Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Know of a great band you think we'd like to hear about? Got some music news? Or just want to talk about music in general? Post it here.

Moderators: Jonicont, mark lynn, Maluca3, Tequila Cowboy, BigTom, CooleyGirl, olwiggum

Duke Silver
Posts: 4132
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: WI

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Duke Silver »

beantownbubba wrote:Don't have time right now for a complete response but a couple of things come immediately to mind: The film Don't Look Back, the standard bio by Robert Shelton the name of which escapes me at the moment, the Rolling Stone bio series Dylan book by Jonathan Cott (possibly hard to find) and anything about Bob you can find written by Greil Marcus and Christopher Ricks (note both, especially Ricks, have written widely on other topics which may or may not be of interest).

I have some editing suggestions on the music side and will get back to you w/ those.


Awesome! Thanks bubba.
ain't no static on the gospel radio

dogstar
Posts: 2773
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:59 pm
Location: headed down to Oakie City in a slightly stolen car

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by dogstar »

Duke Silver wrote:
beantownbubba wrote:Don't have time right now for a complete response but a couple of things come immediately to mind: The film Don't Look Back, the standard bio by Robert Shelton the name of which escapes me at the moment, the Rolling Stone bio series Dylan book by Jonathan Cott (possibly hard to find) and anything about Bob you can find written by Greil Marcus and Christopher Ricks (note both, especially Ricks, have written widely on other topics which may or may not be of interest).

I have some editing suggestions on the music side and will get back to you w/ those.


Awesome! Thanks bubba.


I've literally just picked up a vinyl copy of Dylan's Gospel by the Brothers & Sisters (sadly a reissue copy). Might want to add that to your listening, it came out in 1969 but might be appropriate to fit in with the Saved period?

Bubba also didn't mention No Direction Home which is Scorsese's film about Bob. I remember it being OK and the soundtrack is also one of the Bootleg series.
"Guitars talk. If you really want to write a song, ask a guitar." Neil Young

Duke Silver
Posts: 4132
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: WI

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Duke Silver »

dogstar wrote:
Duke Silver wrote:
beantownbubba wrote:Don't have time right now for a complete response but a couple of things come immediately to mind: The film Don't Look Back, the standard bio by Robert Shelton the name of which escapes me at the moment, the Rolling Stone bio series Dylan book by Jonathan Cott (possibly hard to find) and anything about Bob you can find written by Greil Marcus and Christopher Ricks (note both, especially Ricks, have written widely on other topics which may or may not be of interest).

I have some editing suggestions on the music side and will get back to you w/ those.


Awesome! Thanks bubba.


I've literally just picked up a vinyl copy of Dylan's Gospel by the Brothers & Sisters (sadly a reissue copy). Might want to add that to your listening, it came out in 1969 but might be appropriate to fit in with the Saved period?

Bubba also didn't mention No Direction Home which is Scorsese's film about Bob. I remember it being OK and the soundtrack is also one of the Bootleg series.


Cool, I've been trying to track down as many covers & tributes as I can. That Gospel album sounds great. I remember the I'm Not There soundtrack having some quality stuff on it, too. And The Byrds Play Dylan, of course.

I've seen parts of No Direction Home before and I'll definitely watch the whole thing at some point. Probably save it for one of the more dire months (Aug-Sep, I'm looking at you).
ain't no static on the gospel radio

beantownbubba
Posts: 21745
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

Duke Silver wrote:I might've mentioned this in another thread somewhere, but I'm spending the year going through Dylan's discography chronologically. Initially I didn't think of it as being all that ambitious, but I just mapped it out and holy shit--it's actually going to take the whole year. Any Bobophiles have any suggestions of where I might benefit from compressing or expanding the outline below? I'm trying to group things by "era" (or at least time period) as much as possible.

Any books I might enjoy? I have Chronicles, The Recording Sessions (I forget the author), Levon's book. Others? Movies? Unreleased/hard to find shit?

