from two listens, tbf
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 19 June 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link
I've found the closest analogue to be late works by painters, actually: Renoir, Matisse.
Never say Dylan doesn't attract highbrow defenses lol
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 June 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link
but also this is one of my favorite bands he's ever had xp
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 19 June 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
it also reminds me a lot of love + theft (the most recent dylan album i really loved)
― Mordy, Friday, 19 June 2020 16:44 (three years ago) link
i’ve cleared my own throat about 10 times listening to this record
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:15 (three years ago) link
yet you still won't catch up with Dylan.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:22 (three years ago) link
Making my way thru it now. After the two (already released) opening tracks, "My Own Version of You" got me a little concerned... but the song after that is great!
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:29 (three years ago) link
“Late style” is a lens through which I view so many of the things I love, I should actually read the book one of these days. It’s very possible said meant something completely different by the term than I think lol. But it seemed like such an immediately graspable and useful concept, easily in my top 3 essays I’ve never read(I have not heard this album but I have been caning vier letzte lieber)
― covid coronenberg (wins), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:39 (three years ago) link
Edward Said wrote about late styles too.
The LARB essay: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/david-lynchs-late-style/
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:41 (three years ago) link
This is for sure a looser, more casual-feeling album than the formidable Tempest (my favorite of his '90s/'00s).
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:46 (three years ago) link
That’s the book I meant Alfred, sorry I should have capitalised Said
― covid coronenberg (wins), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:48 (three years ago) link
"Key West" – WOW(!)
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:55 (three years ago) link
Truman had his White House there!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 June 2020 17:57 (three years ago) link
"She's still cute, and we're still friends"
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Friday, 19 June 2020 18:08 (three years ago) link
I guess the chord changes of "Key West" have sort of a "Most of the Time" feel (which is partly why it's so resonant)?
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Friday, 19 June 2020 20:09 (three years ago) link
"i've made up my mind to give myself to you" is amazing
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, June 19, 2020 11:50 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
^^^I'm making dinner and this just sort of kept going and going and I'm like, "are all the songs on this album awesome?" and then I realized it was the same song.
i find the album to be about as good as love and theft
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 19 June 2020 16:34 (four hours ago) link
This is blasphemy to me as L&T is maybe a top 5 Dylan album for me, but we'll see.
― Night of the Living Crustheads (PBKR), Friday, 19 June 2020 21:41 (three years ago) link
Not ready to make any major proclamations, but maybe best since L&T? Dunno, I'm really enjoying it so far.
― tylerw, Friday, 19 June 2020 21:44 (three years ago) link
all the albums since love & theft are like love & theft (except the ones that are like stadows) and there is no major difference between them in terms of songwriting
― j., Friday, 19 June 2020 21:46 (three years ago) link
Prefer Modern Times.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 19 June 2020 21:48 (three years ago) link
Idk, I think there's a pretty noticeable difference at least in the way he writes his lyrics. The verse in l&t tends to have these very long, flexible lines, lots of words somehow fitting into a space that should be too small for them, like that one verse where he fits a whole knock-knock joke into two lines. In Modern Times and Tempest he starts leaning much more heavily on these short, sing-songy verse forms (I'm sure there's a word for them but I don't know it) - "I'm searching for phrases/to sing your praises," that sort of thing.
― Greetings from CHAZbury Park (Lily Dale), Friday, 19 June 2020 22:08 (three years ago) link
jeeeeeeeeeez "key west", you killed me
― time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Saturday, 20 June 2020 00:41 (three years ago) link
i can't even continue my day after that
Twelve years old, they put me in a suitForced me to marry a prostituteThere were gold fringes on her wedding dressThat's my story, but not where it endsShe's still cute, and we're still friendsDown on the bottom, way down in Key WestI play both sides against the middleTrying to pick up that pirate radio signal
yes sir
― time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Saturday, 20 June 2020 00:42 (three years ago) link
i want to ask bob dylan why he's such a goddamned genius and have him chew me out at press conference
PLEASE bob, i will never ask for anything again
― time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Saturday, 20 June 2020 00:43 (three years ago) link
honestly, although i listened to a decent amount of bob dylan before his previous albums (by that i mean tempest 2012 and before. i can't stand sinatra), this is the first time that i've been heavily into him at the time of a new release, so of course i have that adrenaline rush of love for his music right now, or just his continued existence. it was post-tempest that i first heard Blood on the Tracks, which is still my go-to, and it was post-tempest that the blonde on blonde-highway 61 stuff finally clicked with me in full (before that, i really only appreciated his Freewheelin' era and style of material). and then of course i've been filling in all the gaps since then. ok, just sharing my bob dylan update, thought there would be a point in there but love the music, great job bob
― time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Saturday, 20 June 2020 00:50 (three years ago) link
Greil Marcus's thoughts on the album here:
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/real-life-rock-top-10-june-2020-part-ii/
― o. nate, Saturday, 20 June 2020 00:52 (three years ago) link
Listening through this album very slowly because of a migraine. "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You" is so amazing I had to stop and call my brother to talk about it.
― Greetings from CHAZbury Park (Lily Dale), Saturday, 20 June 2020 03:13 (three years ago) link
That Greil Marcus piece is pretty good, though it’s weird that he underrates “I’ve Made Up My Mind...”; a song that everyone here seems to agree is the bomb.
