Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

I don't think anybody's mentioned that Dylan is the king of song titles not incorporating any of the song's lyrics. "Baba O'Reilly" has probably tripped up way more potential contest winners but nobody's got as many as Dylan. I'm not trying to imply any great meaning to that fact, it's just one of many Dylan quirks. I will confess to being annoyed by this from time to time especially as memory cells become more precious.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

First Listen: Bob Dylan, 'The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11'

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The Basement Tapes Complete: The Bootleg Series Vol. 11, a compilation of unearthed recordings by Bob Dylan, comes out Nov. 4.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by OkieinTexas »

First off, great job BiloxiParish.

Secondly, this is a seriously great thread. I really like Dylan and have a working knowledge of his discography, but I have taken the suggestions of the numerous well-written and informative posts and have gotten somewhat hooked. I have a feeling his life will make a great movie.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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Last edited by Kudzu Guillotine on Fri Oct 31, 2014 1:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by RevMatt »

I am currently reading Ian Bell's Dylan books. An interesting thing I hadn't previously considered.

Most people, when considering Dylan's career, consider the motorcycle crash to be the end of the creatively fertile first period where he went from being the 19 year old kid who hitchhiked to NYC in search of Woody Guthrie and became "the voice of his generation". This covers the first album through Blonde On Blonde. The motorcycle crash ended his period of heavy touring. His next phase began with The Basement Tapes and John Wesley Harding. He took up painting, focused on his family, did very few interviews and went in a different direction musically.

After reading the first volume of the book an alternative history of Dylan might be that the death of his father, after he had recorded John Wesley Harding is the real point in which he changed creatively. Dylan was 27 when he lost his father, Abe Zimmerman. They had been somewhat estranged since he was a teenager and he never really had a chance to reconcile. After John Wesley Harding the bursts of inspiration were fewer and the albums less consistent. In the ten years that followed he recorded one indisputable classic (Blood On The Tracks, one arguable classic Planet Waves, some albums regarded as "good but not great" and a stinker or two. In the period from the first album through John Wesley Harding just about every album is essential. (Another Side of Bob Dylan IMO is the only good but not great album in this period. The first album is mostly covers but absolutely brilliant when taken on its own terms.) The next period would be Nashville Skyline through Street Legal. IMO, this period yielded two essential studio albums, one essential live album. The rest of the albums all have their moments. As a songwriter during this period Dylan seems very workmanlike. Many of his best songs like "Knocking On Heaven's Door" are not "Dylanesque". They are great songs in their own right and have certainly endured. As a songwriter he is more mature. His lyrics tend to be more direct.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Interesting take Rev but trying to pigeonhole Dylan or his songwriting into eras and trying to make sense out of them is a fool's game, despite the fact that we all do it anyway. Interesting that you mention Knocking on Heaven's Door. From a Dylan standpoint the song feels like a throwaway even trifle in a sea of deeper more meaningful songs, and I've had people try to argue that it is just that, except it isn't. It's so beautiful in its simplicity that it's become a ubiquitous cover song that anyone can play in virtual any genre and it means something different in every context. Any songwriter would kill to write it but for Dylan it only works a small fraction of his mastery. Now take something like Romance in Durango (on a given day often my favorite Dylan song) which isn't simple, does not lend itself easily to interpretation and most likely takes a certain ear and mindset to love. To me it's grand literature with sweeping scenery, desperate characters and a point of view worthy of the greatest fiction writers and yet it's song. It has meter and melody and those elements reveal themselves slowly. You don't love song like this immediately but like the best books they grow and take root and don't let you go. To me that's the true genius of Dylan he's not one thing, he's everything. He's Carver and Fauklner and Hemingway but he's also a peer to the best songwriters to ever come out of places like the Brill building. Every schoolchild knows Blowin' in the Wind and ever college professor knows the Romance in Durango', the Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts and song of that ilk and both groups might hum along to Desolatin Row. If you want to say he's one thing he proves to you he's something else. What he is is indescribable so naturally there are about million writings that try.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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In relation to Dylan's motorcycle wreck, I never knew about the transfiguration thing until this Rolling Stone interview from a couple years ago.

By transfiguration, you mean it in the sense of being transformed? Or do you mean transmigration, when a soul passes into a different body?

