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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFinally grokked Bob Dylan
Took several decades. Kept going back, every few years, or even a decade or more. Listening to a song or two - trying to identify what people thought was such a big f-ing deal. Was never really impressed - just wasn't doing it for me. (Similar to my reaction to the material of Miles Davis music from the 60s.)
Up until last week, that is. I listened to his JFK piece - Murder Most Foul. Something clicked - I finally got it. I had always been listening with the bias of expecting some sort of superstar musician. Wrong. The dude's a poet, who happens to set his work to musical notes. Went back to some of his early tunes, forgot about the music and concentrated on the lyrics.
Yeah... Dylan.
LuvLoogie
(7,027 posts)Dylan and this...
The poster was probably referring to Davis' late 1960s work, "Nefertiti" and later.
LuvLoogie
(7,027 posts)zonemaster
(232 posts)There's a saxophonist (Will Swindler) near where I live that transcribed the entire album of Birth of the Cool - every part - then put together a nonet and played the whole thing down at a Jazz Club in Denver (Dazzle). It was surreal. Afterword, I walked up to the band stand, which was about 12.2 feet away in this tiny place, and thanked him. Told him I never thought I'd ever hear that music played live in my lifetime. Such a thrill..
LuvLoogie
(7,027 posts)Gotta love the human motive in some cases.
zonemaster
(232 posts)...and raise you a Footprints. Check Tony Williams. And Wayne. And Herbie. There was a quote in some liner notes from a Miles album which I can't seem to locate, where he said about Tony (whom Miles hired at 17 f-ing years old!): "The first time I head that little mother-fucker play, I knew I had to have some of that shit up in my band."
Hotler
(11,445 posts)It is not bad. Some good music and a bit of history and stuff I didn't know. I thought they might do some Sketches of Spain but, they didn't, still good.
zonemaster
(232 posts)Another Miles alum - Mike Stern
Check the pasty white dude on bass just f-ing destroy - effortlessly
johnp3907
(3,732 posts)thucythucy
(8,086 posts)"Drifter's Escape," "Like a Rolling Stone" (at Monterey) and I think there's a version of "Please Crawl Out Your Window" as well.
All of these are amazing.
johnp3907
(3,732 posts)I posted the Monterey version of Like A Rolling Stone, one of my single favorite recordings of anything ever.
thucythucy
(8,086 posts)to Like a Rolling Stone, where Jimi stumbles over his words some, then just, "You'll excuse me for a minute while I play my guitar" and then rips off the most amazing riffs.
What an amazing talent.
johnp3907
(3,732 posts)Then just says to his band Yes I know I missed a verse. Dont worry.
thucythucy
(8,086 posts)And then, while he's playing "Wild Thing" he asks the audience to sing along.
As if his amps aren't putting out a hurricane of sound! And then, in the middle of "Wild Thing" he plays the melody to "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra. Only Hendrix would even think of that, let alone do it.
Hotler
(11,445 posts)nolabear
(41,991 posts)Its strange, hypnotic, an extraordinary paen to the immediate legacy of that incredible event, in music, in the surrounding and later connections made because of it, to an era.
Ive loved him, ups and downs and warts and wings, forever. Yes, hes a poet. No higher praise.
Cetacea
(7,367 posts)And the manner in which he released it was special, too.
PubliusEnigma
(1,583 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)Dayum, memories.
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)The Band.
Docreed2003
(16,875 posts)Love the outtakes as well...his official release bootleg series for that album is phenomenal.
ZZenith
(4,126 posts)gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)Murder Most Foul. I listened for the first time on my solitary walk yesterday. I love the part at the end where he name checks a bunch of other artists that he wants people to check out. The verses are very Americana. You can feel the atmosphere of a studio late at night with musicians recording something to come back to later. The spaces between the words give the listener time to think about what was just sung or spoken. That's another thing. He starts the track singing almost like a crooner instead of his usual sing/speak.
rainy
(6,095 posts)I was 16 years old. It has always been about the lyrics. Bob Dylan and words....
So much treasured work from him.
eleny
(46,166 posts)She brought him out to sing and the audience booed him.
A few weeks later I was asking for his album for my birthday.
Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)Early on, he was known for always playing acoustic guitar and folk fans were kind of traditionalists back then.
eleny
(46,166 posts)He did have a first album out before that. But he never had a formal concert of his own as far as I know. He played and sang in clubs in the Village, downtown NYC.
