BOB DYLAN

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BOB DYLAN (1962)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: In My Time Of Dyin', House Of The Rising Sun, Talkin' New York, Baby Let Me Follow You Down. LOW POINTS: She's No Good, Pretty Peggy-O.

From out of Duluth, Minnesota, a young man named Robert Zimmerman set out to become a folk singer with an acoustic guitar, a harmonica, a voice, and an adopted name of Bob Dylan. As an initiation of sorts, his debut album contains mostly old folk covers, with only two out of the thirteen tracks here being originals.  They may not be revolutionary pieces or anything, but they are at least partially revealing of where he'd be headed on the next few albums. The first of these, "Talkin' New York", is quite typical for his early folk period, with a simple 'talking' melody and amusing lyrics about his experiences in the city.  The second, "Song For Woody", is quite a moving tribute to one of his musical heroes, folk legend Woody Guthrie, with the lyrics somewhat touching and the mood of it being reminiscent of many of his stripped down ballads.

The remainder of the cover-dominated album, though, plays out like more of an introductory test and a historical curiosity than a masterpiece or anything. But still, two of these covers are particularly noteworthy.  You might be familiar with Led Zeppelin's "In My Time Of Dying" and The Animals' "House Of The Rising Sun", but are you aware they were both recorded by Dylan on this album when they were covers themselves?  He treats them fairly well too, with the former being stripped down to its' basic elements as opposed to Zep's 11 minute hellish epic version. It may not be really bombastic, but it conveys the same doomy sentiments of the song, not to mention his voice actually suits the lyrics just as well. The latter being more understated than the more famous later version, lacking the organ and pretentious structure that one contained, and it also contains the tune's original, more violent, lyrics as well, and still plays out like a gripping ballad done strictly in the acoustic format.

The other tunes are mostly pleasant if slightly undistinguished and generic folk pieces. Most of them are interesting in terms of seeing where he was coming from in terms of musical roots, but besides those two interpretations I mentioned earlier, who needs a Dylan album of mostly covers, especially when a few of them feature him singing in a more grating tone than usual, particularly the opening fast tune "She's No Good" and the more traditional-sounding love ballad "Pretty Peggy-O". But nothing is really that bad within these songs, and there is one slight foreshadowing of the future in "Highway 51" (yes, it does sound like a precursor to "Highway 61"), and "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" is quite a pretty, melodic tune that has a lengthy intro and spoken part. "Freight Train Blues" has really cool harmonica-wheezing, and the death-themed anthems "Man Of Constant Sorrow" and the Blind Lemon Jefferson blues of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" are okay too.  Not an essential effort overall, as Dylan would go on to do much better after this (the next album, for example), but still a decent first outing that showcases where the man was coming from.

OVERALL RATING: 7

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COMMENTS

[email protected] (Dan Sinykin)

Hey, I got 4 words into your first Dylan review and I noticed that you say he is from Duluth, Minnesota. In actuality he is from Hibbing, Minnesota. Both cities are in Northern Minnesota, but they are several hours drive apart.

THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN (1963)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, Masters Of War, I Shall Be Free, Talking World War III Blues, Girl From The North Country, Blowin' In The Wind. LOW POINTS: None.

After his initiation as interpreter of old folk tunes the previous year, Bob Dylan's second album expanded on its' acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals format with predominantly original material (much of which he actually had lying around before this album), and changed the course of rock history forever. This album basically led the way (along with The Beatles later on) in expanding rock music lyrics beyond the traditional love song format into a wide variety of subjects. Throughout the course of these revolutionary 50 minutes, there are a ton of instances of really clever and fascinating wordplay in a variety of moods (making the Freewheelin' title somewhat appropriate for the nature of these songs), along with more politically pointed numbers. The album as a whole can be a little hard to get used to (not for me though) on account of the fact that it's built almost entirely on the same rudimentary musical patterns, but the colorful pictures painted within them more than make up for that.

Although it may not be the greatest song in Dylan's catalog, the questioning lyrics of 'how many roads must a man walk down, before they can call him a man?' is a perfect way of opening up the album. The actual song it's from, of course, is "Blowin' In The Wind", and it needs no other explanation as one of the most universally recognized songs of all time. But hey, it isn't like this album is "Blowin' In The Wind" with a bunch of other songs, of course not. "Girl From The North Country" is an introspective, quite pretty, and very frequently covered ballad that's just as impressive, for one, really sending you to the 'north country fair' the song speaks of, and a rather gentle place it is. But on the opposite end of things, "Masters Of War" is easily the scariest thing on this album, with a simple, but utterly hopeless, chord progression, dark protest song lyrics and an explicit wish for someone's death at the end (the only time Dylan would do that during his career). You could unfortunately say it pointed toward the humorless, bleak subject matter of the following album, but thankfully this album is put together well enough to not dwell in that vein.

The two songs that follow, "Down The Highway" and "Bob Dylan's Blues", have a more traditional folk/blues sound to them, and while musically not exactly stunning, they're enjoyable enough while on, especially the former with its' neat start-stop structure and it's finger picking guitar parts. What is stunning, though, is the nearly 7 minute "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", which is the album's gorgeous peak and never even remotely loses its' compelling drama. Boasting a memorable acoustic part, equally impressive melody and the album's most exceptional lyrics (which is saying something) that have an almost surreal, truly epic and timeless quality. The chorus is extremely passionate-sounding as well. And on the seemingly lighter side of things, there's also "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright", which is a tune that deceptively plays out like a love song, and it's certainly pretty enough to seem like one, though the very subtle humor and put-down lyrics ensures that it actually isn't.

And after all that, the title of the following song "Bob Dylan's Dream" probably makes one wonder what kind of dreams this guy must really be having - at least that's what it does for me. The actual atmosphere and melody to it is among the least memorable on the whole album, but it's at least provocative. Following is the short and snappy singalong tune "Oxford Town", which is definitely the most playful and catchiest moment here, we again get plunged into the perfectly meaningless epic world of "Talking World War III Blues". Built on the standard Dylan 'talking' melody, it features almost seamlessly random political commentaries merged with psychiatric experiences and such hilarious blurbs as 'when you hear the beep, it will be 3:00, she said that for an hour and I hung up'. Afterwards come two cover tunes in the understated ballad "Corrina, Corrina" (which has a very pretty and relaxed atmosphere) and "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance", whose overall vibe and melody makes it sound as if it were an outtake from the debut, which it probably was.

Of course, they could be further from the closing "I Shall Be Free", though. To me, this title implies something like a majestic declaration of some sort, but it unpredictably doesn't offer that at all, instead veering into more random silliness like 'catch dinosaurs, make love to Elizabeth Taylor, catch hell from Richard Burton', the line which ends this fascinatingly innovative singer/songwriting journey. Very few songwriters can freely move from lighthearted to threatening to sorrowful to emotional with as much effortless power as Dylan does throughout the course of the album, and I'd say he hit upon a good mood on which to close the entire album on. In all, maybe this effort isn't quite as perfect as he would get later due to a few relative album fillers and a sound that isn't exactly diverse or rich with subtle nuances (and as such it's actually very difficult for me to figure out what exactly to say about several of these songs). It's still an absolutely essential release in the development of truly creative rock lyrics, though, and no collection should really feel complete without it.

OVERALL RATING: 9.5

(Kevin Baker's review)

Gee, it sure took me a long time to come around to this album.  Really.  It bored the crap out of me for at least a year before it all finally clicked.  Plus, by that time I was getting really into playing acoustic guitar after I got an electric and discovered that I prefer being unplugged.  This really is an album that will put off most rockaholics---it's soft, folky, and gentle with absolutely no hint of electric instruments at all.  But trust me, it's worth learning to love. 

Why do I say that?  Why, because it's definitely the highest point of Bob's folk period!  I used to think that Another Side Of Bob Dylan beat this one out, and Another Side is still a great album.  However, that already shows a Robert Zimmermann in transition---the ultra-offbeat lyrics, the focus on the oblique rather than the concrete....all foreshadowings of things to come.  This is Bob the young buck from the People's Republic of Minnesota who likes to write his own folk songs and play folk songs by other folks!  The lyrics are easier to get into, and the playing is....the playing is great.  Anyone who doubts that Dylan could play a good guitar needs to have a nice sit-down and a smile with this go-round.  Absolutely sublime pickin' for the most part. 

Well, what are some highlights here, you say?  Well, I'll tell you!  Blowin' In The Wind starts this one off magnificently.  I'm sure you've heard it, so I won't bore you by talking any more about it.  The following song, Girl From The North Country, is a pretty, sweet little ditty.  Masters Of War is violent and pure protest.  A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall.....now THAT'S a song!  Some of the man's most affecting, interesting lyrics ever.  A true classic, I say.  Don't Think Twice, It's All Right has the distinction of following AHRAGF, and where that one was a true epic, this one is a humble, suprisingly bitter so-long-and-fare-thee-well number.  I love it and it's my favorite on here. 

Elsewhere, you get plenty of Bob's wry sense of humor in Bob Dylan's Blues and I Shall Be Free.  You get some blues covers (or songs that sound like blues covers even if they aren't), and you get Oxford Town, which is a short little ditty about all the hell that erupted down there when James Meredith entered the doors of Ole Miss as its first black student.  Of course, had Strom Thurmond been elected, we never would have had THAT problem, now would we have, Mr. Lott?  He was actually a cheerleader at Ole Miss during that time period.  Really. Politics aside (I am a "libertarian-leaning centrist"), this is a bloody good listen.  A little slow the first few listens, but when it finally grows on you.....WOW! 

* OVERALL RATING: 10 *

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THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' (1964)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: The Times They Are A-Changin', Ballad Of Hollis Brown.  LOW POINTS: With God On Our Side, Only A Pawn In Their Game.