Transmigration is not what we are talking about. This is something else. I had a motorcycle accident in 1966.1 already explained to you about new and old. Right? Now, you can put this together any way you want. You can work on it any way you want. Transfiguration: You can go and learn about it from the Catholic Church, you can learn about it in some old mystical books, but it's a real concept. It's happened throughout the ages. Nobody knows who it's happened to, or why. But you get real proof of it here and there. It's not like something you can dream up and think. It's not like conjuring up a reality or like reincarnation – or like when you might think you're somebody from the past but have no proof. It's not anything to do with the past or the future.

So when you ask some of your questions, you're asking them to a person who's long dead. You're asking them to a person that doesn't exist. But people make that mistake about me all the time. I've lived through a lot. Have you ever heard of a book called No Man Knows My History? It's about Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet. The title could refer to me.

Transfiguration is what allows you to crawl out from under the chaos and fly above it. That's how I can still do what I do and write the songs I sing and just keep on moving.

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Clams »

Is there ever gonna be a part 2 of his book Chronicle? Wasn't it supposed to be a 3 book series? I remember being surprised at how well written the first book was.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Shakespeare »

ive got a big post on my dylan fandom i need to finish up. the short version is he was one of my earliest favorite artists, really changed everything, and was close to all i listened to for a solid few years between high school and college. i dont play his stuff much anymore but blonde on blonde remains my all time favorite album.

i bit the bullet and ordered the 6 disc basement tapes box set this weekend. wasnt easy (i sure wish more labels would do a middle ground between the cheap and the expensive. i want all this material too much to settle for the two disc compilation, but i dont really care much for a book and whatever other odds and ends make the deluxe edition more than 5 times as expensive) but i found a decent enough deal and treated myself.

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by StevieRay »

I think this was the 1st time I saw Dylan (45mins from my house at the time):

Image

Widespread Panic opened.

I remember being blown away by Larry Campbell. Couldn't believe I'd waited 'till I was thirty to see Bob.

Duncan And Brady
Mr. Tambourine Man
Desolation Row
Boots Of Spanish Leather
Tangled Up In Blue
Searching For A Soldier's Grave
Country Pie
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
The Wicked Messenger
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
Things Have Changed
Like A Rolling Stone
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Highway 61 Revisited
Blowin' In The Wind

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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Garth Hudson returns to Big Pink


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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »



Nice find, cortez. Despite the several embarrassing gaffes in the Blonde on Blonde write-up, I think the album summaries are mostly solid if workmanlike. The surprising thing to me is how conservative the list is, not a lot of surprises, maybe not any.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

The current Rolling Stone has plenty on the newly issued Basement Tapes box. As you might expect it's all hugely favorable. As you might not guess, some of it is pretty interesting.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by RevMatt »

I scored the two disc version of The Basement Tapes at Best Buy yesterday. The Basement Tapes is the Dylan album I put off getting into until a few years ago. In high school my three favorite Dylan albums were Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding. I was aware of the reputation of The Basement Tapes but pretty much went straight to Blood On The Tracks and Slow Train Coming which, IMO, is a much better record than its reputation. Dylan, of course, had his eighties and early nineties slump and I stopped paying attention around the time of The Traveling Wilburys and Dylan and The Dead. I am glad I put off exploring The Basement Tapes until later in life. For me, it turned out to be the musical equivalent of saving the best piece in the box of chocolates for last.

The mix on the new version is amazing. It blows the 1970's double album away. In the 70's Robbie Robertson made the decision to mix and master that album in mono even though Garth Hudson recorded it in stereo. It was one of those production decisions where a record is deliberately made to sound more "primitive" than it actually is. The restored version demonstrates what the original purpose of the big pink sessions; to record demo versions of new, never released Dylan songs for the publisher to showcase to other artists. The songs were presented in an unpolished way, arranged simply enough so an artist or producer can explore its possibilities. The Band gave the music the sort of infectious energy that makes a musician want to pick up their instrument and join in. One point that the liner notes make in the booklet is that Dylan did not usually write songs with choruses. But most of the songs presented on these demos had brilliant, catchy choruses that seem to invite the listener to sing along.

