Ditto. I haven't played The Sixties Trilogy in years. I said on another Dylan thread that his "minor" albums like New Morning, Empire Burlesque get more play...and I've worn out Love & Theft.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 April 2013 00:34 (eleven years ago) link
Guess listening to BOTT or Desire instead of The Big Three is roughly equivalent to listening to The Rutles instead of The Beatles which I am also wont to do.
― What About The Half That's Never Been POLLed (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 19 April 2013 00:42 (eleven years ago) link
Voted for Buckets of Rain b/c I'm a sap.
― slagterm, Friday, 19 April 2013 00:44 (eleven years ago) link
Never understood the plot line of "Isis. " Had some vague idea it was some kind of HP Lovecraft stuff.
― What About The Half That's Never Been POLLed (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 19 April 2013 00:45 (eleven years ago) link
On the proper album, my vote goes to "Meet Me in the Morning" -- if we include the NY Sessions, then it's "Idiot Wind".
Some discussion above the quality of his vocal performance -- his best single delivery must be the Bootlegs version of "Moonshiner" (his best harmonica playing, as well).
― bodacious ignoramus, Friday, 19 April 2013 01:09 (eleven years ago) link
listened to most of this today, have two songs left to go. it would be really hard not to vote for "Idiot Wind."
― Bee OK, Saturday, 20 April 2013 02:01 (eleven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Monday, 22 April 2013 00:01 (eleven years ago) link
xp I agree that Dylan's "classics," especially the 60s ones, are less "listenable" than some of his "minor" albums. I want to put in a word for "Planet Waves," which gets a lot of spins when I am sitting in my room reading.
― authentically inauthentic (Pat Finn), Monday, 22 April 2013 01:40 (eleven years ago) link
is Dylan one of the few canonical rock dudes folks still moralize over a bit? it's interesting, you see it here with people talking about "Idiot Wind" being less good bc he comes off abusive, the ongoing hand-wringing over "Joey" of course, etc. I'm not sure what it is, but you don't really see people apply that to old canonized rock types (exception: "Run for Your Life" with the Beatles, I guess). there's a greater point here about people maybe identifying with Dylan's narrators or something but I'm tired and don't know where to make it
― ta-nehisi goatse (fadanuf4erybody), Monday, 22 April 2013 01:50 (eleven years ago) link
I've never thought of Dylan as a person so
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 April 2013 01:55 (eleven years ago) link
hm, i am almost inclined to say the opposite is true. dylan's persona has always been acerbic -- not the type to suffer fools gladly -- and part of the thrill of songs like "like a rolling stone" is the gratuitousness of its cruelty, the way he just eviscerates the addressee past the point of reasonableness... i mean, he is kicking this girl when she is down. the redemptive factor, i think, is that dylan's anger is often self-directed, or like, there are times when it is obvious his narrator is projecting. only naive bob-o-philes would believe that his anger is always righteous though.
on a related note, i never understood wtf is going on with "run for your life" that song always freaked me the fuck out and i'm a fan of "under my thumb", which i think is as much a song about the narrator's insecurity as it is a "sexist" work.
― Pat Finn, Monday, 22 April 2013 01:55 (eleven years ago) link
folx around here know I dismiss biography so when "Joan Baez" or "black eyeliner" come up I just listen to "Joey" or "Black Diamond Bay" and think "Christ on a crutch these things are long and stupid."
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 April 2013 01:56 (eleven years ago) link
Love this whole abum but "Simple Twist of Fate" is the winner.
― Tim F, Monday, 22 April 2013 02:08 (eleven years ago) link
because you love the Steve Martin movie.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:08 (eleven years ago) link
xp yeah I agree with that, just think "Joey" is a long-winded and sorta crappy song (and I love Desire otherwise), but you know the dominant narrative is "how dare Dylan romanticize a gangster"
― ta-nehisi goatse (fadanuf4erybody), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:14 (eleven years ago) link
lester bangs devoted most of his review to complaining about that, which i always thought was a little funny since there must be a thousand songs that sing the praises of jesse james or bonnie and clyde or whoever. the real problem with the song is that it goes on forever.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:26 (eleven years ago) link
his criticism of "Mozambique" (a single!) is on the nose though
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:27 (eleven years ago) link
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 April 2013 2:08 AM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Have no idea what this is so not sure whether to answer yes or no.
― Tim F, Monday, 22 April 2013 02:36 (eleven years ago) link
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413j0ZoImoL._SX500_.jpg
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:37 (eleven years ago) link
lol Mozambique was a single?! god, zimmy stayed trolling even back then.
looks like I'm gonna have to find Blood on the Tapes, though, getting back to the actual album. I kept holding out that they were gonna release a bootleg series disc of it and it never happened.
― ta-nehisi goatse (fadanuf4erybody), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:45 (eleven years ago) link
"If You See Her, Say Hello"
This song just wounds me.
― earlnash, Monday, 22 April 2013 02:47 (eleven years ago) link
"Mozambique" started as a game, to see how many rhymes for "-ique" Dylan and Levy could find.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 22 April 2013 02:48 (eleven years ago) link
I really like the Rolling Thunder Revue version of Shelter From The Storm with the yelling and slide guitar etc., and the full-band, more country arrangement from the 90s that I think was posted here. I didn't like the album much, but that has to do with what a contrarian Dylan fan I am.
