I dare say that in parts of his home country it also brought him a new fanbase. Lyrics aside, <i>Precious Angel</i> came to be one of my favourites on STC (maybe because it sounds a bit like If Not For You), although it's perhaps a tad over-long at more than six minutes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Acoustic strumming introduces <i>I Believe In You</i>, which describes his 'coming out' as a born-again Christian and the doubt and rejection this provoked in those around him. It's heartfelt but the words are cringey at times, particularly when he croaks out <i>"...even through the tears and the laughter"</i>, a lyric that would be more at home on the Fame soundtrack. It ends beautifully though, with a trademark Knopfler liquid solo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VMNme_qTZZQ" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like Knopfler, producer Jerry Wexler had no inkling beforehand of the overtly religious emphasis of these new songs. The employment of his polished style, mixed with the dexterity of the Muscle Shoals Horns and the restrained input of the backing vocalists may have been an attempt by Dylan to to reach a wider audience with his new important message. The pill certainly needed some sugaring; on the title track, as well as addressing unbelievers and proclaiming the unstoppable Second Coming, he turns his attention to world hunger, false idols, foreign energy and the general shoddy state of America as he sees it. This new kind of finger-pointing sounds rather xenophobic in places, but musically <i>Slow Train</i> is the best song by a mile. As well as some righteous backing vocals and a few soulful MK licks, like all of the better songs on STC it features a decent guitar riff and a funk-lite groove. The 'damned or saved' blues of <i>Gonna Change My Way of Thinking</i> has both of these, although the prominent horns sound perfunctory, lacking the swing you'd expect of Muscle Shoals pros. A welcome bit of blues smut about the <i>"Georgia crawl"</i> isn't enough to counteract the sanctimonious tone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another listy song comes next with <i>Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others)</i>, a look at the universal ethic of reciprocity the Golden Rule, which sees Bob telling us how he doesn't <i>"wanna judge nobody"</i>, hilariously enough. A sparkling, sexy electric piano groove and some fine acoustic picking lift the repetitive lyrics and mediocre melody out of the doldrums. An equally great groove is completely flattened by a boring drum sound</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> on </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When You Gonna Wake Up</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which like its predecessor lacks any backing vocals or strong melody. As well as railing against greed and hypocrisy, more constructively Dylan calls for the listener to strengthen those basic values that can overcome evil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vCOUk9o6CyA" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
At this point the album has begun to sound samey, i.e. hectoring fundamentalist preaching set to glossy gospel-funk, but this changes with the last two songs. <i>Man Gave Names to All the Animals</i> is a Sunday school song in a playful reggae-gospel style that made no. 4 on the aforementioned list of worst ever Dylan songs. Like Forever Young and bizarrely If Dogs Run Free it's been made into an illustrated <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Gave-Names-All-Animals/dp/1402768583/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_z" target="_blank">childrens' book</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The last verse of the song </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">foreshadows the fall of man, and t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he listener is left to fill in the final line for himself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like <i>Slow Train</i>, closing spiritual <i>When He Returns</i> concerns Armageddon and the return of Christ. Accompanied by just Beckett's piano, Dylan gives his most impassioned performance on the album, and his evident sincerity is genuinely moving. It's a shame we had to wait until the end of the record before this tender, less zealous side of the new convert was revealed, but it makes for a splendid sign-off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Almost immediately after his conversion Bob stopped playing all of his old songs for a long time, performing only those 'given to him by the Lord'. Whether this was a display of courage or just his usual bull-headedness is hard to say, but he's claimed in later interviews that he didn't really want to write and sing these songs himself, but felt he must. As well as playing just the religious songs, he took to sermonising on stage; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the brand of conservative Christianity he preached was that of a vengeful God, lacking mercy and forgiveness. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It must have felt like a kick in the teeth to some fans, coming from the bloke who in 1965 urged them not to follow leaders. The man who once stood for freedom of thought and expression was still following his own path but demonising the paths of others, and this proved to be a hard sell, alienating many.