People have speculated for decades as to the reasons why Dylan delayed the release of these songs despite the demands from the public for their official release. My own opinion is that Dylan originally shopped these songs to other artists with the understanding that he wouldn't record them, giving many artists and bands the opportunity to release, in the eyes of the public, the definitive versions. By waiting until the mid-seventies to release them he was merely keeping his word.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

RevMatt wrote: The Band gave the music the sort of infectious energy that makes a musician want to pick up their instrument and join in.


This is the "thing" that makes the basement tapes so special and is what I think people react to when they fall in love w/ whatever version of the album they happen to hear.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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A few random conclusions I have come to regarding the phenomenon called "Bob Dylan."

-- Dylan was unprecedented. At least in music. He emerged at a time when so-called "young people" (the post-war baby boomers) were coming of age. This is one reason why he was misunderstood, especially during his own time. People had never experienced this sort of "song and dance man". Consequently, they projected so much of their own aspirations -- individually and collectively -- onto a singer and songwriter barely out of his teens. They searched the lyrics and even his wardrobe for some form of "significance" that wasn't there. Outside of jazz, the public had never encountered a recording artist who seemingly underwent radical changes in his music. Until then a successful recording artist would repeat the formula that had worked until it no longer worked. This led to what I believe remains the central misunderstanding of Bob Dylan: that he is some kind of musical changeling who concocts brand new personas with every album. This is a more accurate description of David Bowie in the 1970's than Bob Dylan whose musical developments, in retrospect, make more sense than they did when the public first encountered them.

-- Bob Dylan, like many performers in music, theater and comedy, is an introverted man. Introverts by nature are very uncomfortable talking about themselves and their work. They required time alone to "recharge" themselves so they can do their work. Dylan also has a degree of social awkwardness. Making "chit chat" with strangers is something that makes him very uncomfortable. In addition, Dylan is a very private person. From the very beginning he has shielded his family -- parents, siblings, spouses and children -- from public scrutiny. During Dylan's time he was forced to endure press conferences from a public that was convinced there was some kind of deeper significance in this man and his music than he was acknowledging. This led to accusations that Dylan was deliberately messing with the public's head, withholding information, and shirking his civic duty in being the leader of the so-called revolution. The likely truth is that Dylan wanted to record and perform his music but was freaked out by the public's reaction to him. The press, critics and public rarely considered what their reaction to his music -- booing, cries of "Judas", people rooting through his garbage, arrogant 60's radicals acting as though he was somehow accountable to them, being called "the voice of a generation" -- felt like from his perspective.

-- In the late 70's Dylan had a period where he publicly identified as a born again Christian. He was in a unique position to have experienced the extremes of public adulation followed by accusations of treason that is portrayed in The Gospels. Outside of being arrested and crucified he went through much of what Jesus of Nazareth experienced in the final two to three years of his life. This may have been a factor in his conversion.

-- In the eighties Dylan experienced a serious case of writer's block. I cannot say if this was worse than what other songwriters experienced because Dylan's relationship with his record company was such that even the series of stinkers he released throughout an entire decade was not enough to jeopardize his contract with Columbia. Only a handful of artists -- Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen -- were in the position where they had earned a degree of infinite patience from a record company. Dylan's experience of writer's block was so extreme that he no longer seemed capable of recognizing a great song he had written from a clunker. It took him a decade and a half to "find his groove" again.

-- Dylan's late career resurgence began in 1997 when he was past the age of 55. Again, Dylan had done something almost unprecedented. Not everything he has released since Time Out of Mine is great. There have certainly been a few clunkers. But in the past fifteen years Dylan can perform a set where better than 75 percent of the material has been written and recorded since 1997 and hear few complaints from his fans, such is the quality of the songs he has written in later life. In fact, I would be more disappointed if he left out songs like "Thunder On The Mountain" or "Duquesne Whistle" than "Like A Rolling Stone" or "Tangled Up In Blue".

-- Bob Dylan must love music -- listening, creating and performing -- more than anything else in life. It is truly a vocation. Otherwise he could have never endured everything he has gone through and still be a vital artist.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by dogstar »

RevMatt wrote:-- Bob Dylan must love music -- listening, creating and performing -- more than anything else in life. It is truly a vocation. Otherwise he could have never endured everything he has gone through and still be a vital artist.


