George Starostin's Reviews 

BOB DYLAN

(Late Period Albums)

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BLOOD ON THE TRACKS

Year Of Release: 1975
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 13

People say it's his best effort, but I say it's just an average fantastic record.
Best song: SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE

A breakthrough - at last! Dylan's country period is over for ever (I mean, he would return to the country style occasionally, but it would never remain high on the list of his priorities). The sound he's adopted here is unlike anything he'd done previously, either. If you really need some analogies, then I'd say it's closer to the sound on his early acoustic albums than anything else, in that there is little or no electric guitar on most of the tracks. On the other hand, keyboards, drums and bass guitar are featured prominently, and that's what makes the difference - Bob wouldn't switch on to complete acoustic folk again until the Nineties. So this album is also extremely quiet, extremely sad and thoughtful, with great un-psycho, but still complicated lyrics and tons o' good songs.
My main objection here lies in the fact that it's the most overrated record in Bob's career; after having listened to it many, many times and having the ability to view it in the light of his other releases, I definitely wouldn't rate this as high as a lot of people define it. There are, in fact, a lot of complaints to be voiced. For one, the achieved sound is horrendously uniform: it was tolerable on a record like New Morning with its rambling piano ballads, since it was but 30 minutes long and most of the songs were over before you could even get into them. But on Blood On The Tracks, Dylan suddenly returns to the 'lengthy' formula: it is almost 50 minutes long, and quite a few of the songs overstay their welcome by far. Not to mention that, for the first time ever, Bob really makes it possible to accuse him of being self-indulgent: he tries to occasionally highlight his skilful guitar playing, but try as he might, he's not a virtuoso, and that's why I can hardly stand 'Buckets Of Rain' that closes the album. It's a nice, pleasant shuffle, but boy, I would rather have Bob blow his harmonica than demonstrating me how well he can bend the strings on his acoustic. He can't do it like Steve Howe, right? Then he'd better not do that at all.
A couple other songs don't cut the mustard for me, either. 'If You See Her Say Hello', for example. Sounds like filler to me. I've never understood the hidden charm of that song; Bob is really filled with emotion when he chants that desperate lament for a lost love, but the melody is so pedestrian, and he whines so horrendously, that I'm not moved. I confess it's a matter of taste, though - I surely understand how others might adore the song. But no matter of taste is going to save the overlong, extremely boring ballad 'Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts'. While the story is somewhat intriguing and the first two minutes of it are nice (still totally incomparable to the similar in style, but far superior 'Black Diamond Bay' on Desire), it quickly becomes unbearable as verse after verse is added and fails to create any kind of mood at all. You don't know if you should laugh or cry - it's just puzzling and irritating. Funny that practically all of the people that I've witnessed praising the record simply keep their mouths shut about this song (look at the Prindle site - it isn't even mentioned in any of the numerous comments). Don't want to spoil the picture with something truly embarrassing, right?
Another defect is that the song structure is even more uniform than on Blonde On Blonde: with an obligatory harmonica solo that closes almost every number, and the actual title reprised for an innumerable number of times after each verse, so that after a short time you can predict the whole song by just listening to the first verse. I have nothing against the formula, but isn't relying on just one formula for ages a sign of running out of ideas?
But don't you get me wrong, really. I was just pointing out the minor flaws of the record which prevent me from giving it a highest rating. On the positive side, one cannot deny that the emotions really flow like a gushing torrent on this record. It reflects Dylan's personal troubles at the time - his divorce and everything that went together with it, and thus, it's probably a far more personal and autobiographical record than any he'd written before that. This is, in fact, the main reason why it is so adored by the general public: Dylan puts down the mask and speaks up openly, wearing his heart on his sleeve (hate that cliche, but it does have a nice ring to it). It is therefore fully accessible, and if you're not disturbed by the usual Dylan put-offish elements like song length, repetitiveness and wheezy voice, this is indeed a good place to start, as you'll hardly ever have to scratch the back of your head and question yourself: 'Now what's that he really meant to say?' For me, though, this is actually a flaw of the record: I prefer my Dylan speaking in enigmas and serving as the Master of Puzzle. Blood On The Tracks is a great record, but many people have written heartfelt, aching confessional records - John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Pete Townshend, etc., the list might not be very long, but it does exist. Blonde On Blonde, on the other hand, knew no possible analogies...
...but wait, here I go criticizing again. What I really wanted to say is that the melodies on here, regardless of anything I'd have to say, are often extremely strong. The opening number, 'Tangled Up In Blue' is a just classic, with Bob telling a fascinating story of romance and disappointment. And the following 'Simple Twist Of Fate' is one of my favourites of Dylan in the Seventies - a quiet, nocturnal romance with a complex, yet captivating vocal melody. Bob is probably at his singing best on the album, cleverly structuring the verse so that it slowly raises from a soft, almost hush-like murmur, to a freaky scream, reflecting the emotional peaks and downs in the souls of the two lovers he's singing about. The pessimism of the tune is really something - a killing, devastating number...
Everybody's favourite is usually 'Idiot Wind' - a poisonous, thundering blast of social/personal critique that boasts a huge level of energy unheard of even in his classic mid-Sixties albums (probably because of its high sincerity). 'You're A Big Girl Now' and 'You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go' all make part of a large 'dialogue' between Bob and his imaginary female collocutor, the former sad and touching, the latter funny and refreshing; and the atmosphere is a bit diversified with a sly hint at generic blues in 'Meet Me In The Morning'; and then, towards the end, there's 'Shelter From The Storm', a peaceful and loving song showing us that Bob finally overcame his crisis (or did he?). All of these songs are highly recommendable, and it would definitely be a crime to accuse any of them of not being sincere or not being solid.
A great album is this one; overrated or not, it's still in the Top 5, and hey, what's the point of arguing about the order of Top 5? That's right - no point. So you might as well accept my order, heh, heh. Whatever. Me, I personally prefer Desire, but that's just a matter of taste. I wouldn't blame you if you made it the other way round. After all, I like it when Bob is a bit more certain about himself, which he definitely is not here. Man, did that motorcycle crash really make a mess of him!

Meet me in the morning with a mailed comment

Your worthy comments:

Ben Greenstein <bgreenstein@nctimes.net> (01.10.99)

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Mike Zupan <viktoria@siol.net> (11.11.99)

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Christine Lea <chris.lea@ic24.net> (03.06.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

DESIRE

Year Of Release: 1976
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 13

Gangsters, human rights, Egyptian pyramids, fandango, violins and accordions - this is a terrific melting-pot.
Best song: HURRICANE