I would imagine Dylan's record company probably took several listens to Freewheelin' and apparently didn't think stuff like "I Shall Be Free" had any place in your average folk listener's collection.  So they probably locked Bob in a room for a couple days and told him that "Masters Of War" was an incredibly great protest song, and that the folkies would want an entire album exactly like it.  And that's how this often incredibly boring, somewhat rushed disappointment of a record came into being.  Sure, Times does convey the unrest of its' time period very well, which probably leads to it being extremely overrated by critics, but the problem is that it's done in a very simplistic, dated, and boring way.  Why boring?  Well, with one or two exceptions, all the songs share the same dreary, lifeless mood, and to make matters worse, several of the melodies are recycled from either standard protest folk or even The Freewheelin'.

While the album is extremely weak for 60's Dylan standards, though, at least it isn't hopeless. The title track is a true classic, of course, with the lyrics wonderfully conveying the protest mood without getting simplistic in cliches or using dated references to specific people and places, and he sings them around one of his most distinctive and compelling anthemic melodies. Elsewhere, "Ballad Of Hollis Brown" would probably annoy me if it was placed near the end of the album amongst some of the other dreary stuff, but it sounds excellent at track 2 - the melody is kind of generic, but that dark repeating guitar line... what a great backdrop to a story of the title character killing his family, not to mention the ending lines 'there's seven people dead on a South Dakota farm / somewhere in the distance there's seven new people born' are a brilliant way of bringing light to the end of the song.

The remainder of the album, though, is really tough to get into.  You've got to sit through stuff like the side closers "North Country Blues" and "Restless Farewell" that have no appeal at all - just totally generic, dragging standard folk melodies that aren't bad by themselves, but there's no reason to listen to them.  And even the better songs of this stretch, "One Too Many Mornings" and "Boots Of Spanish Leather", are just slow, but still good, rewrites of the title track and Freewheelin's "Girl From The North Country" respectively, at least melody-wise (the latter at least has a gorgeous romantic atmosphere to it).  Plus, the fast (but still depressing) "When The Ship Comes In" and another dated protest epic "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll" are only interesting from the aspect of potential, particularly the latter song with noticeable overtones of "My Back Pages" (though this is a case where the sequel crushes the original's dreary lifelessness).

Still, I wouldn't want to give this album less than a low 6 - all these songs I mentioned are at least tolerable, a few are good, a couple are great, and there are only two clear stinkers.  Of course, "With God On Our Side" is pretty unredeemable, a painfully rambling and dragging, stop-start political number that never seems to end at 7 minutes (and that verse about World War II and forgiving the Germans is one of the most cringe-inducingly awful things he ever wrote), and the racial protest of "Only A Pawn In Their Game" has a decent melody, but the music is so clumsily played and the lyrics so trite and the mood still so bleak that I can't take it much.  Yeah, this isn't one of Zimmerman's finest moments, that's for sure, even though for some reason it appears to be one of Pete Townshend's favorite albums of his.  I could care less about it, though, given the releases surrounding it.

OVERALL RATING: 6

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ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN (1964)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: My Back Pages, Motorpsycho Nitemare, I Don't Believe You, It Ain't Me Babe.  LOW POINTS: Ballad In Plain D.

Well, after Bob attempted the straightforward protest folk songwriting of The Times They Are A-Changin', he apparently realized that type of style a lot of contemporaries in the genre were doing just wasn't that compatible with him.  So as a result, his followup to it probably has a lot more in common with Freewheelin' in terms of musical approach, which is just fine by me.  But I must warn you - with one minor exception, every one of these songs are based entirely on acoustic guitar work with added harmonica breaks and not all that many interesting melodies, so all could just as well be taken as the same song.  For a Dylan hater especially, an album like this could be a nightmare - as the most upfront feature of the sound is his voice (which even grates on me a little at times in this period as much as I've gotten used to it) and the success rate of the material pretty much depends on how effectively the lyrics set a mood and their ability to hit the listener, much like before.

Luckily, though, the absolute saving grace of the album is that it really varies in terms of the amount of mood changes it takes you through.  It's my favorite thing about Another Side as a whole, actually - it's can almost be taken as a concept album dealing with his own personality, experiences, insights and absurd humor / wordgames (which he would take to incredible highs in the following efforts).  Take the opening "All I Really Wanna Do", which succeeds on its' playfulness and warmth - witness him trying really hard not to crack a laugh doing his wordplay and that refrain ('all I reaally wanna dooooOOOO is baby be friends with you...') which is just a preview of what's to come.  Speaking of a 'preview', "Black Crow Blues", the one song that finds him deviating from the acoustic/harmonica format into barroom piano, correctly predicts the musical direction of the following efforts.  A rather fun one too, and the opening 'I woke up in the morning, weary and worn out...' lines really do a fine job of setting the mood.

I have to confess, though, that side one of the album isn't what does the job for me, as much as it works.  Not that any of the songs are weak here, but... let's just say they're not absolutely fantastic. For instance, "I Shall Be Free" and "Talking World War III Blues" both did the 'totally off the wall' humor thing better than the not-as-funny but still entertaining "I Shall Be Free No. 10" (which has a melody recycled from the former to boot).  And I don't get as much out of "Chimes Of Freedom" as I know I should - the protest lyrics occasionally create effective imagery in my head (though nowhere near as much as hard as "Masters Of War"), but I really have to pay attention to them, or else I really get bored, because the melody and vibe never changes in 7 minutes.  Even then, though, more often than not this creates an effect that's like the musical equivalent of knowing something interesting's going on a couple blocks away, but I'm unable to find out what.  It is a decent song, of course, but very underwhelming to me.

"Spanish Harlem Incident" and "To Ramona" don't exactly thrill me too much either - granted, the former does have one of the few well-written melodies here and fine vocal conviction, but never really goes anywhere in its' underlong state, and the latter represents the 'romantic' side of the lyrics well enough, but there's not really much else for me to say about it.  Nope, it's the songs on side 2 which have a somewhat bigger impact on me.  Of course, it's also this side that has the weakest song here ("Ballad In Plain D"), but even that one has one of the most effective depressing melodies I've ever heard, and excellent lyrics on lost love.  It's just that the pace of the song is incredibly lethargic and repetitive, and goes on for over 8 minutes.  Cut it in half, add just a little bit of energy, and you might have a minor classic on your hands.

But the other four songs rule, singlehandedly upgrading the rating here a point at least - and they're all great in their own unique way, too.  "Motorpsycho Nitemare" is an often hilarious story about a thrilling escape from a farmer's house, with the most bouncy and wildly entertaining melody on here, which really helps matters, and "It Ain't Me Babe" has a great conviction filled buildup to its' refrain and an absolutely exceptional lyrical perspective on 'Dylan the humble guy' to close the album off on.  Then there's the often overlooked "I Don't Believe You", which is a brilliant pop song as far as I'm concerned - it has probably the only truly excellent vocal melody on here that holds up well on its' own, and the simultaneously upbeat and slightly mellow chorus has an extremely enjoyable clumsiness to it.

The highlight of the album for me, though, has to be "My Back Pages", one of at least four songs on here covered by The Byrds (as well documented below).  It's certainly not one of the most enthusiastically played songs, but it is the most introspective of all (which is the most important feature here, anyway), with an extremely upfront, charming vocal delivery, and again, it also has the great clumsy approach to the acoustic playing.  The lyrics are also arguably the best and most exceptionally well-written of the entire set, all culminating in the immortal line 'but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.'  Totally awesome, man.  But Bob understandably was starting to feel somewhat limited by the style he was playing (hey, I have to occasionally strain myself to listen to it sometimes, that's why this isn't one of my favorite Dylan albums) and would go for an 'electric' change next...

OVERALL RATING: 8

(Kevin Baker's review)

Well, in honor of Mr. Zimmerman's birthday, I do believe I shall review my favorite of his pure folk albums. It's still 1964, so there's no trace of electric guitars or Hammond organs yet. Nope, just Bob, his acoustic, a harmonica, Bob's wheezy voice, way too many joints, a small French poodle, and a miniature Eiffel Tower I bought in Paris almost a year ago. Well, maybe not all of those, but close enough for government work. I hope Jim Jeffords sits on a model Eiffel Tower and can't sit for a month during committe meetings, the Benedict Arnold......not really. Maybe they'll kick out that weenie Trent Lott and develop some intestinal fortitude.....oh yeah, this isn't Government class. Lo siento.

Well, while this is still a folkie's paradise, you can start seeing elements of what Bob would become in just a year's time. He plays scads of word games, has a lot of bizarro imagery (which is cool with me. My poetry isn't quite as "encoded", but I do qrite obliquely), and also a couple hilarious, tongue-in-cheek songs alongside the serious ones. Of the funny ones, Motorpsycho Nitemare is my favorite. The song is based on like one chord, but who cares? Bob's narrative is riotous, and it's my favorite here. The opener, later covered by The Byrds, is another funny word game. It also has Bob yodeling. My mother is of the opinion that Bob had probably smoked a little too much happy grass before recording the song. I'd believe it; after all, he was the one who introduced the Fab Four to the green goddess. Oh, I Shall Be Free No.10 is funny too.

Elsewhere, Bob's ode to gypsy lovin' (Spanish Harlem Incident...also covered by the Byrds) goes down well, as does the slightly countryish To Ramona. The closer works well, and Black Crow Blues is, while a little generic, not half bad either. Bob's serious side is no letdown, either. Chimes Of Freedom (you'll never guess who covered this.....) is every bit the classic that it's renowned as, My Back Pages (nother friggin' Byrds cover....good grief! Why didn't they just call this Another Side Of Roger McGuinn...it would have been an accurate prophecy by the record label.) is even better. BUT, Ballad In Plain D bites hard. Too long, stupid, etc. Also, Bob swears quite violently at one point. And in 1964??? I'll be a monkey's uncle......

