Review This Again: The Times They Are A-Changin'

The Good: Amazing lyrics, Moments of vocals
The Bad: Musically unimaginative, Short
The Basics: Bob Dylan's classic album The Times They Are A-Changin’ is burdened by frontloading and plagued by songs that use licks from the title track to make a musically mundane masterpiece!


[There is a big meme in the art community going around now called "Draw This Again." In the meme, artists illustrate how they have grown in their chosen medium by putting side-by-side pictures of art they created in the past and now. My wife had the great idea that I should do something similar with my reviewing. So, for 2017, I will be posting occasional "Review This Again" reviews, where I revisit subjects I had previously reviewed and review them again, through a lens of increased age, more experience, and - for some - greater familiarity with the subject. This review is one such review, where I am re-experiencing The Times They Are A-Changin’ after many years and with more experience as both a reviewer and one who has heard much of the Bob Dylan library. The album was originally reviewed here!]

Given the vast career and amazing writing of Bob Dylan, it is hard to imagine him as a "one-hit wonder." The truth is, Dylan's music has barely been recognized by the Grammy Awards - he has almost as many Grammy Hall Of Fame awarded singles/tracks as he does actual Grammy Awards and several of the post-1980 Grammy Awards were, arguably, de facto "Lifetime Achievement" awards (Time Out Of Mind lacks the iconic tracks of The Times They Are A-Changin’!) - and he has built an enduring career out of a fanbase that continues to support him, rather than truly innovating or surprising mainstream culture. So, going back to Bob Dylan's earlier albums is an exploration in some ways of how massively American culture has changed since the 1960s. Bob Dylan might well be the embodiment of the argument of the war between art and commerce. At the forefront of that argument would have to be The Times They Are A-Changin’.

The Times They Are A-Changin’ was Bob Dylan's third studio album and coming off the previous year's platinum album, the gold The Times They Are A-Changin’ was a comparative commercial failure. Given that the title track is the first song on the album and dominates it, The Times They Are A-Changin’ has all the makings of arguing that Bob Dylan would have been a one-hit wonder if he were competing in today's market. And yet. 1964, when The Times They Are A-Changin’ was released, saw Dylan releasing two albums and building his fanbase through touring. And he has had a career that has spanned more than fifty years because he has something to say and his career was given time to find its place and for the artist to develop his sound. One has to wonder how many "one hit wonders" would have developed into the next Dylan had their careers not been cut short by labels concerned more with commerce than art . . .

All that said, The Times They Are A-Changin’ is very much a pop-folk album that is artistically the embodiment of a one-hit wonder. It is a virtually impossible task to follow-up on the quality of the song "The Times They Are A-Changin’" so any album that tried was going to be an ambitious project that was instantly hamstrung. Bob Dylan and producer Tom Wilson seemed to realize that and they put the title track right up front and hoped that people would listen beyond the first track more than once. That, as it turns out, is a tougher task than one might want to admit.

Musically, "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is the album's most complicated, memorable and richly-developed track. Bob Dylan sings, plays guitar and harmonica and he wrote a track that has a great melody to it. So, when he follows the opening song with the depressingly repetitive and simple "Ballad Of Hollis Brown" and then follows that (after a similar track) with "One Too Many Mornings" - a song that has wonderful lyrics that utilizes a number of the same musical licks (direct progressions of notes, the same tune in places!) as the first track - The Times They Are A-Changin’ becomes something of a chore to sit through.

With only ten songs, adding up to 45:36, The Times They Are A-Changin’ is short. It is, however, an embodiment of the quality of Bob Dylan's creativity as an artist and performer. Bob Dylan wrote all ten songs and he performs the primary vocals on all of the tracks as well. Dylan is also the only credited musician, playing the acoustic guitar and harmonica on the songs without additional accompaniment. The only major creative aspect he is not credited with is producing the album, but Tom Wilson seemed to help define Bob Dylan's sound and given that they continued to work together after Dylan started to achieve commercial success, it is hard to argue that he did not respect Dylan's vision for the album.

Vocally, The Times They Are A-Changin’ features Bob Dylan with a clear singing voice. There are only hints of Dylan's iconic mumbling drawl in the performances on The Times They Are A-Changin’. Instead, Bob Dylan opts for clear vocals that articulately present his lyrics. In addition to singing the words clearly, Dylan illustrates fairly decent lung capacity with holding notes on songs like "With God On Our Side," which also stretches him to the higher registers, though he performs mostly in a comfortable tenor range.

Bob Dylan has always had amazing poetics - which makes it completely understandable that he would receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. Dylan does a rare thing when he constructs a musical argument on the malleability of nationalism with "With God On Our Side." Over the course of the song, he charts the philosophical progression of being American and creating enemies to fight for the purpose of maintaining the military-industrial complex and justifying it. With lines like "Oh the history books tell it / They tell it so well / The cavalries charged / The Indians fell / The cavalries charged / The Indians died / Oh the country was young / With God on its side" ("With God On Our Side"), Dylan starts the listener down the rhetorical argument that comes full circle with an ironic question about Judas Iscariot's relationship with God!

As one might expect of Bob Dylan, much of The Times They Are A-Changin’ is political in its lines. While it might get buried as a literal b-side, Dylan has something to say on all of his songs, like "Only A Pawn In Their Game." When Dylan sings "A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood / A finger fired the trigger to his name / A handle hid out in the dark / A hand set the spark / Two eyes took the aim / Behind a man's brain / But he can't be blamed / He's only a pawn in their game" ("Only A Pawn In Their Game"), he illustrates a backbone and a poetic style that is distinctive and strong.

Of course, it is virtually impossible to compete with "The Times They Are A-Changin'." The instantly memorable rhyme scheme of "Come senators, congressmen / Please heed the call / Don't stand in the doorway / Don't block up the hall / For he that gets hurt / Will be he who has stalled / There's a battle outside / And it is ragin' / It'll soon shake your windows / And rattle your walls / For the times they are a-changin" ("The Times They Are A-Changin'") creates such a distinctive, sea chanty-like tone as to make the song iconic and powerful!

That said, virtually every compilation album worth its salt will have "The Times They Are A-Changin'" on it and that makes The Times They Are A-Changin’ a tougher sell as an album. The Times They Are A-Changin’ has that song, but the dated references on the other songs are starting to age poorly and most of the rest of the tracks live in the shadow of the title track in a way that makes them forgettable. Objectively, there is quality to The Times They Are A-Changin’, but it gets a mildly positive rating more for its objective quality than being a great, listenable, album.

The best track is "The Times They Are A-Changin'," the low point is "North Country Blues."

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Early Album Boxed Set
Blonde On Blonde
Blood On The Tracks
No Direction Home
Biograph
Love And Theft
Modern Times
Shadows In The Night

5.5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Happy 2017! We Open Mellow With Bob Dylan's Shadows In The Night!

The Good: Great vocals, Interesting musical accompaniment
The Bad: SHORT, Somewhat monotonous overall sound
The Basics: Bob Dylan does intriguing interpretations of classic club songs made popular by Frank Sinatra, which allows him to highlight his vocal abilities without making a truly stellar collection.


Happy 2017! 2016 is over and I, for one, am happy to close the book on that year that was packed with political disillusionment and deaths of artists and celebrities both tragic and heartbreaking. Thinking about 2016 put me in something of a melancholy mood and to mull for a while, I pulled out Bob Dylan's Shadows In The Night for enjoyment and review.