She introduced him and as he sang people actually booed and hissed at Forest Hill Tennis Stadium. A fairly small and intimate venue compared to concerts today.
The electric concert was a couple of years later, '65.
That's some singular history, right there.
eleny
(46,166 posts)Then 50+ years go by.
Beausoleil
(2,845 posts)I'm usually more about the music. But Dylan....
If you haven't yet, check out Desolation Row or A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall or All Along the Watchtower for mind-blowing lyrics.
Murder Most Foul is a masterpiece. I'm still recovering from my first encounter.
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)I'll have to check out Murder most Foul...
MyOwnPeace
(16,937 posts)Read this by Charlie Pierce:
https://link.esquire.com/view/59d4186d1acbcda1518b5027btjvv.20y/7a335854
Hotler
(11,445 posts)zonemaster
(232 posts)Thank you!
Hekate
(90,793 posts)Thank you
struggle4progress
(118,338 posts)denem
(11,045 posts)struggle4progress
(118,338 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)He's one of those guys whose songs were often better when covered by others.
His lyrics in many ways defined my generation.
Sunriser13
(612 posts)When his voice cracks and fills with gravel, you feel the emotion that much more. You feel his anger and his pain.
He had his finger on the pulse of society, and much of society didn't like it very much. Of course, that can be said of many of the artists of the 1960's.
Dylan very much shaped my youth too, Bear...
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)is not just an honorary award. Glad to see that you're in tune with his message.
struggle4progress
(118,338 posts)Far between sundown's finish and midnight's broken toll,
we ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
as majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds,
seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
and for each and every underdog soldier in the night
And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing
In the citys melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
with faces hidden while the walls were tightening
as the echo of the wedding bells before the blowing rain
dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
tolling for the luckless, the abandoned and forsaked
tolling for the outcast, burning constantly at stake
And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing ...
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I cherish was playing octave mandolin and singing Blowin in the Wind, at a bar celebrating his 60th birthday. You think Dylans vocals are rough.
I like some other singer/songwriters more, but its still the poetry put to song that Im attracted to. Sometimes, I only really get a verse or two, but thats OK.
djg21
(1,803 posts)I love the way he sang on his Nashville Skyline and John Wesley Harding albums. Girl from the North Country, with Johnny Cash, is one of my favorite Dylan songs. There are just too many iconic Dylan songs to list though.
Ive seen Dylan perform countless times since the mid 70s, and I own every single piece of music he ever commercially released. The Band era stuff is the best IMO, but I also was/am a huge Robbie Robertson/The Band fan.
The last few times Ive seen Dylan, he has been underwhelming. His current band is musically awesome, with Charlie Sextant on guitar (he always has great guitarists). But when he played his old standards, they werent recognizable. Occasionally youd catch a lyric that you know, but much of the time he just mumbled along to totally new and unfamiliar musical arrangements. He switched back and forth between his re-worked Dylan classics and his attempts to croon covers of Sinatra or the American songbook (from his Triplicate album, which never did it for me). He also kept the stage unlit between songs, presumably so the audience could not see him shuffle between the piano to the center stage microphone. He is not young anymore, and my guess is that he isnt so mobile and doesnt want the audience to see him trying to move around the stage. He never has been one to engage an audience between songs. The highlight of the last show I saw definitively was the opening act Mavis Staples, who is an American treasure.
Bob is supposed to play here again this summer, but my guess is there will be no live music this year.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I saw him with the Band, Forever Young tour. And another show in 90s with an outstanding band at a grand old theater in Atlanta. I love acoustic music and singer/songwriters.
Enjoyed your comments.
djg21
(1,803 posts)I never got to see the Band(with Robbie). I wish I had. I was in 8th grade in 1978 when the Last Waltz premiered at the York Square Theater in New Haven, CT, and I begged my parents to drive me there, let me stand in line, and let me go to see the film. I couldnt begin to count the numbers of times Ive seen it since, and I actually have an old sound board recording of the show, which is much different that the commercially released version no Staple Singers on the Weight and a good Georgia on my Mind that never made it to the commercial release. I did get to see Levons Midnight Ramble a few times, and I met Levon at a meet and greet following one of the shows. His daughter Amy is a great musician, and her current band is really, really good. Go take a trip to Woodstock and see a show at Levons Barn. It is a magical place.
There are two artists of that generation who I will pay almost anything and would travel cross-county to see. They are Robbie Robertson and Tom Waits. I dont expect either to play on the east coast again, but Im hopeful they will play in LA at some point over the next few years, and I will gladly travel for that.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)the Concert.
