Bob Dylan, "Love and Theft"

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"Invisible Republic" makes no sense.

― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 18 July 2004 04:01 (nineteen years ago) link

snidey's in the house, albeit briefly.

Levon Helm book blurb #3. I agree that if it had his imprint, what's the diff, but you REALLY think it sounds like him?

"Greil Marcus has done it again."

― rumple., Sunday, 18 July 2004 04:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I liked Love and Theft the first couple times I heard it, but it didn't really make sense to me until I put it on as background music during a poker game and it sounded great and made me realize what he was going for -- an album that would sound good with pretzels and beer. It's a party record. And a good one too. Better than X or Y, I don't know, it's even hard to compare it to Time Out of Mind because the whole vibe is so different. But it's good, for sure, and maybe great, and either way it makes me happy.

― spittle (spittle), Sunday, 18 July 2004 04:47 (nineteen years ago) link

It is indeed better than Blood on the Tracks, one of Dylan's more overrated efforts. I start nodding out on some of the songs, and the band SUCKS.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Sunday, 18 July 2004 11:55 (nineteen years ago) link

And yes, the Greil Marcus book was indeed a piece of crap.

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Sunday, 18 July 2004 11:55 (nineteen years ago) link

blood on the tracks is one of the greatest albums of all time... if you're nodding off you may wish to stay off the crack pipe..

sorry .. i don't think we are going to reach agreement on this...

― serge, Sunday, 18 July 2004 14:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Who says we have to agree?

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Sunday, 18 July 2004 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link

freddy or not, here i come!

Decent, but "Time Out Of Mind" destroys it. And there was no need to give the best song to Sheryl Crow before reclaiming it.

― Brian the Snorf, Monday, 19 July 2004 00:41 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Like other people on this thread, I have often wondered whether L&T was directly in part a response to Marcus's IR.

It looks like nobody has a definite answer. But ... in 'High Water' he even rehashes the old Coo-Coo song!

My other quandary is: Love and Theft vs Time Out Of Mind. I have never quite been able to choose. Perhaps I do rate TOOM higher, but L&T is such a lot of fun.

― the bobfox, Saturday, 18 September 2004 09:43 (nineteen years ago) link

I like Sheryl Crow's version.

― the bobfox, Saturday, 18 September 2004 09:44 (nineteen years ago) link

love and theft is like a mediocre leon redbone album

― misery, Saturday, 18 September 2004 09:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I like Love and Theft start to finish better than TOOM, but there are a couple of songs on TOOM (ha, I never thought about that acronym -- fitting) better than anything on L&T.

I mostly like Love & Theft because it's kinda spry and punchy, not what I was expecting after TOOM. A handful of great tunes and a whole bunch of good ones.

― spittle (spittle), Saturday, 18 September 2004 21:24 (nineteen years ago) link

pinefox: i think it is, in part, a response to marcus's book. i don't think it's so much that bob wished to "answer" the book as he may have been inspired to revisit certain of his influences, and revisit his way of making music a little too. i don't say this to credit or discredit marcus's book, which i think is just ok with some big flaws. nor do i wish to give marcus total credit for the inspiration of L&T. but i think there is definitely a connection. cheers.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 18 September 2004 21:43 (nineteen years ago) link

oh and L&T is totally suffused with references (musical and lyrical) to the Harry Smith Anthology-and-offshoots stuff that marcus helped to revive interest in. obviously dylan was letting this stuff under his skin while marcus was still in short pants, but i think the sudden (?!) reappearance of it as a major piece of dylan's aesthetic might have something to do with the general revival of interest in same...of which marcus is an important figure.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Saturday, 18 September 2004 21:48 (nineteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

is it misguided of me to wish the production could be like on the late sixties records? it feels like the biggest 'flaw' here - yes, like someone said, quite like a leon redbone record.

i mean, i probably wish that about lots of records, but, you know.