Shadows In The Night is a 2015 cover album of Bob Dylan's whereby the artist reinterpreted classic songs made famous by Frank Sinatra (Sinatra himself was only involved with co-writing one of the songs). Perhaps Shadows In The Night was a mistake; it is a very melancholy album, which is great for wallowing, but not so wonderful for getting out of one's introspective mood! It is worth noting up front that I am not overly familiar with the works of Frank Sinatra; I know who he was, but it was a few tracks into Shadows In The Night before I realized that I could probably not pick out a Frank Sinatra performance from a line-up of crooners. As such, this review of Shadows In The Night is very much on Bob Dylan's work, with no real comparative analysis to how the tracks contrast with Frank Sinatra's performances of the same songs.

With only ten songs, clocking out at 35:17, the biggest strike against Shadows In The Night is that it is short. The duration of the album reminds me of just how disappointed I have been over the long-term with the career of Sophie B. Hawkins; I have a radio interview with Hawkins where she discusses how she got signed to a label. In the interview, Hawkins references winnowing down her songbook from hundreds of songs to about the dozen best in order to record her demo tape and first album. With hundreds of songs before she released her debut, it is depressing to consider that Hawkins has only produced five albums. The point here being, there is a vast amount of material that remains unheard and Shadows In The Night could have been twice as long and utilized the c.d. medium better and presented Dylan's full attempt at covering Frank Sinatra, as opposed to this "highlights album."

Shadows In The Night has Bob Dylan presenting the vocals and producing the album, but otherwise generating very little for the album. Dylan is not credited with playing any instruments and he did not write any of the songs on Shadows In The Night (which makes sense for a cover album). Shadows In The Night has Dylan as performer, not artists . . . save that he reinterpreted the classic Sinatra-performed songs.

Unfortunately, for however original Dylan's takes on Sinatra's songs might be, Shadows In The Night is very musically uninteresting. Dylan is accompanied by the trumpet, pedal steel, and other (minimal) instrumentation, mostly brass. The songs are homogeneously slow and contemplative in their music. Shadows In The Night is moody and immersive, but track to track there is little differentiation. The album does an excellent job of sinking the listener into a morass of smoky depression and melancholy, but it does not change it up. One suspects that if the album were put on a loop, most listeners would listen to it on repeat forever without noticing where the album begins or ends, in one indistinct, depressive, loop.

That is not to say that Shadows In The Night is not good; it is. The highlight of Shadows In The Night are the vocals of Bob Dylan. Dylan performs each track with clear vocals, holding notes and articulating each word with clear passion and precision. The only song I knew coming into Shadows In The Night was "Some Enchanted Evening" and Dylan sings every line clearly and well, eliminating the stereotype that Dylan is a better writer than he is a vocalist. Dylan does not fundamentally change the lines or even the tempo, but he strips the songs back so they are vocally-dominated and his mood carries into every word. Every song on Shadows In The Night features Bob Dylan passionately and clearly singing in a way that perfectly conveys the sadness of the words he sings.

There are few artists who could get away with a moody cover album that is somewhat thematically and musically monotonous, but Dylan manages to pull it off with Shadows In The Night. Shadows In The Night is a sad little album that reminds viewers that Bob Dylan can sing, but allows listeners to enjoy that without having to pay so much attention to the lyrics and get into an activist mode from them.

The best track is "Stay With Me," there is no truly weak song, though none of the other songs really stand out.

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Early Album Boxed Set
Blonde On Blonde
Blood On The Tracks
No Direction Home
Biograph
Love And Theft
Modern Times

6/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for a comprehensive, organized listing of all the music reviews I have written!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Bob Dylan Returns To Singing (Singing Well!) With Modern Times!

The Good: Singing voice, Generally decent lyrics
The Bad: Musically indistinct
The Basics: Bob Dylan returns to his tradition of singing so he might be understood and presents a lyrically fine, musically muted album with Modern Times.


I take some flack as a reviewer for reviewing Bob Dylan albums objectively, without any regard to historical perspective. The albums are rated on their merit, not on a sliding scale that accounts for how radical the album may have appeared at the time, when it debuted in the mid-1960s. I strive for objective reviews on everything, putting everything on a consistent scale so readers have a reasonable continuum for comparison. So, it was with delight that I picked up Bob Dylan's album Modern Times, a disc that was released in 2006 and therefore has no historical context to leave my detractors believing I am needlessly poking at Bob Dylan.

With ten tracks clocking in at just over sixty-two minutes, Modern Times presents a more mellow Dylan than some of his other albums and I found I thoroughly enjoyed the light folk-rock sound of his songs on it. Actually, what stood out from the very first track was the fact that I could understand everything that Dylan was singing! For this album, Bob Dylan returns vocally to the sound and feel of his earliest albums and it works!

Modern Times is largely an album about interpersonal relationships as opposed to politics. The closest to politics Dylan gets on this album is commenting on socioeconomic differences. He sings about poverty and the menace of drowning with "The Levee's Gonna Break" and he sings about wage inequities and the devaluation of the dollar on "Workingman’s Blues #2." But most of the songs are about people and how they relate to one another on a more intimate level as opposed to a societal level.

The album has Dylan's trademark penchant for fine diction and poetics with his musical stories. He creates songs that have a wonderful sense of mood and sense of setting. So, for example, on "Ain't Talkin'," he writes about "The city by the bay" and how it has an oppressive atmosphere where one feels confined with lines like, "Still yearnin' / I've got to get you out of my miserable brain."

As with many of his previous albums, he has some poetic observations on how people relate and he continues to tell innovative musical stories through his songs. He sings about the sheer joy of love and desire when he sings, "When you're with me / I'm a thousand times happier than I could ever say /What does it matter /What price I pay? / They brag about your sugar / Brag about it all over town / Put some sugar in my bowl / I feel like laying down /I'm as pale as a ghost / Holding a blossom on a stem . . ." ("Spirit On The Water"). Even his more simple rhyme schemes evoke images in the mind and work beautifully to tell his stories.

But Dylan also illustrates just how hip and current he can be. In the album opener, "Thunder On The Mountain," he references Alicia Keys! And for a well-respected gentleman of folk rock, it's somewhat surreal to hear Dylan sing the word "slut" on "Rollin' And Tumblin'." I suppose he adapts to the time or becomes as audacious as the time. Or hearing him use the word just illustrates how common it has become in our daily lexicon. Either way, on Modern Times, Bob Dylan once again seems relevant and living in the now.

Those who have shied away from Bob Dylan because of his vocal presentation of his music will want to pick up Modern Times. Here he has a beautiful, if slightly raspy, voice that has a mellow sound to it. He stays comfortably within his range and there are moments where he sounds virtually identical to Bruce Springsteen!

But even better, he is singing with articulation, like he hasn't in decades! His voice is clear, his intonations are direct and he is eminently comprehensible! On this album, he does not mumble, he does not drawl. Each word is sung carefully as if he is determined that the listener will not miss any. I've long argued that going back to Dylan's early works illustrates he can sing and that his oft-parodied mumbling quasi-musical drawl is a stylistic choice and on this album he reaffirms that by returning to his roots and letting his more organic voice out.

