Topic: Bob Dylan

[Walter Sobchak]

truely a must have album for any music fan

just googled it apparently his backing band was actually 'The Band' playing under the name 'the Hawks' and one of the members of the band quit halfway through the tour coz he was fed up being booed by audiences

[kesey]

just googled it apparently his backing band was actually 'The Band' playing under the name 'the Hawks' and one of the members of the band quit halfway through the tour coz he was fed up being booed by audiences

I have The Basement Tapes and The Last Waltz video.


Class.

[Rhaegar21]

I've gotten into Dylan over the last year or so. Now I'm looking to add to my collection bit by bit. What an artist.

[gritsvanilla]

Bob Dylan is simply the single biggest artistic influence on my life, at the tender age of 9 i heard "Positively 4th Street" and decided i wanted to be a songwriter, 25 years on he is still an inspiration to me both in my artistic goals and my general life.

[Phil M]

Bob Dylan is simply the single biggest artistic influence on my life, at the tender age of 9 i heard "Positively 4th Street" and decided i wanted to be a songwriter, 25 years on he is still an inspiration to me both in my artistic goals and my general life.

So I'm not alone in my love for that track

[gritsvanilla]

So I'm not alone in my love for that track

No Phil still probably my all time fave Dylan song, hearing it at 9 opened up the floodgates, i couldn't believe the sheer brutality of the words, in hindsight it seemed to suggest to me that lyrically anything (regardless of subject matter) was possible even in the confines of a 3 minute pop song.

[Phil M]

No Phil still probably my all time fave Dylan song, hearing it at 9 opened up the floodgates, i couldn't believe the sheer brutality of the words, in hindsight it seemed to suggest to me that lyrically anything (regardless of subject matter) was possible even in the confines of a 3 minute pop song.

Think I was listening to something like Bros aged 9!
Hearing and recognising a work of Bob Dylan as quality that young is pretty impressive.

[gritsvanilla]

I have The Basement Tapes and The Last Waltz video.


Class.

Ah the oft overlooked Basement Tapes, one of my favourite Dylan albums, have you read "Invisible Republic" by Greil Marcus, Kesey? The Band themselves are essentially a continuation of the ideas and philosophies that they and Dylan explored during those sessions. It makes sense that after the speed induced surrealism of 65/66 that Dylan would retreat back to the country and back to his spiritual home of the blues, folk and country he grew up with. 

[gritsvanilla]

Think I was listening to something like Bros aged 9!
Hearing and recognising a work of Bob Dylan as quality that young is pretty impressive.

Blame me arl fella, huge Dylan fan and failed writer himself, had me writing short stories from about the age of 4 or 5 (as Lou Reed so aptly put it "The vice of the father runs on through the son") but then i discovered songwriting which took less time (i'm a lazy sod) and could express how i felt more succinctly than any short story could.

Thankfully one by product of having an arty father was the lack of having to endure the likes of Bros although he was less than enamoured of my love of punk which as you can imagine pleased me no end.

[Bootle]

Bloody 'ell another Bob best of.

I was about 17 and decided I was going to get the "10 greatest albums ever" after reading one of those lists in the paper. After buying highway 61 in soundtrek in the strand I listened and instantly became a fan of Dylan, not bothering with the rest of the top ten from the list.

Saw him a few times, its fair to say he has been hit and miss live. The best was at the Summer Pops a few years ago, I got a bootleg of it off the old usenet group but it doesnt do it justice.

He has so so many good songs. I couldnt name a favourite It'd be one of twenty-odd.

Anyone read Chronicles? I picked it up recently but havent started it yet.

[Phil M]

I was about 17 and decided I was going to get the "10 greatest albums ever" after reading one of those lists in the paper. After buying highway 61 in soundtrek in the strand I listened and instantly became a fan of Dylan, not bothering with the rest of the top ten from the list.

I had that record (61) in my hand today and was thinking of buying it.
Is that one of his earliest? I think there was about 10 tracks on it, so
one of Bob's best?