― Josh (Josh), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 06:17 (nineteen years ago) link

I love the production! The punchiest mix of his career!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 10:09 (nineteen years ago) link

I guess I should hear all of TOOM before making my judgment, but based on the songs I've heard, it seems that L&T is just so much more full of life, energy, sparkle, swing, and sashay. "Not Dark Yet" is admirable, but I have a hard time getting very excited about it.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:16 (nineteen years ago) link

I agree. TOOM's production really let down those songs, some of which are windy non-entities anyway ("Can't Wait," "To Make You Feel My Love," "Til I Fell in Love With You").

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:29 (nineteen years ago) link

I love both records, two of his best. One thing I love about L&T is how Dylan's gone beyond the Harry Smith circle of folk/country/country blues artists that have always been near and dear to him. I've been surprised a couple of times to hear snatches of L&T melodies on Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong records. Like serge says above "its a great record as a tribute to AMERICAN MUSIC>.its got bluegrass, country, rock and folk and the kitchen sink in it..."

― Not Thaat Chuck, Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:42 (nineteen years ago) link

o. nate completely OTM.
TOOM always struc me as so dull and bloated, due in large part IMHO to Lanois. Love and Theft on the other hand sounded like a tight lil' combo going into to the studio and nailing an album in 5 days. Exactly what I wanted Bob to do at this stage in his career.

― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 13:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Dylan should record throwaways as good as LAT the rest of his life.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 14:10 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm amazed that several posts say the Sheryl Crow arrangement of Mississpippi is superior, Dylan's is 100X better, far more stateley and poignant.

― shookout (shookout), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 16:51 (nineteen years ago) link

I heard that Dylan hated Lanois' work on TOOM; does anyone have any quotes about this?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 16:56 (nineteen years ago) link

"I heard that Dylan hated Lanois' work on TOOM; does anyone have any quotes about this?"

I don't have "Chronicles" handy, but, yeah, he confesses he wasn't happy with Lanois "voodoo" sound. I'm inclined to blame both Lanois' production and Dylan's uneven songwriting.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 17:01 (nineteen years ago) link

I love the RIFFS on this album, probably more than anything else, and I like just about everything about it. he talks about reaching a kind of weird detente w/Lanois, there's definitely some grudging admiration there. (haha he also mentions Greil Marcus in the book, wonder if his manager wrote that?)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 18:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I just don't get the complains that LAT rates a "zzz." Dylan's phrasing and the mileage he still gets out of that corroded voice would be pleasure enough even if that wondrous backing band wasn't cracking out great riffs.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:10 (nineteen years ago) link

is it misguided of me to wish the production could be like on the late sixties records?

Not "misguided," but you might as well wish for a pony while you're at it. I think Dylan's been trying, sporadically at least, to recapture that sound for the last 30-odd years.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:52 (nineteen years ago) link

I suspect that "thin, wild, hard mercury sound" (sic) is just one of the chimeras he's been pursuing for the last 30 years.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 3 May 2005 19:58 (nineteen years ago) link

i do want a pony also while i'm at it if it's not too much to ask

― Josh (Josh), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 05:22 (nineteen years ago) link

I got a new pony

― shookout (shookout), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Maybe I should listen to this again. When it came out I thought meh. Much preferred TOOM although that was gloomy enough that I need to be in a particular frame of mind to appreciate it. L&T, from memory, had too many songs with an orthodox 3 chord blues structure, something I just find impossible to enjoy these days, particularly in faster tempos. I tend to like Lanois productions for Dylan: "Oh Mercy" may be my favourite Dylan album nowadays, certainly my pick as his most critically underrated. But I'm only a moderate Dylan fan and don't generally listen very carefully to the lyrics, so I'm pretty unrepresentative.

― frankiemachine, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:21 (nineteen years ago) link

twelve years pass...

Just got ambushed by "Honest With Me" on Exponential Radio (this NPR audio channel on TV)--serious banger.

― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 23 September 2017 07:45 (six years ago) link

four years pass...

calls down to room service,
says, “send up a room”

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 9 August 2022 11:52 (one year ago) link

knockin’ on the door, i say, “who is it and where are you from?”
man says, “freddy!” i say, “freddy who?” he says, “freddy or not here i come”

― corrs unplugged, Tuesday, 9 August 2022 12:08 (one year ago) link

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