Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 - 4
Pledging My Time - 4
Visions Of Johanna - 4
One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later) - 3
I Want You - 4
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again - 4
Leopard-Skin Pill-box Hat - 3
Just Like A Woman - 3
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine) - 4
Temporary Like Achilles - 3
Absolutely Sweet Marie - 3
4th Time Around - 4
Obviously 5 Believers - 3
Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands - 4
Total - 50 stars / 14 tracks = 3.57 stars
As Nick Jonas recently taught us, people get pissed when you mess with Bob Dylan (click here if you missed it). Maybe it's because it was coming from a Jonas Brother, but there's been a decent-sized backlash against Nick for insinuating that Bob Dylan isn't a great singer. Even before listening to this album (my first by the artist), I was fairly aware of this fact. I have grown up in a generation that generally understands, without citation, that the aura of Bob Dylan is one of respect for his song-writing, not his singing chops. But that's neither here nor there (well maybe a little "here"), and I've got an album to talk about.
"Rainy Day Women #12 And 35" and "Pledging My Time" are solid tracks, with the harmonica solos acting as deal-breaking icing. Some other songs that didn't grab me right away, like "Visions Of Johanna" or "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again," keep going long enough to create an absorbing experience, where lack of hook is made up for in contemptless familiarity. On the other side of things is "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat," whose 4:00 felt a lot longer.
As mentioned before, Dylan's vocals aren't phenomenal, but they are perfectly suited for his music. I've heard it said that Dylan's song are better when sung by other people, but I don't see it. Part of what makes these songs so good is the nearly tangible connection between the singer and the words. Lyrically, the album is attractive, as well as challenging. A fair amount of the time, when I listen to music, I have to remind myself to actually listen to the lyrics. With Dylan, I often try to, get lost, and then seriously consider putting all of that literary criticism I learned at University to good use. More than most artists, I sincerely want to know what's going on with Dylan's words. There always seems to be something more to understand, and I blindly believe that it would be worth it. It's not always the case, and sometimes it seems like he's just trying to rhyme as many words as possible without sounding too constrained, but I think we can forgive him showing off a bit.
This album cover totally looks like Kristen Westwood.
ReplyDeleteMost of Dylan's songs are a mess of nonsensical images and crap. People get caught up in the aura of Dylan and love to pretend that they can associate with this disassociated wanna be genius. It is more socially acceptable to agree that Dylan is a genius than to profess his mediocre song writing and substandard vocals as crap! Ask any ten people of any generation to name a Dylan album title or five of his song titles. I would bank on it that most can't. I cannot remember at any point in time Dylan receiving large amounts of air play, accolades at a gathering or the first artist of choice to be thrown in to the cars cd player. Why? He is forgettable. There are still a few people left from the sixties and early seventies that still think of Dylan as a magical, mystical troubadour. A lot of artists from this age over achieved as the audiences they drew were generally stoned. Dylan: One of the most overrated singer (if you can call it that) songwriters in history.
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