[gritsvanilla]

I had that record (61) in my hand today and was thinking of buying it.
Is that one of his earliest? I think there was about 10 tracks on it, so
one of Bob's best?

Phil just buy it, it's one of Bob's best, barely a bad track on it, whilst there get a copy of his previous album too "Bringing It All Back Home" both of them are near flawless imho.

[Phil M]

Phil just buy it, it's one of Bob's best, barely a bad track on it, whilst there get a copy of his previous album too "Bringing It All Back Home" both of them are near flawless imho.

Nice one grits will do. Ta.

[Bootle]

I had that record (61) in my hand today and was thinking of buying it.
Is that one of his earliest? I think there was about 10 tracks on it, so
one of Bob's best?

Fairly early, mid-60s. He's playing electric on it so not one of folky albums.

The title track is the most famous one off the album but it was actually tombstone blues and from a buick 6 that got me interested in Dylan. In my opinion it is a good intro album to him because it has a mixture of "anthem" epics songs and bluesy lesser known ones.

It certainly is one of his best though I'd go for bringing it all back home if I had to make a choice. The two were recorded very closely together I think and could almost be a double album.   

[Bootle]

Heres a link to a site I heard about the other day:

http://www.radio3net.ro/1001/?cx=list_piese2&id_album=7#p_player5939

Its tee'd up for highway 61 but have a look round the rest of it too. Its Romanian and has loads of albums you can listen to. If you can work out how to download the tracks then tell us.

[Phil M]

Heres a link to a site I heard about the other day:

http://www.radio3net.ro/1001/?cx=list_piese2&id_album=7#p_player5939

Its tee'd up for highway 61 but have a look round the rest of it too. Its Romanian and has loads of albums you can listen to. If you can work out how to download the tracks then tell us.

Dnno where you found that mate but it's excellent, listening to Highway 61 now,
thanks a lot.

[Bootle]

Dnno where you found that mate but it's excellent, listening to Highway 61 now,
thanks a lot.

Good isnt it, Im going through Jerry Lee lewis live at the star club hamburg at the mo'.

[Bootle]

I don't really listen to Tangled up in Blue so much anymore, perhaps because I'm not tangled up in blue right now. Tangled up in Blue itself, and Idiot Wind, are great songs I don't really listen to that much anymore. Blonde on Blonde, on the other hand, gave us Visions of Johanna, I Want You and Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.

"Someones got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press" must be the best opening line for a song. Warren Zevon may have disagreed, but he'd come second, just.

[Phil M]

Good isnt it, Im going through Jerry Lee lewis live at the star club hamburg at the mo'.

It's better than good, from Johnny Cash to Kanye West, I notice not all the albums featured
have the songs linked but most to do, could spend a day on there.
Cheers.

[bellinter]

Love him. Last 3 albums have been simply superb, just when it was looking like he was past it. And when you look at his productivity in the early years, you cant hep but be amazed. In just over a year, he released Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde. Unbelievable. The Royal Albert Hall record mentioned already has to be up there with the best / most influential liver recordings ever made, its just fantastic. My favourite now has to be Highway 61 Revisited, though that interchanges regularly with Desire or Time Out Of Mind. The best song, for me, is Desolation Row. 11 odd minutes of head spinning brilliance.

They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy
'It takes one to know one,' she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
'You Belong to Me I Believe'
And someone says, 'You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave'
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row

Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortunetelling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row

Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row

Dr Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
'Have Mercy on His Soul'
They all play on penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row

Across the street they've nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
A perfect image of a priest
They're spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
'Get Outa Here If You Don't Know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row'

Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And the the kerosene
Is brought down from the castle
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody's shouting
'Which Side Are You On?'
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fisherman hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Now unless you mail them
From Desolation Row

[bellinter]

Desolation Row is an absolute corker. Some people are given the gift of words. He had words flowing out of him that man. I read somewhere that he wrote a lot of these classic, iconic songs in the space of about 10 minutes, and then forgot what he wrote. Dylan was given an amazing gift. The words just flowed out of him.