Surprise, surprise! This album is quite unlike Blood On The Tracks, but rather better than that one and worse than that one all at the same time. That's why it gets the same rating. The only thing that really unites them is Bob's state of melody-writing: most of them are excellent, and, melody-wise, there's even less filler than on Blood. If anything is 'fillerish' on here, it's the song lengths: many of them are extended beyond all degrees of mercy, and such an approach can easily wear down even the best of melodies. Which means that you gotta listen really hard and really long in order to assimilate the record in its entirety; but hell, I liked the tunes almost instantly, and I'm rarely offended by Bob's song lengthiness.
The really bad news is that this time around he decided to team up with the novelist Jacques Levy, who eventually wrote half of the lyrics on here, however strange that might seem - you'd think Dylan could be in need of any possible help in the studio but that of a lyricist, really. Count it as another one in an endless series of unpredictable Zimmerman stunts. Thus, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time since 1964 we see Bob singing straightforward anti-establishment social protest songs like 'Hurricane' (about the unjustly jailed middleweight black champion Rubin Carter) and 'Joey' (about the unjustly done in generous gangster Joey Gallo). The lyrics on these ones range from so-so to extremely dumb, which is no mean feat, especially considering that 'Hurricane' is 8 minutes long and 'Joey' is 11 minutes long. Those who are not used to having your Dylan so straight in your face can even be shocked.
The really good news, though, is that the arrangements are much more complex than on Blood, which makes the songs just a little bit more variegated: the moods shift and alternate easily in between Blood-style depression, Nashville Skyline-style hilariousness and Harding-style mysticism, plus lots of other atmospheric elements that are unique and only specific for this record. Bob's own guitarwork is backed by multiple instruments - some accordions, great, underappreciated drumming by Howard Wyeth, and, most important of all, some impressive violin playing courtesy of guest musician Scarlet Rivera. Indeed, this violin is what saves 'Hurricane' from being a dorky protest song and, quite on the contrary, turns it into a great performance: the interplay between it and the guitar is utterly spooky and sends shivers down my spine even when I just try to remember it.
Female backing vocals are also featured strongly throughout the record, and, unlike so many people, I really don't think they're out of place. Even if EmmyLou Harris's voice is sometimes more audible than Dylan's (especially on the slow, pompous, solemn 'Oh Sister'), it is quite pleasant and strong, and it never sounds generic enough to permit us to dismiss it as an obligatory R'n'B element.
The thing I like most about the album is how many surprises it offers the listener. For instance, on 'One More Cup Of Coffee' Bob adopts a special 'wailing' tone which has very much in common with traditional Judaic singing; you can thus count the song as Bob's first more or less evident tribute to his roots. And when Rivera complements his wailings with similar violin wailings, the result is musical ecstasis - Bob captures that mystical Judaic spirit almost perfectly, even if the song has little to do with Judaism (well, the opening lines - 'Your breath is sweet your eyes are like two jewels in the sky...', etc. - are indeed structured according to the Song of Songs pattern, but later on we revert to more traditional Dylan imagery). Believe it or not, the song actually rocks, and the final instrumental passage is arguably the emotional climax of the entire record.
Then, of course, there's 'Mozambique', which everybody likes to bring up on here - the song usually causes a love-or-hate reaction among fans. Why Bob chose Mozambique and not, say, Tanzania, for his metaphor of a paradise on Earth, is not understood and probably never will be; but the melody of the song is quite daring for Bob, going far, far beyond the usual blues/folk patterns that he'd abused to death and would milk further on even when there would be absolutely nothing left to milk. 'Mozambique', though, I really like: a great, memorable tune, and a very atmospheric one at that.
From Mozambique and Jerusalem we can get carried away to Spain - 'Romance In Durango' returns us to that groovy Spanish-flamenco-gypsies-corrida-etc. atmosphere that Bob seemed to so much enjoy on Pat Garrett. Come to think of it, it's too much Spanish for me: I hate Spanish music, normally, and I could hate 'Romance', too, were it not for the fact that Bob sounds so funny trying to sing in Spanish... But I far prefer Egypt to Spain: 'Isis' takes us on a trip to the pyramids and the tombs and the treasures of the pharaohs, although the song's message (if there ever was one) is much deeper than that.
I also do not know where the 'Black Diamond Bay' is situated, nor why the Greek hung himself and what's that volcano eruption about, but it's one hell of a great song: everything, in fact, that 'Lily & The Jack Of Hearts' hoped to be but could not. Maybe if he'd swapped these two songs, I would have easily awarded Blood a solid nine. It's got a steady, solid beat (great drumming again), a somewhat cunningly twisted melody and hey, it's quite sing-alongish. And, of course, it's moody: the eerie guitars and harmonicas really give the feeling of participating in some strange spectacle in an odd, mysterious location...
For me, the only possible letdown is the closing 'Sara', which I cannot accuse of having an original melody or anything like that. It's kinda strange, because, as you understand, it's a really broken-hearted ode to his ex-wife, where Bob confesses of still loving and caring for her and even admitting that it was for her that he wrote 'Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands', but most of the time it fails to move me. Maybe it's because I'm just getting tired towards the end (after all, this album is 53 minutes long!), but, in my opinion, Bob could rarely choose a decent album closer. At least, not in the seventies. Then again, dammit, maybe I'm just seeing things and the song is just as good as any other one. After all, if I'm sometimes even moved by the eleven-minute 'Joey' (yeah, the bastard really makes me shed a tear for that gangster - all hail the power of music), I should be moved by 'Sara'. Maybe you will.
Anyway, this is one really super album, and probably the last truly great album he ever did. What is so obvious after comparing it to every other record that came out afterwards is that on Desire he sounds powerful and self-assured - never again would we hear that sneering tone he uses on 'Isis' or the iron, scornful tone of 'Sarah'. Apparently, something happened in between this album and the following one, and Dylan was finally broken once and forever, started having old-life nervous crises, converted to Christianity and was ruined in the long run. But Desire is truly a work of a powerful, stern artist - a man who feels he can still change the world with his music, not just bore it with his old man whinings.
In brief: well worth buying, but if you're not a hardcore Dylan fan, don't even bother reading on. Because I'll be saying some good things about his later records, too, and I wouldn't want you to ridicule me...

One more cup of coffee before you mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Fredrik Tydal <f_tydal@hotmail.com> (11.07.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

HARD RAIN

Year Of Release: 1976
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 11

Dylan reinvents his old songs in concert - with mixed results, but mostly interesting.
Best song: STUCK INSIDE THE MOBILE WITH THE MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN

And yet another live album, yet another spot in an endless stream, so it seems at least: the previous one was released only a year ago, and the next one would see the light of the day in just two years! Still, old Bob had a reason to do so. Before The Flood only pointed in that direction, but here it becomes obvious: the lack of energy on scene is compensated by a total, complete and unabashed re-arrangement of ALL the songs, so that instead of getting yourself an album of dull live equivalents of the studio counterparts you get yourself nine entirely different songs. Granted, Hard Rain is somewhat more energetic than whatever followed it - Dylan seems to be still wallowing in his hyper-active Desire mood, which mixes quiet introspectiveness with sudden ferocious vocal attacks as if he were leading an angry crowd to storm the White House. But these ferocious attacks don't seem to have the punch of old anyway, it's more like a patient's agony before he slurps into a total coma. Still, Hard Rain is perhaps the last time you'll hear Dylan singing in a self-assured tone; the complete and eternal breakdown was just a year ahead. Or maybe two.
If Before The Flood was something more of a 'homemade' affair, with Bob playing with The Band before the audiences just like they used to do in that famous Basement, then what you get here is The Machine - tons of backing musicians, a high-polished sound, rehearsals, etc., etc. Scarlet Rivera of Desire fame is still playing the violin, and doing it quite good; four guitarists (besides Bob himself) create a marvelous polyphony, and all would be well if not for two reasons: most of the songs are overplayed, and the fabulous re-arrangements do not always work. Dylan wasn't really all that much into re-arrangements at the time, as it would only be on his next live album that he'd appear as a person who really takes delight in transforming the old material simply in order to shock his audiences (much as he'd done in 1966 - remember, when he teased the folkies by re-arranging old acoustic numbers as electric rockers and playing the psychedelic material in the vein of old acoustic numbers?). On Hard Rain, the sound is rather uniform, and the longer the song is, the more it resembles the original, while the shorter it is, the crappier it usually is re-arranged. Confused? Let me illustrate that.
The once angry and gritty 'Maggie's Farm' is turned into a sloppy country-rock boomer; for some reason, Bob treats it as something good-timey, and the result is of a near-parodic nature. And could somebody explain me why these stupid pauses before the last line? 'Whoah-whoah-oooooh.... [pause] ...said I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more'. Sure, you can get used to 'em, but why should you bother? 'Lay Lady Lay', slowed down and 'embellished' by a choir of backing vocals, preserves some of its charm but is really bogged down; frankly speaking, in my opinion, Bob has never been able to master a successful live version of the song, as the somewhat clumsy and rambling melody only worked on the studio original, where it was compensated by Bob's wonderful "nicotine-free" voice and the romantic echoey production. Oh, and that marvelous slide guitar, of course. Here, it's just "sorta eh", as one would say.
Meanwhile, the more recent Blood On The Tracks songs are too incomfortable when turned into huge, arena-rock bombastic epics, especially 'You're A Big Girl Now'. It should be a quiet song, god damn! It should be completely acoustic! Me no like this arrangement. Me like the song, but me suggest the arrangement sucks ass. Did that sound convincing? Probably not, but I hope you get the point anyway. OK, I do admit that 'Idiot Wind' with its anthemic sound is convenient for such a treatment, but 'You're A Big Girl Now'? Sheez! By the way, I do like 'Idiot Wind' on here - a perfect album-closing number despite the length.
That said, it's still a very good album. Simply put, whatever complaints I might establish, they would be all overcome by the mere mentioning of the track listing: these are glorious songs, and the only problem is to what extent they are, or aren't, spoiled by the re-arrangements. Well, 'One Too Many Mornings' is not spoiled - given a big-band Springsteen-like arrangements, with violin and brass and everything, it acquires a certain Biblical status and is great to sing along to. Only once does Dylan revisit the immaculate world of Blonde On Blonde, and it works: 'Stuck Inside The Mobile' is my best bet on here, slightly sped up and made a bit more upbeat (hmmm... abit more abit?), although I sure lack the organ. "Oh Sister' is the only number from the freshly released Desire, and due to this fact they haven't had the time to rearrange it, so it sounds just like the original - nothing like the scary version that would appear two years later on Budokan. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the cheerful, bouncy big-band rearrangement of 'Shelter From The Storm' which amazingly works - never could have suspected that. Still wonder why. And 'I Threw It All Away' is... well, it's rather boring because they just chew the same violin-gum, but it's not awful.
That said, re-reading the review, I see it coming off as very subjective. Well, anyway, what the heck? I gave you all the tracks, I gave you the basic idea of their being arranged, I told you this was recorded before Bob's breakdown. Go make your friggin' conclusions yourself. Dylan had so many live albums out that it's frankly impossible to choose the best one.