What does not work nearly as well on Modern Times is the sound of the music. I enjoyed the album, but truth is, musically there is nothing that stands out. Unlike some of his more produced albums, this album does not fill the songs up with sound, preferring instead a more intimate and down-home feel on many of the tracks. Dylan plays guitar, harmonica, and piano on various tracks and he is backed by an array of musicians who are very much back-up performers, never even approaching the level of sound Dylan presents at the front of each song.

Most of the songs are sung as if Dylan is sitting on a stool a few feet away singing his stories like a coffee house folk artist with minimal accompaniment. The sound works well for him and it keeps the listener focused on the lyrics Dylan is singing.

The problem, then, is twofold. None of the tracks leap out musically and none of them become more than they are musically. After listening to the album seven times, I've discovered the track to track sound of the songs is so consistent and generic that not one of the tunes actually stayed with me. The very first time I heard "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," I had the melody lodged in my skull. Nothing on this album is so memorable. On tracks like "When The Deal Goes Down," Dylan plays a slow, musing tune that is vaguely tonal to accompany the song he is singing. The piece has an ad libbed quality to it as far as the music goes. Obviously, it must have been carefully constructed, but the melody is so subtle and difficult to perceive that it ends up unmemorable. The result, which is common throughout the album, is that the tune is actually rather unmemorable.

The scope of the album is thus downsized by the sound of the album. The songs remain intimate and strangely introverted as opposed to feeling like they are microcosms of our larger world. Track to track, this is Bob Dylan the performer sitting on a stool or piano before you in a small concert hall or the neighborhood coffee bar.

And he plays the music safe and cool. Nothing challenges our preconceptions of his abilities. Instead, he remains safe, pedestrian, safely enshrined within the limits of what we have heard from him before. It's a shame that he did not choose to create something distinctive and original within that range, but with a fairly simple sound, the album blends into itself upon multiple listens.

This is a good album for anyone looking for a mellow listening experience with good lyrics that transport the listener to another place or mood. The best track is "Spirit On The Water," the weakest link is "Nettie Moore," which left less of an impression than most of the tracks.

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Early Album Boxed Set
Blonde On Blonde
Blood On The Tracks
No Direction Home
Biograph
Love And Theft

6/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Bob Dylan's Magnum Opus Blonde On Blonde Seems More Dated Than Masterful.

The Good: Lyrics, Generally richer musical sound than many early albums
The Bad: Singing is terrible, Music is repetitive-sounding and inspires narcolepsy
The Basics: After years of looking forward to Bob Dylan's folk-rock classic Blonde On Blonde, I discovered an album where the lyrics and sound are incongruent.


In my continuing quest to listen to as many of the works of Bob Dylan as I can get my hands on, I cannot think of an album I was more looking forward to listening to than Blonde On Blonde. Virtually every Dylan fan has told me at one point or another that this is his masterpiece, the definitive Dylan work one must listen to to understand his genius. In fact, all I knew about the album other than that was that it had the song "I Want You," a track I frequently argue artist Sophie B. Hawkins reinterpreted as a vastly better track on her debut album Tongues & Tails (reviewed here!).

Even that, I was eager to listen to Blonde On Blonde in a way that I haven't been excited about an album in quite some time. That excitement did not endure through the first listen. Now on my seventh time through the disc, I find myself troubled by how this album could be considered one of his best when earlier works of his have merited more praise (please see the links below for my other Dylan album reviews!).

Blonde On Blonde is a fourteen track album that clocks in at a hefty seventy-three minutes, eight seconds! Originally released as a double album, it now fits nicely onto one c.d. and it is quite purely the vision of Bob Dylan as all of the songs on the album were written by him. As well, Dylan plays guitar, harmonica and piano on the album on various tracks. The addition of the piano to Dylan's personal repertoire marks a new level of musical proficiency over many of his earlier albums where he only sang, played guitar and harmonica. Also notable is the increase in background instruments and vocals surrounding Dylan.

Unlike the stark sound of many of Bob Dylan's earlier albums, Blonde On Blonde finds Dylan creating a very rich musical sound. This is largely a folk-rock album with a strong sense of blues to it. The songs are generally slower, more lyrically musing, and is far less political than some of his albums. Instead, the songs are largely sung stories, musings on relationships and life and interactions. The notable exception to this is "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," Dylan's recognizable song for the refrain, "Everybody let's get stoned," which is a pretty uninspired notion in my book.

The majority of the songs are much more introverted, exploring relationships and the emotions associated with them. He sings of desire ("Visions Of Johanna"), loneliness ("Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again") and loss and rebirth ("4th Time Around"). The songs are generally about how people relate and have Dylan's song protagonists apologizing ("One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)"), pleading ("I Want You") and observing changes ("Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"). Despite being a long album (which I like quite a bit!), this album is fairly thematically unified.

This album is characterized by powerful images in the lyrics. Indeed, some of the imagery overcomes any sense of literal meaning and Dylan's poetics read extraordinarily well on a literary level. So, for example, lines like "Guilty undertaker sighs / The lonesome organ-grinder cries / The silver saxophones say I / should refuse you / Cracked bells and washed-out horns / Blow into my face with scorn / But it's not that way / I wasn't born to lose you" ("I Want You") are packed with imagery but require some serious analysis to truly understand the levels. Sure, there's the literal level where a desirous lover is sitting watching a band longing for the one they love, but the level of details, alludes to something deeper. Anyone with an English degree could spend days arguing what the lines actually mean.

Virtually all of the songs are that well-written, with lines that are long and dense and can be taken on literal and metaphorical levels. Blonde On Blonde arguably has some of the best lines Dylan ever wrote, especially in terms of his narrative songs. I love Dylan's early works with the political emphasis, but during his transition to more personal and intimate songs or the songs that simply told stories, he lost me some. But who could resist lines like "Mona tried to tell me to stay away from the train line / She said that all the railroad men just drink up your blood like wine / . . . He just smoked my eyelids and punched my cigarette" ("Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again")? Dylan has an amazing command of imagery and it is easy to see why he is one of the most popular and prolific songwriters of American history.

But lyrics are only one facet of an album. Were this a book of poetry, I would score it far higher. Why? The lyrics are wonderful, the execution into song is not everything one might like from either a vocal performance or a musical composition. The length is fine, but the problem with this particular Dylan album is that his singing style has radically altered and the instrumentals are largely unimaginative.

I have never been part of the bandwagon that Dylan is a great songwriter but can't sing. There's a huge chunk of musical enthusiasts who love Dylan's lyrics, but think he cannot sing worth the price of one of his c.d.s. I disagree and the proof is in Bob Dylan's early works. It's like people who claim the Bee Gee's can't sing; their early works illustrate well their transition from something of an a cappella group into the disco falsetto sound. Bob Dylan's first albums show that not only can he sing, he has a pretty impressive singing voice. He has style and sound and he is all-around a wonderful singer.

He just doesn't use it on Blonde On Blonde. Dylan does not sing with clarity or the full range of his very desirable voice. Instead, he wheezes out the choruses to "I Want You," mumbles through the lines of "Just Like A Woman" and . On "Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine," he sounds more bored than passionate and he wails and drawls through much of it, gutting any emotional resonance to the lyrics. On several of the tracks, the instrumental accompaniment drowns out his somewhat incomprehensible mumbles.

Moreover, there is a strong sense of musical repetition on the album. Tracks blend together with Dylan mumbling and drawling through many of the tracks with little distinction in his vocal presentation. The sound of the album is brought down by the fact that many of the songs sound like one another.