The words in that song get me every time. Every single line, i'm going "well, just how the FUCK did he come up with that?"

[zimmie'5555]

Anyone looking to buy this new greatest hits thingy btw, personally I think you're better off getting hold of Highway 61, Bringing it All Back Home, Blonde on Blonde and Blood on the Tracks, which you could probably get hold of all four for at least half the price. Once you've finished with them, buy Live 66 and Biograph (for a more general overview of his career) and you're on your way

[Rhaegar21]

Anyone got The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3. Just had a look at is on Amazon.com and it looks awesome. All acoustic?

[Victor]

I got into him when a girl I was going out with loaned me "Blood On The Tracks" in the 70s .... loved it straight away ... to me his much earlier stuff .. the acoustic protesty sort of stuff ... has always sounded like it was before my time and yet you can still appreciate how good it is ... I always "got" the late sixties electric stuff tho .. to me it had a raw, almost punk attitude about it .. which was great ... the way he really sneered when he sang "How Does it Feeeeeel ?" ..or the "Do You Mister Jones" bits in "Ballad of a Thin Man"

a lot of people I know seem to feel he went awry after Blood on the Tracks but I've always loved "Desire" ... partly because it was the first album I bought by him which was a new release but also because it's feckin brilliant ...

I also agree that his latest albums are as relevant as he's ever been (not bad seeing as he's been playing through 5 decades ) .... I love the way he's reinvented himself as some sort of Wizened old blues man

[hooded claw]

Best thing he did was join the Wilburys, IMO. That shored up a diminishing reputation and those songs are the best he's ever done. Probably his most enduring legacy.

[gritsvanilla]

I got into him when a girl I was going out with loaned me "Blood On The Tracks" in the 70s .... loved it straight away ... to me his much earlier stuff .. the acoustic protesty sort of stuff ... has always sounded like it was before my time and yet you can still appreciate how good it is ... I always "got" the late sixties electric stuff tho .. to me it had a raw, almost punk attitude about it .. which was great ... the way he really sneered when he sang "How Does it Feeeeeel ?" ..or the "Do You Mister Jones" bits in "Ballad of a Thin Man"

a lot of people I know seem to feel he went awry after Blood on the Tracks but I've always loved "Desire" ... partly because it was the first album I bought by him which was a new release but also because it's feckin brilliant ...

I also agree that his latest albums are as relevant as he's ever been (not bad seeing as he's been playing through 5 decades ) .... I love the way he's reinvented himself as some sort of Wizened old blues man

I don't get why some give up on Bob post Blood On The Tracks either, Desire is a fantastic album and Street Legal is severely underrated, the early to mid 80s were admittedly a dissapointment but his work with The Travelling Wilburys seemed to partly reinvigorate him and Oh Mercy was as good as anything he'd ever done, since Time Out Of Mind he seems to be on something of a roll.

[Victor]

The problem with sarcasm is you can't be sure when others are doing it, but I do hope you're taking the piss with that.

I took one look and thought "Fishing"   ...the Wilburys stuff is good tho

[hooded claw]

The problem with sarcasm is you can't be sure when others are doing it, but I do hope you're taking the piss with that.

Alright gents 

Victor knows me too well 

Utter, eternal, immortal legend, is Dylan. Towering presence.  But yes, I am partial to the occasional Wilbury.

[Victor]

Alright gents 

Victor knows me too well 

Utter, eternal, immortal legend, is Dylan. Towering presence.  But yes, I am partial to the occasional Wilbury.

and the occasional spot of fishing too by the look of it

[Jin]

I always "got" the late sixties electric stuff tho .. to me it had a raw, almost punk attitude about it .. which was great ... the way he really sneered when he sang "How Does it Feeeeeel ?" ..or the "Do You Mister Jones" bits in "Ballad of a Thin Man"
 

I totally get what you're saying. Just listen to Bob Dylan's 115th Dream and Subterranean Homesick Blues, more punk than most of what happened 12 years after those songs were released...