You're a big girl now. Or big boy. So mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

Erik Kennes <ekennes@africamuseum.be> (18.10.2000)

STREET LEGAL

Year Of Release: 1978
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 10

Hopeless, dreary pessimism drenched in horns, back-up vocals and dressed in not very impressive melodies.
Best song: IS YOUR LOVE IN VAIN?

If you ever happened to hear At Budokan and Slow Train Coming, this album is a must for you. Not because it's so good (it isn't), but rather because it is the logical predecessor to both of them - form-wise to the first one and soul-wise to the second one. What the hell is that, you wonder? Lemme explain.
On here, Bob abandons his social critique and the protest atmosphere of Desire, and overall it could be hailed as a return to the more quiet introspective songs of Blood On The Tracks, if not for two reasons. First of all, most of the tracks are gospelish and 'tutorial' by feel, emphasized by a huge brass section and prominent backing female vocals which do not yet seem horrible but already feel annoying. The 'big band' effect of Hard Rain has finally made it onto a studio record, and it's no wonder that lots of Budokan stuff sound exactly like this - after all, the band personal is mostly the same. Scarlet Rivera is gone for ever, replaced by the much more weaker David Mansfield, and this practically obliterates these nagging violins. The others I won't name because it's not that interesting.
Second and even more important, why I refuse to rate this record as equal to Blood, is incredibly dorky and simple subject themes. Bob has started to sing love songs! 'Is Your Love In Vain', after all, is no serious lyrical feat (although the melody is quite nice), and 'True Love Tends To Forget' is just a sad wailing. If Blood On The Tracks was an album of an angry philosopher, then this one is just an album of a self-unassured old man. Damn it, it's the first album which really makes me think of Bob's age - he sings about old men's problems, sounds like an old man, and looks like an old man on the photographs, too! This 'old feel' really explains his conversion to Christianity: he was obviously in a mid-life crisis, like so many of his contemporaries - Pete Townshend and Mick Jagger, for instance. But if Pete survived his crisis by breaking up the band and Mick did likewise soon afterwards, Bob found new strength in Christianity. Oh, but that comes later. Sorry.
Now that I've given you some explanations on that first phrase, let's discuss the musical value of Street Legal. Like I said, 'Is Your Love In Vain' is a nice sad love song, and there are some others in the same vein here: 'Baby Stop Crying', for instance. However, I guess it's the whole album which is incredibly sad and depressing, like the opening track, 'Changing Of The Guards', suggests: a tired vocal, backing female vocals which don't much help, and lazy saxophone breaks that really bring me down. Side B is pretty much dull: not bad, but unmemorable; besides the pretty 'Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)', there's really not much to boast about here. And the lengthiest track on the album, 'No Time To Think', gives the impression that Bob really didn't have much time to think about it: most of its eight minutes are spent on a pointless chanting of borrowed words: 'socialism - materialism', 'revolution - evolution', etc., pretty dull. You might enjoy it, but I just think most of these songs were written without much care. After all, Bob is no Keith Richards - critical situations rarely make any good impact on his songwriting.

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Your worthy comments:

Paul Morris <pemorri2@mail.ilstu.edu> (27.08.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

<Boltraa@aol.com> (23.11.2000)

 AT BUDOKAN

Year Of Release: 1978
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 12

The Great Live Machine of Zimmerman spits out some more innovative reinventions. Buy it at least for the imagination.
Best song: MR TAMBOURINE MAN

Hoowee! If you thought Hard Rain was a big band, then how about this? Not an orchestra, but close! Guitars, violins, brass, flutes, drums, backing vocals, etc. - what a big step up from Freewheelin', eh? Compared to Hard Rain, this is a much tighter affair: the sound is immaculate, everything is apparently rehearsed up to the point of suffocation, the drastic re-arrangements are carefully thought over, and if there were at least some signs of a jovial good-time on Hard Rain, there's none of it here. This is a double album, and it mostly consists of classic hits, once again changed to the point of unrecognizability. This makes the album quite worth buying for the sake of curiosity if nothing else. I actually enjoy it: when you're already fed up with listening to 'Mr Tambourine Man' for the three thousand four hundred and fifty-seventh time, there's no other relief than that of putting on At Budokan and hearing Bob breathe new life in that classic with a bombastic arrangement.
Other than that, we have yet another rearrangement of 'Maggie's Farm', this time constructed arround a terrific little guitar/brass riff; a total reinterpretation of 'Oh Sister', which is transformed from a gospely patronizing psalm into a dark voodoo chant; a hard'n'heavy version of 'It's Alright Ma', which (for me) sounds quite alright; and a reggae (sic!) variant of 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' which is just harmless fun. 'Love Minus Zero/No Limit' is, I don't fear to say that, superior to the original version, with a tiny little flute fitting right in in between the verses; 'Ballad Of A Thin Man' is nice; and the more recent songs (from Blood On The Tracks) are treated somewhat gentler than they are on Hard Rain (especially 'Simple Twist Of Fate'). Still, with all this experimentation you just can't help but have some letdowns, and these (for me) are 'I Want You' (slowed down and deprived of a rhythm section, and Bob's voice without any instruments is just not necessarily a very good thing); 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' (a parody on Eric Clapton's reggae version); and 'Blowin' In The Wind' reinterpreted as a jazzy piano piece. Also, one gets tired near the end, and the closing 'Forever Young' and 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' just don't hold your attention. But overall this is a pretty solid effort. Lots of people usually hate it, but I guess that's the same kind of hate that relates to Selfportrait. Come on now - I'm not trying to say this stuff is better than the studio originals ('cept for 'Love Minus Zero', that is), but it's certainly entertaining and if you want to hear Bob live in concert, this is undoubtedly the place to start.