As far as vocal presentation, there is a pretty sad sense of repetition over the course of this album. "Just Like A Woman" is sung by Dylan in such a way that is frequently sounds just like "Visions Of Johanna." People might miss it because the tempo of the songs is different, but the vocal presentation is disturbingly similar! "Temporary Like Achilles" and "Just Like A Woman" also sound so similar as to be eerie. "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" sound remarkably alike in their use of both organ and guitar. Indeed, they open using some of the same chords and even note progressions!

My point is, for a supposedly great album, coming from such a prolific singer-songwriter, one would think he could incorporate some musical diversity into his album. That he allows so many of the tracks to sound like one another seems lazy and sloppy. It is almost as if Dylan created amazing lyrics for his songs and figured that would be enough. None of the songs are particularly imaginative as far as the music and sound of them goes.

And before the backlash from the Dylan fans starts (they're about as rabid, I've discovered, as Springsteen fans!), I'll make the case that Dylan sings some of his own songs wrong. "Absolutely Sweet Marie" is about a man waiting, looking for a woman. The narrator is lost, curious and somewhat heartbroken. The song employs upbeat drums that keep a head-pumping dance beat that in no way matches the sentiment or emotions of the lyrics. Nowhere is the disparity between lyrics and sound greater than on "I Want You." Sophie B. Hawkins actually got that song. She took Dylan's lyrics and transformed the song into a testament to desire, longing and the ache that comes with wanting someone who is unattainable. Bob Dylan's version on Blonde On Blonde is an up-tempo hokey-sounding chant that - if one went by sound alone - seems to be celebrating the joy of wanting someone unattainable in the most festive way possible.

In other words, Dylan guts his lyrical magnificence by his presentation. The songs either do not express and complement the lyrics or they repeat the sound of tracks earlier on the album. And "4th Time Around" sound suspiciously like a tune by The Beatles (I'm trying to place it . . .)! Yes, there might be historical significance to Blonde On Blonde (it was his last album before a motorcycle accident he was in, for example), but I am not rating the album based on others' impressions of it or within the context of any history. This is how the album sounds and it says something very different from the lyrics. I am not here as a guardian of Dylan's reputation; as I've stated, I like much of his works!

But this is not one of them. There are better albums by Bob Dylan and there are works where his abilities on the fronts of lyrics, music and vocal quality are displayed with far more proficiency.

The best track is the epic "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands," the low point is the ridiculous-sounding album opener "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35."

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Early Album Boxed Set
Blood On The Tracks
No Direction Home
Biograph
Love And Theft

4/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Middling-Good Dylan Results With The Long But Few Blood On The Tracks

The Good: Some great lyrics, Nice long songs, Some truly great musical stories
The Bad: Musically unimaginative, Moments of voice, SHORT!
The Basics: Bob Dylan provides a solid album with Blood On The Tracks that is well-written, interesting and musically difficult to listen to and enjoy.


So, after reviewing some of Bob Dylan's earliest works and some of his latest albums last week (see the links at the bottom of this review!) I just got in two new-to-me Bob Dylan albums and I have been eagerly listening to them. In a rare listening and reviewing out of order, I have been listening to Dylan's album Blood On The Tracks repeatedly for the last two days before getting to his earlier album Blonde On Blonde. I trust that will not be held against me!

Blood On The Tracks is a ten track, fifty-one minute opus from Bob Dylan which was his fifteenth studio album. This is a pure Bob Dylan work, featuring ten musical stories written and (primarily) performed by him. On this album, he sings his own lyrics and plays the guitar, harmonica, organ and mandolin. It is a musically richer album than many of his early albums and it is clear he has had time to grow and develop as a musical artist from when he released The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Blood On The Tracks truly is a storytelling album and Dylan presents stories that range from meeting and re-meeting women ("Tangled Up In Blue"), seduction (the classic "Shelter From The Storm") and loathing someone ("Idiot Wind"). The songs have a storylike quality to them and, in fact, "Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack Of Hearts" is an almost nine minute musical story that is very complete and I swear is how Woody Allen got the idea for Small Time Crooks (reviewed here!)! The storytelling quality serves Dylan well and many of the songs have very memorably lyrics.

Dylan employs a higher level of diction in his songs than most artists and on Blood On The Tracks, and while some of the songs that he presents on this album may not always employ that, he does manage to create some wonderful and unique rhymes while telling a story. So, for example, he is quite poetic with the lines "He hears the ticking of the clocks / And walks along with a parrot that talks, / Hunts her down by the waterfront docks where the sailors all come in. / Maybe she'll pick him out again, how long must he wait / Once more for a simple twist of fate" ("Simple Twist Of Fate"). Dylan creates a strong sense of loneliness and longing in the protagonist that waits for even the chance of finding the woman he wants in that song and the story is melancholy and wonderful.

Dylan has the ability to put unspeakable loneliness into words on tracks like "You're A Big Girl Now" and he is surprisingly mean on "Idiot Wind," a song that makes other "I hate you" type songs seem pale by comparison. On that track, he basically sings about how much of a fool and a liar the subject of the song is. Just as he can be romantic or sing about feeling sad, he is eloquent in tearing apart another person. His lines are pretty brutal with the refrain, "Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth / You're an idiot, babe, / It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe" ("Idiot Wind")!

In general, the story-songs are well-written and they emote basic human ideas like love and loss. Blood On The Tracks is the album that has the classic and oft-covered Dylan classics "Tangled Up In Blue" and "Shelter From The Storm." I was surprised how infrequently "Simple Twist Of Fate" was covered, because thematically, it's an impressive song.

Blood On The Tracks is characterized by long songs. Don't get me wrong, I love long songs; I'm one of the few people who still praises the Oasis album Be Here Now (reviewed here!) as their best work! Dylan takes his time developing tracks like "Tangled Up In Blue," "Idiot Wind," and "Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts," the latter of which clocks in at 8:50! Most of the songs are in the mid-4:30s, but Dylan rewards his listeners with some real long songs that truly develop over the course of their airplay.

One of the things that I appreciated quite a bit about many of Bob Dylan's earliest albums was how far from the parodies his vocal performances were. Bob Dylan is a pretty constant source of parodies and he is often characterized and caricatured as a mumbling, incomprehensible singer with a terrible voice. Sadly, on "Blood On Tracks," we hear where those parodies come from. For sure, there are tracks where Dylan has clarity, like "Tangled Up In Blue" and most of "Shelter From The Storm" (though he does mumble his way through much of the opening to that story).

But many of the tracks are the embodiment of the parody of Bob Dylan. One suspects much of the way Dylan got away with being so mean on "Idiot Wind" was that few people could easily understand the lyrics! Moreover, "Buckets Of Rain" is virtually incomprehensible and while the instrumentals sound decent from it, the lyrics close the album with more of a "what was that?" feel than Dylan presumably intended.

What makes the album worth listening to (outside the lyrics) is the instrumentals. Blood On The Tracks is musically richer than many of Dylan's early albums, as evidenced by his taking up the organ and mandolin in addition to singing and playing the guitar and harmonica. On this album, he is accompanied by a bass, an organ and a steel guitar on many of the tracks. This fills out the sound of many of the songs in a way that many of his earlier albums were not.