Even the cursary listen I gave to his Theme Time Radio Hour shows was enough to prove this.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

dogstar wrote:
RevMatt wrote:-- Bob Dylan must love music -- listening, creating and performing -- more than anything else in life. It is truly a vocation. Otherwise he could have never endured everything he has gone through and still be a vital artist.


Even the cursary listen I gave to his Theme Time Radio Hour shows was enough to prove this.


Yeah that was my thought too. I've never even heard the show (or maybe once) but just looking at the playlists it's pretty damn obvious how broad and deep Dylan's musical knowledge and curiosity is.

Another excellent job, Rev. By way of emphasis only, I would say that his uniqueness can't be overestimated and his genius is too often underestimated. I mean both terms literally. Dylan is one of a kind and can't be evaluated or understood or explained by reference to the usual musical, critical and cultural constructs. It's especially hard to do that in real time as outmoded, outdated terms and understandings are applied to someone who's already moved on by the time you've heard the last thing he recorded. "Everyone" thinks Dylan's a lyrical genius or maybe a musical genius, that's not exactly news. But i mean genius as in "he's smarter than the rest of us." Like Stephen Hawking smart. His "chameleon" like changes and constant evolution are a lot easier to understand in the context of a searching genius rather than as an inconstant pop star.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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Tequila Cowboy wrote:Ok, some favorites:

Records:

Blood On the Tracks
Desire
Planet Waves
Blonde on Blonde
Highway 61 Revisited
Infidels
Empire Burlesque
The Freewheeling Bob Dylan
Nashville Skyline
John Wesley Harding


Mostly unimpeachable except can you help me out with an explanation re: Empire Burlesque? I find that record difficult to access. The production style is hard to get around. And: why not Oh Mercy instead?

I know you are not a fan of the late period records like Time Out Of Mind and beyond. You should re-consider Love & Theft + Modern Times. Both of those are superior to Empire Burlesque to my ear.

Love me some Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, New Morning, Bringing It All Back Home, Street Legal... basically, how many other artists out there can you say that ten isn't enough for a "top" list? And - it isn't like he's never mailed in a dud record either -- and, a few of 'em are absolutely awful. What could be worse to listen to than a Dylan record where he is hell bent on alienating his fans.

Question: should "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2" count as an actual record for inclusion on the "best of list" - in that, although it is a compilation, it contains 1971 studio arrangements of songs he had never released prior.

I'm on a heavy rotation Dylan/The Band listening phase due to The Complete Basement Tapes. (also - as Thanksgiving approaches I'm getting set for my annual viewing of The Last Waltz).

The "Bootleg" series rolls on. Really - ever since 1991's Vol.1 - 3 it's been a mother-load.

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

StevieRay wrote:Question: should "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2" count as an actual record for inclusion on the "best of list" - in that, although it is a compilation, it contains 1971 studio arrangements of songs he had never released prior.


Back in the day (70's-80's) I seem to remember that this would often be included on various Dylan "top" or "recommended" lists. Not sure that's still true, although Rolling Stone still calls it "an ideal introduction" to Dylan.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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beantownbubba wrote:
StevieRay wrote:Question: should "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2" count as an actual record for inclusion on the "best of list" - in that, although it is a compilation, it contains 1971 studio arrangements of songs he had never released prior.


Back in the day (70's-80's) I seem to remember that this would often be included on various Dylan "top" or "recommended" lists. Not sure that's still true, although Rolling Stone still calls it "an ideal introduction" to Dylan.


Thanks BTB. Wish I would have listened in the 80's. Those were my teen years, and, also my Grateful Dead immersion years. He never hit me as an artist until college and the long cross country drives to the soundtrack of Blood On The Tracks. *note* - speaking of Dylan & The Dead - one of the aforementioned dud albums is surely that 1989 stinker. What boggles the mind about that pile of crap record is the proverbial "what could have been."

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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StevieRay wrote:
beantownbubba wrote:
StevieRay wrote:Question: should "Greatest Hits, Vol. 2" count as an actual record for inclusion on the "best of list" - in that, although it is a compilation, it contains 1971 studio arrangements of songs he had never released prior.


Back in the day (70's-80's) I seem to remember that this would often be included on various Dylan "top" or "recommended" lists. Not sure that's still true, although Rolling Stone still calls it "an ideal introduction" to Dylan.