The times they are a-changin', so take the chance and mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Brent McNeal <bmcneal@hsc.usf.edu> (14.03.2000)

SLOW TRAIN COMING

Year Of Release: 1979
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 12

The first Christian album, but how come the songs are mostly good?
Best song: GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY

This album marks the transition to a new era - the Christian one. Having suddenly embraced Christianity, Bob decided that all of his previous output belonged in the trash can and that his real job was to do some new Christian music. This album should SUCK!
And yet - for some strange reason, it doesn't. The two songs that are the most religious here do belong to Elvis rather than to Dylan: 'I Believe In You' is, after all, just a statement, and the closing 'When He Returns' is just a bore. But the rest - well, the rest just sends all kinds of possible shivers down my spine. I really don't know why, but these melodies are good - not as great as those on Desire, but not really worse and maybe even better than on Street Legal. Perhaps it's because Bob is aided by Mark Knopfler? Who knows? Or maybe he is aided by Jesus? Anyway, the slow dark Dire Straits-esque 'Gotta Serve Somebody' was a deserved hit (the lyrics are rather dumb, but, alackaday, all of the lyrics from the Christian period are), and the other single 'Man Gave Names To All The Animals' rates among Bob's better reggae contributions. 'Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking' features a classy jazz arangement, 'When You Gonna Wake Up' - interesting changes in tempo, and the title track is certainly emotional. So, apart from those two stinkers, every track has something in store, which is a great relief: apparently, Bob's sudden convergence to Christianity did not make any serious impact on his songwriting skills. If you don't have anything in special against Christian music, this album will be a pleasant surprise.

Gotta serve somebody? Serve this site and mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

<PRytur@aol.com> (29.08.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

SAVED

Year Of Release: 1980
Record rating = 1
Overall rating = 6

What was that? Made on order from some revival organization?
Best song: are you jokin'?

Well, forget all I've said about the previous album. This is as horrible a record as can be. First of all, the lyrics suck mighty. Again, most of the songs are credited exclusively to Bob, so all the responsibility falls on him. I'm trying to convince myself he just concealed the real author, but deep down my soul I feel I might be wrong. These songs at the best sound like poorly translated excerpts from the New Testament, and at the worst like ineffectual excerpts from some preacher's bunch of cliches. The melodies aren't good, either - there's not even a single hook similar to the Dire Straitsness of 'Gotta Serve Somebody', or the jazz tricks of 'Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking'. This is just... dull. Incredibly boring. The fast songs (title track; 'Solid Rock') bring memories of Elvis' rebirth to my mind, and that makes me sick. The slower tracks (like the jazzy gospel 'Are You Ready') are always marred by generic female backup voices (this is the album where backup voices are used to the worst effect possible) and not even once break through the limits of an average psalm (well, 'What Can I Do For You?' slightly reminds me of Planet Waves, but this ain't no good news, either). Verily so, it is the most dispensable product in the entire catalogue of Mr Zimmerman - a hundred percent conventional record made on the spur of the moment. Neither the preceding nor the following album were that bad, so I must conclude he either had been having a very bad time or just making remakes of some basic hymns and psalms. Skip it even if you're a diehard fan. Let's call it a 'historical mistake'.

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Your worthy comments:

Aurora Caradonna <aurora.ca@libero.it> (19.02.2000)

Eugene Kuzmenko <eugenegrus@yahoo.com> (17.03.2000)

Paul Butler <p.butler@free.fr> (09.08.2000)

Feliciano Arrazolo <flbarrazolo@yahoo.com> (22.08.2000)

John McFerrin <stoo@imsa.edu> (30.08.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

SHOT OF LOVE

Year Of Release: 1981
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 11

A decent effort: nothing new but some more enjoyable Christian music.
Best song: SHOT OF LOVE

Whew, that was close. At least this one doesn't sound as if it was written by Billy Graham. Either the miserable sales of the previous album got on to Bob (if such things were ever getting on to him), or he just felt ashamed. so the songwriting on here is definitely up a grade. A couple of tracks still retain that dumb hymn atmosphere (the watered-down 'Watered-Down Love' is a typical victim), but overall the only thing this album is seriously suffering from is striking unoriginality. Pretty ballads like 'In The Summertime' and 'Every Grain Of Sand' are listenable, but I wouldn't know why you should ever listen to them in the first place; the more well-known mini-hit 'The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar' is just a generic blues done with a lot of professionalism but not a lot of verve, if you axe me, well, it just don't have that punch that Bob used to have in the golden early days; 'Dead Man Dead Man' is another reggae ditty which doesn't hold a candle to the groovy 'Man Gave Names To All The Animals'; and 'Lenny Bruce' tries to evoke something really early, something like 'The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll', only it's more boring, even if not lengthier.
That leaves us with the really really cool title track which is a generic hymn, for sure, but it is also a song of agony and pain done quite convincingly, with the line about how ol' addict Bobby needs a shot of luv being the most memorable moment on the whole album; the pleasant shuffle of 'Heart Of Mine'; the screeching guitars of the jangly retro (retro again!) rocker 'Trouble', and Bob's extra personal problems on 'Property Of Jesus'. These four tracks are highly recommendable for all Zimmerman lovers, while the others are merely OK. But unlike Saved, it's not a disaster. It's just an old man's (an old Christian's) album. And you know what? The songs on Saved may have been crap filler, but they tried to sound lively and hopeful - after all, he was 'saved'. You won't find any hope or liveliness here - it's a dark, dreary, sad album, and the most Christian songs really sound tired, as if he was forcing these lyrics out of himself against his free will ('The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar' almost sounds like a parody on Saved, dammit!) No wonder he'd dump Christianity in less than two years. Meanwhile, enjoy yet another in an endless row of his crises. If you're not tired of his twenty-second album, that is.

The groom's still waiting at the altar for you to mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Paul Butler <p.butler@free.fr> (09.08.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

INFIDELS

Year Of Release: 1983
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 10

A lyrically strong product, but the melodies are naught but chewing gum.
Best song: JOKERMAN

Marks the end of his 'born again' period (not too soon!) and the end of the transition into the gloomy 80's. None of these songs are bad; none of these songs are truly memorable. Having re-recruited both Mark Knopfler and Mick Taylor, he suspiciously starts to move in on modern trends: booming electronic drums, synthesizers and disco rhythms are starting to gain territory, although they wouldn't really make themselves obnoxious until the next album. Even so, they manage to ruin a couple of tracks, most notably the disco rocker 'Union Sundown' which is famous for the phrase about democracy that don't rule the world, but musically it's just disco music. As for the mood, it is eventually the same as on Shot Of Love: dark depression. This is the Blood On The Tracks of the 80's: same old story of disillusionment, tiredness and being sick of life. Unfortunately, this time Bob hasn't taken enough care to think about the melodies. Well, we all know he'd never been a fantastic melodyman, but geez! 'Man Of Peace' sounds great until you suddenly remember you've heard that one as 'From A Buick 6' ages ago. The closing ballads 'I And I' and 'Don't Fall Apart On Me Tonight' sound like two drops of the same water. 'License To Kill' is just weak, weak, weak... this album doesn't present any beautiful acoustic passages, like Blood; no surprising tricks of Desire; and no roughness-and-ruggedness of Slow Train Coming. It's just normal - your ordinary kind of background music you listen to while cleaning your room. Not nasty in any way, but certainly not essential. The lyrics can't be beat, though - after three albumworths of psalms and cheesy gospel hymns you finally have your typical Dylan back again. And that's consolation. Only 'Man Of Peace' can be characterized as a religious song cuz it has the word 'Satan' in the refrain, but that's about it.
Plus, the opening tune and the most well-known one can be classified as a really cool one. 'Jokerman' is mostly memorable for its romantic refrain, and even if it's no new 'Mr Tambourine Man' which it certainly evokes lyrically, it's still touching. And original. Listening to that refrain, you don't get the feeling you know the song already. Overall, I wouldn't beg you to buy this album. But if 80's Dylan is OK with you (and this is the first real 80's Dylan: Shot Of Love still sounded like it belonged to the 70's), go ahead and get it. Let's hope you'll like it. At least there are no female backing voices! And it has a great photo of Zimmerman touching the Sacred Land! They say he'd embraced Judaism in 1983, only I don't quite understand how it fits into the album. References to Sodom and Gomorrah on 'Jokerman'? That's about all I can find.

