The Welsh Connection mag

[Ron S]

Actually there was no good reason to not let us go see Cream. We'd been to see the Yardbirds a few months earlier. My dad just said "sorry boys, no changing her mind today".

I reckon somebody must have slipped your Mum an advance disc of Music From Big Pink at a party, told her it was going to be huge and, out of maternal decency, she figured it would be wrong to stand by and see you boys spending your money on Cream tickets, knowing that it would be considered obsolete old hat at any given moment...

I dunno about that. Dad said Mum had yelled "Judas" when Bob and the Hawks played San Jose Civic Auditorium....

[Rob the Organ]

Actually there was no good reason to not let us go see Cream. We'd been to see the Yardbirds a few months earlier. My dad just said "sorry boys, no changing her mind today".

I reckon somebody must have slipped your Mum an advance disc of Music From Big Pink at a party, told her it was going to be huge and, out of maternal decency, she figured it would be wrong to stand by and see you boys spending your money on Cream tickets, knowing that it would be considered obsolete old hat at any given moment...

I dunno about that. Dad said Mum had yelled "Judas" when Bob and the Hawks played San Jose Civic Auditorium....

Did Bob "Believe Her?"

[Rob the Organ]

I dunno about that. Dad said Mum had yelled "Judas" when Bob and the Hawks played San Jose Civic Auditorium....

From the forthcoming book "ROB'S VERY CONCISE, FREQUENTLY BILE-RAISING & OFTEN DOWNRIGHT DISRESPECTFUL (BUT FREE OF LENGTHY BULLSHIT) GUIDE TO POPULAR MUSIC":

Bob Dylan
Born Robert Zimmerman, made his name as a poetic folky strummer and picker. Hugely successful solo career, with at least four albums that are excellent and maybe another three well worth a spin or two. No great shakes as a singer himself, Bob will forever be best remembered for turning The Hawks into The Band, probably the greatest contribution made to popular music by anybody.

[Martin Daughton]

From the forthcoming book "ROB'S VERY CONCISE, FREQUENTLY BILE-RAISING & OFTEN DOWNRIGHT DISRESPECTFUL (BUT FREE OF LENGTHY BULLSHIT) GUIDE TO POPULAR MUSIC":

Bob Dylan
Born Robert Zimmerman, made his name as a poetic folky strummer and picker. Hugely successful solo career, with at least four albums that are excellent and maybe another three well worth a spin or two. No great shakes as a singer himself, Bob will forever be best remembered for turning The Hawks into The Band, probably the greatest contribution made to popular music by anybody.

From my even more concise lexicon of music through my life:

Bob Dylan: meh!

[Ron S]

Bob is alright, you just have to sort out the albums that he cared about... 

[John Bannon]

Bob is alright, you just have to sort out the albums that he cared about... 

Lets not forget 'Blood on the Tracks' mentioned in the albums that contain superb songs from beginning to end, in the what's on your turntable thread.
Does help if your going through a divorce, when first encountering this album, which was my circumstances at the time. I'm not particularly bothered about his singing voice, it's what he's saying backed up by good musicianship that matters.
In fact thinking about it. I wouldn't bet on any music or singer I listen to, winning Stars in their Eyes or any other crap thats on the box these days.

[Davey]

i like the way bob dylan sings at times, very expressive.i like the way he sings on the basement tapes,new

morning,visions of johanna,john wesley harding,blood on the tracks etc....one thing i like about him is that he

claims in the 60's that people thought he was a messiah but that he wanted no part of it.but i feel that part of

him was wondering: was he really supposed to be something like that?which probably drove him nuts because

of course he's only human,which makes him poignant to me;in my book he's a heavy dude,he really went

through some stuff/changes...i would like to recommend the movie renaldo and clara for some 70's fun-

peace-davey

[Rob the Organ]

Going back to my Record Shop days, one of the guys there was a HUGE Dylan fan, and one of the regular customers we knew well enough to banter/have the odd pint with was very much opposed to him. Martin (the Dylanite) came out with an arm-length list of great albums and Ian (the non-believer) rattled off a well-thought out and arguable retort for each. As someone who finds probably around 85% (if not more) of Dylan's work to be superfluous but genuinely loves the other 15%, I piped up as if to try and find some common ground.

