| Author | Message | ||
     Pat Boland Member Username: Pat_boland Post Number: 61 Registered: 05-2005 |
Initial reaction: thoroughly underwhelming. Having tried, and failed, to like Modern Times, I'm not sure I could be arsed persevering with this one either. Take the Bootleg Series & 'Mississippi' out of the picture and you are left with a very bleak and bleary dozen or so years since 'Time Out Of Mind'. I'll get my coat .... | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 155 Registered: 10-2008 |
If you dont like accordian stay well clear. I do like it, and I really like his voice on this one. Also beware of some Mark Knopfler, Chris Rea moments. Hit and miss overall. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2754 Registered: 05-2005 |
Still waiting for it to arrive in the post. Hasn't even been sent yet actaully as it's coming from America and it's not out there til Tuesday. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 483 Registered: 05-2005 |
For me today it was, "Will I also get the new Dylan or some more Cure remasters?". Modern Times was not good and I was waiting to hear what you guys thought of the new one. I'll wait then until it's on sale for $9.99 at JB in 3 months time! | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 484 Registered: 05-2005 |
What's the new Neil Young one like by the way? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2758 Registered: 05-2005 |
BTW, the reason I ordered it from the US was to get the super, duper three disc package at a reasonable price. | ||
| Lawrence Mikkelsen Member Username: Simplythrilledhoney Post Number: 104 Registered: 03-2006 |
I like it. Not as much as "Time Out Of Mind" or "Modern Times", but maybe slightly more than "Love & Theft", which I was always a little underwhelmed by. (I know I am in the minority here.) But, yes, there are accordions all over the place. | ||
| Lawrence Mikkelsen Member Username: Simplythrilledhoney Post Number: 105 Registered: 03-2006 |
I like it. Not as much as "Time Out Of Mind" or "Modern Times", but maybe slightly more than "Love & Theft", which I was always a little underwhelmed by. (I know I am in the minority here.) But, yes, there are accordions all over the place. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2775 Registered: 05-2005 |
Lawrence, did anyone get in touch with you about The Bats? I can email the tracks to you if you like. | ||
| Lewisdhead Member Username: Lewisdhead Post Number: 43 Registered: 01-2007 |
Yeah, I'm finding it hard to get into. After repeated listens it has grown on me a bit, but still fairly underwhelmed by it. Amazingly (or maybe not,on reflection) UNCUT gave it 5 stars and album of the month. But that's Uncut for you. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 163 Registered: 10-2008 |
Lewis - thats Allan Jones for you. If Dylan farted he would give it at least 4 stars. If we're talking stars this album is a 3 at most. My friend and I agreed if this was anybody else rather than Dylan it would be a blip on the radar. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3093 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just don't get Dylan, then or now I'm afraid. I don;t own a single album by the man What are the best/first, say 3 albums to purchase? I might explore. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 164 Registered: 10-2008 |
spence - the 3 albums from the mid 60s are most fans favourites. Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde, all 3 are great and I would start with Blonde On Blonde. Others plump for Blood on The Tracks from the 70s but Ive always thought it overrated, its more singer songwrightery. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 165 Registered: 10-2008 |
.. or even songwritery. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1375 Registered: 08-2006 |
I'd go with Blonde On Blonde, too - but all the albums Kev mentions are terrific. If you like those, start exploring. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3094 Registered: 05-2005 |
will do ta fellas. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1987 Registered: 03-2005 |
I'll send you some stuff Spence. I'd add "John Wesley Harding" to the list of his great albums on the strength of the songs--certainly NOT on the strength of the desultory arrangements. But even Dylan's greatest albums had filler, sometimes a LOT of it. Yes, Dylan was as guilty of filler as the next guy. And if you ask me, he's a spent force. I instinctively distrusted all the raving about "Modern Times" so I went and bought a used copy of "Love and Theft" instead, another album that was raved about when it was released. For me the best that he managed on L & T were about three songs that mined his old style reasonably well. The rest of the album was stylishly played dullness. I don't intentionally buy albums with 3 good songs. And I won't be buying Modern Times or Together Through Life. Somebody will eventually cull the handful of decent things from his late era and make an anthology. If Dylan made one single album per decade, composed of only the very best songs he had written in the decade, it would be something to look for. But he doesn't have the wisdom to do that. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 488 Registered: 05-2005 |
