Is Bob Dylan overrated?

here = hear

I haven't listened to BOTT in years. I'm sure I'll still enjoy it.

We spend a lot of time here discussing the divisive albums and low-hanging fruit. I’d be interested to see someone try to make the case that, say, Blonde on Blonde is overrated.

How about someone making the case that Bob Dylan is overrated?

That would be a novelty in the Is Bob Dylan overrated? thread.

can't remember who recommended this alternate running order BOTT on here, but think it's my fave version
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3VP1R9iNOJ0gHDSnkgDU3m?si=cnrCBFTJRbyL6jDFGGRzUg

h/t user karl malone
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks poll

what’s the usefulness of measuring the “correct rating” apart from pointing out that some other artist did x first

wait nm I finally get it, it’s about the momentum of history and shit... not being sarcastic, actually, it helps to think about stuff

Good alternates, but I still prefer the master takes originally selected for the "NY version." Anyway, the stark production/recording reminds me of "Pink Moon" - since Nick Drake's album initially sold less than his previous two and wallowed in obscurity for decades, I don't blame them for re-recording half of it to make it more commercial, but it does lose something vital in the process.

And BKR, just to be clear, when I said I enjoyed "Tattle O'Day" as much as "Handy Dandy," I wasn't putting those two songs down. (But if you hate the latter, I understand your mistake in assuming that.)

I was thinking what on Earth is "Tattle O'Day", is it a traditional song? It's not availabe on Youtube, so I haven't heard it but I remembered that Robin Williamson recorded a song called "Toderoday" which is I assume is the same song, same lyrical idea anyway.

It's possibly better known as "Little Brown Dog" or "Autumn to May" but it's centuries old. I know someone's aunt who sings and teaches it to her kindergarten class, and she herself learned it in school when she was growing up in the UK (I think Scotland). The words are kind of psychedelic, but again it's a very old song.

I'm mostly joking with my indignation, but not about how awesome Tattle O'Day. It gives me shivers when he sings:

"I think mine are the very best of sheep for yielding me increase,
For every full and change of the moon they bring both lambs and geese."

Geese must like sheep and/or lamb poop, I be thinking.

This just in---Theme Time Radio Hour Returns---The Whiskey Episode
view here: http://view.fans.legacyrecordings.com/?qs=38277b1c7dfdf516940d38c571331909eef0fc234ce99c8451e305f440c14e2980a28eab1bf742c8ed9df3b48f997ed2cae8e7021eca5d4fcdf05ee1564daac45e6959117e668fd75e0174d8ba35cce3

Inspired by his passion for whiskey and the creation of his own brand, Heaven's Door, Dylan returns to Theme Time with an eclectic mix of music, poetry, anecdotes and special guests. See, it's not just whiskey, so I didn't put it on his whiskey thread.

Listening to this now. I need to go back and listen to some of the archived original shows too.

Do yall ever look at his art? Got a new series, The Asia Series. A little busy w the details, but not too bad---this is still a favorite, w Dylany combo of mundane street view x dramatic veering perspective, incl the looming skycraperette:
https://www.castlefineart.com/assets/img/resized/standard/late-in-the-day-houston-street.jpg
If that address is blocked, it's also here: https://www.castlefineart.com/art/bob-dylan/late-in-the-day-houston-street

Also, Donut Shop:

https://www.castlefineart.com/assets/img/resized/standard/bdy20donut20shop-std-cmyk-hr-rgb-hr-rgb-lr.jpg

https://www.castlefineart.com/art/bob-dylan/donut-shop

huh yeah the perspective/angles are kinda wild

i like it

Oh, the Asia Series has a trailer!

https://www.castlefineart.com/blog/bob-dylan-the-asia-series-2021?cid=nl508404&utm_medium=email_SFMC&utm_source=6383315&utm_campaign=email-508404-202124&utm_content=nllink-17925821-type-merch_artist-bob+dylan_service-castlefineart_genre-rock

i like the paintings!

OMG!! That's our neighborhood donut shop(!)

https://onthegrid.city/imager/s3_amazonaws_com/onthegrid.city/assets/grid/los-angeles/burbank/doughnut-hut/burbank-donut-hut-01_299006722e285f47655d17d1c9136337.jpg

lol, those paintings remind me of the amateur stuff for sale in our local coffee shop.

Wasn't Dylan accused of ... painting plagiarism? Yes.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/28/bob-dylan-paintings

A different Dylan art thing showed up on my FB wall today.

https://www.dylan.halcyongallery.com/artwork-editions

"I think I'd like to buy those six Mondo Scripto graphics," I thought, but I think my ceiling price-wise is probably a tad low.

