Tag: Bob Dylan

Posted in Album Reviews

Bob Dylan – Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

Posted on by Michael

The seventies brought on a first for Bob Dylan – he recorded a soundtrack album for a film.  In 1973 he released the OST for Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Assembling an incredible band including Roger McGuinn (guitar), Jim Keltner (drums), Booker T Jones (bass), and the return of Bruce Langhorne on acoustic guitar. Being a soundtrack, several of the tracks are acoustic guitar instrumentals including the laid back “River Theme”, a good old romp of “Turkey Chase”, and the bongo lead “Cantina Theme (Workin’ For The Law)”.

The most popular track here is the classic “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.  The spiritual song takes some themes from Dylan’s sixties period and updates the sound for the seventies. “Mama, put my guns in the ground/I can’t shoot them anymore”. The powerful song hit the top ten in several countries and has been covered several times including by Guns N’ Roses.  On the album, the song is followed by “Final Theme” that sounds like an extended coda. While spreading his wings further to try new things, this soundtrack has top notch playing by expert musicians on simple but pleasant songs.

6.5/10

Posted in Listed

Favourite Distant (Re)Discoveries of 2023

Posted on by Michael

5. Bob Dylan – Self Portrait (Album): Everything I had ever heard about Bob Dylan’s 1970 album, Self Portrait was how terrible it was.  It was with these ears I went to listen/review for the first time and was pleasantly surprised by the album. Not a lost classic by any means but songs like first track, “All the Tired Horses” and his unique cover of “The Boxer” keeps things interesting.  While his 60s albums need to be front and centre, this one can happily play in the background.

4. Madonna – Oh Father (Song): A song that I’ve liked since the early 90s, “Oh Father” is an odd track in Madonna’s career. Appearing on the Like a Prayer album, it is one of the worst performing singles of her career.  Regardless, the dramatic ballad is a show stopper of emotion that climaxes with the powerful line –  “Maybe someday/When I look back, I’ll be able to say/You didn’t mean to be cruel/Somebody hurt you too”.

3.  Liam Gallagher – Knebworth 22 (Album): It was a significant triumph for Liam Gallagher to headline the historic Knebworth Park over two nights in 2022. The album souvenir released a year later left out a few tracks but hit all the highlights.  The album plays like a greatest hits of Liam’s career with a few surprises like the inclusion of Oasis album track, “Roll It Over”.

2.  Ghost – Mary On A Cross (Song): This track from at 2019 was discovered through a youtube search after listening to the gang at Sea of Tranquility argue about the merits of Ghost. I’m sure it’s a track that metalheads can’t stand but I played this endlessly for months.  The catchy melody and clever lyrics turn the track into an anthem, one that gets amped up by the crowd in the youtube clip.

1. The Damned – Life Goes On (Song):  The end of 2022 was not the best time of my life but coming across this track by The Damned helped through many cold nights in early 2023. The song from 1982 tells the listener that “life’s a con” and the only answer is “to go on and on and on”.  Through the doom and gloom, the line “but always remember/this is the happiest day of your life” is a beacon of light.

Posted in Album Reviews

Bob Dylan – New Morning (1970)

Posted on by Michael

Released just four months after the critical mauling that Self Portrait received, Bob Dylan’s New Morning arrived in October 1970. One of the highlights of the album is the piano and organ work of Al Kooper. “If Not For You”, the first track and only single released from the album is a country sounding, upbeat track. “Went to See the Gypsy” has a nice piano/organ groove with terrific guitar licks while “Sign in the Window” is another solid piano led track where Dylan sings of a more straightforward life – “build me a cabin in Utah/Marry me a wife, catch rainbow trout”.

In June 1970, Dylan received an honourary degree from Princeton University which is recalled with little joy in the lyrics of “Day of the Locusts”.  “The benches were stained with tears and perspiration” before “the locusts sang such a sweet melody”. “The Man in Me” would later feature in the movie The Big Lubowski.  “Winterlude” has an old timely feel with some nice sounding Spanish guitar picking, less winningly “If Dogs Run Free” is a jazz take featuring scat singing from Maretha Stewart, it is absolutely atrocious.  