Well, this one is good, I'll admit that. But Bob also got a lot better. (Addresses picture of Winged Victory that he purchased in the Louvre)---What do you think, Samothrace? OK, and 8 it is. Lord, I need a life. Just don't tell You Know Who (Leah) I'm talking to a barely clothed older Grecian woman.....

OVERALL RATING: 8

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BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME (1965)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), Subterranean Homesick Blues, Mr. Tambourine Man, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, It's All Over Now Baby Blue.  LOW POINTS: On The Road Again.

And this was the result of that change - not only the most revolutionary album of Dylan's entire career, but this could also legitimately the most important record in rock history.  After all, it directly influenced Rubber Soul, and we all know where that led.  Yeah, just about everybody knows that in mid 1965, to piss off the folkie crowd (and attempt to make some progression musically from his early period), he actually incorporated electric guitar into the sound on the first side of the album, also embellishing it with occasional piano work and the usual harmonica to go along with it.  Now he finally had a great musical backing for his lyrics here, which were getting more and more off the wall by this point - Bob was getting into drugs (pot) and such, so they attain a really, really trippy flavor to them that would reach ridiculously great heights on the following two albums.  But yet he was still at a peak as an acoustic-based songwriter, as demonstrated by the captivating four songs of side two!  So could this be the transitional album in rock history?  Maybe so.

Especially since the electric side here actually isn't as great as the acoustic one is, as he still hadn't quite figured out how to transcend the actual playing from more conventional, and slightly dull, status.  The two songs that show this most are the more unmemorable and rudimentary "Outlaw Blues" and especially "On The Road Again" - the former song at least has a humorous quality to the lyrics, even if it just kinda plods at the same midtempo blues-styled base with very little in the way of great melody, but the latter really pretty much defines a generic song in that mold which is essentially just... there.  Even "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream", one of the most hilarious things he ever wrote (a wonderfully colorful narrative during which he compares himself to Columbus and the Pilgrims and goes through a bunch of different places, including a bank where he pulls down his pants), is melodically a rewrite of "Motorpsycho Nitemare", and the music is still kinda ordinary.  Very good rewrite though, and the amusing false start where he breaks into laughter is priceless.

Fortunately, the remainder of the side is worthwhile, and in a couple cases, it hits classic heights. The opening "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is especially notorious, as it goes through four really long, but extremely captivating, verses in a fast paced burst that lasts just under 2-1/2 minutes.  Many people say it even helped pioneer rap music in the way he delivers the lyrics here, and I won't disagree.  Classic anthemic moment.  Don't forget "She Belongs To Me" and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" either, two great ballads with some of the most gorgeous poppy melodies he came up with to this point, and in the latter's case, the melody can particularly be called fantastic, sung with such awesome feeling and effortless flow (with the often-quoted powerful line 'there's no success like failure / and failure's no success at all).  Then there's "Maggie's Farm", which may not be that creative musically, but the sheer directness of the protest lyrics is about a billion times more effective and hitting than most of The Times They Are A-Changin', at least.

But as excellent as a lot of this side is, though, it's easily eclipsed by the classic acoustic half.  Starting it off, of course, is "Mr. Tambourine Man", which has become more notorious by way of The Byrds' own cover of it.  I can see why that would be, as that band transformed it into a glorious 12 string guitar pop paradise, while this version is mostly slow and laid-back, and there's also the obvious 'Dylan's voice sucks' problem.  However, the whole thing just pulls you in atmosphere wise the same way something like "My Back Pages" does, with that charming, slightly off-balance, almost drunk delivery (to match the character's 'mental state' in the song), not to mention The Byrds actually get rid of quite a bit of the lyrics (which do have an epic, timeless quality throughout its' 6 minutes), and this one still retains the awesome pop melody.  I probably prefer this original version more in the end, but either one is great in their own way.

Elsewhere, the next epic "Gates Of Eden" has a bit of the same effect on me as the earlier "Chimes Of Freedom", and as a result it isn't one of my favorites on the album, as the Biblical themed lyrics only grab me when I'm really paying attention, but as much as those lyrics weave together imagery in a pretty interesting way, the main appeal of the song for me is the melody and the way it's actually sung - it's just as anthemic as the other acoustic tunes here, and the vocal tone has this excellent sort of 'grand' feel to it that's definitely captivating.  As is the closing track "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" - what a great ballad style melody this has, and the peaceful, understated atmosphere (and lyrics) is just about the perfect way of him saying farewell to the 'folk period', like many others have mentioned. And I even think his 'whining' in the chorus moves the song forward somewhat - why, I don't know exactly.

My top favorite on the album, however, just has to be the much celebrated next-to-last song "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)".  And celebrated it definitely should be - it's basically a panoramic lyrical backdrop of brilliant one-liners (like 'the President of the United States must have to stand naked', for example) which are all connected together over one of the most convincing epic song structures he'd ever do.  That gripping tinge in the acoustic chord sequence and vocal melody is simply unforgettable, as is the beautifully written refrain - all of these factors work so well that it's very easy to overlook the fact this is 7 minutes long.  I never want it to end! Simply put, this album (and the previous one to a lesser extent) is the first in one of the most interesting and powerful stretches in music, and like I said, while Bringing may not actually be as great in quality as the next two due to less impressive moments (though it's still a very solid 9, bordering on 9.5), it is unarguably the most important and influential of this group.

OVERALL RATING: 9

(Samuel Fassbinder's review)

What we have in this album, and in the next one (Highway 61 Revisited) is the lyrical juxtaposition of the ordinary, the profound, and the magical so as to transmute all three substances. This album is the staging ground for the attempted triumph of lyrics over melody. The cover is horribly symbolic; I won't even start to investigate what everything stands for. I'm just going to go for a "New Critical" reading of this Dylan album; since (as I said in my review of Blood On The Tracks) all Dylan utterances are surface-level, there' s no point in history. Be sure to get the lyrics off of the Internet, since if you just buy the CD in the store you won't get a lyric sheet. The songs:

"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a glorious piece of nonsense that has since inspired a zillion imitators, incl. REM's "End Of The World As We Know It." The MTV video based on this is hip and hilarious. "She Belongs To Me" is sad and romantic, its meaningless lyrics silhouetting a mood of hope and despair. "Maggie's Farm" is a sort of protest song against unjust working conditions, "Love Minus Zero" is more romanticism of absurdity, in the mood of "She Belongs To Me". "She knows that there's no success like failure/ And that failure's no success at all". "Outlaw Blues" is hilarious like someone who is about to blow apart because of nervousness. "Well I wish I was on some/ Australian mountain range. I wish I was on some/ Australian mountain range/ I got no reason to be there, but I/ Imagine it would be some kind of change."

"On The Road Again" is about a house that isn't really a home, Dylan's outrage is good for a laugh, since that's his expressed attitude too. "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" is a dream narrative to be sure, the rhymes are circus tricks like Dylan was juggling a dozen pins at once. This song is stoned humor, a funny story about the Pilgrims, "Captain Arab," and Columbus, it winds through a jail and a slum and a restaurant and a bank and further, you ignore the tune and laugh at each of the objects in the narrative. After that, we have Dylan's masterpiece, "Mr. Tambourine Man," a beautiful song that will validate the purchase of this album all by itself (a good deal anyway, since Borders was selling it at $8 when I bought my copy). "It's All Right Ma" is the song with that famous lyric "That he not busy born is busy dying" and "sometimes even the President of the United States must have to stand naked." This is Dylan's masterpiece of simple profundities clustered in complex waves of imagery.

I will even give a "thumbs up" to "Gates of Eden," the ninth song and the one after "Mr. Tambourine Man," a sober song of the fallen state of humanity involving the Biblical concerns that were to preoccupy Dylan's later life. (Remember his well-publicized "Christian" period?) At any rate, here Dylan tries to generate some profundity from his premonitions, rather than just trying to drag us into the mud. Dylan, as we all know, didn't corner the market on writing melodies. And this record, like all of them, has at least one forgettable melody in it. This, of course, is the weakness that makes it difficult for me to listen to this stuff over and over again. Sometimes, listening to Dylan's melodies and voice, you start to wonder why Dylan didn't just become a poet. Beside the obvious reason, of course, that being a popstar is a road to riches.

With Bringing It All Back Home, we can see that Dylan was indeed a great poet, and that the music part of the detail really adds an apposite mood to each of the poems/ songs. Except for "Mr. Tambourine Man," here, which stands on its own as melody. At any rate, the triumph of lyrics over melody is made possible by Dylan's heavy reliance upon humor, paradox, and irony, a reliance which slips from his grasp in some of the later and more depressing albums. Without those supports, I will admit, my enjoyment of Dylan and his historically over-praised act turns sour like fermented fruit. My rating is generous -- it applies to the lyrics, for the most part.

* OVERALL RATING: 10 *

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HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED (1965)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: Desolation Row, Ballad Of A Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone, Queen Jane Approximately, Tombstone Blues, Highway 61 Revisited. LOW POINTS: None.

Following the revolutionary Bringing It All Back Home on which he combined both his acoustic and electric sides, Highway 61 is an expansion of that album's sound, as Dylan finally brought together a backing band for the first time, whose most prominent members were guitarist Michael Bloomfield and organ player Al Kooper, both of which make key contributions to the songs musically here. With his backup musicians in place, he takes one step further in making the already intriguing as hell atmosphere sound positively masterful in this context. The actual music and melodies might seem a bit simplistic to the casual listener, but the way the whole picture is combined - the rudimentary melodies, the 'toneless' vocals, the harmonica playing, the backing band, and of course, the lyrics, is positively transcendant, and as a result, Highway 61 Revisited is one of the greatest albums in rock history, and amazingly, it was recorded in only three days. If only modern bands could be so prolific.