Wasn't Dylan accused of ... painting plagiarism? Yes.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/28/bob-dylan-paintings

LOL, that's like the interview you linked to re: Together Through Life

That's just how operates as an artist, but he's been getting so lazy with that approach that he's frequently Xeroxing his sources nowadays. It's pretty astounding, especially in light of Norm MacDonald's story where Dylan warned him about being a "stenographer" instead of an actual writer. http://www.bdcwire.com/heres-the-really-weird-story-norm-macdonald-told-about-bob-dylan-last-night/

^that story is... amazing (if a bit of a tease)!

That's an amazing story. Reminds me of the bit in The Last Samurai (Helen DeWitt book, not Tom Cruise movie) when she gives her son a magazine article, a Liberace tape and a copy of a Lord Leighton painting and is like, "When you understand what is wrong with these things, then you will be ready to know who your father is."

lol, those paintings remind me of the amateur stuff for sale in our local coffee shop. Well yeah, but as David Letterman said, "Tony Bennett paints pretty good! For Tony Bennet." If you don't mind that, it can be cool, and the ones I picked are cream of the coffee shop, I think. (Also dig his album cover for Music From Big Pink, wish he'd done more like that.)

Oh, I would totally love to have some Dylan bootleg kitsch hanging on the wall. I mean, it's not the final product that makes it interesting, it's the guy that done it.

I like his cover for Self Portrait, but mainly for the concept. It's not a great painting but I have to give it some credit - if it were, say, the painting used for Another Self Portrait (had he painted it decades earlier), it wouldn't have worked as well.

Yeah, look at S P again after hearing it, and he's telling you what's inside, attitude-wise, although visual still better on the eyes than most of music on ears. A N P cover kinda goes w the better music, which is also better than the new cover, reversing orig experience.
We could do our own Dylan bootleg kitsch hanging on the wall maybe. It would be a way to learn about painting and drawing, if we didn't already know, as I don't, though for me it might be too late. I've got a friend who has done some knock-offs for his own amusement, though he was already a pro---could def handle xp Cartier-Bresson.
I'd like to try one of these motel pix:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/26/art-fraud-margaret-walter-keane-tim-burton-biopic

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/bob-dylan-favourite-songs-to-dance-to-ramones-buck-owens/
From the Ramones to Buck Owens: Bob Dylan's 18 favourite songs to dance to
Cool, but think I'd take out the overworked Martha & The Vs (who wants to dance in the *streets* awready), and add Gram P. & Emmylou's take on Tom T.'s "I Can't Dance":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gWkMzWsYWU

lol that all 18 songs have "dance" in the title

That's how he knew. Damn, still wantin those pix, esp. Katz's!

It looks like a Dylan song.

lol that all 18 songs have "dance" in the title

He probably just did a song title search for "dance" in his music collection and picked some he liked when asked.

dow otm

octobeard too

the bunker hill track is so good, truly unhinged

Theme Time Radio Hour is so good; I ignored it when it came out but I've been listening this year and it's really astonishing how much work he put into the details of it: every song has an intro that's surprising, informative, often very funny, and perfectly delivered.

i liked it a lot when it was on, i should revisit it, probably a great quarantine listen. the intros and stories are all great and his vibe & delivery are perfect for that format. (although maybe i'm cynical but i always assumed that a team was programming the shows and writing it and he just showed up to record the breaks - i just have too hard a time imagining that he actually has heard & remembers "dance the slurp" or the dirtbombs or whatever, staying up late sweating over needing to find four more "Tree" songs or whatever.)

He probably just did a song title search for "dance" in his music collection and picked some he liked when asked.

Suggests he's never danced to a song in his life.

I bet he has

Just none of the ones on this list.

Bob busts out some sweet dance moves at the end of this (amazing) video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nheBN2UWAaM

lol xp a youtube search for "bob dylan dancing" produces a handful of videos that really stretch the definition - mostly clips of him bending his knees slightly while playing guitar

as a 'song & dance man' his focus over the years has been a little lopsided imo

xp Yeah, I think there was a team researching it and probably writing a lot of it, but it has a very consistent voice, it sounds like him, and it seems to genuinely reflect his interests in music and history, so I think he must have had a pretty big role in putting it all together. My guess is it's a bit like the Daily Show was back in the Jon Stewart days - not at all a solo effort, but very clearly bearing the creative imprint of the person in charge.

yeah i mean people are acting like this is a too obvious, focus group Obama "songs of the summer" playlist or something, it's pretty weird and seems very "bob" to me

he's probably danced more than many of us, just because of when he was born, just from my mom being a rural minnesotan just a bit younger than dylan. they went to dances all the time. it was just what you did. also people used to know how to couple dance.