Bob's back on guitar

[So Long]

man, I wish he played guitar at the pawtucket show...

[ction]

Follow your nose, it always knows!

 

I think I should forward this message to cryptique.

[Sir Stewart]

I think I should forward this message to cryptique.

Too soon - I learned the hard way.

[TheMaker]

go back and listen to Charley Patton, Robert Johnson or Dock Boggs sing and you might have a different perspective about what is great.

 

I hope this wasn't addressed to me (although I do seem to be the guy who slagged on Dylan's recent work the hardest in this thread). Because I assure you, I'm in no desperate need for a refresher course on how great Patton, Johnson, Boggs, Thornton, Hurt, Hopkins, Jefferson, Muddy or any of the blues giants were, and continue to be.

 

My major beefs with Dylan's work began at the outset of the current decade, more or less. I'm one of the few Dylanphiles who rank Time Out of Mind among my top three Dylan records of all time, so I certainly have no quarrel with anything pre-dating Love & Theft. L&T is a mixed bag for me, however. A song like "Mississippi" stands up well next to anything Dylan's ever written, but hey, it's a holdover from the '90s, so that shouldn't be surprising. I suspect a few other numbers appearing on that record also date to the '90s, but obviously there's no way of knowing for sure when they were composed. Unfortunately, no fewer than three songs on that record are note-for-note lifts of other artists' tunes. Although the lyrics are Dylan's, the music for "Tweedle Dee" is a shameless plundering of the old Johnny and Jack song "Uncle John's Bongos," right down to the bridge. Gene Austin's "Rebecca" was transposed from piano to guitar for "Summer Days," while Austin's "Lonesome Road" was lifted part and parcel for "Sugar Baby." A few of Austin's lines even survived the transition, like "Look up, look up / And seek your maker / 'fore Gabriel blows his horn."

 

Modern Times, on the other hand, is just minor Dylan, not to be taken seriously. It has less in common with TOOM and L&T than it does albums like Under the Red Sky and Dylan's Traveling Wilburys contributions. Half the record is bar band blooze-rock filler, uninspired and anything but compelling; funnily enough, you can pretty much go down the track listing and cross off all of the odd-numbered songs with a red pen, for all they're worth. There are plenty of breezy workouts here, but there are no Dylan songs anywhere. There's "Rollin' and Tumblin'," another note-for-note swipe of a superior old song, although this one isn't nearly as obscure as "Uncle John's Bongos." "Someday Baby" is a snoozer of a Muddy Waters remake, originally known as "Trouble No More," which, hilariously, Dylan himself covered in the early '90s. And although it's credited as a Dylan original, I'm sure every pre-war blues fan in the world has heard "The Levee's Gonna Break" countless times before. "Ain't Talkin'" works well enough on paper, but in practice it sounds like later-period Dylan on autopilot, or maybe even a kind of self-parody. "Workingman's Blues #2" at least sports a fine melody, but the lyrics are yet more pastiche, a superficially interesting skeleton without any marrow. What's the song about? Anything? I'm not convinced it is.

 

And his voice is just shot. Opinions will vary, of course, but ever since Sexton left the touring band, Dylan has sounded laryngitic and snarled. The vocals from the last few live shows I've downloaded have been devoid of both melody and panache, regrettably, and Dylan has never sounded more consumptive and breathless on record than he does on Modern Times. He's really struggling, and buddy - that ain't a stylistic conceit. A lot of people love to believe Dylan's still got it, and that's fine by me. Everybody needs something to believe in. For what it's worth, I still consider Bob Dylan the greatest American artist ever to have lived. Nobody's perfect, though.

[Wilco LP #7]

what songs did he play guit on?

[MattZ]

there are no Dylan songs anywhere

 

I admire your obvious passion for Dylan as you trash Modern Times, but I think that sentence above is the fatal flaw in your logic. What does that even mean? Why does Modern Times have to be held up against Highway 61 (or even TOOM)? Maybe Dylan doesn't want to try to be the stereotypical "greatest American artist to have ever lived" as you have put it. Would you be happier if he penned Its Alright Ma, Part II? You know he can't. I know he can't. He knows he can't. So maybe that's why he did Modern Times, no? Maybe Modern Times is an admission of sorts?