January (1961-1964)
Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A'Changin'
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Bootleg 1: Rare & Unreleased
Bootleg 6: Live 1964
Bootleg 9: The Witmark Demos

February (1965-1966)
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Bootleg 4: Live 1966

March (1967)
Bootleg 11: Basement Tapes Complete
John Wesley Harding

April (1969-1970)
Nashville Skyline
Self Portrait
New Morning
Bootleg 10: Another Self Portrait

May (1973-1974)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Dylan
Planet Waves
Before the Flood

June (1975-1976)
Blood on the Tracks
Desire
Bootleg 5: The Rolling Thunder Revue
Basement Tapes 1975

July (1978-1981)
Street Legal
Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love

August (1983-1988)
Infidels
Empire Burlesque
Knocked Out Loaded
Down in the Groove
Dylan & the Dead

September (1989-1993)
Oh Mercy
Under the Red Sky
Good As I Been to You
World Gone Wrong
MTV Unplugged
Bootleg 8: Tell Tale Signs

October (1997-2006)
Time Out of Mind
Love and Theft
Modern Times
Bootleg 8: Tell Tale Signs

November (2009-2015)
Together Through Life
Tempest
Shadows in the Night

December
Christmas in the Heart


Don't Look Back fits in February; it's a great companion piece to Bootleg 4 (aka Royal Albert Hall).

Nice call putting Bootleg 11 in March.

I'm probably in the minority thinking that you can skip both of the Portrait albums in April, but surely you can skip one.

June could be a quiet month: I don't think Bootleg 5 adds much to Desire and having seen a bunch of the Rolling Thunder shows, I found the recording to be really disappointing and not reflective of the shows I saw (though part of the point of the "revue" was its ever changing cast and nature). Basement Tapes '75 is a great album by itself but won't add anything if you've recently listened to the new, complete release. That leaves June a little light. You could do worse than to fill the time with repeated listenings to Blood on the Tracks, a truly great album.

I'll be curious to see what you have to say about July.

FWIW, I think Oh Mercy belongs w/ your August albums. I'd make room for it by throwing Dylan & the Dead overboard. I confess I've never heard the whole thing through, but then again, I've never had any desire to.

Assuming you move Oh Mercy there's not much to say about September, except maybe you should spread August over 2 months, lol. Full disclosure: 4sooner would not be the only one to vehemently disagree w/ me and he generally knows whereof he speaks. Bootleg 8 is clearly the keeper in that group, by a long mile.

October's a great month but might start sounding a little stale/same crunched together like that. If you spread them out a little I suspect you'll enjoy them more.

From what I know of it, I think Shadows in the Night fits better in December than November.

I've probably left out a book or 2 that I really like. If something jogs my memory I'll let you know.

Happy listening!
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

Duke Silver
Posts: 4132
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: WI

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Duke Silver »

Thank you, bubba! Sincerely. Good call on moving Oh Mercy into August. Lots more to consider.

Sitting here listening to a playlist consisting of the debut thru Another Side, in total disbelief that he did all this by the age of 25.
ain't no static on the gospel radio

beantownbubba
Posts: 21745
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

Hope it helps, and enjoy!

One more thought: Marcus wrote a book called, what else?, Like A Rolling Stone which is about the making of the song. Yes, just the one song. Kind of an audacious concept, unless you think it's a completely boring concept. I wouldn't read it until you're exploring of Highway 61 but if you're gonna read it, you'll want to read it at about that time, I think. In general, if it sounds like an interesting idea to you you'll probably find the book at least interesting. If the idea sounds questionable, overblown, too much of a good thing, etc, then I wouldn't even bother.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Smitty »

Would it be necessary to listen to The Basement Tapes 75 after already hearing The Whole Basement Tapes?
As someone who has heard the 75 version only a couple times, I'm 100 % serious.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

beantownbubba
Posts: 21745
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

Smitty wrote:Would it be necessary to listen to The Basement Tapes 75 after already hearing The Whole Basement Tapes?
As someone who has heard the 75 version only a couple times, I'm 100 % serious.


One man's opinion:

beantownbubba wrote:Basement Tapes '75 is a great album by itself but won't add anything if you've recently listened to the new, complete release.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

User avatar
CalebCalebson
Posts: 82
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2015 1:42 pm
Location: Birmingham, AL

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by CalebCalebson »

I'm a huge Dylan fan but im not excited about this Frank Sinatra release at all.

Zip City
Posts: 17313
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 5:59 pm

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Zip City »

Man, Dylan is so good, he's the AOTW for 3 months going!
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever

Duke Silver
Posts: 4132
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: WI

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Duke Silver »

Smitty wrote:Would it be necessary to listen to The Basement Tapes 75 after already hearing The Whole Basement Tapes?
As someone who has heard the 75 version only a couple times, I'm 100 % serious.