Probably the most famous of these songs, of course is the absolute classic opener "Like A Rolling Stone", which kicks the entire album off with that distinctive loud drumbeat on which the swirling organ builds off of it. The fast verses ('once upon a time, threw the bums a dime...') are a really great sing-along experience, and the lyrics are at once heartfelt words apparently dealing apparently with the plight of bums on the street and a put down of rich lifestyle. The vocal performance is of course powerful, and the swirling organ playing in the great chorus. "Tombstone Blues" is another highly recommendable highlight - an entertaingly fast, garage-rocking tune (as George Starostin points out, no one played that fast in 1965, not even the Stones!) with thought-provoking lyrics (including the hilarious line 'the sun's not yellow, it's chicken' and a fantastic chorus of 'mama's in the factory she ain't got no shoes, daddy's in the alley.. he's looking for food') and awesome guitar breaks between each verse.

"It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" has a great title going for it, and is a bluesier tune with saloon piano embellishments - the vocal melody takes a couple listens to sink in, but you realize how memorable and effortlessly flowing it actually is after awhile, and both this and the overall atmosphere of the song makes it even more special than your average blues. "From A Buick 6" is another great garage rocker whose best feature is the very addictive bassline that totally carries the rhythm of the song and certainly helps the flow of the lyrics quite a lot. Of course, those two songs can't compare with the monumental tune that closes the first half, though.   "Ballad Of A Thin Man" is a simply phenomenal tune that combines meaningless humor (favorite line: 'the one eyed midget screams back, 'YOU'RE A COW... give me some milk or else go home!!") with a biting attack on 'Mr. Jones' - it features a brilliantly bombastic piano part and the whole world sounds like it's coming to an end within the atmosphere and melody, and the song comes down to the biting chorus condemnation of, "And you know something is happening but you don't know what it is... do you... Mr. Jones' with that organ again. Wow.

"Queen Jane Approximately", meanwhile, is a really beautiful, and kinda sappy, ballad that definitely wins me over, and is really the point of the album where the lyrics can seem to be the most incoherent. The melody and lyrical sentiment is extremely beautiful, though, for me to even care about that. It provides a great romantic feel for a change, and the atmosphere is still amazing. The following title track, though, presents a bit of a paradox - the actual music and melody here is really bouncy and quite entertaining, but the lyrics, man, they're anything but. The 'Abraham' referenced in the song is apparently Dylan's father, and with words like, 'God said, 'where you want this killin' done?' Abe said, 'Out on highway 61...', it's certainly eye-opening, and these lyrics are certainly among the most well-crafted and intelligent - which is saying a lot for a Dylan album.

Following is "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", the only track that doesn't quite match up to the level of the others - it's in a similar "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" style, but the impression it leaves just isn't as strong, mostly because the melody and atmosphere just isn't as lasting.  It's still a good song, however, because an inferior copy of a very solid tune can't really be bad in itself, but it's just not one that's ever fascinating me. However, though, the 11 minute closing track "Desolation Row", however, more than makes up for any minor flaws that previous song has. It's a devastatingly simple acoustic song that most demonstrates basically everything that makes this record so special. Yes, the main melody never changes the entire time, and it's about as musically varied as a punk rock song, but it's still an amazing experience, and the album's finest moment.

Why, you may ask? Well, first off, there are the lyrics. They are beautiful, dark and haunting all at once, and no matter how meaningless they may seem, nearly every line seems to put some kind of powerful image in my head. The melody and overall atmosphere of the song is certainly great, too, but there's also the considerable amount of simple power that main acoustic guitar line has. It sounds so primitive and obvious, and yet heavenly. The guitar flourishes at the end of each line really pushes things over the edge, and it's a real testament to the song's genius that, in spite of all the weaknesses it theoretically should have, it turns out to be one of those earth-shattering numbers that I can't quite find the words to describe, and it's a perfect epitaph for this rock classic. If you end up hating it, that's certainly understandable, as on the surface it's not at all complex, and it's not the most musically and melodically rewarding album ever made. But it's one of the most satisfying 'dig beneath the surface' albums ever, that's for sure.

* OVERALL RATING: 10 *

(Kevin Baker's review)

I feel like I'm on the eve of battle this evening. Tomorrow, I'm calling Leah and telling her that I love her. I am very anxious, but also very excited and, I daresay, upbeat about all this. After waiting three years, I'm hoping it's God's Will that I don't have to wait any longer for a relationship with her. Have you ever felt for someone through all the trials life could throw at you? Scorn from the person, scorn from your friends, fear, anxiety, hate, longing and knowing that you could likely never have? Have you ever known how good for someone you could be because you have genuine feeling for them, yet they still choose immature little brats who just want to say they have a cute girlfriend?

Ever had to watch the person who's happiness is your sole life goal turn away from you and mock you knowing you could see them? Ever been yanked around like a toy for that person's enjoyment. Have you ever felt so strongly for someone that you lied about how you felt just to get them back in your life? Have you sat back and waited for them to grow up some? Have you agonized over them, and wrestled with God over them? Have you had your heart broken and knitted back together a thousand times? And despite that, have your feelings for them GROWN into something deeper and richer that only God Himself could have planted in your heart? If you can say yes, to all that, then you know how it feels to be me.

Sorry if that bored you, but I can't help but talk about that when I'm talking about Highway 61 Revisited? Why? Because I think Bob felt all that, too. To me, Highway 61 and Blonde On Blonde go together hand-in-hand. They tell a troubled story of love (to me. What you get out of it may be entirely different, and that's why Bob's music is so timeless.). They cover the bitterness, the envy, the longing, the fulfillment, and everything in between. That said, Highway 61 is the darker of the two in that regard, as the closest to contentment Bob shows is on Queen Jane Approximately, in which he basically tells his love that after she's done being hurt by the world and leading herself on in a life that is not what she's made for, his door is always open.

However, that emotional resolution doesn't come soon or easy. Everybody knows the famous Like A Rolling Stone, which is a masterpiece. Bob's character assassination lyrics, the swirling organ, his suitable delivery...it's so powerful. It speaks to me about watching someone who's hurt you finally get hurt themselves. Isn't amazing how deep and rich Bob's lyrics are? You can get so much out of them. I suspect my perspective is skewed because of my own history, but that's what makes this so personal a listen. When a musician can make a song or album that means so many different things to so many different people, you know he's a genius.

From that sort of anger, we move on to a new sort of anger---an anger at the ridiculous way things in the world work. Hypocrisy, stupidity, spitefulness, it's all here. The guitar fills say almost as much as the words, ripping apart the peace of your mind and arousing your sense of injustice. Then, on It Takes A Train To Laugh, seems to speak of the kind of hopeless, selfless humor that only the brokenhearted can feel. But, the humor's over on From A Buick 6, which is almost angry, but not really. However, it's not love-filled either. It's neutral, and that's something that's as legitimately felt as anything else.

We reach a REALLY bitter peak on Ballad Of A Thin Man. The chorus is one of the most biting, acidic lines Bob ever wrote. He's so full of bile for this person that you pity them even. However, the peak for me is Queen Jane Approximately, which I discussed a little bit above. It's very hope-filled, which is not something that permeates this album. Maybe that bitterness was only short-lived. From that high point of hope, we hit an examination of life, sacrifice, and the unknown in the title track. What is Highway 61? It could be all of the above, or maybe nothing at all. That's your call.

Well, now we've hit the last two songs. I will say that Tom Thumb's Blues is my least favorite song here, but it's still great. It's world-weary and tired of everything. However, the true ode to world-weariness is found in Desolation Row. Emotional wateland. Absurdity en extremis. So simple, and so profound. It's the perfect ender for this listen, and it gets us ready for resolutions on Blonde On Blonde. I can't say that what i think all of this is about is right or accurate for everyone, just for me. But I can say that if you're not moved somehow by Highway 61 Revisited, you have no heart.

* OVERALL RATING: 10 *

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COMMENTS

[email protected] (Brad Langoulant)

This is a very nice album, ill give it a 9 maybe a 10. Desolation Row i dont rate that highly and unlike Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands it gets boring for me.

And also what id like to know what Keven was on about when he says that he is going to tell Leah that he has loved her for the last 3 years. Is that the same Leah that you said was "a stuck-up, pretentious weasel who even I think I'm too good for, and this is coming from someone who suffers from marked self-esteem problems at times" in the Sargent Peppers review.

[in response to the second review:]

[email protected] (Robert Grazer)

"But I can say that if you're not moved somehow by Highway 61 Revisited, you have no heart."

I hate Highway 61. I guess that makes me a Republican.

BLONDE ON BLONDE (1966)

(Nick Karn's review)

HIGH POINTS: Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, Visions Of Johanna, One Of Us Must Know, Just Like A Woman, Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again, I Want You, Obviously 5 Believers.  LOW POINTS: Temporary Like Achilles.

After such a classic in Highway 61 Revisited, and having written an abundance of new material by the following year, there was only one path for Bob to take on the next studio effort - create a sprawling double album that encompassed all of his ambitions at the time.  And by doing so, he actually blazed yet another innovative path in creating the first double length record in rock music.  Needless to say, this pretty much creates a platform for something special - at this point, his wordplay and lyric writing has totally gone off the 'psycho wordgames' edge, yet conveys specific feelings and moods arguably even better than ever.  Also, that voice of his, even when it gets quite an amusingly 'annoying' tone to it, probably cuts through to the listener deeper than before, just in the way he actually employs it here.  Plus the mostly great production here for the time period is able to make the guitar, organ and pianos come through to push the atmosphere forward, helping give Blonde a rich depth.