The thing is, Blood On The Tracks also has some of the most musically unimaginative songs in Dylan's repertoire. For sure, "Tangled Up In Blue" has a recognizable melody, but "Simply Twist Of Fate," for all its storytelling prowess is essentially an atonal musical story. "You're A Big Girl Now" starts out with some deft guitar fingering, but once the singing begins, the melody becomes so ethereal that after listening to this album seven times in a row, I know I would not be able to pick the melody to the song out of a musical line-up!

What lacks a melody is essentially uninteresting to the ear and the pinnacle of this is "If You See Her, Say Hello," a vague ballad that fades from memory almost as soon as the song is begun. Sure, Dylan presents a mildly bluegrass song with "Meet Me In The Morning," but most of the album is slow with lyrics that are vastly more memorable than the instrumentals . . . or the vocals.

Blood On The Tracks is a good album and it is definitely worth listening to for anyone who likes folk rock music. This is a great collection of musical stories. But for those looking for a decent listening experience with a great sound, it's hard to plug this album. One might be better off picking up a book of Dylan lyrics in such a case. I can deal with the sound, but objectively, this is not his best sounding album and it certainly invites the parodies many people object to.

The best track might well be "Shelter From The Storm," the worst is the indistinct "If You See Her, Say Hello."

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Early Album Boxed Set
No Direction Home
Biograph
Love And Theft

6.5/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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My Last Dylan Review For A While Is The Relatively New Love And Theft!

The Good: Decent lyrics, Generally good voice
The Bad: Music is strangely generic
The Basics: Dylan's newer album Love And Theft has wonderful lyrics and voice but a flat-out boring sound that cripples the work.


So, in the last week, I've had something of a crash course in Bob Dylan. My father, who is a huge fan of folk rock music, has a small collection of Bob Dylan's c.d.s and I asked him if I could borrow them because Dylan is one of those artists I've heard a few songs from and I wanted to start listening to some of his full albums. So, I borrowed a bunch of early works (links below!). In addition to the various anthologies and past works, he had a lone album from Dylan's recent works, Love And Theft, which I have now listened to seven times.

With twelve tracks clocking in at 57:27, Love And Theft is an album that might well dispel a number of Bob Dylan myths. Love And Theft deftly illustrates that Bob Dylan can still write and he can sing. This album is a decent collection of bluegrass, folk and rock songs that reminds listeners why they might have fallen in love with the works of Bob Dylan back in the day. As someone who did not fall in love with Dylan at any point in the past, this album simply made me feel that any ribbings the artist takes these days about his mumbling style are out of date.

No, if this album is any indication, any parodies of Bob Dylan that are made now ought to have him as a hayseed. Love And Theft is much more blues and country oriented than his early folk or middle rock years. My disclaimer here at the top then, would have to be that I have nothing against Bob Dylan or his works. I'm not a fan of country or much in the way of blues. That said, Love And Theft is all right and what I like about it is definitely more Dylan-related than blues related.

First, what goes right. Love And Theft has a strong sense of Bob Dylan as a songwriter. Dylan is an amazing poet and he has a level of diction and vocabulary well above the average singer songwriter. On this album, it seems like he has something to say once again. Unlike some of this albums, Love And Theft is pretty unified in its presentation. This is a largely apolitical album containing tracks that are essentially stories about people. So, for example, "Floater (Too Much To Ask)" is essentially a personal history in song form. The narrator simply talks about the members of his family and their struggles in day to day life.

Dylan has a strong sense of form and development with many of the tracks on Love And Theft. For example, on "Mississippi," he sings about feeling confined within a city long before he ever gets to the very simple refrain and that level of drawing out the poetry works masterfully! More than that, he has a wonderful sense of mood in the song with lines like, "All my powers of expression / My thoughts so sublime / Could never do you justice / In reason or rhyme / Only one thing, I did wrong / I stayed in Mississippi way too long" ("Mississippi"). The whole song has a wonderful musing quality to it, as if Dylan truly is contemplating his entire history and his life and setting in just one song.

Throughout the album there are poems with wonderful wording and great rhymes that clearly express a strong sense of humanity. This is an album about relationships, story/songs about wandering through life and bumping into others who are similarly wandering. And they are written with a quality that reminds the listener why Dylan is covered so often. I imagine in the coming years, "Moonlight" will be covered by numerous artists; it has a wonderful sound to it and the lyrics are such that it could be adapted for virtually any musical genre. In this incarnation, it's a mellow track that transforms Dylan into a lounge singer at a smoky club on a night when everyone would rather be inside than out. That is the power of Dylan's lyrics.

And "Moonlight" is a wonderful example of Bob Dylan's amazing singing voice. His voice is velvet on the track and it eases over the listener's ears in a way that is soft and sensual and makes the listener eager for the next notes. Dylan's poetry and voice are flawless on the song and it puts to shame everyone who has ever mocked his vocal presentation and doubted his ability to present his songs in a manner that is musical.

"Moonlight" is not alone. While it might be the vocally superlative track, "Mississippi" has a mournful sound to it defined by Dylan's voice that makes the aching of the lyrics come alive. "Honest With Me" has Dylan competing with percussion and electric guitars and his voice holds his own with clarity. Indeed, there is not a single track on Love And Theft where Dylan sounds is inarticulate, though to be fair, on "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" he does sound like Tom Waits did on Real Gone (reviewed here!).

The problem with Love And Theft, then, is not in the lyrics or voice; it's the music. I've listened to this album over seven times now and I haven't caught a single tune. Seriously, two days from now if I'm in an elevator and I heard a musak version of any one of these songs I would not associate it with Love And Theft. Not one.

The reason for that, I suspect, is that the songs pretty much all sound like musak already. Okay, that's not true, there are more instruments on many of the tracks than musak has, but there is a similar generic quality to every one of the songs on the album. Song after song, even when I was hearing music in a style that didn't grab me (like bluegrass) I had the distinct impression I had heard the songs before.

There is nothing that stands out musically on this album. The drums are unimaginative, the pianos sound programmed and the guitars present music that could have been played by any artist. There is nothing distinctive about the music on this album, nothing that screams "This is the music of Bob Dylan!" Instead, there is an artificial quality to the sound of the songs on Love And Theft that undermines the whole album. After all, it hardly matters how well Dylan is singing when he is singing to something that sounds like it is a demo tune for Casio keyboards!

In short, the result of listening to Love And Theft is more narcoleptic than satisfying. Yes, I became bored listening to this album, despite the quality of the lyrics. The music drowns the sensation on almost every track (the generic quality works fine to evoke the mood on "Moonlight") and it left me ready to sleep, not ready to write or pick up another Bob Dylan disc.

The result is a very weak "recommend" on this album. It's good and with lowered expectations, it's a fine and enjoyable listening experience. But with high hopes and standards for what Bob Dylan music ought to be . . . Love And Theft is liable to disappoint.

"Mississippi" is the superlative track and it's too bad it follows the truly terrible opening "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum."

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Early Album Boxed Set
No Direction Home
Biograph

6/10

For other music reviews, be sure to check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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No Direction Home: A Bob Dylan Soundtrack Becomes A Worthy Alternative "Best Of" The Early Years!

The Good: Great lyrics, Some decent performances, Good mix, Interesting sound/interpretations on some tracks
The Bad: A few truly lame tracks
The Basics: A worthwhile collection of the music of Bob Dylan represented in the form of alternate, live and demo takes of some of his best early works.