Don't fall apart on me tonight! Just mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

<KORE12@aol.com> (22.11.99)

Richard James <rowleyt@supanet.com> (07.08.2000)

Paul Butler <p.butler@free.fr> (09.08.2000)

<PRytur@aol.com> (31.08.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

<Boltraa@aol.com> (23.11.2000)

REAL LIVE

Year Of Release: 1984
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 11

A bit too late for kickbutt rock and roll, isn't it? Still, with a bit of imagination you might even enjoy it.
Best song: TOMBSTONE BLUES

Bob's next live album displays a sudden and totally startling departure from the kind of live sound he'd been experimenting with throughout the Seventies. The Big Band, with its flutes, violins, accordeons and female backing vocals, is gone. Instead, he's gone back to a simple five-person back-up, with Mick Taylor being the most prominent of the musicians (there's also Ian McLagan on keyboards, who used to serve the Faces and the Stones, but he's buried so low in the mix, you'd bet he was playing three miles away from the stage). The drastic re-arrangements are gone, too: out of the ten selections, only one ('Masters Of War') is beyond recognizability. Everything looks as if Bob had listened to a couple of his old live tapes (see Live 1966) and decided, all of a sudden, that he wanted to be a rock'n'roller again. So the band mercilessly crunches and punches through his old standards, at a speedy tempo and with Stonesy guitar solos courtesy of Mr Once Was A Rolling Stone. It all sounds OK, even though there's really nothing special. And you'll also have to deal with the fact that Bob sings everything in his whiny weezy tone that he'd developed somewhere around 1978 and wouldn't have changed until Time Out Of Mind. The old energy is not to be found any more. Pathetic.
The material is strong, of course, but then again, all of Dylan's live material is strong. There's yet another take on 'Maggie's Farm', finally, quite close to the original; a generic blues version of 'Highway 61 Revisited'; a great album closer in 'Tombstone Blues' starring Carlos Santana on lead; a nice acoustic set with the happy audiences roaring along to 'It Ain't Me Babe' and with totally new lyrics to 'Tangled Up In Blue'; a re-arranged 'Masters Of War' with some hard-rocking guitar that manages to nearly ruin it; one more 'Ballad Of A Thin Man' which sounds oh so good without the backing vocals (and I'd already started getting used to the version on Budokan); and a decent 'Girl From The North Country'. The only thing that seriously lets the record down are two bland numbers from Infidels, but, after all, this is the Infidels tour, so it's understandable.
Many people don't give a damn about Dylan's live albums, especially around this period, but I wouldn't go as far as to say they're bad. It is obvious that they are far inferior to the studio originals; but then most live albums are, if your band isn't supposed to be the Who or Derek and the Dominos. And even if this particular album doesn't present us with the main attraction of Dylan's live performance (that is, the popular game of 'guess the melody'), it's still solid. You just gotta have an open mind for accepting such kinds of things.

I and I, we both want you to mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Jim Sheridan <Bolinhed@aol.com> (08.10.99)

EMPIRE BURLESQUE

Year Of Release: 1985
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 11

Displays certain original ideas - but only if you get through all the disco...
Best song: TIGHT CONNECTION TO MY HEART

Burlesque? Rather "discotheque", if I might say so. The modern production values have finally burst the dam, and even though Mick Taylor is still fiddling around with his guitar (and I had such high hopes for this guy after he'd left the Stones), this is all-around flaccid synths and booming drum machines. Ooh, just let me look up the producer... Hey, there ain't no production credits! THE COWARD! Just wait until I punch his... ok, ok, after all, Bob sang on it and listened to the final results himself, so he must have been satisfied. The only question I would like to ask of Mr Zimmerman: what the hell made him go out and want so much to sound contemporary in 1985? Hard-rockin' - OK. Punkin' - OK. But going poppy-electronic? His will must have been fading.
The only consolation is that the song material is at least significantly stronger than on Infidels. At least most of these songs do not sound like hastily thrown together rehashes of older classics. Even the lengthy seven-minute disco headache 'When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky' (yeah, and the female backing voices are back, too! Imagine that) has traces of being actually thought over, although Bob's whinings sound particularly out of tune on such a straightforward disco number. Pardon me, but he seems to impersonate an old dinosaur beggar weeping for alms on an 80's street...
What I certainly like on the album are a couple of damn fine tracks: the opening 'Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Baby)' shows us a bit of genuine emotion, and for once the backing voices sound in their places. 'Clean Cut Kid' is a better attempt at an angry-anti-social anthem than 'Neihgbourhood Bully' on the last record; it sounds generic disco rock'n'roll, but the lyrics and occasional guitarwork by Ronnie Wood make up for it. A couple of other songs may sound as if you've heard them before ('Seeing The Real You At Last' is set in a jazz-rock arrangement not unsimilar to the one on the, once again far superior, 'Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking', and, frankly speaking, when I first heard the opening notes of 'When The Night...', I thought they were going to do a disco arrangement of 'All Along The Watchtower'. No kidding!), but overall you'll have to agree that some of them do sound fresh, what with all the disco and ragged vocals ('Emotionally Yours'; 'Trust Yourself'). And the album closes with the beautiful ballad 'Dark Eyes' where it's just Bob with his guitar and harmonica - jus' like in the good old times, eh? Who knows, maybe if he'd done all the other nine tracks in the same arrangements, it would have worked better? Who knows? Anyway, I'd be the last one to completely bash the stuffing out of this album, but I'm also not following the All-Music Guide in saying that it was a remarkable return to form after all those flops.

Trust yourself and mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

Erik Kennes <ekennes@africamuseum.be> (18.10.2000)

DYLAN & THE DEAD

Year Of Release: 1988
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 11

A surprisingly strong performance, despite all of its 'washed-upness'.
Best song: SLOW TRAIN

[Note: this was preceded by the studio Knocked Out Loaded. I don't have it, even though I've seen it lyin' around a couple of times. Eventually I think I'll come close to buying it, but I have better things to do now.]
One cannot expect anything good from a bunch of ol' hip grandfathers and a washed-up prophetical ruin, ain't it so? Well, if that's what you think, then you're dead wrong. Actually, Dead wrong! Ha ha! Good pun! The Dead, incredible as it may seem, make a fine backin' band for Bob - better, in fact, than The Band thirteen years ago. His vocals are in rather good shape, too. Perhaps the greatest oddity of this record is in that older (and more classic) songs sound worse than newer ones. If 'Slow Train' and 'Gotta Serve Somebody' go off just fine, then 'Queen Jane Approximately' is plain butchered. Yeah, what he does to it is butcher it! The classic version on Highway 61 sounded like a message of hope, consolation and protection. When Bob sang 'Won't you come see me, Queen Jane' you wanted to run to him for cover. Here, when he sings the same line, it seems he's rather offering you to share his troubles than to shake off yours. That great self-assured vocal style of 1965-66, hell, it never returned after the motorpsycho nitemare... Totally horrible. 'I Want You' is not that good as well, even though it is at least fast and tight (unlike the disgusting operatic version on At Budokan). 'Joey' and 'All Along The Watchtower' are all right, and 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' is at least decent. Unfortunately, there's only seven songs - you can't really make a judgement based on seven songs, can you? Hmm...
In all, this ain't no murky stuff. If you just can't get enough of Dylan, get it, but don't let it be your first live album. Plus, the album cover is definitely worthless. It looks like it belongs to a heavy metal album rather than to a Dylan album.