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Putting </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">aside the</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> lyrical content for a second (not that easy), the music on STC is mostly as purified as its maker; the sound is clean, tight and unexciting, with an airless quality that leaves me a bit queasy, much like the work of Steely Dan tends to. It's more LA smooth than Muscle Shoals grit, and I'd expect to hear more joy </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">from someone who's just found God, although <i>Precious Angel</i> has uplifting moments. Musically it's bit too 'tasteful' for my palate, like a less spirited version of the Street Legal style. If only he'd put as much feeling and conviction into the medium as he did the message, Slow Train Coming might have been a classic album. It may indeed be true that the devil has all the best tunes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*Mojo 60s Issue 3, June 2015</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £138.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £99.92</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 14/07/2015</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-34642821711528611572015-07-02T17:58:00.001+01:002016-07-02T09:09:34.151+01:0021. At Budokan (1979)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_raJsJPIg2TDw1eOqRfsEpAJpS6xGuetDiurltpIINNsdLS-B2A3HeTwD913v_0Kp3zRxDkBYjvWSE93WIvG7HpAnnUzKoLP3cM7QtTr0tvouzsg7Tra_5DkP1nEnC23SJrhjGLPmv4g/s1600/at+budokan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_raJsJPIg2TDw1eOqRfsEpAJpS6xGuetDiurltpIINNsdLS-B2A3HeTwD913v_0Kp3zRxDkBYjvWSE93WIvG7HpAnnUzKoLP3cM7QtTr0tvouzsg7Tra_5DkP1nEnC23SJrhjGLPmv4g/s200/at+budokan.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The only thing I'd heard about Bob Dylan At Budokan before I began listening to it, was that it sucks. Mightily. Recorded at the beginning of the year-long 1978 World Tour, it was originally intended as a Japan-only release to commemorate the eight-night run of concerts at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo. The popularity of the record in the form of imports and bootlegs convinced Columbia to release it next in Australia, then finally worldwide in the spring of '79. The version in the BobBox was newly remastered for this set. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Street Legal, recorded after At Budokan but released first, was described (or slammed) by critics for its supposed 'Las Vegas' style, which I wasn't really buying, but during my first listen to AB, at which the same accusations were levelled, I had to admit they had a point. Most of the songs are radically reimagined using the same eight-piece band as on SL, so as well as Billy Cross's excellent lead guitar we get sax and violins, plus soulful backing from three female vocalists. In addition, saxophonist Steve Douglas brings along a couple of other wind instruments, and David Mansfield adds pedal steel and dobro to his armoury. All this, coupled with the fact that Dylan is still in great voice at this point, gives us a double album of flamboyant, energetic, grandiose and occasionally unhinged renderings of 22 of his best known songs; a brand new Greatest Hits package, if you like. I flipping love it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Japanese promoters had sent Dylan a list of the songs they wished him to play, and surprisingly he seemed to co-operate, though I can't help thinking that there was an element of mischief in him playing the songs they requested in these new, unexpected ways. Then again, Bob is his own folk tradition and has never treated his work as sacred relics, frequently altering his songs throughout his career. But I bet he </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">got a kick out of it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From the first 30 seconds of opener <i>Mr Tambourine Man</i>, with it's chiming electric guitar and frisky 'Bod' flute (one for UK kids of the 1970s there), it's clear that all bets are off and anything might happen. <i>Going, Going, Gone</i> is sped up and given a showbizzy makeover; <i>I Want You</i> is slowed right down and turned into a lonely paean. The reggae version of <i>Knockin' On Heaven's Door</i> comes as no surprise after Clapton's similar 1975 cover, but this strategy is also applied to a thumping take of <i>Don't Think Twice, It's Alright</i>. <i>Ballad of a Thin Man</i> is the most 'cabaret' song on the whole album, the spooky organ of the Highway original augmented by the showy, dramatic 'dah-dah-DAH-dah' of the horn section and a skronking sax solo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1PiAbDMW9k0" width="450"></iframe></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Most fun is the marching band glam-rock stomp of <i>All I Really Want To Do</i> which oddly enough benefits from the prominent brass and echoing bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span>. <i>It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)</i> becomes an excitable Wings soundalike, with Bond-theme orchestral stabs and fiery guitar licks, whilst <i>All Along the Watchtower</i> is heavily indebted to the electrified Hendrix version, albeit with violin taking some of the histrionic strain. Less good are the two representatives of Desire; <i>Oh, Sister</i> is a dreary misfire that grew on me a little once I banished the gorgeous original from my mind and treated it as a completely new song, and <i>One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)</i> is a staccato bongo-laden sax-fest that haters of the hook-shaped instrument (and I know there are many) should avoid studiously. Another disappointment is the version of <i>Shelter From the Storm</i>, here re-shaped into a monotone, plodding chant, where the only musical relief comes from the dreaded (not by me, I hasten to add) sax.