Despite what some around here would have you believe, it is not my job to support the reputation of any musical artist. It is not my job to protect the history of music or tear down the works of any artist; I get c.d.s, I listen to them and I evaluate them based on that I hear, not what their reputation was when they were released or how devoted fans would view the album. This has gotten me hate mail, like when I panned The Ghost Of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen. Devoted fans often have a problem with any critique of an artist they love when it does not net a high rating and a recommendation. I don't find that to be terribly useful myself and rather than rate based on another's hype of an album, I rate based on what I hear.

So, as with any album, when I picked up the double-disc Bob Dylan set No Direction Home, a quick review of the booklet inside revealed that it was a pseudo-soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese documentary by the same name. This is not a review of the movie, nor anything but the two-disc set. The context is its own, this is a review of this work on its own.

And it's good.

With two discs clocking in at over two hours worth of music, this eighteen track collection is culled from alternate takes, live performances and demo tracks from his earliest albums and that time period (1956 - 1966). As a result, most of the tracks appear on other albums in more finished forms and this album has little that is truly new, save for the sound of the tracks. Interestingly, most of the tracks on the first disc have a very stark, underproduced (live) type sound and the second disc contains tracks that have arrangements that have more production or instruments to them than the traditional versions. As I have been going through the Bob Dylan collection, this was the first time I had heard drums accompanying some of Dylan's songs!

Bob Dylan is inarguably a great writer and No Direction Home is a compilation that includes some of his best, most recognizable songs, like "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "Blowin' In The Wind," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Mr. Tambourine Man," and "Like a Rolling Stone." The value of this two disc set - in addition to the incredibly well-written liner notes - is that these arrangements are not available elsewhere, so the avid collector or fan of Bob Dylan who likes the traditional songs by Dylan they know can hear something new in them with this set.

So, for example, one of my favorites by Dylan, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," is presented in the Demo form, so the sound is more stark with Dylan and his guitar than in the version that appears on The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Interestingly, his vocal performance is less expressive in this recording, too. He does not convey the emotion, the passion, the yearning sense of loss that the studio version presents. The different resonance makes for an interesting listening experience and allows the listener to take something different away from the song than they might have with the traditional recorded version.

And with an double album full of tracks that are similarly reinterpreted, it makes for an interesting collection. Dylan does not alter many of his lyrics, so there's still the classic sense of poetry to each of the songs preserved. As he notes on his version of "Blowin' In The Wind," "The words are the same." Many of the tracks have introductions that range from the obvious (the engineer telling Dylan to lean closer to the microphone on one track) to the intriguing - Dylan calling an audience member a liar to open "Like A Rolling Stone" which is baffling out of context and that sense of weird spontaneity unites the discs, making the experience seem like one long, intimate concert.

And generally that works and the tracks are good. But this is far from a perfect album. "Sally Gal" is an outtake that was kept off The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and it's clear Dylan and his producer made the right choice on that track. It's a weak track that is repetitive and somewhat pointless and it lacks both the political activism and the personal resonance that makes so many of Dylan's tracks work. Similarly, "Leopard-skin Pill-box Hat" just falls flat when compared to classic tracks like "Like A Rolling Stone" and "Mr. Tambourine Man."

But the intriguing thing for those who have been listening to early Bob Dylan is to hear how some of these live versions or alternative tracks diverge from the usually solitary Dylan sound. "Maggie's Farm" sounds like it could be a tune by The Beatles, whatwith the electric guitar, drums and tambourine accompanying Dylan's voice. Sadly, it's a very repetitive song that uses rhymes that aren't quite up to the standards of many of Dylan's best songs.

That said, this is a worthwhile musical outing, and not just for musical historians or Dylan fans. Fans of Oasis are bound to like the cut of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," which sounds like it could have been a cut off Heathen Chemistry (reviewed here!). I mean, how often can one suggest that Liam Gallagher might sound like Bob Dylan?! Musically, the song is very rich with the accompaniment, but it is Dylan's voice that guides the song.

And on this set, Dylan's voice is truly an instrument to be appreciated. Unlike some of the albums and performances that suggest the parody of Dylan that pop culture is happy to present in virtually every context, Dylan's voice on these tracks is smooth, clear and articulate. On "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," for example, Dylan seems to make an additional effort to be heard as he sings with great precision over the piano and organ. "Like A Rolling Stone," one of the most parodied - and frankly, easy to parody - Dylan tracks is presented live with Dylan easily overcoming the audience and speaking and singing with perfect clarity.

The result is something of a "Best Of" the early years of Bob Dylan for those who might be tired of the versions of his early works that they have heard on the radio for years. And while some of his classics from this era like "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and "It Ain't Me Babe" are absent, so too are the duds that made some of those early apolitical albums unmemorable. Indeed, the only song from Another Side Of Bob Dylan that was included in this anthology was a live version of "Chimes Of Freedom."

In short, this gives the listener an opportunity to appreciate Bob Dylan, his lyrics and music, in a new way with a collection that is not quite what we've heard of Dylan before . . . but still with his exceptional lyrics. The best tracks are "Masters Of War" (disc 1) and "Like A Rolling Stone" (disc 2). The weakest tracks are the repetitive "Sally Gal" (disc 1) and the pointless story/song "Leopard-skin Pill-box Hat" (disc 2).

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Early Album Boxed Set
Biograph

8/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Reviews That Do Not Add Up, Vol. 2: A Bob Dylan Three-pack!

The Good: Generally great lyrics, Voice, Sound
The Bad: Music becomes repetitive by the end of the set, Later lyrics are not as inspired
The Basics: When the three albums after Dylan's debut are put together in a no-frills boxed set, the listener is provided with a declining musical experience of little real value.


When I reviewed the cinematic releases of The Lord Of The Rings films (reviewed here!) and I realized that the parts were not averaging out to the whole and I decided sometimes when we rate anthologies of works, the sum is different from the parts. I find that to be true of three of Bob Dylan's earliest recordings (his second through fourth albums) which have been anthologized in a convenient package at a special lower price than the three discs on their own!

Given that some think I ought to be reviewing based on the reputation of Bob Dylan, as opposed to what I actually hear on the discs, allow me to preface this review by saying that I review based on what I hear, not by how other people enshrine our rock and roll legends. As a result, listening to this three pack quickly becomes a more mediocre experience than I might have enjoyed from Bob Dylan.

This collection of three Bob Dylan recordings includes the albums The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin' and Another Side Of Bob Dylan, which easily establish Dylan as a singer songwriter of some talent and diction. In this collection of classic folk-rock music, the listener is treated to such classics as "Blowin' In The Wind," "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "With God On Our Side," and "It Ain't Me Babe," which are pretty much indispensable Dylan classics that illustrate his ability to write (and sing) music.

It ought to be mentioned that this is simply a bundle pack. The albums that are in this anthology are identical to the original releases, there are no bonus tracks, no special booklets, no alternative takes. What the listener gets is a collection of thirty-four tracks clocking in at approximately two hours and forty-five minutes of studio recorded tracks that help to establish Bob Dylan as a strong singer-songwriter. The vast majority of the songs in this collection are written by Bob Dylan.