Thanks BTB. Wish I would have listened in the 80's. Those were my teen years, and, also my Grateful Dead immersion years. He never hit me as an artist until college and the long cross country drives to the soundtrack of Blood On The Tracks. *note* - speaking of Dylan & The Dead - one of the aforementioned dud albums is surely that 1989 stinker. What boggles the mind about that pile of crap record is the proverbial "what could have been."


wow, I can't agree with that. I think that record is way underrated. I would call Joey the definitive version of that song and Gotta Serve Somebody might be close to that (although Willie Nelson's cover of that one really blows any Dylan version away). Bottom line Dylan and the Dead is not a classic, but in no way does it suck. IMHO of course.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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Tequila Cowboy wrote:I would call Joey the definitive version of that song and Gotta Serve Somebody might be close to that (although Willie Nelson's cover of that one really blows any Dylan version away). Bottom line Dylan and the Dead is not a classic, but in no way does it suck. IMHO of course.


I guess that is part of my problem, Joey to me is a plodding and over-indulgent cut on the otherwise brilliant Desire.

To me, the song selection on Dylan & The Dead is appalling. You have to at least concede a certain percentage of suckage.

Don't get me wrong - Dylan himself is said to prefer Jerry's arrangements to his own in many cases. I guess the JGB version of Tangled Up In Blue is responsible for me spinning Blood On The Tracks in the first place. Bob Weir didn't always hit the mark though on Desolation Row, Memphis Blues, Paint My Masterpiece, Queen Jane Approximately., etc. And, Phil was a bit tough to hear on Tom Thumb Blues. Jerry singing It's All Over Now (Baby Blue) was about as good as you could ask for, however, and Quinn The Eskimo was a kick-ass encore. Queen Jane, All Along The Watchtower, and, Knockin' on Heaven's Door were at least songs that GD or JGB performed regularly.

Bottom line - this record could have been so much better than it was. (IMHO)

TC - can you tell me why Empire Burlesque makes your top ten?

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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by RevMatt »

I am currently reading Time Out of Mind: The Lives of Bob Dylan. It is the second volume of Ian Bell's biography and covers his life and body of work from Blood On The Tracks to the present. He pays close attention to Dylan's "lost decade": the 80's. Most biographers skip over this period for several reasons. First, the quality of the music is not up to Dylan standards. Second, most writers are not sympathetic to Dylan's religious convictions. They do not even attempt to understand where he is coming from. However, understanding this may be the key to understanding a good percentage of his later music.

Anyhow, I am going to attempt to come up with some kind of bullet point description of Dylan's "lost decade". While it certainly is the weakest part of his discography it is not the barren musical wasteland most people make it out to be. He wrote some great songs during this time and worked with great people.

-- Best Album of The Lost Decade Oh Mercy There are several factors that went into Dylan's lost decade. First, he had always flown by the seat of his pants in the recording studio. He would rarely give the other musicians lyric and chord sheets to the song, expecting them to pick up on the chord changes the moment the reels start spinning. He hated overdubs or prolonged sessions. Most of his albums -- from the 60's to the present day -- were recorded in a few days' time. Another contributing factor to the lost decade is that Dylan seemingly lost the ability to differentiate between his great songs, the merely workmanlike and the clunkers. Listeners -- especially those who are not songwriters themselves -- have trouble understanding this. A "great" song should be self-evident. But from a writer's perspective there is a very fine line between a great song and a totally pretentious piece of crap. To Dylan's ears a song like "Blind Willie McTell" may have seemed overly pretentious. Also, there is an intimidation factor when working with an artist of Dylan's stature. He not only calls the shots but he is usually given the benefit of the doubt in decisions.

Many of Dylan's shortcomings were addressed by the choice of Daniel Lanois as producer. Daniel Lanois cut his teeth as a producer partnering with Brian Eno on U2's Unforgettable Fire. He was able to convince Dylan to take a more disciplined approach in the studio. He also took a strong stand when Dylan tried to keep "Everything's Broken" off the album.

Best Song of The Lost Decade "Blind Willie McTell" -- I don't even want to describe this song with a simple paragraph. Just listen to both versions. Even during his most artistically barren periods, when the great songs were few and far between, Bob Dylan never completely lost his gift. "Blind Willie McTell" is one of my top five favorite Dylan songs.