What's also notable here in how the styles covered on the album are remarkably balanced.  This time, the sound is probably more on the mellow side, and less on the angry and/or raw, than Highway 61, with a lot more in the way of quiet ballads (which that album lacked other than minor exceptions like "Queen Jane Approximately") and more of a prominence on shorter, 3 or 4 minute, songs, which would lead to even more concise songs on his next few albums.  But on the other hand, a good third of the album concentrates on really interesting approaches to 'generic blues rock' (well, that's what it is at its' basic form, but what Bob actually does with most of this stuff takes it far beyond that approach).  And interestingly enough, there are also three songs on here that pass seven minutes in length, so at its' most epic, this album is every bit as powerfully long-winded as the last one (all three of these songs are huge highlights, too, but more on that in a bit).

In one way, this album is more accessible to the general public than anything Dylan had put out before, but it really says something great about him when we consider how these songs are approached.  Take "Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35" - a strange song to both open the album and become a hit.  Basically, he employs a woozy brass band here with crowd noises added on that makes the whole atmosphere sound like a jovial drunken party, and then he makes the main hook in the song the line 'everybody must get stoned'.  But the verses actually talk about how they'll stone you.  He writes a song about casting stones, and deliberately makes it appear to be a drug song!  And it's catchy as hell!  Dylan's a genius! Or what about the ballad "Just Like A Woman", which was also a weird choice for a hit, not because of the inaccessibility of the hook (it's actually a gorgeous pop ballad melody), but because it marries that hook to, umm, kinda suggestive and eye-opening lyrics.  Beautiful, beautiful chorus, though.

On another deceptive note, there's also a shuffling love song in "I Want You", with yet another heartwarming melody, but also with extremely sophisticated lyrics, arguably the most puzzling on the album of their kind.  Which makes it all the more fascinating that this version of the most cliched song title in all of rock music has lines about 'silver saxaphones', the 'Queen of spades' and 'saviors', but whatever.  Even better, "One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)" takes the 'brilliantly combine simple and rudimentary elements' approach of a lot of Highway 61 does into a simple pop song format - there's something about the weird vocal intonations and harmonica breaks here that makes the pretty basic verse melody an extreme pleasure to listen to, and the way the whole thing slowly builds up to the chorus by rising a little in volume with Bob holding a note down for a few seconds... it is, again, genius.  Great 'cold' atmosphere in this one.

But still, there's much more to the album than pop-oriented songs filtered through the twisted Dylan mind.  Like I said before, there's also... generic blues rock done the same way, and while that portion is probably the weakest of the album, he still tries some interesting approaches on them to make them worth listening to.  Well, except for "Temporary Like Achilles", which is just a boring clone of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (a song that already passed me by every time before).  At least I liked that song from the previous album, unmemorable as it is, but this particular song strikes me as absolutely nothing interesting or ear-catching.  Just the one very obvious filler here.  Oh well, at least "Pledging My Time", probably the most well-produced track on the album, with a very upfront harmonica/vocal sound and great guitar backing, sounds quite exciting and attention grabbing.

Stylistically in the same vein, though, is the hilarious "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat".  Production wise, it's probably the thinnest-sounding tune on the whole album, but the convincing lead guitar work, not to mention the extremely clever putdown lyrics and humor apparent in that chorus delivery (I also love the random appearance of lines like 'honey can I jump on it sometime?') more than makes up for it.  It's hard to believe how much he'd grown in terms of musical depth by this album - you could have never predicted stuff the simply irresistible grooves of "Most Likely You'll Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine" (which is led by an incredibly catchy horn driven arrangement) or "Obviously 5 Believers" (a totally unique blend of harmonica, organ and lead guitar going on at once to add to one of the best singalong moments here) coming from the same guy who musically almost never strayed from acoustic folk just 2 short years ago.  Amazing.

Want even more songs that would probably be easy highlights on almost any other album but are actually in the latter half in the ranking in quality for me (which is actually a compliment to the unstoppable songwriting of this period)?  How about the acoustic ballad "4th Time Around", which admittedly does have a melody pretty close to The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" (and a similar lyrical theme), but that gorgeous acoustic guitar line effortlessly flowing through it is very treasurable.  Or the amazingly catchy "Absolutely Sweet Marie", probably the most uptempo number on the album - it's got a great bouncy organ line, and for me personally, it evokes images of the late evening by the railroad tracks (probably because of the lyrics and the way they're sung) as the main character in the song waits for sweet Marie.  Nice one.

Of course, as excellent as many of those 11 tracks are, I haven't even discussed the epics yet.  And when something like "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again" is actually my least favorite of a group of songs like this, I know I've got an amazing group on my hands.  On first couple listens, the approach to song structure he takes here with about a million short verses sung over 7 minutes, seemed mind-numbingly repetitive, but later on, you kinda get used to that, since the thing here is that, amongst all the meaningless and rambling wordgames in these verses, an idea of hopelessness with life as it's coming to an end is conveyed through the general mood of the whole thing.  Each chorus (and I love how it's sung in a slightly different way each time with a bass-led pause) seems to resonate more and more as the song goes on.  Just fantastic.

"Visions Of Johanna" is even more so, and it stands as my second favorite on the whole album.  I'm telling you, the coolest feature of the song is not the great epic character of the melody, or even the way the bizarre symbolic 'death-related lyrics are sung, with the acoustic guitar very much helping to move the song forward.  Nope, it's that really quiet organ that hides in the background coming out of one speaker while everything else in the song is mixed in both.  A very subtle addition that adds an incredible amount of texture to the entire experience.  And as for the whole mood, well, I'm not exactly sure what clear emotion is expressed here - the music is peaceful, yet anthemic, kind of depressing, intriguing, epic, and all sorts of other cliched characteristics.  Eh, let's just say it's brilliant.

Not nearly as brilliant, though, as what closes off the panorama that is Blonde On Blonde.  I simply couldn't imagine him topping the astounding feel of "Desolation Row" after hearing Highway, but with the nearly as long "Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands", he inexplicably did in my humble opinion. What's all the more amazing about it, as many have pointed out, is that it should be an incredibly monotonous and rambling song, with the same melodies constantly repeating themselves over and over again for 11 minutes, with no change in arrangement until the harmonica solo at the end. But here's the catch - this is, clearly, one of the most gorgeous melodies I've ever come across, and were I that type who could really get moved by music this way, I could easily see myself getting choked up at this one.  It's simply a beautiful love ode that sounds unspeakably resonant vocally and lyrically, and most important of all, how did he get the overall atmosphere of this song?  It's like, an incredibly full sounding piano and acoustic arrangement where the former instrument seems to be perfectly used in just the right amounts and just the right tone.  Mindblowing.

So after all that, I can easily see how many people would rank this as one of the crowning achievements in all of music (and "Sad-Eyed Lady" alone is one of those that has such an impact that it could go on for the entire 70 minutes for all I care).  In the end, I do think Highway 61 has a greater consistency, and is a somewhat more confident, stronger 10 from me than this one (mostly because the percentage of great material here isn't as high, and there is one very boring track I don't care for at all), but I won't argue with those who place Blonde over it. Especially since this is one of those albums where the sprawling way in which the songs build off each other creates a staggeringly excellent effect, even when the songs themselves aren't as great.  And that way in which the entire picture comes together is overwhelming enough for me.  Damn, there sure is a lot to write about this album - I haven't even attempted a lyrical analysis, which would probably require a novel or something like that.  Not that I would even try to do so.

* OVERALL RATING: 10 *

(Kevin Baker's review)

As much as I love this one, I do have to say that Highway 61 Revisited is closest to home for me. This not to say Blonde On Blonde is a lesser album; far from it. Blonde On Blonde is a rock masterpiece, a songwriting triumph for Dylan, and an absolute zenith of his career. I'd also like to add that this is a must-have cd for even a casual classic rock fan.  I think I'm going to do something a little different here. Rather than dissect this one song-by-song, I think I'll just talk about the album as a whole, pointing out highlights as I go. This album is unorthodox, and it deserves better than a cut-and-dried, "this track rules!" style review. No offense to the other reviewer; this is just how deep my reverence and awe over Blonde On Blonde really is.

It was 1966 when this was recorded and released. That was a big year for music. Lots of good albums hitting the shelves. But nothing like this. It was the first double album in rock history. But even then, that was small compared to its content. One epic ballad of such sweeping power that it can reduce the hardest heart to feelings of such longing and pathos as cannot be imagined (Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands). Absolutely brilliant word games, many humourous, some not (One Of Us Must Know, I Want You, Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat, 4th Time Around, Rainy Day Women). Blues with astonishing depth and clarity (Pledging My Time, Stuck Inside Of Mobile), and so much more.

My favorite is Visions Of Johanna. That song is so real, so vibrant, so alive that it amazes me to think of it. If Blonde On Blonde doesn't move you somehow, then rock music is not for you at all. When I listen to it, I get flooded with emotion. Every emotion. I cry at some places, I laugh at others. I feel anger sometimes, other times I am at peace. That is the beauty of Blonde On Blonde; it is a picture of the human heart, good, bad, and ugly sometimes. Get it. Now.

* OVERALL RATING: 10 *

(Ryan Mulligan's review)

Is there anything else that sounds like this album? Unique in its lyrical vision and its thin, wild mercury sound, this is the album that finds Dylan at his most bombastic and prophetic. At this point he was unquestionably a pop culture icon, and he was living it up with his overgrown hair and his ever-present shades. He was combining his unparalleled lyricism with bluesy guitar lines and mid sixties rock rhythms. This was the time period in which his infamous "sell out" concerts were taking place. This was Dylan at the height of his power, confident enough to unleash a sprawling double album full of everything from generic blues numbers to simple pop tunes to epic masterpieces.