The lyrical quality of these songs makes it easy to see why Bob Dylan is considered a legend. Yet, the imagery and meaning he presents is somewhat erratic as the collection goes on. Take, for example, the first song in the collection, "Blowin' In The Wind," where Dylan asks the listener, "How many roads must a man walk down /Before you call him a man? / Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail / Before she sleeps in the sand? / Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly / Before they're forever banned? / The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind." It is a poem, set to music, a bold series of questions that utilizes great imagery and expresses a clear theme and mood and makes a statement that is timeless.

As the process goes on and Dylan sheds is covers of anyone else's works or his reinterpretations of traditional songs, his writing takes a turn that is less poetic and often less powerful. So, for example, near the end of the collection comes the humorous song "Motorpsycho Nitemare," and if you're only a casual (or non) listener to the works of Bob Dylan, it's no surprise if you haven't heard of this song. This is a comedic song by Dylan that attempts to tell a story and use humor to satirize middle america. Instead of the timeless quality of "Blowin' In The Wind," he engages the redneck stereotype of rural America with a protagonist who escapes being seduced by a farmer's daughter by getting the farmer enraged with lines like "I said, 'I like Fidel Castro I think you heard me right' / And I ducked as he swung / At me with all his might / Rita mumbled something / 'Bout her mother on the hill / As his fist hit the icebox / He said he's going to kill me / If I don't get out of the door / In two seconds flat / 'You unpatriotic / Rotten doctor Commie rat'" ("Motorpsycho Nitemare"). Certainly, the situations and goals of each song are different, but the level of diction just isn't there in the latter song and that is indicative of the collection; the best works come earliest, with the writing being more poignant, tight and worthwhile in the earliest songs.

This is not to say the latter songs are badly written, but they do lack the poetic flair and sense of imagery and quality of early tracks. Dylan stops being florid and creative, sacrificing the imagery of poems for the harsh reality of straightforward storytelling (in song form). Hearing the albums, one wonders why Dylan went in that direction when he was able to evoke powerful emotions for the political and the personal with his early sense of imagery.

Thematically, though, this collection is a horrible assembly. The collection is lopsided as it begins as a pleasant mix between the personal and the political, takes a hard turn toward being almost entirely political songs - some of which might seem a little dated now - and then a hard turn to songs that are only about relationships. In other words, the balance that Dylan found on the first of these albums is entirely lost on the two that follow, making it a somewhat weird assemblage of songs. The result is that the only truly binding element between the albums is the time period (and the cardboard wrapper that binds the three discs together!).

Throughout this collection, there is a very unified sense of musical sound. Bob Dylan presents his musical poems with his voice, guitar and harmonica. That's all. It's a very stark and precise sound, underproduced and simple. The problem is, when you're two instruments strong and the same voice throughout, the limitations of sound soon become evident. There is a very repetitive sense of music over the course of the thirty-four tracks. Sure, Dylan changes it up with tempo, so there are rousing chant-like songs like "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and ballads like "Blowin' In The Wind," but musically, there are a lot of similarities in the sounds of the various songs. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" uses essentially the same chords (in nearly the same ways!) as "It Ain't Me Babe" does later in the collection. There are several blues songs (four explicitly referenced as "Blues" in the titles) over the course of the collection and they have great similarities musically. The lyrics might be completely different and imaginative, but the sound, the variety of music presented by Dylan quickly begins to seem limited. The ear craves for something more.

Which leads us to the vocal performances of Bob Dylan. Dylan's music starts articulate, clear and distinct (much the way The BeeGee's started out with more of a folk-rock song before going falsetto, as evidenced on their great album Their Greatest Hits: The Record). Indeed, at the outset of this collection, Dylan is a singing storyteller who could be pretty much any folk singer of the time. He has a great sense of diction that sung with conviction, grace and precision of articulation. The common parody of Dylan being a mumbling, incomprehensible performer, is far from the sound presented in the first half of this collection.

The problem is, as the collection progresses, the first hints of that Dylan, who Dylan becomes stereotypically, are revealed. Later tracks like "To Ramona" are drawled out in a way that seems like exactly like those who have heard OF Dylan would expect. The gradual transformation into a somehow less articulate singer, combined with the declining quality of some of the later lyrics, creates a sense of descent over the course of the anthology.

That is problematic, but if this were a single album, I would certainly say that it is frontloaded - i.e. all the best tracks are put at the beginning. It's true. The first album in this collection is the best and the other two albums are not great, lending little overall value to this complete collection. The best songs on the later discs are on far better anthologies or collections. That's, ultimately, why this three pack is only worth it for the completist fans of Bob Dylan and not those who want a collection of his best works.

The best songs in this collection might well be "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" (one of the top five Dylan songs ever!), "The Times They Are A-Changin'," and "It Ain't Me Babe," with the low points being "Oxford Town" and most everything else after "Only A Pawn In Their Game."

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Another Side Of Bob Dylan
Biograph

5/10

For other music reviews, be sure to visit my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Indistinct Dylan: Another Side Of Bob Dylan Leaves Little Impression

The Good: ? Seriously, this one pretty much strikes out even lyrically.
The Bad: No real growth from prior albums, Vocals, Generally substandard lyrics, Blah
The Basics: When Dylan goes mostly apolitical for Another Side Of Bob Dylan, he ventures into repetitive-sounding territory and a mostly bland album, which is not worth your attention.


Wow. So, after the first few days of listening to Bob Dylan, he's growing on me more and more, despite my not being grabbed by The Times They Are A-Changin', when I pop in Another Side Of Bob Dylan. And oh my, was it bad. Straight out bad. With his previous album, I was on the fence, with Another Side Of Bob Dylan, yuck. Just yuck.

To be fair to Another Side Of Bob Dylan, despite growing up hearing folk-rock music in the background almost constantly, the only song on this album I knew before listening to this album was "It Ain't Me Babe." With only eleven tracks, clocking in at fifty and a half minutes, Another Side Of Bob Dylan continues the singer-songwriter's trend of writing all of his own works, playing all his own music and presenting music that is essentially a man, his guitar and his harmonica.

So, when I popped in this album, I had no real preconceptions of what to expect (I like the cover art better than with his prior album!), but with his fourth endeavor out, Bob Dylan solidly strikes out. By the time "It Ain't Me Babe" comes up on the album, it's long past the time when I cared or would notice it. Indeed, the terrible ten tracks that precede it taint its usually pleasant sound.

Another Side Of Bob Dylan is an odd mix of what the listener has heard from Bob Dylan before and music that sounds nothing like him. And the drawl is in full effect with his vocals on this album, making it the first album that is fairly consistent with the stereotypes of Dylan's sound. I had resisted buying into the whole "Dylan can write, but not sing" mentality, but wow, it's hard not to with this album.

"I Shall Be Free No. 10" is pretty much the only song on this album that stands out as worthwhile Dylan. On that song, Dylan sings a song that is reminiscent of stanzas of "Talking World War III Blues" or "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It's a rambling song that lacks the politics of either song and is singing about being a political singer. It's clear, direct, tells a story and is sung to the same type guitar and harmonica theme that defined Dylan two albums prior.

But outside that, the album is a weird parody of what Dylan had been before this point. "All I Really Want To Do," which opens the album sounds like a Tom Leher parody of Bob Dylan with the stereotypical drawl and mumble. When Dylan sings about just wanting to be a friend, he sounds strangely ridiculous (and I'm someone who has agonized about how people do not believe one when they express a simple desire to be friends with another).