Spence, Kev's nailed it with those 3 from the mid 60's and Blood on the Tracks. In all of your voluminous and varied album collection, I'm astonished that you don't have any Bob. To discover those albums anew...I wish I was there again!!! Good hunting!!! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3096 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cheers Randy and Geoff. I think the main reason I stayed away from any Dylan purchases, apart from the money, was when I was doing a record fair in '87 with a good friend of mine who is pretty knowledgeable about all thing music, I was tempted by a Dylan album in one of the stalls, and I asked him, y'know, what is bob Dylan like, I've never heard him, apart from say, Like a rolling stone and so on? He replied "fu*kin awful, he can't sing can't play, totally overrated don't waste your money"!, I immediately went over to another stall I had my eye on and spent £5 on Scott Walker's Moviegoer compilation! | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 127 Registered: 05-2005 |
Desire is good too as the other 70s one to get. Greatest Hits/Best of type compilation is probably best for first timers, you miss the filler and you will get 'Positively 4th Street' which is positively one of the best songs ever written and isnt on any album | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 428 Registered: 04-2005 |
Spence, I would also recommend trying to see Scorsese's 'No Direction Home' documentary, which hopefully should explain why he WAS important. It concentrates on the beginning up to the (supposed) motor-bike accident. The footage from the '66 tour is absolutely incredible. A friend sent me 'Modern Times' and it is simply dreadful. The last one I bought was 'Oh Mercy' (another "Bob is back with his greatest album since....") and it was extremely dull. Apart from 'Most of the Time'. Why does anyone let Daniel Lanois produce them ? It just sounds like a Daniel Lanois record... | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 167 Registered: 10-2008 |
Also, if you can see that documentary of Dylan when he visited England in the mid 60s that might sway you - its bound to be on Youtube, think it was called Dont Look Back. He was the coolest man alive at that point(if you ever wondered where John Cooper Clark got his look from look no further) and just oozed rock n roll attitude. Its also great to see how Britain looked at this time. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 489 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah, "Don't Look Back" is GRRREEEAAATTTT...even if he does send up a (clueless) Donovan. How ANGRY and ORNRY was he when he was interviewed back then???!!! Yowza!! "shoot a few holes and blow their minds" | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 283 Registered: 10-2006 |
I don't think there's any filler on Blood on the tracks, though, is there? I bought it when it came out, though never a Dylan fan till then, and it convinced me overwhelmingly of his genius. In fact, everything else by him after that seemed a little low-key! Except Willie McTell, maybe. Don't miss that song, Spence! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3098 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cheers Cosmo, Andrew, Skull, Geoff and Stuart, these comments will help direct me, rather than me farting around buying the wrong shit! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 168 Registered: 10-2008 |
Spence, if you are interested in the Dont Look Back documentary on Youtube it looks like you have to watch it in "parts", presumably due to size restrictions. Just do a search for Bob Dylan Dont Look Back Part 1 etc and you should see em all | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1989 Registered: 03-2005 |
I haven't seen "Don't Look Back." Thanks for the YouTube tip, Kevin. The Scorcese doco is excellent. Coming from my vast middle age what kept clobbering me was "OMG, he's just a young kid and these people are loading all this shit on him!" Stuart, you are right: "Blood on the Tracks" did not have filler, so I did overstate that particular fact. And that fact alone might be sufficient to give it the award for his best individual album. But I think the best stuff on the classic 60s albums reaches higher peaks. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 2780 Registered: 05-2005 |
I have to vehemently disagree with Andrew. Oh Mercy is not at all dull, in fact it's a phenomenal record. It is pure winter though Spence. Don't buy it till at least September. Start with Biograph, a three disc set that mixes the greatest hits and great previously unreleased tracks. Together Through Life arrived in the post yesterday and I played it last night. I liked it on first listen, though it's certainly no classic. There were no standouts but I imagine a few will emerge on future listens. It's All Good is pretty funny. I wish he would stop producing himself though. An outside producer would be able to say "No Bob, that vocal wasn't good enough, you need to do it again". Which is probably exactly why he prefers to produce himself these days. | ||
| Pat Boland Member Username: Pat_boland Post Number: 63 Registered: 05-2005 |