The version on Hard Rain is like Dylan backed by Carlos Alomar. I absolutely love it.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 22 April 2013 04:18 (eleven years ago) link
we always did feel the same, we just saw it from a different point of view
― reggie (qualmsley), Monday, 22 April 2013 04:20 (eleven years ago) link
tangled up in blue was of enormous importance to me in high school. i almost feel like i betrayed my 15 y/o self by voting for if u see her... which was of enormous importance to me this year after i broke up with my gf
― Pat Finn, Monday, 22 April 2013 04:23 (eleven years ago) link
Pete Hamill's original liner notes, removed at some point:http://www.bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-b28_Hamilltext.htmlHaven't read them--supposedly wildly pretentious.
http://www.bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-b28_Hamilltext.html
Haven't read them--supposedly wildly pretentious.
In the end, the plague touched us all. It was not confined to the Oran of Camus.
<stops reading>
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 22 April 2013 04:26 (eleven years ago) link
but really, this is one of those albums that is "lived with" more than "listened to"... that has continual relevance throughout one's life. it is like the Ulysses of albums; you can never be finished with it.
i love bob dylan.
― Pat Finn, Monday, 22 April 2013 04:27 (eleven years ago) link
they gave Pete Hamill a Grammy for those liner notes, in case anybody wants to make the case that the Grammys were ever not ridiculous
― not feeling those lighters (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 22 April 2013 13:37 (eleven years ago) link
they give Grammys for liner notes? does that still happen?
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 22 April 2013 15:53 (eleven years ago) link
it does.....though lately all that seems to win is big reissue boxes.
Wanted to do a poll but can't find enough good linkable ones......
― Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Monday, 22 April 2013 18:43 (eleven years ago) link
Did the notes for that one Van Morrison album written by Janet Planet win anything?
― What About The Half That's Never Been POLLed (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 22 April 2013 18:46 (eleven years ago) link
ok, worst Literary Liner Notes of the Rock Album Era might work
Nominees:
Blood on the TracksAjaVelvet Underground 1969 Live
anybody got any faves?
― Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Monday, 22 April 2013 18:54 (eleven years ago) link
xp--I believe that a woman has NEVER WON the Grammy for "Notes!"
― Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Monday, 22 April 2013 18:56 (eleven years ago) link
i guess at this point in my life' i'll never get to love Dylan, no matter how many chances i'll give his music.
― nostormo, Monday, 22 April 2013 19:07 (eleven years ago) link
he'll survive
― balls, Monday, 22 April 2013 19:13 (eleven years ago) link
if anyone wants those NY sessions http://hungryears.tumblr.com/post/31923051004/bob-dylan-the-new-york-sessions-blood-on-the-tracks
― tylerw, Monday, 22 April 2013 19:14 (eleven years ago) link
Early on, he warned us, he gave many of us voice, he told us about the hard rain that was going to fall, and how it would carry plague. In the teargas in 1968 Chicago, they hurled Dylan at the walls of the great hotels, where the infected drew the blinds, and their butlers ordered up the bayonets. Most of them are gone now. Dylan remains.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:01 (eleven years ago) link
" Most of them are gone now. Dylan remains abides "
― Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Monday, 22 April 2013 20:10 (eleven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 00:01 (eleven years ago) link
surprised lily, rosemary, and the jack of hearts got votes because it is terrible and does not fit in with the other songs on this album at all
― Pat Finn, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 00:32 (eleven years ago) link
surprised there wasn't more love for "if you seer her"
― inste grammophon (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:18 (eleven years ago) link
me too, that's the one i voted for. one of the best songs of the 70s imo.
― Pat Finn, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:21 (eleven years ago) link
This is true except that it's awesome and totally fits into the album wtf
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:22 (eleven years ago) link
otm color me perplexed
― inste grammophon (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:23 (eleven years ago) link
i don't like it. maybe it would be a good track on some other dylan album, but it's too much of a non-sequitur for this album, and among dylan's freewheeling, long narrative songs with kooky characters i don't think this is one of the strongest. all those poker metaphors.
i should add that i am mostly talking about the lyrics. it sounds pretty good, especially the organ and the bass.
― Pat Finn, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:26 (eleven years ago) link
i think of it as sort of a fun intermission. the album would be just a little too heavy-spirited without it.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:34 (eleven years ago) link
It's about people dealing with/not dealing with/escaping/not escaping their complicated pasts and promises and betrayals, just like everything else on the album. (And being too preoccupied with their own dramas to notice the drilling in the wall.)
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:36 (eleven years ago) link
xpost JD hm, i can see that. i am listening to it now -- and am really easily swayed in my opinions -- and i am thinking that this song reminds you that you're listening to a dylan album. this song is really the only one that celebrates verbal inventinveness and imaginative digressions for their own sake, which are both important hallmarks of dylan's style
― Pat Finn, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 02:39 (eleven years ago) link
Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts is quite fun to listen to, but every time it's on I try to follow the words to understand what it's actually about and it's just impossible - my mind wanders after a couple of verses. I couldn't tell you anything that happens in the song.
― Eyeball Kicks, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 09:16 (eleven years ago) link
He'd have been fine if we just held the poll results until he'd had a chance to compose an essay about them.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 23 April 2013 10:57 (eleven years ago) link