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To add to all the excitement, Bob surprises and confounds us (I should be used to this by now) with his between-song patter, something that hasn't cropped up on a live album so far in the BobBox. After a raucous <i>Maggie's Farm</i>, complete with a </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fame</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-inspired Bowie</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> guitar riff, he thanks the audience and tells them the name of song (presumably just in case they didn't get it from the dozen or so times he yelled it during the performance). It's not the only 'thank you' on At Budokan; Dylan returns the good manners of his Japanese fans with a fair amount (for him at least) of polite, gracious chat. He introduces the complex <i>Simple Twist of Fate</i> with an ironic "Here's a simple love story....happened to me". Like several of the songs on AB, it has some lyrical changes; "he" becomes "she" in the first verse, and the "strange" hotel is now a "renovated" one, much like the lyrics and melody, which is also slightly different. The latter verses are almost completely re-written, but the sense of loss and faint hope remain. Bob is unable to resist allowing a little sax warble after the line <i>"A saxophone somewhere played"</i>, and equally forgivable is <i>"He hears the ticking of the clocks"</i> followed by a 'tap-tap-tap' on the snare. In a cheeky nod to the bootleggers, he announces <i>Is Your Love In Vain?</i> with "Here's an unreleased song. See if you can guess what it is". The lyrics of this still grate on me, but overall I've really warmed to it since Street Legal, even though the Budokan version is much the same.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two of Dylan's biggest anthems are sensibly left unchanged in terms of melody, but <i>Like A Rolling Stone</i> is rocked up further, with the rush in the chorus provided by both organ and sax (blimey, how many times have I typed "sax" so far?), and a nifty guitar solo near the end. <i>Blowin' in the Wind</i> kicks off Disc 2 with tinkling piano and gentle "ooh-oohs" from the backing singers. The anger of the original is gone and it's now a soft lament with a decent instrumental section in the second half that boasts some gutsy playing from Billy Cross. <i>I Shall Be Released</i> was never one of my favourites and the melody and arrangement changes in the AB version doesn't make it any worse or better to my ears.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also given a straightforward reading are my two absolute favourites here. <i>Just Like A Woman</i> is the loveliest I've ever heard it, with sympathetic and emotional playing from all, and the sweetest bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span> from the ladies. <i>Love Minus Zero/No Limit</i> is an absolutely brilliant, poppy revamp, featuring a harmonica intro (I've really missed this instrument on the last couple of albums!), and a combination of violin, flute and recorder that works to great effect.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OF5cXE73V6U" width="450"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
Things get sentimental for the encores; a shmaltzy, overblown but ultimately enjoyable <i>Forever Young</i> comes first, and clearly goes down well with the audience. This is followed by a relatively unvarnished <i>The Times They Are A-Changin'</i>, before which Bob resumes the patter by first thanking the crowd again, then telling them "I wrote this song also, about fifteen years ago. It still means a lot to me, I know it means a lot to you, too". It's quite weird to hear him so good-humoured and nostalgic; my cynical side tells me he's probably taking the piss a little, but my naive simple-headed side makes me want to believe he's sincere, and that's the part I'm going with.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
At first I wasn't keen on the kitchen-sink approach of At Budokan - especially that <i>flute! -</i> but I quickly came to love it. I already have the studio versions of all of these songs, so really, why would I want carbon copies of them on a live album? Dylan has been quoted as saying "...a good song should be able to stand redefining, or else it's dead", and he's quite right of course. With the help of guitarist Steven Soles (to whom Bob gives credit for many of the arrangements), he's managed to give his fans practically a whole new album of songs. That many of those fans disliked them didn't seem to worry him at all - it certainly hasn't stopped him re-jigging his work in a live setting over and over since. On AB he sounds like he's having a great time, which for all its good points is more than I can say for Hard Rain two years earlier. I'm still not entirely convinced by the 'Vegas' tag - AB is more E-Street than Fremont Street - and although not all of the makeovers work, the exuberance, musicality and sheer sense of FUN on these two discs means that I'll definitely be pulling this one out of the BobBox more often than Before The Flood or even Hard Rain.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