If you're looking for the rambling, poetic genius side of Dylan, there's plenty of worthy songs encased here. "Visions of Johanna", one of my favorite Dylan songs, is perhaps the most striking of these. The bizarre symbolism, captivating melody and confident vocals combine with that mercury sound to create a true classic in the Dylan cannon. Lines such as "Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule" can really mean anything you want them to, and therein lies the genius of the man. You'll also find here the classic "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", which finds Dylan at the top of his game. The classic harmonica intro invites us into a surreal world full of characters who seem to typify cool. Or maybe it's just the way Dylan enunciates those syllables. The epic coda this time around is the eleven minute plus "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands", which allows the listener a rare opportunity to venture into Dylan's personal life. The beautiful melody of this song simply can't be beat and the song fully deserves its lengthy status. The lyrics are as vague as ever, but, of course, in a good way.

Elsewhere you'll find Dylan just having fun, as on the famous single "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", which isn't the classic some would say it is, but is great fun nonetheless, and the hilarious "Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat" (featuring a quality guitar solo by the man himself). There's also some blues numbers, such as "Pledging My Time", noteworthy for the harmonica solos and, guess what, the great lyrics, and the possible piece of filler "Obviously 5 Believers". Then you've got some more well known Dylan songs, such as the pop gem "I Want You" and the often misunderstood "Just Like A Woman". The former manages to successfully merge a simple pop refrain and melody with a set of fabulous, vague Dylan lyrics in the verses. The latter features some heartbreaking guitar lines and an overall gloomy mood, which is offset by one of Dylan's simplest, yet intriguing lyrical ideas. Well, at least I'm intrigued by the message of the song.

The remainder of the tracks are not as widely known, but perhaps they should be. "One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)", led by some great organ playing, features terrific, rising verses and a great uplifting chorus. The melody in the verses is just fabulous. "Absolutely Sweet Marie" is another one of my favorites; this time featuring an upbeat melody, great pleading lyrics, and another fine harmonica solo. The sound of this group of musicians is just superb as they really seem to come together nicely on tracks such as this one. "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" is an excellent and somewhat short pop tune carried forward by the strength of the band and Dylan's inventive lyrics, such as "You say my kisses are not like his, but this time I'm not gonna tell you why that is". I absolutely adore the story song "4th Time Around" as well. Its similar in melody to the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood", but I dig it even more. There's just something about the way he sings that song and what he's singing that always gets to me. Some highlight "Temporary Like Achilles" as a low point, due to its lazy nature, but I find the melody charming and the lyrics do not disappoint.

That's fourteen songs, all ranging from good to classic, and seventy five of the most entertaining minutes in the history of rock and roll. This album may not be for everyone, but it's certainly for me. It was the final chapter in the classic trilogy of electric albums put out by Dylan in the mid sixties, three of the absolute best albums ever made by anyone, but for some reason he never went back to this style of music, instead venturing off into country music in the years following his motorcycle crash in June of 1966, and to countless other styles throughout the rest of his career. To me, however, this remains not only the pinnacle of Dylan's songwriting, but also the true heights of popular music, and if this isn't the best album I've heard, then the one before it is.

* OVERALL RATING: 10 *

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[email protected] (Michal Kasparek)

Well, what should I say? When I was buing it, I thought that I was going to have another "electric-blues" expirience like I had listening to H61R........ but BonB can not be compared with any other type of music.....it goes its own way from first tones of Rainy Day Women to the closing solo of Sad Eyed Lady. Amazing atmosphere, funny lyrics and more more more...... a real masterpiece - I give it 15/15 -- or 10/10 ;)

BOB DYLAN'S GREATEST HITS (1967)

(reviewed by Robert Grazer)

Firt of all, I'm not a Bob Dylan fan, but over the past couple of months I've been a little bit more open to his work. This greatest hits collection, with music ranging from the previous Blonde On Blonde album, all the way back to stuff like "Blowin' In The Wind" off of The Freewheelin', seems to be a fairly decent overview of his early albums. The biggest problem I have with this (a problem that the majority of people have with most greatest hits albums) is that some of the song choices are terrible. How could you open up with "Rainy Day Women #12 &35" when this is supposed to be his greatest hits? Or how about "It Ain't Me Babe" being one of the worst songs I have ever heard? I also know it would be impossible to have a decent hits collection without "Blowin' In The Wind" or "The Times They Are A-Changin'," but I don't like either of them. Luckily closing the side is "Like A Rolling Stone," one of my (and everyone's) favorite Dylan songs.

For the most part the second side is much better. I don't care for "Positively 4th Street" that much at all, but other than that these are some good songs. It opens with most likely my favorite Bob Dylan song, "Mr. Tambourine Man," which is one of the very few Dylan songs I seem to be able to get into the same way Dylan fans do. From there we get the upbeat classic "Subterranean Homesick Blues," and a pair of Blonde On Blonde entries. I like "Just Like A Woman" a lot, but, although certainly not bad, I would have included "Visions Of Johanna" instead of "I Want You." There are some bad choices on here, and of seven albums he'd done to this point, three of the ten tracks on here (and from what I understand only eight of these were from other albums) are off of Blonde On Blonde. I'd have given this collection a higher score if they'd taken out "Rainy Day Women" and "It Ain't Me Babe" and put in "Ballad Of A Thin Man," my second favorite Dylan track, instead. Get this album if you are curious about Bob, just be sure to pick up a copy of Highway 61 along with it.

OVERALL RATING: 6

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COMMENTS

[email protected] (Brad Langoulant)

A 6 is a very harsh score. This is one of the best greatest hits albums I have heard. Rather the jam pack the album with as many songs as possible theve gone with a short 10 track album that takes you through Dylans carear to this point. Theres tracks from every album except the debut album. i also think theve got a good mix. A couple of earlier folk songs Blowing in the wind and Times they are a changin both which are absolute classics,3 of the shorter more comercially friendly blonde on blonde tracks, it aint me babe which is a good songsand the rest made up of songs from 1965 all of which are good songs. A brilliant album for thoses just starting to get into Dylan

JOHN WESLEY HARDING (1968)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: All Along The Watchtower, Dear Landlord, I Pity The Poor Immigrant, Drifter's Escape, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine.  LOW POINTS: None.

I don't really think I need to tell you the details of what transpired leading up to this album, but briefly, Dylan was involved in a motorcycle crash that put him out of action for the Summer Of Love the previous year, recorded a bunch of country songs with The Band in his basement that were released several years later, and just got the desire to do his approach his next effort in a somewhat more laid back vein.  And I really mean laid back - the overall sound is quiet, and the instrumentation doesn't have the depth of Blonde, instead mostly showcasing Bob's vocals, harmonica and acoustic, with a catchy rhythm section distinguishing that approach from his acoustic folk albums musically.  The songs are also shorter on this one, as there's 12 of them clocking in at 38 minutes, and the length is not the only thing foreshadowing the next few albums - there are traces of country incorporated into the music and arrangements as well.

The whole appeal of the album, though, is the atmosphere the lyrics create when combined with the music here.  And it's an atmosphere far removed from the garage rock combined with insane wordplay on Highway, for instance.  Instead, Dylan assumes the role of a storyteller taking you into 19th century working class America on several of the tracks, creating a mysterious, and utterly resonant, world that draws the listener in, and ultimately creating an album more than the sum of its' parts.  A good example is the opening title track - it's not particularly great on its' own, but it's hard to imagine a more effective introduction to the whole vibe surrounding the listener to this simple but effective tale of the outlaw title character, especially listening to it right after Blonde.  The simplicity of the melody and lyrics becomes fascinating in this context, just sensing the humble change in his approach, and charming to boot.

The other songs following it go beyond just catchy, though.  "As I Went Out One Morning" is probably the first song to take a mysterious, epic character to it, from the lyrics dealing with the narrator being saved from some girl intending to do him harm by Tom Paine to the dramatic, equally captivating melody.  And "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" ranks as a more emotional highpoint on here - while the actual melody of the song isn't as striking as some of the others, the slow, intimate atmosphere perfectly complementing the sorrow expressed in the lyrics somehow makes up for that, as the song deals with the religious figure St. Augustine being metaphorically 'put to death' and such things like that, and the main character's dream surrounding it.  You can definitely feel the emotion coming through here, making it another fine addition to the album.

Which is followed by one of the most epic 2-1/2 minute songs I've ever heard in the notorious "All Along The Watchtower", made that way by the Hendrix cover version of it.  Granted, Jimi's take on that song is astounding, featuring some of his most mindblowing solos ever (a high compliment, to be sure), but the edge should go to the original, just because the timeless vibe of the album is felt the most on this one, the lyrics are among the most captivating and vivid of his career, and the epic structure he gets out of such a short song is unbelievable. It's way more epic than the following 5 minute rambling "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest", in fact, a song which reminds me of what a stereotypical Dylan number would sound like in the minds of people who have never heard actually him before, and merely went on what people told them, what with that 'toneless' voice spitting out an incomprehensible story for awhile.  And is this story he tells ever mysterious, as I'm still not exactly sure what's going on (I'll leave that up to the listener).  That's part of the appeal, though, and the repetitive, but catchy, acoustic groove it has helps make it a somewhat good song anyway in spite of itself.