The other songs are stories, but they are generally not political, making the album come across as a weak rock album lacking the momentum and passion of a folk album. The poetics mention politics only as an afterthought, like on "Motorpsycho Nitemare," where Dylan sings about spending the night at a place he does not want to be (when Rita tries to seduce him), "Well, I couldn't leave, unless the old man chased me out / 'Cause I'd already promised him that I would milk his cows / I had to say something to strike him very weird / So I yelled 'I like Fidel Castro, and his beard." It certainly lacks the passion of "Blowin' In The Wind" or "The Times They Are A-Changin'!"

The exception to this archetype of parody of Dylan meets with only one other exception, "Black Crow Blues." "Black Crow Blues" sounds almost identical to early David Bowie (Best of Bowie is reviewed here!), which I understand is inverted as Dylan precedes Bowie, but the song sounds so atypical of Dylan it just does not work.

The other songs are storylike like most folk songs, but they are more interpersonal relationships as opposed to politics. And maybe I just didn't drink the Kool-Aide, but I can't figure why others like this album. Sure "It Ain't Me Babe" is classic, but the rest of the album . . . it's bland. It's indistinct. I mean, it is so bland that it took me listening to the album four times before I realized that "My Back Pages's" line of "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now" was somehow familiar.

This album might be fine for those who have not heard any other Bob Dylan albums. But as one who is listening their way through his collection, this album illustrates no originality, no spark, no passion and it's just . . . bland and forgettable. And "It Ain't Me Babe" appears on innumerable compilations, so there are much better places to get it!

"It Ain't Me Babe" is the only truly worthwhile track, the other songs are just filler. This is Dylan's first true, solid musical failure.

For other Bob Dylan reviews, be sure to check out my takes on:
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Biograph

1.5/10

For other music reviews, check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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The Times They Are A-Changin’, But Dylan Didn't . . .

The Good: Good lyrics, Fine singing
The Bad: Bland, unimaginative music that illustrates no growth, Short!
The Basics: Dylan's third album leaves little to no impression and the three best tracks are available elsewhere, which is where they should be found.


I've rather suddenly discovered that I like Bob Dylan. I mean, I grew up on a pretty steady diet of folk-rock music and strangely, as I have aged, I have embraced that more than rebelled against it. In fact, my rebellion against my father's music probably is liking Dylan's music and vocal presentation more than he does. I listened to Dylan's sophomore endeavor, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (reviewed here!) and genuinely enjoyed it. So, when I picked up the album that followed that, The Times They Are A-Changin’, I was, if anything, biased toward it.

The Times They Are A-Changin’ is Bob Dylan's first album that is entirely Dylan's exclusive material. All ten tracks were written and performed by Dylan and I have to assume the cover photo was chosen by him as well, because I cannot believe a record company would believe that that mug would sell records (that's not entirely a joke, but I suppose tastes change over the decades). The liner notes were written by Dylan and instead of having the traditional lyrics to the songs that are on the album, Dylan provides an epic poem about his thoughts in 1964 when the album was released. This ten-track, forty-five and a half minute album, then, represents the most pure form of musical expression from Bob Dylan to date in his (at this point) three album career. The title track is probably the best known one on the album, though as someone who grew up on folk rock, "With God On Our Side" was instantly familiar to me as well.

The problem with The Times They Are A-Changin’ is that it's nothing new. Seriously, if one were to pop in The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and this album and let them play back to back, without knowing the tracks beforehand, a listener would not be able to reasonably pick where one album began and the other ended. While I admire consistency, especially when the quality of writing is so high, The Times They Are A-Changin’ illustrates musical stagnation with Bob Dylan. The album is what the last one was; Dylan's voice fronting his lyrics, a man with his guitar and harmonica. There is nothing that stretches Dylan on this album to be more than he was on the prior one. And while this might seem like a lot to ask from someone who had put out an album each of the two prior years (in '64 he would release two albums, this being the first), but given that the albums are fairly short and have minimal production, the context makes his lack of growth even more disturbing.

As with the prior album, The Times They Are A-Changin’ is a light folk-rock album that is preoccupied with a political message and vision for the United States and world that involves peace, fairness to workers and fighting government oppression. The least political track on the album is "One Too Many Mornings," follows in the tradition of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" as a song about leaving. But it's not as big, not as grand and not as heartwrenching. Instead, it is a subtle walking away on a gray morning type song. Indeed, the song is less about the relationship and more about the act of leaving. It's sad and Dylan's harmonica part on it accompanies the quiet guitar in a way that defines loneliness and loss.

It is the exception on the album, which is otherwise filled with statements, declarations and diction. Indeed, on a simple sonic level, every other song features Dylan's voice louder and out front. Songs like "North Country Blues" begin to define what has become the parody/stereotype of Bob Dylan's sound, as he sings with a folk drawl that is drawn out and sometimes closer to a mumble. Some of the songs are not as articulately presented as in his prior endeavors and it's easy to see how he gained his reputation.

Still, his singing is not as bad as people want to make it out to be. I have more of a problem with his lack of musical imagination on this album. The guitar is quiet and strummed in similar ways on virtually all of the tracks. So "With God On Our Side" sounds almost identical to "North Country Blues" in terms of the guitar. And “The Times They Are A-Changin’” sounds just like "Only A Pawn In Their Game" which is problematic because they both have such similar political messages or righteous anger.

But the truth is, I think, anyone coming to Bob Dylan now is likely to be approaching his works because of a desire to hear the poetics of the artist. Here, Bob Dylan delivers. Singing about Medgar Evers, Dylan writes some amazing poetry with lines we never hear in music today. Dylan writes and sings, "But the poor white man is used in the hands of them all like a tool / He's taught in his school / From the start by the rules / That the laws are with him / To protect his white skin / To keep up his heat / So never thinks straight" ("Only A Pawn In Their Game") exploring that the poor whites are kept down the same way as the black citizens. Nowhere in the american political discourse today do we adequately explore the similarities between economic strata vs. ethnic relations. Indeed, the Congressional caucus on poverty disbanded . . . pretty sad to think the government doesn't want to have a specialized committee for fighting poverty these days when Bob Dylan was crying out against the oppression of all poor people forty years ago.

The album is pretty lopsided as well; following "Only A Pawn In Their Game," none of the songs resonate. They are quiet, somewhat uninspired and not as impressive as the ones frontloading the album. And there's not much to this work. There's disappointment in the world and a quiet call to action; outside the title track, which opens the album, most of the tracks simply observe the political turmoil and comment on it as opposed to calling for actual uprising. The best I can say about this album is that it does make me think that the character based on Dylan in Factory Girl (reviewed here!) was well presented.

Ultimately, many of the later tracks do not even have the lyrical power of the early ones. "Boots Of Spanish Leather" is utterly unmemorable and "When The Ship Comes In" is just simple and folksy without resonating. That's the problem with this album; it has three great songs and seven dull ones that might have better poetics than most music today, but are understated in sound and style such that it does not leave much of an impression at all.

The best track is probably "Only A Pawn In Their Game," the weak point is "Boots Of Spanish Leather," and this album is pretty impossible to recommend. The three best tracks are likely on other compilations that would be a better value to the Dylan listener.

For other Artist Of The Month selections, check out my reviews of:
Hotter Than July - Stevie Wonder
Opiate - Tool
Covers - James Taylor

5/10

For other music reviews, please check out my Music Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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