What do you think of Bob Dylan At Budokan? Love it? Hate that bloody sax? Let us know in the comments below.</div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Note: This is album no. 21 in the box, marking the halfway point. If you've been reading since February, thanks for sticking with me this far!</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £141.67 (free postage) ***<b>UP by forty quid since last week!***</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Discogs - from £106.39</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All prices correct on 02/07/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4119790405131079025.post-12504546636636127842015-06-24T17:32:00.002+01:002015-08-14T14:30:32.138+01:0020. Street-Legal (1978)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90LhlTTiHOzVWgDoXEmGfbZxftwtThRglZgME9vfevSmiINWZOJZFbcHEHzZVtPNux2_gJpTa5e3G0NhqIJNbhrU_IYHyjwj40Y1bsL_IqguPtPHoVmse8f4Lq97ndyCUijHdi68WEEA/s1600/street+legal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90LhlTTiHOzVWgDoXEmGfbZxftwtThRglZgME9vfevSmiINWZOJZFbcHEHzZVtPNux2_gJpTa5e3G0NhqIJNbhrU_IYHyjwj40Y1bsL_IqguPtPHoVmse8f4Lq97ndyCUijHdi68WEEA/s200/street+legal.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the lean, painful BOTT, then the gear change into the vibrant exoticism of Desire, with Street-Legal Bob subverts our expectations once again by putting out an album of slickly produced pop-rock. It was recorded in California over the course of a single week on a mobile unit, against a backdrop of divorce, a fierce custody battle, a world tour and the editing of the film Renaldo & Clara. As a consequence of the hurried recording and limiting production factors, the album was criticised upon release for it's under-rehearsed and rather muddy sound. Street Legal was remixed and remastered in 1999, but the version included in the BobBox is the original 1978 mix, albeit in remastered form.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Opener <i>Changing of the Guards</i> slowly fades in, the first words <i>"Sixteen years"</i> referencing his time in the business so far, and then - what's this? - echoed by a gospel trio? Is this going to be another Self Portrait? Backing singers Carolyn Dennis (who would much later marry Dylan), Jo Ann Harris and Helena Springs crop up throughout the album, and for the most part are an enjoyable addition, here providing this Tom Petty-ish number with some uplifting call-and-response. Another, more surprising element is the saxophone, which on <i>Changing of the Guards</i> is employed between verses in place of a chorus, adding to the heartland rock feel. The lyrics are cryptic and dense, with prominent biblical and tarot references. It's a strong opening track, but like several songs on SL it doesn't quite fulfill its promise, and fades out again without reaching any kind of resolution.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>New Pony</i> contains double entendres galore and some fairly nasty lyrics aimed at ex-wife Sara. As a mean divorce song it works quite well, although the repetitive bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span> are unsubtle and quickly become annoying. The sax break at the end is meatier than than the rather weedy sax in the previous track, and the guitar riff is a beefy, sexy blues. The song as a whole makes for a simple palate cleanser between two lengthy, lyric-packed ones. The first couple of times I heard the eight minute-plus <i>No Time To Think</i> it outstayed its welcome pretty fast, but it's now one of my favourite songs on SL. The mixture of a trad-folk meter with gospel backing vocals, plus twin fiddles, electric guitar, rolling piano and Bob at his wordiest sounds like a nightmare on paper, and indeed it took some getting used to, but now I wouldn't have it any other way. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know about 'no </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">time</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to think', but he certainly hasn't left any room to; h</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is mind is crowded with dozens of concerns, which spew out over 18 bewildering, cramped verses, each with its own set of internal (and often shoehorned) rhymes. If you're not keen on this song, I urge you to google the lyrics, turn it up loud and SING it. It'll leave you breathless by the end (especially if you try to do the bv<span style="font-size: x-small;">s</span> as well), but I guarantee you'll have a blast and hear it in a whole new way. In fact I now can't listen to it without doing this, so I'm sure it won't be long before the lyric sheet becomes superfluous.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZaZrYslHiug" width="450"></iframe><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, the ballad <i>Baby Stop Crying</i> is the weakest song on Street-Legal. The verses are good, but the repetitive chorus, endlessly echoed by the backing singers, is atrocious, making it drag terribly over the five minute running time. If only this woman had pulled herself together at Bob's initial request, it could all have been over in less than a minute. Musically it's a pleasant tune, furnished with shimmering guitar and wine-bar sax. The lyrics are irritatingly self-pitying, but not quite as bad as those belonging to next track <i>Is Your Love In Vain?