I want you to mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Fredrik Tydal <f_tydal@hotmail.com> (14.04.2000)

DOWN IN THE GROOVE

Year Of Release: 1988
Record rating = 4
Overall rating = 9

It could have been the best... were this the only Dylan album. As it is, it's easily one of the worst.
Best song: DEATH IS NOT THE END

Another Infidels for him, with several crucial differences: the songs are significantly shorter, and some of them are covers. Dylan finally running out of steam? Me, I suppose this was just another 'move' of his witty mind, but can't really argue with the fact that this album still sucks. The songs are really the same blues/ballads patterns that he's been using for dozens of times before, so nobody needs them. Even though, once again, none of this stuff is nasty - it's just blatangly unoriginal. The pretty 'Death Is Not The End' is a charming original, 'Silvio' and 'Shenandoah' are passable, and 'Ugliest Girl In The World' is at least something new, whether for good or bad, I don't know. The rest, starting with the opening 'Let's Stick Together' which is 'Gotta Serve Somebody' married to 'The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar', even if it is not an original (ah, who cares anyway?), is just generic recycled filler. I guess this could sound different after a dozen listenings, but right now I'm really not that inspired. There's just nothing to be inspired about, see. The good news is that this ain't no disco and no electronica paradise (even if 'When Did You Leave Heaven' does painfully sound like an outtake from Empire Burlesque), and female back-up singers are used with decency. But if you're looking for serious cultural importance, you're advised to move at least fifteen years backwards. This is a beggar's whining again. And the lyrics are really mediocre. 'Had A Dream About You Baby?' 'Rank Strangers To Me?' Hey Bob... you're deep down in the groove with this one. I wonder if he really chose the title to symbolize his state?

Let's stick together! Mail your ideas

OH MERCY

Year Of Release: 1989
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 11

The long-awaited 'comeback', it's really not essentially different from the other stuff.
Best song: EVERYTHING IS BROKEN

A heck of a comeback. 1989, indeed, has been a year of half-assed 'comebacks': the Stones, McCartney, and Clapton all released albums that sold well and got a lot of good reviews; however, the only real difference about them seemed to be a slight improvement in songwriting and abandon of electronics and other modern devices, with a somewhat iffy 'return ro roots'. Oh Mercy seems not an exception.
The back-up singers are gone, together with the synths and drum machines. In comes producer Daniel Lanois with his bunches of cool-sounding guitars, and the result is obvious - this sounds fresher and more entertaining than anything since at least the 'born again' period. Moreover, Bob is trying to make his voice sound a bit more diverse than on the previous five or six albums: the usual 'old man' whining tone sometimes gets substituted for the melancholy 'cunning' intonations abounding on Blood On The Tracks (especially on 'Ring Them Bells'), and anyway, he is obviously using that voice of his as a musical instrument once again. Yup! Sounds good. The faster numbers are definitely upbeat and catchy - 'Political World' is a great anti-social anthem, while 'Everything Is Broken' takes its anger and disappointment directly from Blood. And the guitars ring out loud and strong. Wow!
So why only 6? Well, see, Side 2 of this album is pretty much dispensable. All of these slow ballads really don't have any better melodies than the ones on Down In The Groove, and you know what that one is. 'What Good Am I' is rather nice, but, hell, they're all nice, I don't blame them for not being nice. They're just OK. They do sound better, but good production doesn't make up for the lack of inspiration. The lyrics are slightly better, though. But no special hooks. Just like the previous three or four albums, Oh Mercy really adds little to the Zimmerman legacy. It doesn't exactly recycle his product, but it explores practically the same subjects as almost everything else. Hum, hum, hum... oh, there's one serious difference. This is the first album since his 'born-again' period, and one of the few ever, that doesn't display Bob's face on the front cover (there's an interesting picture on the back, though). Instead, it pictures a guy with glasses and a female painted on a blue brick wall. What does that stand for? And who is crying for mercy? What is this - retro symbolism? Not very convincing...

What good am I? Mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

UNDER THE RED SKY

Year Of Release: 1990
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 10

Dylan gets a bit childish and silly; consider this the 'Selfportrait' of the Nineties.
Best song: UNDER THE RED SKY

In between the last two records, Bob had been busy working with the Traveling Wilburys (see my reviews on this here site if you're interested), and this record certainly shows it. The best guess is that one fine day Bob took a listen to all his Eighties' records, then lay for a long time on his sofa chewing up his lips and finally said: 'Man, I must have been really pissed off'. Because this certainly does not sound like anything he'd done before... well, before Selfportrait, like I said. His voice here is shredded as usual, almost totally unbearable in some places - when I first heard the title track, I thought he might have been recording it on his deathbed. And the lyrics still come out mumbly and whiny, like a beggar's plead again - actually, he even looks like a beggar on that album cover. But that's about everything that you can find in common with this and Oh Mercy.
The Wilbury groove had Bob throwing away all the pessimism and sad complaints and all the real whiny stuff and playing some good old rock'n'roll - and he liked the idea. So, on Red Sky he gets his old pals and simply boogies, or does simplistic pop/blues songs with minimal, often trivial (sometimes even banal) lyrics, to quite mixed results. Actually, your feelings towards this record will depend on your expectations: just don't expect that this is going to be a serious record. It's going to be a danceable groove, but a pretty-sounding, totally inoffensive danceable groove - the only thing that betrays the sound's late Eighties' nature are the electronically enhanced drums (in parts) and an occasional cheesy synthline (in other parts). Most of the time, it's just Bob, some guitars, some Hammond organs, some harmonica, of course, and some cool piano. Plus, the piano is played by Elton John, and there's George Harrison here, too - contributing an occasional steel guitar line that will rip your heart out.
So the problem is whether you'll be able to say okay. On first listen I hated this album, but I think that I got it on the second one. It's all just fun, plain, mindless fun. Sure, the title track's lyrics about a little girl and a little boy who lived under a red sky strongly remind one of some Mother Goose poems, but why shouldn't Bob be allowed to take a little break after thirty years of pumping out serious (or serious-sounding) lyrics? It sounds very gentle and nice. Likewise, I'm pretty much able to get my kicks out of such nursery rhymes as 'Wiggle Wiggle' or the closing 'Cat's In The Well', because they boogie: and '10,000 Men', in addition to that, has some really great guitarwork going on. It does not rock, I'll admit, but it isn't supposed to - it just bumps and boogies along, and why should everything rock, for Chrissake? If everything rocked and nothing boogied, life on this planet would get pretty dull...
Actually, the 'fast' songs on here are much more enjoyable than the slow ones: all of the above, plus 'Unbelievable', are really good, silly, giggly rockabilly grooves, but the slower ones, apart from the strangely moving title track, are mostly forgettable. '2X2' is maybe the worst of the lot, but 'God Knows' and 'Handy Dandy' never thrill me either (and whose dumb idea was it to tackle the beginning line of 'Like A Rolling Stone' onto the otherwise generic mid-Eighties rip-off 'Handy Dandy'? Smack him for me, if you please). Maybe that's simply because Bob hadn't boogied for such a long time (read: never) - and it pleases me so that I get put down by the slower material. More probable, though, is the answer that the slower material is simply of much lower quality: passable ballads with recycled chords that don't even get suitable lyrics this time. I mean, nothing on here gets suitable lyrics, but on the best tracks you get so carried away by the simplistic beats that you simply don't care. Overall, there's absolutely nothing substantial here, and the record is still nowhere near as satisfying as Selfportrait, mainly because it sounds rushed and highly unpolished; but just a good load of pure silly fun. It shouldn't be high on your 'wanted' list (place it at about number twenty-five or so on your Dylan shopping list), but do not evade it - especially if you're a freak like me and can get your kicks out of Selfportrait.
The record's major advantage, by the way, which nobody ever mentions, is that it's incredibly short - at a time when everybody was using and over-abusing the CD format and stuffing the space up with 70-minute sonic explorations, this whole album is, like, about 35 minutes long. Thus, unlike Selfportrait, it will never get on your nerves, unless you accidentally press the 'repeat' button on your stereo.