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Saturday, 20 June 2020 03:46 (three years ago) link
Yeah, that was weird. But he's otm about the line "Do you know who I am?" being the moment where "Murder Most Foul" takes off.
― Greetings from CHAZbury Park (Lily Dale), Saturday, 20 June 2020 03:52 (three years ago) link
i haven't read that much of greil marcus' writing, but he always frustrates me and interests me in almost equal measure (which is why i keep reading). this criticism is so pedantic, and it's not even clearly right:
The song almost dissolves before it starts with “It was a dark day in Dallas / November ’63 / A day that will live on in infamy” — again, even disregarding the Vincent Price intonation, it’s not real speech. The day entered history, and more importantly common memory, as its own day: people say, people think, “November 22, 1963,” so “November ’63” signifies less than nothing — it’d be like saying “Pearl Bay” instead of Pearl Harbor.
i'd argue the opposite. the kennedy assassination is so iconic that it doesn't even need the day. when someone says "November '63", you STILL know that's the kennedy assassination. it's actually not at all like saying "Pearl Bay" instead of Pearl Harbor. the fact that you just say the month instead of the year just adds to the symbolism and power of it
― time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Saturday, 20 June 2020 04:02 (three years ago) link
hearing this is his best album since some girls, but i won't believe it until the lex weighs in
― mookieproof, Saturday, 20 June 2020 04:03 (three years ago) link
xp I had the same reaction to the “November ‘63” thing; it’s an extended nitpick that doesn’t necessarily feel accurate.
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Saturday, 20 June 2020 04:42 (three years ago) link
(the same reaction as Karl, to Marcus’s critique of those lines)
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Saturday, 20 June 2020 04:43 (three years ago) link
And of course, following that, he has a really lovely recounting of “key west”
― time is running out to pitch in $5 (Karl Malone), Saturday, 20 June 2020 04:44 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I haven’t read much Marcus either, but he clearly shines when he’s writing about that old music (and drawing out the connections to Dylan).
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Saturday, 20 June 2020 04:57 (three years ago) link
What I got from that Greil Marcus bit about the opening lines was him trying to dissect why they feel so consciously clunky, and not quite getting it right. But I do think he's right that there's something about those opening lines that feels deliberately off, like Dylan's parodying something, and that "Wait a minute boys, do you know who I am?" is the moment when the story comes into focus.
― Greetings from CHAZbury Park (Lily Dale), Saturday, 20 June 2020 05:19 (three years ago) link
It was the fearful night of December 8thHe was returning home from the studio lateHe had perceptively known that it wouldn't be niceBecause in 1980, he paid the price
― Soz (Not Soz) (Vast Halo), Saturday, 20 June 2020 14:17 (three years ago) link
a typical Marcus mix of insight and obtuseness
lol at reading "You can bring it to St. Peter, you can bring it Jerome" as referring to Bo Diddley's maracas player instead of St. Jerome
― Brad C., Saturday, 20 June 2020 14:46 (three years ago) link
"mother of muses" is so gorgeous and frail
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 June 2020 14:47 (three years ago) link
forge my identity from the inside outyou know what i'm talkin' about
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 June 2020 14:48 (three years ago) link
living in a nightmareon ELM street
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Saturday, 20 June 2020 15:09 (three years ago) link
sorry i just love that
I was just reading the wiki for all along the watchtower and saw this quote from ‘68:“I haven't fulfilled the balladeers's job. A balladeer can sit down and sing three songs for an hour and a half ... it can all unfold to you.”
― Heez, Saturday, 20 June 2020 17:18 (three years ago) link
I'm looking forward to someone revealing which 19th century Malaysian poet Dylan lifted most of the lyrics of this album from.
― Duke, Saturday, 20 June 2020 20:14 (three years ago) link
this really is lovely
possibly the only acceptable use of 'it is what it is'
― mookieproof, Saturday, 20 June 2020 23:32 (three years ago) link
also makes me want him to work with the dirty three
― mookieproof, Saturday, 20 June 2020 23:34 (three years ago) link
i used to joke that don henley is in a studio somewhere endlessly playing 'down at the sunset grill' and radio stations would just tune in and tune out when they wanted to play it
but if bobby were somewhere singing just extending 'murder most foul' forever i'd listen
― mookieproof, Saturday, 20 June 2020 23:43 (three years ago) link
Every time I listen to this album I have to stop after "I've Made Up My Mind..." and go tell someone how beautiful it is. Eventually I'm going to run out of people to tell.
― Greetings from CHAZbury Park (Lily Dale), Sunday, 21 June 2020 00:02 (three years ago) link
Tell Greil Marcus!
― OG Honeymoon Ave (morrisp), Sunday, 21 June 2020 01:20 (three years ago) link
"false prophet" sounds like a fuckin AC/DC song
"murder most foul" is entrancing, beautiful, strange, and laugh out loud funny at several points
on the whole i really enjoyed the record. much better than i was expecting tbh and i'll definitely be revisiting throughout the summer
― budo jeru, Sunday, 21 June 2020 01:25 (three years ago) link