Afterwards, the album shifts from poetic narrative storytelling to a role-playing vibe, as on "Drifter's Escape", he takes on a hilarious whining vocal tone for a character who happens to be on trial but apparently escapes from the courthouse during a lightning storm.  The delivery and melody are so much fun on this one in spite of the serious subject matter, in sharp contrast to the depression of the next few tracks.  Of these, there's the extremely moving piano ballad "Dear Landlord" (one of the rare occurences of a piano-driven song on this album), whose beautiful melodic flow is made even more powerful by the mood of the lyrics - it's all about the main character pleading with the landlord not to be evicted from his home, and the result is a fairly soul-crushing and emotional song, probably my second favorite on here.

Following that, there's the more uptempo, but certainly not happy, "I Am A Lonesome Hobo", whose music is I suppose made that way to convey the 'wandering' atmosphere the song goes for, and the lyrical result is a powerful commentary on, well, lonesome hobos and similar types, with excellent harmonica work throughout (the harmonica work here is actually some of Dylan's best and most song-suiting ever, not just used as a predictable instrumental break, but to carry the melody).  And "I Pity The Poor Immigrant" does an absolutely spot-on job of conveying the hopeless situation of 19th century working class immigrants who toil in hardship in what was supposed to be a better place.  The lyrics here are as well worth a read as this captivating song is a listen (Dylan was really on a roll with these types of introspectve ballads during this period).  Then there's "The Wicked Messenger", probably my least favorite on the album, but it still has a complex and interesting melody, even if it doesn't create anywhere near as much an impact emotionally or mood-wise as the previous peaks do.

The last two songs are the least typical of the mood here, but they're still good as well - the piano blues of "Down Along The Cove" is a decent poppy love song that foreshadows the joyous vibes on Nashville Skyline (a good thing, even though this particular song is a bit generic), and the closing "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" is a gorgeous country-ish steel guitar ballad with a pure beauty in both the lyrics and melody that actually turns out to be one of the highlights on here. But these two are mostly the exception to one of the most interesting vibes Dylan has ever hit upon.  Again, on the whole, Harding is a consistently captivating set of songs that come together effortlessly.  It's not as phenomenal as the last two albums, mostly because it doesn't have as high a percentage of truly great songs, and it's not as musically rich as either.  But it's still one of his best anyway, especially where emotional impact is concerned, and as strong a 9 as Bringing.  Enjoy it, because he would go in a much more lightweight (though not necessarily bad) direction for a few albums immediately following this one.

OVERALL RATING: 9

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NASHVILLE SKYLINE (1969)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: Lay Lady Lay, Girl From The North Country, I Threw It All Away.  LOW POINTS: None.

On first listen to this album straight through, you'll barely even be able to recognize its' creator as Bob Dylan, but that's probably what he intended from the very beginning.  This is basically a 'hardcore country' album in terms of arrangements and instrumentation, and that's not the only significant change in sound here.  50 minute album lengths?  Cut all the way down to just 27 minutes (unsurprisingly, the length problem turns out to be the biggest flaw surrounding the listening experience).  Deep, enigmatic lyrics?  Throw them out the window, and replace them with simple and understandable mostly love-related themes.  That whiny voice you've come to know and love?  It's been replaced with a smooth, country-ish crooning that can just about be considered pleasant.  Now, put this in the context of what was expected of Dylan at the time, and you'll find it easy to understand why many people turned against him.

But fortunately, all these things don't translate to a bad album, as Dylan did a good job here of allowing the country style to suit his personality, along the way trying to pull a few confusing stops.  Look at the first two songs on here - the opener is actually a remake of The Freewheelin' classic "Girl From The North Country" (featuring Johnny Cash in a duet), and following that is actually a finger picking instrumental.  Of course, the former almost gets transformed into a completely different song that fits the atmosphere of the album (and his new vocal approach) - the melody and lyrics are mostly intact, but it's slowed down, and with Cash in the picture, it turns into a fascinating contrast of two different legendary personalities.  Almost as good as the original, if you can believe that.  As for "Nashville Skyline Rag", it's nothing that special, but it builds enough to stay captivating, it's entertainingly fast, and there's nice guitar picking thrown in there.

When dealing with the other eight songs, it's harder to review this, as they can all mostly be grouped into a couple different (same-sounding) categories - slow countryish ballads and fun countryish grooves.  Both those groups are extremely consistent, though, as they have solid melodies and a thoroughly pleasant, lightweight atmosphere.  It's harder to pick highlights out of the grooves, but the bounciness of "One More Night" and "Peggy Day" really get under my skin, and "Country Pie", though short, has a rousing appeal to it.  But when we're talking ballads, the acknowledged classic "Lay Lady Lay" definitely stands out the most, as the melody has an intimately haunting quality to it (especially the opening 'naughty' line 'lay lay lay / lay across my big brass bed'), and the organ embellishments in the background are incredibly effective merging with the slide guitars, as is the powerful melodic flow of the song.

Don't forget the melodically pretty failed romance song "I Threw It All Away", with more nice acoustic guitar, some atypical lyrics, and a really nice relaxing chorus ('no matter how much you think about it / you just won't be able to do without it'), while "To Be Alone With You" has a charming vocal delivery and very nice piano/guitar interplay, and there's a snappy song right there.  "Tell Me That It Isn't True" and "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" are fine slow ballads as well - they aren't particularly great on their own (especially the less memorable latter closing track), but when they run together with the lightweight prettiness of the rest, the results are enjoyable.  Of course, with the exception of those few classics, nothing here is really great, and there's that big flaw of the length, but hey, Bob wasn't really trying to make a huge artistic statement here.  Regardless, he did come up with an extremely consistent set of pleasant melodies on here, and that's the key.

OVERALL RATING: 8

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SELF-PORTRAIT (1970)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo), Early Morning Rain, Days Of '49, Belle Isle, Woogie Boogie. LOW POINTS: Like A Rolling Stone.

Hands down, this is the most controversial album in Dylan's entire catalog, but everyone knows that already.  On one hand, it has been given the due respect it deserves among a few web reviewers, but many more people regard this as one of the hugest missteps he's ever made, as like Nashville Skyline, there are several qualities that would be almost unacceptable for the hardcore fan back in 1970.  First off, it's a double album, but not in the endlessly challenging Blonde On Blonde sense where all the songs flow together in some spectacular sound.  Nope, instead, he just felt like having a little fun during the sessions (actually, the whole product feels like it was recorded in several different periods) - this album is basically a grab bag of not only the usual Skyline type songs (several of which songs are covers, a further unacceptable sin), but also near-instrumental grooves, off-the-cuff originals, laid back concert performances, and other interesting approaches.  And the whole effect is a lot of fun, and even beautiful at times!

Yes, it's true - I don't like to suddenly be jumping on the 'this album is criminally underrated' bandwagon, but in this case I will.  My advice when listening is to just approach it with an open mind as a collection of songs, and not the second coming of Highway 61, or even John Wesley Harding for that matter, and you might find that this material is very good.  No, it isn't revolutionary or anything (they're just fun, though varied, songs with mostly conventional melodies, lyrics and arrangements), but these songs have several of things going for them.  First off, the vocals - this effort might actually be the place to go first if you think this dude had no talent for attractive singing, as on several songs, the vocal approach is very pleasant and often gorgeous.  I personally think this is best shown on the ballads (many of them covers) - it makes the orchestral sweep of "Copper Kettle" and particularly the original "Belle Isle" even more impressive, the rolling "Take A Message To Marie", the very Skyline-esque "It Hurts Me Too" and the jazzy "Let It Be Me" downright relaxing, and so on.

The entire appeal of the album isn't the performance of the covers, though.  Even if, in my humvle opinion, his takes on "Days Of '49" (which has that familiar epic Dylan aura around it) and Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" (which is a great song in itself, and the acoustic playing here rules!) are just as good or better than anything on his debut, sounding particularly attractive and powerful.  There's also the simple charm of the grooves to be found here - the rousing horn-filled "Woogie Boogie" (with a particularly catchy and extremely fun main piano/sax hook) and the slower "Wigwam" are quite nice, as is the bouncy "Living The Blues" (with a poppy hook and nice background singing).  Oh, and the opening track "All The Tired Horses" is another perverse attempt at trying to drive his hardcore insane - nowhere on this song are his vocals to be found, instead being replaced by a female choir singing two lines over and over again ('all the tired horses in the sun / how am I supposed to get any riding done?'), backed by a repeating acoustic guitar pattern.  Yes, it's simplistic and repetitive, but it creates a surprisingly relaxing and effective atmosphere.

But that's still not all, as just because Dylan was trying to make an 'intentionally flawed' album doesn't mean there aren't some really neat ideas here.  Example - his take on Simon And Garfunkel's "The Boxer" makes effective use of double-tracked vocals for a not better, but still intriguing, approach to the song.  And I like the way he presents two versions of his own original "Little Sadie", the first one establishing itself as a slow-building acoustic storysong mini epic thing (with great yells of 'forty one days... forty one nights' at the end), and the second takes those same lyrics and places them in a rousing upbeat bongo drum setting.  And don't forget the one song even haters of this album often love - the absolutely awesome rocker "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)", which sounds like it was recorded at an particularly 'entertaining' party.  It rocks with more drive than most of his stuff does, with an extremely catchy melody and fantastic guitar breaks to boot.  Probably the one big classic on here.

Alright, I'm not gonna pretend Self-Portrait is one of his best albums, or even that I really like everything on here.  Maybe only a couple songs at most can be ranked among his classics, and a few of the others, like "Blue Moon", "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know", "Take Me As I Am", the two takes on "Alberta" don't really rise much above just pleasurable (though they are good).  If it's any particular misfire you're asking for, I don't really care much for the live version of "Like A Rolling Stone" here - a little too laid-back and sloppy, if you ask me (plus changing - or forgetting? - the lyrics doesn't help).  It seems "She Belongs To Me" and the fun chant "Minstrel Boy" are done better in this live context.  But anyway, point is, judged apart from regular Dylan standards, I simply cannot see what there is to hate about this stuff - it's so much of a pleasurable experience I hardly even notice the over 70 minute running time.  To close off, I'll leave you with a particularly defining lyric from "Gotta Travel On" - 'Done laid around, done stayed around / This old town too long / And it seems like I've got to travel on.'  Appropriate for his direction, isn't it?