God knows I'm still waiting for your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Brian Blacklow <blacklow@applepark.com> (02.05.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

THE BOOTLEG SERIES

Year Of Release: 1991
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 13

Some fantastic unreleased stuff: nothing groundbreaking, but every fan of Dylan should have this.
Best song: would you really like me to pick one favourite from fifty-eight outtakes?

The problem of alternative is really one problem that can kill you, if you know what I mean. So, just imagine that: here I am in this little Italian store with a little spare cash on my hands, and all of a sudden I see two Dylan boxsets right before me: one's Biograph, one's this one. And painfully I try to decide which one to buy. On one hand, Biograph has 'Positively Fourth Street' and 'Can You Crawl Out Your Window' on it, and these are great songs which I still don't have on CD. On the other hand, Series have got lots of outtakes I ain't never heard of. Maybe it's some kind of suspicious crap?
I finally decided to get Series just because there wasn't a single tune I ever heard before on it (the few well-known song titles turned out to be alternate versions). And god darn it, was I ever right! There are fifty eight previously unreleased tracks, and they're all great! Nah, slightly kidding. There is some stuff there that isn't quite up to par - well, it's like with any outtake album. But a lot of them are really really good. And thank God I didn't decide to waste my money on that silly Biograph set. Anyway, I hate these sets with half of the tracks well-known, half obscure (that's the reason I never got 30 Years Of Maximum R'n'B, even with all my respect and love towards the 'Oo). Who do record companies aim them at? Hardcore fans do not need the well-known, and novices do not need the obscure. That way, everybody pays more money than they'd really need to. I tell you, that's what those damn box sets are - just an attempt to get twice as much money for an artist's output. Make them issue standard hit packages and rarities albums and don't bother with that shit.
Okay, stop that digressing. I was talking about the fantastic Bootleg Series. Even though they claim that they are '1961-1991', i.e., reflecting Bob's entire career, the main emphasis is lain on two epochs: the early acoustic, folky years (26 tunes, most of them from 1962-63) and the 'born again/Infidels' period (1979-83, with 10 tunes). The other epochs are represented scarcely: the early electric years (1965-66, 8 tunes), the 'seclusion' period (two tracks), the 'country' period (three tunes), some Blood On The Tracks/Desire outtakes (six tunes), and two later tunes (one from 1985, one from 1989). But I don't mind that the material is chronologically uneven, and you shouldn't as well.
The early tunes are all swell. Most of them are slightly worse than the songs he recorded for his first albums - either they're covers, or they're simply made on occasion, or they're a wee bit too political, etc. That's why they were left out, I guess. But even so, the covers are moving (just take a listen to 'House Carpenter', by gum!), the songs made on occasion are either hilarious ('Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues') or scary ('Walls Of Red Wing'), and the political stuff is ironic as well ('Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues'). You also get to see Bob as a bluesman ('Quit Your Low Down Ways', where he does lots of nasty things to his voice in order to imitate some John Lee Hooker or Cryin' Papa Buffalo - it's good!), a spiritualist ('Paths Of Victory') and, of course, a philosopher as he was (the magnificent 'Let Me Die In My Footsteps' - one of my favourite acoustic songs of his). There are a couple misfires ('Worried Blues'), but they're few and insignificant. And what can you say about a CD that ends with a seven-minute poetry raving called 'Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie' where you can hardly discern the words at all - and it's fascinating!
CD 2 starts with a couple more acoustic songs (including a funny cough fit on the instrumental 'Suze' and the gorgeous 'Mama You Been On My Mind' and 'Farewell Angelina') and then introduces us to Bob's electric beginnings. Here you'll find out that 'Like A Rolling Stone' began its life as a waltz, that 'It Takes A Lot To Laugh' was originally a fast rock'n'roll song (I still prefer the finished version, though), and you'll also get acquainted with a brilliant Blonde On Blonde outtake - 'She's Your Lover Now' may have finally matured into 'One Of Us Must Know', but it stands out loud and proud being isolated just as well, a brilliant angry song which really tells us a lot about Bob at that particular time. Unfortunately, the outtakes from this period, arguably Dylan's most important period in all, are really few. They're being followed by a moving version of 'I Shall Be Released', with incredible backing vocals by Richard Manuel, a comedy throwaway from Big Pink ('Santa Fe') and a duet with Harrison on 'If Not For You' - superior to the version on New Morning, because both the playing and singing aren't that sloppy (Harrison's version on All Things Must Pass is even better, though). The disc closes with Blood outtakes - especially interesting is 'Idiot Wind' which doesn't yet have the anger and irritation of the finished version. And 'Call Letter Blues' (the future 'Meet Me In The Morning') even has a synth solo during the fade out! WHY??
CD 3, finally, is the worst of the lot - just because some of the 'Christian' material is not decent at all. Still, it does have some more 1974-5 outtakes (I simply adore the Desire-style 'Golden Loom' and 'Catfish'), a roaring live version of 'Seven Days' and the great blues anthem 'Blind Willie McTell'. Plus, if you hated the disco version of 'When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky', you just have to hear the version on here. Turns out to be a good song, after all - that is, before the producers messed it up and made it unlistenable.
Indeed, I could go on for hours since there's just too much material on here - but I think I'll stop. Maybe someday or other I'll add a couple of postscripta to this here review. I just want to stress one more time that this is one of the most fantastic outtake collections I've ever heard. And thank God one more time that I bought this and not Biograph. May all wise and rational people follow my example.

Quit your low down ways! Mail your ideas!

Your worthy comments:

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

GOOD AS I BEEN TO YOU

Year Of Release: 1992
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 12

A funny retro album, but you've heard it before...
Best song: hard to tell. They're all very even

An unexpected 'return to roots' (was he inspired by listening to some of his early folk songs while listening to the newly issued Bootleg Series? Could well be!). Bob suddenly eliminates all of his partners, straps on an acoustic, adjusts his harmonica and reproduces a couple (actually, a dozen) old folk songs - just exactly like he did on his debut album. Indeed, the only difference from Bob Dylan is the inevitable change in voice (he can't help being an old geezer, after all) and a slight change in thematics - instead of gospel and blues, straightforward folk ditties. Unknown, too. Obscure, if I might get the chance to point out. I don't know whether he roamed all through North Dakota or the Texas plain with a tape-recorder to fish out these beautiful creations of popular genius, but nobody knows 'em all the same. The major exception is Howling Wolf's 'Sittin' On Top Of The World' (the only generic blues on here), but the others don't even come close. Never mind, though - they all sound good. Apparently Bob was coming to realize that the world really didn't need his pathetic contributions any more, so he decided to really try something new - or something old, as it turned out. As it is, we even see him ending the album on a humorous note - with the children's 'Froggie Went A-Courtin'. And I can't even remember the last time Dylan sounded funny... God, it must have been on 'On A Night Like This', and that was eighteen years ago!
Still, I wouldn't rate this album extremely high. It's entertaining but it's not miraculous. Lovers of Dylan singing covers should primarily redirect themselves to Bob Dylan, 'cause this is one recycled album, too. Beautiful folk songs like 'Jim Jones', 'Blackjack Davey', 'Hard Times' and 'Arthur McBride' are folk songs, after all, and any old folk singer could sing 'em just as well. And Bob isn't even bothering to spice them up. His debut album was shocking because of his voice - Good As I Been To You gives no surprises in that direction. Nor is it spectacular in the way of playing, arranging or anything else. It's just... nice. Very very nice, and, of course, it's much better to listen to these fresh forgotten melodies than to yet another recycling of Bob's favourite subjects and melodies. Sometimes you can even boogie along to some tracks - 'Step It Up And Go' is particularly interesting in that respect. But I'm still inclined to regard it as primarily a historic curiosity. Don't skip it if you see it cheap, but don't waste your life to get it.