"Come on, Ian - if you can't at least enjoy Highway 61 Revisted and Blonde on Blonde then you haven't listened properly" said I.
Without stopping to blink, he delivered "Well, Rob, if you can't make a few decent albums when you have most of the classic line up of the Butterfield Blues Band, plus Al Kooper, Harvey Brooks and The f**king Band to do the donkey work for you, then very simply you shouldn't be making records, let alone be regarded by some as a bona-fide genius".

I had to admit he had a point.

[Martin Daughton]

If anyone is watching the History of American Folk on BBC4 part 3 will cover the Dylan period.
It will be interesting to see how they handle him; the usual awestruck arse licking, detached academia or an honest bewilderment that a Woody Guthrie wannabe who read some beat poetry once could bamboozle so many.... I'd better stop there.

[Allan Heron]

As someone who finds probably around 85% (if not more) of Dylan's work to be superfluous but genuinely loves the other 15%, I piped up as if to try and find some common ground.

What's in your 15% apart from Blonde On Blonde and H61R?

[Rob the Organ]

As someone who finds probably around 85% (if not more) of Dylan's work to be superfluous but genuinely loves the other 15%, I piped up as if to try and find some common ground.

What's in your 15% apart from Blonde On Blonde and H61R?

Nashville S, Basement Tapes, Bringing It All.., Desire, Time Out of Mind, bits of John W H and a few 45s too (Can You Please Crawl...? and Watching the River Flow). Oh, and..believe it or not...most of Self Portrait!

The percentages are probably wildly inaccurate. I'd be interested to know just what my selection actually amounts to as a % of entire portfolio, but can't be arsed.

[Allan Heron]

Nashville S, Basement Tapes, Bringing It All.., Desire, Time Out of Mind, bits of John W H and a few 45s too (Can You Please Crawl...? and Watching the River Flow). Oh, and..believe it or not...most of Self Portrait!

The percentages are probably wildly inaccurate. I'd be interested to know just what my selection actually amounts to as a % of entire portfolio, but can't be arsed.

Nashville Skyline seems a bizarre choice - apart from Lay Lady Lay not too many of the other songs work for me.  If they do, they seem unfinished.   And the duet with Cash is awful (although Cash did duet with Joe Strummer on Marley's Redemption Song which was more execrable by a country mile).

I take it you're not too keen on acoustic Dylan by the absence of any of these albums - I'd certainly include Freewheelin', Another Side Of and World Gone Wrong as essentials.

And no mention of Blood On The Tracks?   Awesome album and possibly, just possibly, his best.

I'd also add in Street Legal (remixed version which is a revelation compared to to the original mess of a mix), Slow Train Coming, Oh Mercy and "Love And Theft" amongst the essentials.

Everything else is worth a listen with the exception of Empire Burlesque, Knocked Out Loaded and Down In The Groove which are all woeful (no, he didn't have a good time in the 80's)

Extremely variable with some of the live material he's put out "officially" - the Bootleg Series is much, much better on this front (and all of this series falls into essential).   

And finally, the Basement Tapes is a bit of a misfire of an album.  I loved it when it first came out but that was before I heard all of the other stuff that's there!!  I'd listen to the Bootleg versions before I'd go back to the official album.   In retrospect, too much of The Band and not enough Dylan on that album (which is not to say that The Band material is not good, just that I didn't buy an album called The Basements Tapes for Band outtakes)

Off to see the man in May for the umpteenth time.   At least two of the concerts I've seen with Dylan fall into the upper echelons of my gig experiences - including his now legendary appearance at the Barrowlands four (or is it five) years ago.  Hell, he even spoke to us 

[merc]

All good interesting Bobness but er...isn't this thread broken? or at least gone out into the snow and at this rate will be gone some time!

[Davey]

doesn't empire burlesque have "joker man" and "sweetheart like you"?.those i was moved by."when i paint

my masterpiece" at the beginning of renaldo and clara is pretty nice,that was a good group.i like the way he

sings on the basement tapes.he sounds like a combination of himself and a member of the band."the

gypsy","new morning","day of locusts","sign on the window", most of the songs on new morning i like.me and

my first girlfriend dug on that album.culturally dylan is a heavy dude in book,but i already said that.i don't

think he's bullet proof though.i enjoyed seeing him with the grateful dead where he would make them stop

the song and start over.not all the dead fans were feeling him but me and a few of my friends were hip to

what was taking place-peace oh just saw the last post.yes this is partly my fault-cheers 'nuff said on my part(i

think)

[merc]

"You can't report your own post to the moderator, that doesn't make sense!" bit schizophrenicist that innit!!