Coming as it did, after more than a half-dozen largely lamentable albums, Oh Mercy was as close to a return to form as anyone could have wished for at the time. Having said that, the acoustic version of 'Most of the Time' (on the latest Bootleg Series album) completely blew me away so it wasn't all down to Daniel Lanois. In fact, for interested newcomers who like what they hear on Biograph or the recent 3-Disc Dylan compilation, in addition to the three mid-60's masterpieces and Blood on the Tracks, I would strongly suggest checking out the Bootleg Series albums. Series of Dreams, Blind Willie McTell from Vol. 1-3 are cast-iron masterpieces and worth the price alone. Of course, with 3 discs of out-takes and live versions spanning most of his career there's plenty to get your teeth into. The entire 1966 concert (Vol. 4) is essential for obvious reasons. Volumes 5 & 6 may not be to everyone's taste (Vol. 5 features recordings of the Rolling Thunder Revue which, personally, I can take or leave. Vol. 6 features a live recording from 1964 i.e. before he went electric but it does include 3 songs from the then yet-to-be recorded Bringing it all Back Home). Vol. 7 is a companion piece to the Scorcese movie and includes a great version of 'Visions of Johanna'. However, the version of 'Like a Rolling Stone' on this disc is the same one that appears on Vol. 4 which indicates that the archive material isn't quite as plentiful as some would have us believe. It's still great though! Vol. 8 deals with his more recent 'return-to-form' from the late 80's to the present. I'd recommend the 2 disc version (there are 1 and 3 disc versions available - the latter is prohibitively expensive and the former is for people who buy their music at Tesco - some great unreleased stuff 'Red River Shore', 'Born In Time' & 'Can't escape you' with some, eh, interesting out-takes thrown in for good measure . | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 492 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks for the critique of the Bootleg series Pat. I've often wondered whether I should be buying that stuff or "New Morning" et al. I am still slowly getting all of the other post 60's stuff, and as you know there is a LOT of it! - I just got the remastered Basement tapes the other month and am still getting my teeth into that. As with Bob albums, for me anyway, there seems to be a period of "digestion" that has to take place before you can really decide if you love it or not. But "PLEASE Mrs Henry, Mrs Henry PLEASE!" has got me liking it from first listen!!Thanks for wrecking my carefully laid plans. I'll now feel like I have to dive headlong into the Bootleg series!! | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 923 Registered: 08-2004 |
The Bootleg Series are all essential imho. If they prove anything, they prove that Bob's choice of album version is usually the best. As much as I like alternative versions & their differing qualities. If you want to give Bob a try you, Spence. You could do a lot worse than than John Wesley Harding, Desire, Street Legal or Slow Train Coming. They seem to be ignored a lot but have some seering songs on them. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1492 Registered: 01-2005 |
I've only got the Vol 6. 1964 acoustic bootleg so far. I like it and will probably get the 1966 concert Vol 4. next. I've been getting a couple of the remastered studio albums from the 1960's ever year or so. I like the improved sound over the original cd's that I already had. It's been a long while since I listened to my vinyl copy of Desire and I never bought a cd copy of it. Aside from BOTT, 1970's era Dylan never did much for me. Infidels was a nice comeback. I bought the Biograph cd box the year it was released, 1986 I think. Maybe I'll give Desire another shot. | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 545 Registered: 01-2006 |
Another Side of Bob Dylan from the mid 60s is a gem and Nashville Skyline is great cos it's so much fun, I give those two at least a few spins each year. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 499 Registered: 05-2005 |
I just got "Love and Theft"(cheap)thisarvo and the first half of it is sounding like dance music for the over 90's at the nursing home "hop" on a saturday night! - much like ALL of Modern Times. This is not rock music and I don't like it!!!! ;( I still am waiting for JB to do a sell out of Together through Life. Is his latest offering in the same vein as these last 2? | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 500 Registered: 05-2005 |
By the way, have you chased up some good Dylan yet Spence? I'd be interested in your comments. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3164 Registered: 05-2005 |
No not yet Geoff. I did think about blasting out some odd mp3's lying around in my itunes library, but thought no! I'll save myself for the selected recomms you all kindly made for me.!! | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 441 Registered: 04-2005 |
I love 'Desire' for the whole sound of the record; granted some of the lyrics are cringe-worthy ('Joey' in particular!). But you have to admire Dylan for his 'slap-it-down'/'don't-even-bother-to-tar t-it-up' approach to recording. Apparently Emmylou Harris came into the studio, improvised some vocal lines and announced that she could possibly do something. Dylan replies 'Whadda you mean, COULD do something ? It's done'. So those lines, complete with lyric mix-ups are what are on the record. Years ago I had a Rolling Stone guide to records; Dave Marsh deducted a star from 'Blood on the Tracks' because it has some audible 'errors' in the musicianship (!). Thank god for punk rock. |