Album Review: Bob Dylan - Infidels (1983)

The eighties were not kind to Bob Dylan.  Like many artists who peaked in the sixties and seventies, Bob for the most part struggled to keep up, although he too had his highlights.  Knocked Out Loaded, Empire Burlesque and Down in the Groove are regarded by most as being among his most forgettable works, although I admittedly find myself indulging a little too much in the cheekiness of its very existence.  And many will surely find some degree of forgiveness in the likes of "Brownsville Girl."  But all wasn't lost for Bob in the era of decadence and greed - Infidels is in fact one of my favorite Bob Dylan albums.  Precisely why, I don't know.  Maybe it's the Knopfler-esque "Sweetheart Like You" or the steady-as-she-goes rhythm of "Jokerman."  And as much as I hate political songs, I'm more than prepared to make an exception for "Union Sundown."  At the butt-end of the album, Dylan leaves the worst for last - "I and I" and "Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight" are the least preferable songs here, although they're well and truly far away from delving into crap territory themselves.  This album, along with Oh Mercy from 1989, proved that there's always a glimmer of hope, even when everything else, it seems, has turned to the proverbial.  A great album.  A

Album Review: Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)

The Bob Dylan of today is a very different thing to the Bob Dylan who started out as a young aspiring folkie in the early sixties.  This is of course, when he was still using an acoustic guitar exclusively - no electric guitar or any other of this electrified, amplified witchcraft, as many folk puritans will tell you to this very day.  And with the very early Bob Dylan albums, it's quickly evident to hear that he's still in that very formative phase - his proficiency with the guitar hasn't quite fully developed - but his songwriting knack was just as mature and formed as it is today. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is easily my favorite of the early Dylan albums, the best of the pre-electric era records.  Some of his best known songs are found here - songs that helped to put on the map, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" "Girl From the North Country" and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" are songs that even people who have a basic familiarity with Bob Dylan should know about, and if they don't know about them then they don't know jack.  I particularly love the wide variation in tempo between tracks here - "Blowin' In The Wind" is taking its time, whereas "Bob Dylan's Blues" and "I Shall be Free" like to move through time with a rushed, yet tempered sense of pace.  If I were to recommend a Bob Dylan to listen to, I would first, of course, have to specify a particular decade, or era.  But if I were asked to recommend something from the early Dylan catalog, I would most certainly recommend this gem. Again, this album is the best of the early Dylan. But on the whole, it is also one of his all-time best.  A great album all around.  A

Album Review: Bob Dylan - Under the Red Sky (1990)

Bob Dylan's 1990 album Under the Red Sky is surprisingly better than what I had initially anticipated, and this is taking into consideration the purportedly haphazard and less successful decade Dylan had during the 1980s (as many might tell you, but I beg to differ, particularly in light of albums such as Infidels and Oh Mercy).  Looking at the track listing detractors of his 80s work would say he hadn't learned anything from that era, but listening to the album is something altogether different.  And yes the critics mostly bashed this album like there was no tomorrow.  But there's plenty of redeeming qualities about this album to be had too.  It doesn't come across as a collection of the cerebral, pondering lyrical cliches that Dylan is famous for and which everyone has come to expect from him, but that is an admirable attribute - it feels like an attempt at no frills, 1990s popular music, running against his own grain in the process.  And for me at least, it works.  "Wiggle Wiggle", childish by name, fun by auditory experience.  "2 x 2" might also be accused of sounding like a nursery rhyme, and it does somewhat.  But again it's fun, and it's different.  But in the end it's still Dylan.  It also reminds me of a certain Shania Twain song for some reason.  Don't ask me why.  "Handy Dandy", Under The Red Sky", "Unbelievable" are my other recommendations.  All in all, a much better album than what it looks like at face value.  A-

Album Review: Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (1975)

Back in the 1960s Bob Dylan was one of the "go-to" guys for all of one's folk music and songwriting needs.  Songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" "Masters of War" and "The Times, They Are-A-Changin'", all key musical musical milestones on the highway of American musical folklore, easily asserted his place in music history as a lyrical genius, even though he was never a brilliant singer.  But of course, nobody listens to Dylan for his vocal qualities.  I could never envision Bob covering other people's songs - writing songs was his forte, singing them certainly wasn't.  But as the years went by, his ability to make music got better and better, to the point where his lyrical prowess was merely supplemental, and no longer merely his sole selling point.  And then one day, Dylan decided to go electric.  Folkies hated it.  But it was key developmental point in him expanding upon his generic repertoire, delving into other genres such as country and gospel, as well as blues and jazz.  An icon of the sixties, his brilliance didn't stop there - indeed, the timeline of his career is peppered with numerous high points as well as his less stellar efforts.  In 1975, Dylan released one of his best, Blood on the Tracks.  There's some stellar tracks on this record - opening with the famous "Tangled Up in Blue", the record soon moves on to some of my personal favorites, in particular, "Idiot Wind."  "Meet Me in the Morning", "Buckets of Rain", "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" also get a good thrashing from yours truly.  All up, a great album, one of Bob's best, and an absolute necessity for anybody who fancies taking up collecting Bob Dylan albums.  Nobody has it in for you, Bob, except for perhaps the die-hard folkies, but hey, as they should know damn well better, the times they are a-changin'.  A

Album Review: Bob Dylan - Tempest (2012)

Beginning with a nasal, amateur yodel, evolving into a mellow country croon, moving through to the more balanced vocals of the 1970s, onto the butch prison lesbian with laryngitis sound of the 1980s, and finally to the “car progressively driving down a gravel road sound” of today, Bob Dylan’s voice, it can be said, has been through more change than an alcoholic hobo with kleptomania.  Some might say that he should give up before he becomes inaudible.  Some may say he should take up recording death metal.  And of course, everybody else will say he should keep going until either he drops dead or Jesus comes back, whichever comes first.