They wanted no part of the actual concert, so that version with them (I freaking love that video - Mavis and Pops kill it ... well, everyone kills it really) was recorded for the movie, but not at the actual show, there's no crowd.
Might've been the same venue, like before the show or the like, I forget the details.
djg21
(1,803 posts)In an M.G.M. Soundstage. In his book, Levon wrote that the film was too lily white and needed something more. The best part of the movie I think is Jonis version of Coyote, but the whole thing is great.
This recent version of the Weight by Playing for Change has been circulating on the inter webs lately and is really special.
My golden retriever Miss Fanny is at the foot of my bed. Jack my dog passed a few years back. I suggested Danko for my new puppy, but was vetoed by my wife. I just wont name a dog Chester.
struggle4progress
(118,338 posts)Crimson flames tied through my ears, rolling high and mighty traps
pounced with fire on flaming roads using ideas as my maps
Well meet on edges, soon, said I, proud neath heated brow ...
In a soldiers stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach
fearing not that Id become my enemy in the instant that I preach
my existence led by confusion boats, mutiny from stern to bow ...
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats, too noble to neglect,
deceived me into thinking I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms, quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then Im younger than that now
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)Remarkable man
ElementaryPenguin
(7,800 posts)Better late than never.
pecosbob
(7,543 posts)Happy Hoosier
(7,386 posts)Terrible singer, and his songs dont seem particularly deep to me.
Ani Yun Wiya
(797 posts)A master work from a master of words, a true american poet.
I have seen Bob Dylan at least once each decade from the early sixties onward and will certainly continue to do so when possible.
This 17 minute track is folk history for the United States...
IADEMO2004
(5,559 posts)retread
(3,763 posts)written. Then shithead was elected and people started playing "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" !!!
malaise
(269,157 posts)I have a friend who discovered Dylan while at university in the US. He brought up his kids on Dylan and Tosh.
I sent him a copy of Murder Most Foul after PCIntern posted it. His only grandson's first name is Dylan.
I fell in love with Dylan after hearing Like a Rolling Stone.
Thanks for this thread - well needed at this time.
Hekate
(90,793 posts)Never could stand Bob Dylan's voice -- but would collect everything by him that was recorded by others. Amazing, amazing poet.
Bookmarking so I can come back later and listen, listen. Thank you Zonemaster and everyone who contributed.
SuprstitionAintthWay
(386 posts)But I rank these albums from the same period very highly, too:
John Wesley Harding
Nashville Skyline
New Morning
the Soundtrack to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Planet Waves also has some good songs, and one great one.
After that block of albums, though, his stuff lost me again, until decades later when he put out Time Out Of Mind.
Not much of his earliest, celebrated folk stuff ever did all that much for me.
robbob
(3,538 posts)Last edited Fri Apr 3, 2020, 10:44 AM - Edit history (1)
1) The man has written some great tunes. Tunes like Mr. Tamborine Man, Just Like a Woman, Its All Over Now. I mean, beautiful melodies and chord progressions, just genuine, catchy hits. This is complemented by his more predictable tunes that feature a basic chord change with many verses of mind blowing poetry, as per Like a Rolling Stone, Stuck Inside of Mobile, or Tom Thumb Blues (which also has a great melody and sound). To get a good idea of Dylan as a straight up song smith I would suggest Nashville Skyline. In a genre that is really outside his standard wheelhouse he crafts numerous country twinged gems.
2) Although much criticized for his raspy, some say whiny, voice, I find Dylans phrasing and timing, and for that matter pitch (singing perfectly in tune) is impeccable. Just try singing alone with your favourite Dylan tune. His unique phrasing takes the lyrics always slightly off the downbeat. I would even compare it to the Jazz phrasings Billie Holiday was famous for. Its why I definitely prefer Dylans version of Tamborine Man to the Byrds. Sure, The Byrds have these great 4 part harmonies happening and they make the whiny singing of Bob into something rich and beautiful, but in order for the band to sing in perfect harmony they have to square the rhythms so it comes out more like Hey mis-ter tam-bor-ine man play a song for me (imagine each syllable in that phrase done perfectly evenly. They dont do it that woodenly, but they DO have to simplify the phrasing). Another good example would be Mancord Mann doing Quinn the Eskimo. Dylan with The Band totally blows that version out of the water. Just so much more soul!
Just my 2 cents!