OVERALL RATING: 8

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NEW MORNING (1970)

(reviewed by Nick Karn)

HIGH POINTS: New Morning, If Not For You, Sign On The Window, Day Of The Locusts.  LOW POINTS: If Dogs Run Free, Winterlude.

With the plan to alienate his fans pretty much complete, Dylan decided it was time to get back to making serious albums, and so quickly recorded the short and introspective 36 minute album we have here.  But actually, I'm probably one of the few who actually prefer both the previous two albums to this one, but sorry, I liked that fun, lightweight sound just as much!  Of course, a lot of this opinion has to do with New Morning's inconsistency - while Skyline and Portrait didn't really have anything that jumped out at me as awful or particularly blah, this one not only has a few songs that don't really do anything special, but a couple of them I consider his worst individual efforts since Times.  Plus, the whole sound at first (with Bob actually using piano a good amount through the album) seems really monotonous and even simplistic, but there's a good chance this effort will grab hold of you anyway.

Especially since I can't deny how pretty a few of the highlights are.  The opening "If Not For You" might have been done better by George Harrison on All Things Must Pass (mostly because he gives it a gorgeously rich, full arrangement of slide guitars and organs), but it's still a major highlight on here anyway, with its' mildly majestic and romantic melody, even if Bob's returned to his rougher voice on the album.  "Day Of The Locusts" follows that song up well, with one of the most effective uses of piano and organ here to go along with a fantastic singalong chorus that's guaranteed to become one of your most memorable choice hooks here ('and the locusts sang...')  But "Time Passes Slowly" is more representative of the somewhat depressing and bored side of this album, what with its' weary melody and simplistic arrangement, and hits what he's going for pretty well.

That particular mood makes it interesting that my favorite song, the second half-opening title track, is the most uplifting one.  Everything about it, from the joyous acoustic guitar pattern to the enlightening melodic chorus, is done convincingly well, and though it's a difficult task to say anything about the song beyond that, it's still pretty much a classic.  Even if that mood proves to be short lived, as evidenced by "Sign On The Window", more depressing piano balladry with a particularly sparse arrangement, not to mention mood-defining lyrics like 'sign on the door says no company allowed'.  Also of interest here is the exploration of spiritual themes (foreshadowing of the Christian period?) in the last two tracks, the slow, mostly spoken-word organ/acoustic number "Three Angels" and the minute and a half closer "Father Of Night".  The latter in particular might even be a highlight for me if it were longer and more developed, since the vocal melody and really, really snappy piano line are so catchy.

Too bad the remaining songs don't strike me as terribly special, except for maybe the Self Portrait-style ballad "The Man In Me", which still may not become memorable until after a few listens.  For one thing, generic blues rock like "One More Weekend", however fun the guitar breaks may be, has no place on an album like this, especially when it sounds kinda boneheaded. "Winterlude" also seems like a filler to me, a waltzy, sappy ballad that doesn't really possess much charm, no matter how hard it may try.  Plus, there's also a major failed experiment in the extremely stupid beat poetry of "If Dogs Run Free", which not only has awful lyrics, but horribly grating scat-laced backing vocals, all which contribute to making it possibly his worst song to date.  Nevertheless, there are enough definite highlights to compensate for those misfires, the occasionally uniform sound and occasionally unmemorable melodies, so this is definitely worthwhile, especially if you find the quiet side of Dylan attractive.

OVERALL RATING: 7.5

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BLOOD ON THE TRACKS (1975)

(reviewed by Samuel Fassbinder)

Some things to establish in reviewing Bob Dylan:

1) I don't think Dylan was ever a political artist deep in his heart. Sure, early in his career he wrote protest music, but at that time he was into being a "folkie," which meant complying with a certain peer pressure to participate in the social movements of the early '60s. I still remember seeing a picture of the young Dylan singing for the Freedom Riders (in the American southeast, of course) with, of all people, Pete Seeger. Also, his early politicization fit his career ambitions as a poet and a writer of hard-luck songs. But he was never the giant of political songwriting that Phil Ochs turned out to be (before Ochs' decline and fall in the late '60s), and after, say, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, he did some things to push aside the political folk music scene, like, say, pushing Phil Ochs out of a car, and like employing a backup rock band and touring with them to the unanimous disdain and boos of his (seceding) constituency. I gather it was because he didn't like being that kind of celebrity, so he ditched his peer group. He has a right to his choice, of course.

2) Zillions of writers have analyzed Dylan's lyrics and public statements for inner meaning. Don't bother. He's used his gift for poetry so many times for the sake of protecting his privacy that it's not even worth counting them. A safe rule is: Dylan's lyrics mean what they say they mean. everything he says is redeemable for its face value. There is nothing underneath. The best Dylan lyrics are in albums where he plays magic tricks, Bringing It All Back Home, and "Highway 61 Revisited for instance.

3) Defenders of Bob Dylan love his voice. On the other hand, I think that the parodies of Dylan's voice are great fun, esp. Phil Ochs' "The Doll House" from the "Rehearsals For Retirement album and Simon & Garfunkel's "A Simple Desultory Phillippic" off of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, And Thyme. I also like Joan Baez covers of Dylan songs, esp. because her voice is nice and because she tends to choose the most interesting Dylan compositions, also you get to hear the ones that didn't appear on his albums. Me, I'm not likely to regard Dylan's voice as a "true fan" would.

Now, let's proceed to the social penumbra surrounding Blood On The Tracks. All the big critics compare it to Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and Joni Mitchell's Blue, they say oh this is a masterpiece of self-revelation etc. Me, I hate it. No, just kidding. But the point is that this thing is so horribly overpraised that I'm tempted to pan it just to provide a strong warning against the critics who think you ought to like this album for the sake of Dylan-worship (and its aura of peer pressure), rather than that it's a good album. If you really want music that charms through self-revelation, I'd recommend a good listen to the music of Billy Bragg. No, seriously. In fact, what else is Billy Bragg good for, besides the charms of his self-revelation and his clever political quips? It's not his voice. Start with his album Talking With The Taxman About Poetry, or maybe Don't Try This At Home if you're picky about Bragg's melodies. Look, have any of you Dylanophiles ever heard anything by Steve Goodman or Dar Williams or Joan Baez or Tom Paxton or any of the zillions of other artists deserving your attention?

I'll write about Blood On The Tracks itself now. Firstly, the melodies are no great shakes and most of them have predictable harmonica solos toward the end. Blood On The Tracks loses major points for monotony, though I'm likely to give the same regard to most of Arlo Guthrie's output. "Days Are Short" (from Arlo's Hobo's Lullaby album) would be an above-average tune on this album). You will hear the same melodic structures between tunes, different chords but chord changes you've heard a million times. Secondly, the lyrics are storytelling lyrics that tell downer stories in most of the songs. "Tangled Up In Blue" has a great tune and a good story (though some of the scenes Dylan paints are reminiscent of way too many Hollywood blockbuster movies); "Simple Twist Of Fate" is amusing, too, although I think its charm lies in its pauses; at any rate, there's a good cover of "Simple Twist of Fate" on Joan Baez's Ring Them Bells" album, a very likeable album that you might consider buying if you don't own any Joan Baez.

"Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts," the seventh track, is the next glimpse of lightness in the melodies department, it flows rockingly, though it's nearly nine minutes full of repeated chord changes. (The intervening tracks are either uninteresting stuff like "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" or complaints like "Idiot Wind," with Dylan braying like a donkey. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When We Go" gets your attention because it shares with early Dylan the virtues of harmonica at the beginning of the song, only to disappoint with the rest of the tune.) "Shelter From The Storm" is about being lost and forsaken and receiving "shelter from the storm." "Buckets of Rain" has a pretty guitar intro, tho' he doesn't do a lot with it.

I guess one could like this album a lot if one liked being bummed out, an album full of recountings of painful and depressing experiences (approximating cinematic cliches at times) set to traditional folk-rock chord progressions played in stellar fashion. After all, it all shows thoroughly high-quality musicianship and nice acoustics. I'm still not enchanted enough to give it a high rating, though I don't think I'll sell it back to the record store. Add a point or three if you're not on a crusade against undue celebrity-worship.

OVERALL RATING: 6

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COMMENTS

[email protected] (Florian Handke)

Normally I just work my way through review pages without ever sending personal comments but this time I feel I cannot pass without disagreeing. How can you diss BOTT like that? With a 9 I could live but a 6?? Actually this is one of the best albums ever IMHO, defenitely on of Dylan´s best. I am listening to it right now and I think it´s great. You cannot really hate songs like "idiot wind", "big girl", "shelter.." etc (I am just too lazy to name them all now, almost everythinhg is great here) I like it even better than Highway 61, although this is great, too( by the way I enjoy "just like tom thumb´s blues" a lot on here)

Great review site, though .

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Dear Florian,

Let me summarize it for you here:

Although "Tangled Up In Blue" is a great song, most of the stuff on Blood On The Tracks is too bitter, too pointless, and riding too hard on Dylan's reputation as an icon.

I don't hate songs like "Idiot Wind" etc., I merely think they're boring, which is why I eventually sold this album back to the record store.

If you like this album better than Highway 61, then you probably like Dylan better as an icon than as a poet who uses humor, paradox, and irony, because all that's left of Dylan by the time of Blood is his gift for metaphor. Please do read my review of Bringing It All Back Home, and good luck in persuading others to appreciate your tastes.

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