And despite being 71 years old, his latest (and possibly his greatest) creation is a corker of an album.  Highly diverse and darker than a photophobic hermit’s bumcrack, Tempest takes Dylan to a new creative high, telling stories about the Titanic and throwing John Lennon into the equation for good measure.  “Duquesne Whistle” starts off with a Canned Heat on meth jingle and carries on with Bob singing an inverted rendition of "Thunder on the Mountain"  in the style of Louis Armstrong missing a testicle.  The bluesy “Early Roman Kings” balances out the tempo against the former, “Tempest” tells an enlightening story about the sinking of the Titanic, and “Roll on John” is probably the best “Lennon” song since Elton John’s “Empty Garden.”  And there’s the rest of the record, for which it should be a legal requirement to play from start to finish the first time around.  I recommend “Tin Angel”, “Pay in Blood” and “Narrow Way.”  Bob is old, but his music is gold. A

Album Review: Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (1966)

In my previous two reviews of Dylan's handiwork, I've lambasted both albums for being boring or being of poor quality. I now must admit, I was a bit too critical of both works, although I still hold to my opinion that they are some of his least inspiring efforts. But that doesn't mean I think badly of Bob Dylan. Of all the musicians who have improved drastically throughout their careers, Bob Dylan has to be number one. Why? Because when he first started out nearly 50 years ago, his songs, despite the beauty of the accompanying lyrics that make Dylan who he is, his ability to make music was clearly a work in progress. Today though, if you listen to Modern Times or Love and Theft, you can hear the difference experience has made for whom I respectfully regard as the poet laureate of folk rock. And so do professional critics. They are both classic albums, and some of his best work. Despite his advancing age, he's clearly shown he still has the magic.

1966's Blonde on Blonde is an album I all too often overlook. It's a mixed bag of fun songs, love songs, borderline sad songs, songs about getting stoned, songs about women, songs about hats, uplifting songs...OK, I'll shut up now, you get the message. Anyway, the beauty of this album lies partially in its diversity, partially in the acoustic delicacy of tracks like "4th Time Around" and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands", and in fun, uplifting songs like "Absolutely Sweet Marie", "I Want You" and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35." And we can't skip stereotypical "Dylanesque" tracks like "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" and "Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat." There truly is something for everyone on this album, and to demonstrate that I really have the maturity of a still born fetus, listen carefully to the last minute or so on "Rainy Day Women" and you'll hear someone in the background using the 'f' word. That's how fun this song really is. Overall, it is my opinion that anyone who considers themselves a music lover should own this album, for fear of having their house burnt down and their gonads sold for medicinal purposes. A

Album Review: Bob Dylan - Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)

I really like Bob Dylan's music, don't get me wrong. He is a true legend, the best songwriter ever, and has worn some pretty out-of-it clothes throughout his career. But, like all other greats, he has his pitfalls, and sadly, this album is one of very few. And I'm going to be short and blunt about it. It is pretty much crap, and is one of Bob's worst works. But anyway, let's get down to business...

It terms of musical enjoyment, this album is up there with a colonoscopy, if you'll pardon the pun. It starts with a dreadful prepubescent cacophony called "All I Really Want to Do", which should end with "is return the record", and concludes with the worst song to ever grace a Greatest Hits compilation, "It Ain't Me, Babe." Most of the songs are boring, tedious and coma inducing, except for two notable exceptions - "Motorpsycho Nitemare", the most intelligent song on the album, and "My Back Passage...I mean Pages", which are only really useful for when you have little time left and you need to stretch things out a bit. And putting the track listing on the front cover is frankly a pathetic idea - it's like waddling into a classy uptown bar and trying to score sympathy sex by telling people you're dying of AIDS. Still, at least this album comes to an end, just like the colonoscopy. My verdict - two songs are ok, but overall this album is about as pointless as pubic hair. C-

Album Review: Bob Dylan - Good as I Been to You (1992)

From singing pseudo-witty ballads about smoking pot and getting stoned, to songs of racial bias and injustice, Bob Dylan has, with much justification, made his mark in modern recording history as a renowned folk singer and songwriter, despite the fact his nasal pubescent yodeling has the propensity to set off fire alarms and scare all bird life away within a two-kilometer radius. Despite the lack of vocal prowess, he makes up for it with exceptionally well-crafted and thought-provoking lyrics, with equally happy-go-lucky melodies to boot. Songs like, "The Times They Are A-Changin'", Blowin' in the Wind" and "Like A Rolling Stone" defined a whole generation of Kombi-driving shower dodgers out to espouse and promote the merits of public nudity and the delights of smoking rope fiber. And you're bound to be regarded as one of great musical taste and put on a pedestal if you mentioned that you owned Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde or Blood on the Tracks.

Like much of his post 1979 work, 1992's Good as I Been to You is, unfortunately, not so-much thought provoking, unless it's suicide you are contemplating, and it is not so happy-go-lucky. It is dreadful. And unbelievably boring. Bob's voice sounds as if he's recovering from a car accident, and the decision to do traditional folk songs rather than his own was a very wrong one. For Bob to do a version of "Black Jack Davey" is like getting Slayer to do a cover of "Barbie Girl" by Aqua.

In a couple of ways I would like to write more favorably of this album, but that's rather difficult when you're trying to listen to a record that's done nothing for you except induce low-grade narcolepsy. My verdict - Leave traditional folk song covers to funky-smelling street buskers. D+