Best Decision of The Lost Decade -- Hiring Mick Taylor. The erstwhile Rolling Stone played guitar on Infidels and Empire Burlesque as well as the live album Real Live.

Second Best Decision of The Lost Decade -- Mark Knopfler -- Knopfler played on several albums and produced Infidels, the second best Dylan album of the decade.

Annual Festival Inspired By Dylan -- Farm Aid -- During his Live Aid performance Dylan shocked the world by saying that they should set aside a few million to help out American farmers who were losing their farms to foreclosure. Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young organized the first Farm Aid two months later.

Playing With The Band Part 1 The Traveling Wilburys Eventually Bob Dylan returned to form. One of the ways back for him was collaborations with other artists. The two Travelling Wilbury albums were the beginning of this. "Tweeter and The Monkey Man" is almost like a sequel to "Hurricane".

Playing With The Band Part 2 Dylan and The Dead -- Another stop on the road back for Dylan was rediscovering his love of touring and live performance. In the late eighties he did several tours with The Grateful Dead.
Last edited by RevMatt on Mon Nov 17, 2014 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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StevieRay wrote:I guess that is part of my problem, Joey to me is a plodding and over-indulgent cut on the otherwise brilliant Desire.

To me, the song selection on Dylan & The Dead is appalling. You have to at least concede a certain percentage of suckage.


I love Joey. Something about a ballad to a mobster I guess. It was supposedly Jerry's favorite Dylan song. I will concede that the record is by no means great. It's rambling even by Dead standards and I only truly love the two songs/version I mentioned. I just think it's better than the majority opinion does I suppose.

StevieRay wrote:Don't get me wrong - Dylan himself is said to prefer Jerry's arrangements to his own in many cases. I guess the JGB version of Tangled Up In Blue is responsible for me spinning Blood On The Tracks in the first place. Bob Weir didn't always hit the mark though on Desolation Row, Memphis Blues, Paint My Masterpiece, Queen Jane Approximately., etc. And, Phil was a bit tough to hear on Tom Thumb Blues. Jerry singing It's All Over Now (Baby Blue) was about as good as you could ask for, however, and Quinn The Eskimo was a kick-ass encore. Queen Jane, All Along The Watchtower, and, Knockin' on Heaven's Door were at least songs that GD or JGB performed regularly.

Bottom line - this record could have been so much better than it was. (IMHO)


On that last bit yes, I agree. It probably should have been and the boots I've heard of those shows are better. I love Dead versions of Dylan and prefer Bobby's version of When I Paint My Masterpiece over any Dylan version but all that being said Levon owned that song, but I digress.


StevieRay wrote:TC - can you tell me why Empire Burlesque makes your top ten?


A few reasons; one the musicianship is impeccable. How can you not love Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein, along with the excellent Don Heffington (Lone Justice)as a backing band? Second, it's the songs. Every single song on side 1 is a favorite, especially Tight Connection to my Heart & I'll Remember You and When the Night Comes Falling From The Sky from side 2 can be a top ten Dylan song for me on the right day. On the downside the record is a little slick and has the eighties drum sound that I truly wish didn't exist but unfortunately did. I can't balms the songs or the musicians for that though. Also I saw several shows on the tour for that record where TP & the Heartbreakers were Bob's band and it was glorious. All those things leave me loving that record.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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I hate to be such a stickler but Dylan only did one tour with The Dead, and it was a short one at that, It was just six shows in July of 1987.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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On the Dead and Dylan tip.


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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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sactochris wrote:I hate to be such a stickler but Dylan only did one tour with The Dead, and it was a short one at that, It was just six shows in July of 1987.


I didn't see anyone say differently. I've heard the boots from the tour and a better album probably could have been produced from it. That's all. The rest of the talk was of the Dead being a huge covererer (i invented a word!) of Bob's music.
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Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

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Tequila Cowboy wrote:
sactochris wrote:I hate to be such a stickler but Dylan only did one tour with The Dead, and it was a short one at that, It was just six shows in July of 1987.


I didn't see anyone say differently. I've heard the boots from the tour and a better album probably could have been produced from it. That's all. The rest of the talk was of the Dead being a huge covererer (i invented a word!) of Bob's music.


Does that make Bob the coveree?
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