At the time, New Morning was seen as a return to form by the critics. Really, it is nowhere near the heights of his 60s work and with no truly great songs, it works as a cool singer songwriter album from the burgeoning new 70s decade. “If Not For You” is the only notable song from this album, later covered by both George Harrison and Olivia Newton for her first album. The rest is for those wanting a deeper dive.

7.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Bob Dylan – Self Portrait (1970)

Posted on by Michael

The first Bob Dylan album of the 1970s continues his leftfield turn that he took with both John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline.  Self Portrait is made up of four sides of six songs per side, mostly two-three minute songs vs the epics he released through the 1960s. A mixture of new material, live tracks, and covers – it is an eclectic mix of songs that has confused and confounded fans and critics alike for over 50 years.

One of the most striking and memorable songs is the lead track, “All The Tired Horses”.  Using female singers, the song creates a hypnotic groove as they sing the same lines over and over again – “All the tired horses in the sun/How am I supposed to get any riding done?”. The only single released from the album is “Wigwam” that sees Dylan sing along “La dah dah dah” to a horn section that rises and falls. The live version of “Minstrel Boy” on the other hand is a chore to get through.  Other live versions include a laidback take on his own classic, “Like a Rolling Stone”.

“Days of 49” is one of the most Dylanesque tracks here, the midtempo song takes in storytelling over six verses. Dylan tackles a Gordon Lightfoot song in “Early Mornin’ Rain” then on side two, a country sounding version of a song made popular by The Everly Brothers’ “Let It Be Me”.  The sentimental “Blue Moon” makes an appearance but the most memorable cover is his version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer”.  Sung as a duet with himself in two different singing styles, it is difficult to make out if it’s a tip of the hat to his contemporaries or a parody of one of their most beloved songs.

For listeners coming to Self Portrait for the first time, expectations will be low as the album has been maligned for years.  While certainly not a lost classic, there are several songs that are worthy of repeated listens.  It would have been hard at the time to make sense of what Dylan later described as a joke album and saying that the album is a pleasant background listen when it’s made by the voice of a generation is faint praise.  But all these years later, Self Portrait does indeed make for a pleasant listen.

6.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline (1969)

Posted on by Michael

Following up John Wesley Harding, Bob Dylan continues to move in a country direction with Nashville Skyline. This is shown right away on the remake of his own song, “Girl From The North Country” with the man in black himself, Johnny Cash. The track shows Dylan’s country voice that he will use throughout the album. “One More Night” may be the most straight up country sounding song on the album, a lonesome and spiritual song taking place under the moon and stars.

50’s rockers influence the sound on “Peggy Day” and “To Be Alone With You” where Dylan sings, “they say the nighttime is the right time/to be with the one you love”. There are two standouts on Nashville Skyline, that don’t include Johnny Cash, the first is “I Threw It All Away”. A beautiful, melancholy melody carries the song, with organ tones just below the surface. Dylan sings “I must have been mad/I never knew what I had/Until I threw it all away”. 

The second classic is one of his most popular, “Lay Lady Lay”. The almost mournful tune, sees Dylan use the lower register of his voice, creating a distinctly new sound. Drummer Kenny Buttrey uses both bongos and a cowbell for a unique drum pattern on the verses.  The track has been covered numerous times and has a lot in common with the alt country sound of the 90s, including R.E.M’s Out of Time album. The song would be his last top ten hit.

Nashville Skyline is a unique album (thus far) in Bob Dylan’s catalogue.  It sounds like he’s strumming out songs on a porch with producer Bob Johnston, guitarist Charlie McCoy, and Charlie Daniels on bass among others.  Here he sounds free from being the voice of his generation which produces a lighter batch of songs, ones that sound effortless like closing track “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You”. At just 27 minutes, Nashville Skyline breezes along the country roads.

9/10