I recently learned here that the '75 release has a bunch of Band-only tracks that aren't on "The Complete...", so yeah I think it would still be worth it.
ain't no static on the gospel radio

User avatar
Kudzu Guillotine
Posts: 11761
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:46 am

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Kudzu Guillotine »

Don't recall seeing the name "The Handsome Family" bandied about here too much but this is what Brett Sparks has to say about the new Dylan record. I've only heard one song so far myself and just a few snippets from a recent NPR piece on the album that ran over the weekend.

Just bought the new Dylan record. First impression: stunningly beautiful. Warning--a lot of you will hate this record. It's yet another standards album buy an aging rocker (everybody's done one, Macca last year). But this is another beast altogether. For one thing it's Dylan's band, not a bunch of hired jazz cats. And they sound beyond good. The pedal steel is otherworldly. The recording and arrangements are sumptuous, but not saccharine. Dylan's voice is so ragged and often way out of tune. In this age of pitch correction and artifice I find this refreshing and incredibly brave. The perfect record for a lonely night.

User avatar
sactochris
Posts: 2581
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:47 pm
Location: Orangevale, California

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by sactochris »

Everyone needs to read Dylan's speech from the 2015 Music Cares person of the year presentation. It might be the coolest thing I've ever read in my life. In 40 minutes he did a truly amazing job at summing up his nearly 60 years in the music business. I don't want to give anything away. You really just need to read it for yourself. Please trust me on this.
Keep calm and have a cigar

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Smitty »

sactochris wrote:Everyone needs to read Dylan's speech from the 2015 Music Cares person of the year presentation. It might be the coolest thing I've ever read in my life. In 40 minutes he did a truly amazing job at summing up his nearly 60 years in the music business. I don't want to give anything away. You really just need to read it for yourself. Please trust me on this.


His Haggard diss turned me off. Whereas Dylan made up his own mythology, Merle lived his. I thought Merle handled the situation with class though, releasing the statement that he's been a Dylan fan since '64.
Also, Merle>Buck any day.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

jr29
Posts: 2133
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:28 pm
Location: Jackson, Tennessee

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by jr29 »

He also took shots at Tom T. Hall and Leiber and Stoller. No idea why Bob would take shots at those people. I've no interest after hearing that stuff.
And Merle is indeed>Buck. They both rule, though.

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Smitty »

It was a great speech, extremely insightful, but I wish he hadn't said those things about Haggard and Tom T. Someone might miss out on two great bodies of work because of that.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

User avatar
sactochris
Posts: 2581
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 6:47 pm
Location: Orangevale, California

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by sactochris »

The pot shots he took weren't by any means my favorite parts of the speech but I think Dylan has earned the right to say anything he wants.
Keep calm and have a cigar

Duke Silver
Posts: 4132
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: WI

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Duke Silver »

73 years old, the object of near-universal adoration, and he's still nursing half-century old grudges and doing work like he's got something to prove. There's something refreshing about that.
ain't no static on the gospel radio

beantownbubba
Posts: 21745
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

Duke Silver wrote:73 years old, the object of near-universal adoration, and he's still nursing half-century old grudges and doing work like he's got something to prove. There's something refreshing about that.


The latter is refreshing, the former is kinda sick.

Geez, what happened to netiquette? Where's the link to the speech? Am i really going to have to look it up by myself?
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

John A Arkansawyer
Posts: 7894
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 9:51 am
Location: Little Rock, Arkansaw
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

Smitty wrote:It was a great speech, extremely insightful, but I wish he hadn't said those things about Haggard and Tom T. Someone might miss out on two great bodies of work because of that.


True that. On the other hand, having been there and done that, learning that one of your great heroes is sometimes entirely full of shit, having made the discovery that some artist they've put down is a fucking genius and asking yourself just how you got fooled this time around? That there is one valuable experience and a half.