</i> After a lovely Stax-y intro where Steve Douglas' saxophone is joined by Steve Madaio's trumpet, Dylan proceeds to whinily quiz his lover over the worthiness of her adoration, before deciding that yes, <i>"...I'll take a chance, I will fall in love with you"</i>, followed by a quick enquiry about her domestic abilities. Yuk. Good luck with that, dear.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things are pulled back from the brink of vainglorious smuggery by the beautiful <i>Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)</i>. Where during the previous track Bob was pleading for acceptance, here he pleads with the titular Lord on a journey filled with uncertainty and dread. Whether the song's subject matter is God, war, the nuclear threat, drugs, death, none of these or all of them, the protagonist's questions go unanswered. Piano, organ and that sax again move at a stately pace, and there's a neat little 80s guitar solo just before the final verse (well, the 80s really began in 1978 didn't they?). The backing vocals aren't put too high in the mix, and their mournfulness adds to the sense of loss and hopelessness.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's immediately followed by the gradual fading in of <i>True Love Tends to Forget</i>, a tender but unremarkable ballad. Street Legal is quite heavy on plodders, and after four in a row the country gospel of <i>We Better Talk This Over</i> comes as a welcome change with its tambourine and cowboy guitar. Fairly mundane breakup lyrics are bolstered by better ones such as <i>"The vows that we kept are now broken and swept, 'neath the bed where we slept"</i> and <i>"Eventually we'll hang ourselves on all this tangled rope"</i>, then he spoils it again in the final verse by rhyming 'magician' with' transition'.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dylan has often topped and tailed his albums with high-quality corkers, and the strong top of <i>Changing of the Guards</i> is equalled by the dynamic tail of <i>Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)</i>. The dark heat could apply to any number of things including drug dependency and of course his marriage. I can detect the beginnings of acceptance amid the often inscrutable language, and the music is buoyant and optimistic. There's joy and relief in the last verse, especially <i>"I can't believe it, I can't believe I'm alive"</i>, but this is immediately tempered by the longing for Sara that still lingers. The gospel "hey-hey-heys" bring the album to a positive end, helped along by a great guitar outro that puts me in mind of McCartney's bit of the outgoing solo at the end of, erm, The End.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="253" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/17JbP9b5duE" width="450"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the criticisms levelled at SL was that it has a glitzy "Las Vegas" sound. I disagree with this claim; although Bob employs a polished pop-rock band to back him up, I can't hear the gaudiness that these terms imply, and I suspect that this description is based more on Dylan's touring get-up at the time, i.e. the startling white outfit on the back cover of the record (with a startling moose knuckle) than the actual sound. The silly "Vegas" tag and the original muddy mix aside, I can understand the lack of love in some quarters for this record; for one thing h</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">is voice has begun to show signs of deterioration and is now more nasal then ever.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The music sometimes works against the lyrical content; there's often a tug-of-war between the spiritual backing vocals and the sleazy sax and guitar, and these combined can overwhelm Bob's words. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His attempt at a new style reflects the themes of change and searching that run through the album, and although to begin with I found it a bit bland and samey, repeated listening revealed its character. Even the under-rehearsed, over-employed backing vocals grew on me (these were reportedly inspired by Bob Marley's I-Threes, whom Dylan had seen in the UK and greatly admired).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe if Street-Legal had been produced with the spacious guitar and subtle rhythm section of BOTT, or perhaps the earthy muscle of The Band, it would have been better received, but as well as finding the poppier aspect a refreshing change after the emotionally wearing BOTT/Desire/Hard Rain era, I've come to enjoy and admire it for what it is: a collection of well-written songs with mostly strong melodies, engaging lyrics and enjoyable playing. So, business as usual</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> then</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">*well alright, no harmonica :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*****BobBox price check*****</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">amazon.co.uk - £99.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discogs - from £106.58</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spin CDs - £119.99 (free postage)</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bob Dylan Official Store - £175.99</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All prices correct on 24/06/2015</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
minibreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01456685289902969363noreply@blogger.com1