Step it up and go mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Erik Kennes <ekennes@africamuseum.be> (18.10.2000)

WORLD GONE WRONG

Year Of Release: 1993
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 10

A sad retro album, but you've heard it before...
Best song: JACK-A-ROE

Basically Good As I Been To You Vol. 2, but with a set of slight differences. First of all, this time it really seems that Bob was packing a tape recorder: you're not supposed to know any of these covers unless you were the one who guided Bob over some mountain passage or wild prairie. Bob himself, however, thinks all of these songs are very special: the liner notes, composed by himself, provide you with a set of lengthy poetic analyses of each and every one of 'em so that you end up thinking they must be William Shakespeare or something, instead of an old cowboy's ranch tune. Or something. The thing that worries me more, though, is that this time the fun is completely gone: no 'Step It Up And Go' here, and no pleasant throwaway like 'Froggie Went A-Courtin''. Also, there are more blues originals, so it's not as diverse or entertaining as the previous one. In that way, it comes more close to his debut album - and so gets exactly the same rating. The title track, the romantic 'Blood In My Eyes' and the mystical majesty of 'Jack-A-Roe' are the highlights here, and I guess the record might be worth 'em. All the others are just pleasant, but forgettable. Of course, if you went crazy over Good As I Been, you'll love this one too. I'm just not very much thrilled.
I'd bet you anything it's mostly the lyrics that do the jobs on here. We all know that the melodies are one hundred percent Dylan, cuz he was so busy stealing them in his early days and recycling them in his later days. But the lyrics are 'folk', and, however much I respect folk culture, I'd much better prefer Zimmerman's author poetry. Dylan's early career was a classic example of one singular talent taking some of his people's legacy and showing the world what kind of soup exactly could be prepared on that kind of fuel. But now that the soup has been eaten, what's he gonna do? Well, he gonna collect some more fuel. So watch out for the next original album!

World gone wrong? Why doesn't anybody mail his ideas?

Your worthy comments:

Ryan Mulligan <pxpres@idt.net> (17.10.2000)

TIME OUT OF MIND

Year Of Release: 1997
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 13

A good comeback. A new voice, some new songs, and a new sound. What more could be wished?
Best song: LOVE SICK

[Note: this was preceded by 1995's Unplugged (yeah, right) which, strange enough, I always see for an incredibly expensive price. I don't really think it's that valuable, although some people do say it's quite good. We'll see in due time.]
I really don't know what happened. Most probable is the solution that the previous two albums, while relatively mediocre effects by themselves, have succeeded in somewhat refueling Dylan's talent and gave him a good base for making yet one more effort of making a self-penned album. And the album is really good, maybe the best since... since Desire, indeed. I give it a weak 13 as opposed to that album's strong thirteen, but still, you gotta give the veteran his due: these songs are not just impressive quality product, they actually feel like essential product, something one gotta live up to and not just treat as your typical background Dylan 'easy' listening or something.
What's so good? Well, for one, Bob has gone through yet another change of voice: instead of the usual old man's whining ('like a beggar asking for alms'), here's a strangely confident tone. Not that it's more energetic: indeed, he sounds even older than before, but this time it's a profound, rich, sad, and slightly sly bluesy kind of voice. Get this record at least in order to hear that tone, you won't believe your ears.
Next, he makes a definite statement in totally refuting all the slick modern production and arrangement techniques, and that's yet another plus. Isn't it good to hear some tasty guitar chops and Sixties' organs instead of boring synths and drum machines? This time, Daniel Lanois chooses 'retro' as the main motto, and although I don't know any of the players employed on here except for Jim Keltner on drums, they do a good job: the guitars sound fresh, crisp and totally live, the organs flow smoothly and tastefully like on Bob's Sixties' records, and the record actually breathes - few other albums sounded that human and natural in 1997.
Third and last, the songs themselves are good. Of course, you've heard all of these melodies before ('Can't Wait' - typical Dylan ballad; 'Dirt Road Blues' - typical fast blues tune; others, too, it's easy to find their ancestry), but this time I wouldn't call any of them 'recycled waste'. This is mostly blues tunes he'd never done before in that way. Sad, depressed blues tunes. Not gospel, or disco, or anything. Just sad, depressed blues tunes destined to reflect an old man's reminiscences of his past and thoughts of his future.
The only flaw is that most of them are overlong, especially the final sixteen-minute 'Highlands' (I don't know whether the title was chosen specially for recalling associations with 'Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands', but the songs themselves have practically nothing in common). 'Highlands' is just your ordinary decent blues stuff, and extending it in such a painful way could only be compensated with great lyrics, but the lyrics are in no way great. It's just a dorky sad story about Bob trying to draw a picture of a waitress on a napkin. Well, there's a bit more to it, but it's too long for me to remember. It does try my patience until I simply begin treating it as background music - nope, the days of breathtaking lengthy epics are definitely over for dear old Bob.
Indeed, I don't know if any of these songs really come close to the standard of the opening 'Love Sick' which just hits you with such a terrible force that this is where you begin to understand all the depressed stuff on Oh Mercy, Empire Burlesque, etc., was just litte children's games compared to this collection. Hearing Bob sing 'I'm walking through streets that are dead... I'm sick o' love' really makes me shiver. This is hardly even depression - it's more like a maniacal suicidal tendency, and if not for the little snatches of optimism on 'Not Dark Yet', you'd think that after the completion of the album the only thing left to do for Bob would be to go and take an overdose of pills or throw himself from the Empire State Building. Even that song goes 'it's not dark yet, but it's getting there', so I guess there's really no way out in the end. That's what makes the album so monumentally great, though: where other dinosaur rockers are either waxing nostalgic like little stupid children or proudly proclaiming that true rock'n'roll never dies even when you're chained to a wheelchair, Bob takes the hard way out by affirming that old age is imminent and expectations of death are quite normal for him.
And pretty much all the other songs have that cold, moderate and slightly mystical aura to them as well. It's just as if... well, just look at Bob on the back cover. His face is white as snow, and that's what he is: detached and stiff, unpenetrable and inscrutable. This is not a human record! It's a monstrous record! Boo! Real scary. 'Cold Irons Bound', eh? How's that for a song title?
So yeah, I thought I wanted to say something, but I guess I did it already. What really makes this record stand out is the general atmosphere. This is a truly unique listening experience, and I doubt if Bob will ever be able to repeat it. In fact, I don't even know if he'll ever make another record at all - this sounds like a potentially excellent swan song, and a logical conclusion to his career, even if it definitely is not a pretty one. But dammit, he himself chose that road - thirty years ago, with John Wesley Harding, he set out on the path of depression, cynicism and self-loathing, and after Time, there's simply nowhere to go but get out of this world. If he does fire off a sequel, rest assured I'll be among the first buyers; but somehow I doubt he'll be ever able to repeat this minor masterpiece. And he's too busy going out on his 'Never Ending Tour' anyway.

Can't wait for you to mail your ideas

Your worthy comments:

Brian Blacklow <blacklow@applepark.com> (05.12.99)

Paul Butler <p.butler@free.fr> (09.08.2000)

<Blade421@aol.com> (08.09.2000)

Sean Hutchinson <hutchilj@aramco.com.sa> (04.10.2000)

HIT PACKAGES
THE BEST OF BOB DYLAN

Year Of Release: 1997

The latest greatest. Of course, a one-CD greatest hits compilation is absolutely ridiculous: it barely scratches the surface of Dylan's innumerable chef-d'oeuvres, but, if you're skint or going on vacation, you might as well get it. I keep it because it has the beautiful single 'I Shall Be Released', unavailable on the original albums, but otherwise there's just no reason. Although I must admit that this is a really serious effort: almost every important album from 1963-83 contributes one or two tracks, and I cannot imagine any possible complaints. There's nothing from Another Side, and a couple of the tracks are arguable (why 'Oh Sister', for example), but that's about it. Also, it features only one post-Infidels track ('Everything Is Broken' from Oh Mercy), but I guess nobody'd be unhappy about it.

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