In the immortal words of Cool Hand Luke: Don't follow leaders and behead the parking meters.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

beantownbubba
Posts: 21745
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

Man the first part of that speech is just magnificent. The last part is pretty good if a little middle of the road. But WTF happened in the middle? :shock: The specific scores he was settling were to me not as bad as the paranoia. Why me, lord? What have i ever done to deserve this? Blah, blah, blah. Blaming critics for finding fault w/ him? Really? Like critics haven't been Dylan's biggest supporters for a million years? Etc etc etc.

It seems to me that he could have gotten back at those guys in a much better way by talking about the struggles of being different, of saying something new (or in his terms at least in a new way) of getting heard in a world of established order. More or less the struggles of the artist against convention, "normality", "the way things are." He could have said the same things in a much better way even if he mentioned some names. I really don't get the part where he doesn't only blame some folks for putting him down but then goes on to say that X was better anyway. WTF is that? 5th grade schoolyard I'd call it, unless maybe it's 4th grade. He could have talked about what made doc pomus or buck owens great. What's the point of saying that they're better than somebody else? Just not the way to go, bob.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

User avatar
RolanK
Posts: 3037
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2011 10:52 am
Location: drivin' home early Sunday morning through Bakersfield

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by RolanK »

beantownbubba wrote:
Duke Silver wrote:73 years old, the object of near-universal adoration, and he's still nursing half-century old grudges and doing work like he's got something to prove. There's something refreshing about that.


The latter is refreshing, the former is kinda sick.

Geez, what happened to netiquette? Where's the link to the speech? Am i really going to have to look it up by myself?


http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-grammys-2015-transcript-of-bob-dylans-musicares-person-of-year-speech-20150207-story.html#page=1
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa

User avatar
Clams
Posts: 14850
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:16 pm
Location: City of Brotherly Love

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Clams »

Here's a transcript of the entire speech:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/p ... 150207.pdf
Everyone needs a friend, everyone needs a fuck

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Smitty »

Merle Haggard has heard what Bob Dylan said about him, and, whatever Dylan thinks, Haggard says he's a fan.

"I've admired your songs since 1964," the 77-year-old singer of country classics like Branded Man and I'm a Lonesome Fugitive said on his Facebook page Saturday. Haggard added that he and Willie Nelson have cut Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's All Right for an upcoming album.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/musi ... /23051745/
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

John A Arkansawyer
Posts: 7894
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 9:51 am
Location: Little Rock, Arkansaw
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

beantownbubba wrote:Man the first part of that speech is just magnificent. The last part is pretty good if a little middle of the road. But WTF happened in the middle? :shock: The specific scores he was settling were to me not as bad as the paranoia. Why me, lord? What have i ever done to deserve this? Blah, blah, blah. Blaming critics for finding fault w/ him? Really? Like critics haven't been Dylan's biggest supporters for a million years? Etc etc etc.


The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

John A Arkansawyer
Posts: 7894
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 9:51 am
Location: Little Rock, Arkansaw
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by John A Arkansawyer »

Street-Legal is a masterpiece and I was a dumbass to take nearly forty years to figure that out. That is all.
The sooner we put those assholes in the grave&piss on the dirt above it, the better off we'll be

User avatar
Smitty
Posts: 10900
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 9:30 pm
Location: Fruithurst, Al
Contact:

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Smitty »

I'm loving Shadows in the Night. The pedal steel is amazing and I'm a big fan of noir-ish music.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.

User avatar
cortez the killer
Posts: 15455
Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:22 pm

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by cortez the killer »

Image
Adios Lounge did a feature last week titled Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.
- DPM

User avatar
Rocky
Posts: 1958
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 8:24 am
Location: Richmond, Va.

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by Rocky »

Thanks for the Adios Lounge link. It doesn't surprise me that Dylan looks at Leiber and Stroller songs as novelty songs but some of their songs went past being rock 'n roll standards to actually defining the term IMHO.
By the time you drop them I'll be gone
And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life

beantownbubba
Posts: 21745
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:52 am
Location: Trying to stay focused on the righteous path

Re: Artist of the Week 10.18.2014-- Bob Dylan

Post by beantownbubba »

Today's purchases: Dylan's Visions of Sin by Christopher Ricks and Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus (42 years worth of collected writings; I expect I've already read a fair number of the essays but there are so, so many it will still keep me occupied for more time than i have to give it).

I hope to learn a few things along the way, some of which will hopefully be worth sharing; I just don't know how soon I'll be able to get to either book. We all know where good intentions lead...
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

Post Reply