[FinnishRed]

'Highway 61 Rivisited', 'Blonde On Blonde' those are my two favourite records from the man. Truly one of the greatest songwriters ever, so many classics he has written, itīs simply astonishing.

In the taxi with Bob and John:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkfAl4PHG8E&mode=related&search=

[berrno3333]

Dylan is possibly the greatest songwriter of all time.

[Bootle]

It's better than good, from Johnny Cash to Kanye West, I notice not all the albums featured
have the songs linked but most to do, could spend a day on there.
Cheers.

Fook me, I dont know if you saw this the other night but I just noticed theres a link at the top of that page "more music here". Go to that and theres hundreds more bands. If you go to any particular artist and it has that little red circle next to an album it means you can listen to it. Youtube vids an all.

[bellinter]

Anyone got The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3. Just had a look at is on Amazon.com and it looks awesome. All acoustic?

worth the purchase for Blind Willie McTell alone. A smashing song, somehow left off the Infidels album.

Some good early takes of songs such a like a rolling stone, subterrannean homesick blues and idiot wind are excellent to hear also

[Phil M]

Fook me, I dont know if you saw this the other night but I just noticed theres a link at the top of that page "more music here". Go to that and theres hundreds more bands. If you go to any particular artist and it has that little red circle next to an album it means you can listen to it. Youtube vids an all.

Yeah saw it mate, it's a quality site.

[Chris C]

truely a must have album for any music fan

just googled it apparently his backing band was actually 'The Band' playing under the name 'the Hawks' and one of the members of the band quit halfway through the tour coz he was fed up being booed by audiences

The Hawks as they were also played on The Barbarian's autobiagrapgical song Moulty - about their drummer who lost his hand and how music helped him find love again.

always makes me laugh when i hear it cos as tales of love goes it's kind of the anti-dylan:

 remember the days when
Things were real bad for me
It was right after my accident
When I lost my hand

It seemed like I was all alone
With nobody to help me
You know, I almost gave up
All my hopes and dreams

But then, then, then something
Inside me kept telling me
Way down inside of me
Over and over again
To keep going on, yeah, on

Moulty

Don't turn away
(You're gonna make it, baby)
Don't turn away
(Ah, try to make it, baby)
Don't turn away

Things are better for me now
Cause I found that I love music
So I learned to play the drums
And got myself a band and now
We're starting to make it

And if you can make it
At something you love
Wow, you got it all

So I'm saying this to all of you
All of you who think you'll never make it
All of you guys and girls
Cause you think you're so bad off

Or maybe you think you're
A little different or strange
So listen to me now
Cause I've lived through it all

Moulty

Don't turn away
(You gotta keep on trying)
Don't turn away
(Well, don't you give up, baby)
Don't turn away

Now there's just one thing that I need
Not sympathy and I don't want no pity
But a girl, a real girl
One that really loves me

And then I'll be the complete man
So I'm gonna tell you right now, listen

Don't turn away (you gotta, baby)
Don't turn away (you gotta keep on trying)
Don't turn away, don't turn away

[Rhaegar21]

Just ordered Bringng it all, Highway 61, and Blonde on Blonde for a steal here in S Africa.

[FinnishRed]

Just ordered Bringng it all, Highway 61, and Blonde on Blonde for a steal here in S Africa.

You wont be disappointed, top albums those.

[IloveGuinness17]

I am actually going to see Bobby D. and Elvis Costello together at my University on 20 october. I can't wait. Not really into Costello by the way. I got a good seat too. $65. Which is alot considering I am a broke university student. We actually have to pay for our education

[Phil M]

'Lay lady lay' is a song I can listen to again and again, the album version is just awesome.

I also think it's one of his best moments as a vocalist.
Saying that, he sounds so much deeper and even different on that song than others,
does anyone else think he sounds almost like a different person on that track?