 

It seems that so much of the criticism of MT stems from the fact that it's not the Dylan "it could be," but maybe Dylan is trying to be different things. He tried something in Under the Red Sky and it failed. He is trying something now too, and for me it worked, and for you it failed. But I dont see what's so bad about having some fun while you are making music. Half of rock is probably stolen anyway (if not more), and I always thought that Love and Theft, as well as MT, were Dylan's tip of the cap to those that came before him.

 

Now, if it's a tip of the cap, then why does he take songwriting credit? I don't know -- good question. Maybe because he wants us to search out these tunes on our own? Stumble across other stuff along the way without a roadmap to the songwriting credits? Sort of like how some artists don't put lyrics in the liner notes because they want you to listen more closely to the songs?

 

Maybe I give him too much credit?

 

I don't believe in Dylan. I just like MT. It's fun. It doesn't have to have Dylan songs to be fun. I don't think that makes it "minor Dylan", but I've said it before and I will say it again: maybe I am just a biased Dylan fanboy.

[froggie]

Stockholm, Sweden

Debaser Medis

 

March 27, 2007

 

 

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)

(Bob on electric guitar)

2. Not Dark Yet (Bob on electric guitar)

3. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on electric guitar)

4. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Bob on electric guitar)

5. Tears Of Rage (Bob on electric guitar)

6. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on electric guitar)

7. Lay, Lady, Lay (Bob on electric guitar)

 

 

Stockholm, Sweden

Globe

 

March 28, 2007

 

1. Cat's In The Well (Bob on electric guitar, Donnie on violin)

2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

(Bob on electric guitar, Tony on standup bass)

3. Watching The River Flow (Bob on electric guitar)

4. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

(Bob on electric guitar, Tony on standup bass)

5. When The Deal Goes Down (Bob on electric guitar, Stu on acoustic guitar)

 

 

some of the song choices on guitar are interesting (dont think twice and lay lady lay, for example). i hope the number of tunes doesnt keep dwindling. better seeing him center stage rather than crouching behind the toy casio at the edge of the stage! last time he played guitar at his own shows was in october 2003.

 

picture here:

 

http://expressen.se/noje/1.614098

[Analogman]

I think the last Dylan album is a stinker also.

[paul137]

this is exciting news

[TheMaker]

For the record, I'm really not spoiling for a fight. I'm just sick and tired of being told, "Well, of course you don't appreciate it - you have to be intimately familiar with Memphis Minnie, for starters. And you have to be wearing a vermillion sweater while rubbing your tummy and patting your head to fully understand what Dylan was trying to accomplish with Modern Times..." As if context were the only key capable of unlocking a set of freshly minted songs. Even if that were the case, I think it's a pretty sorry prerequisite to being able to enjoy something. In my opinion, familiarity with Dylan's recent sources does nothing save diminish the quality his work, rather than enhance it. I'm an artist myself, and I've been fortunate enough to make a little (certainly not a lot) money from my work. Like virtually any working artist, I've been ripped off by the unscrupulous masses, and let me tell you, when somebody tries passing off your work as his or her own without adding significant context or framing it sensibly as an homage, it cheapens every party involved in the theft.

 

And I know full well that theft isn't unique to Dylan in the world of songwriting, nor is it something new for him. A lot of his early (brilliant) songs borrowed chords from folk standards and old British songs like "Nottamun Town." Time Out of Mind is littered with words and phrases borrowed from the blues and folk traditions, but that record reads like a singular work of art, and Dylan isn't ripping shit off left and right, more or less wholesale. TOOM is a record that makes clever use of the folk tradition, rather than merely strip mining it bare for "new" material. Similarly, I don't see anything wrong with sampling, although I draw the line at stupid bullshit like that Puff Daddy song that was ostensibly just "Every Breath You Take," by The Police.

[P Dub]

Stockholm, Sweden

Debaser Medis

 

March 27, 2007

 

 

1. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)

(Bob on electric guitar)

2. Not Dark Yet (Bob on electric guitar)

3. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on electric guitar)

4. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (Bob on electric guitar)

5. Tears Of Rage (Bob on electric guitar)

6. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on electric guitar)

7. Lay, Lady, Lay (Bob on electric guitar)

Stockholm, Sweden

Globe

 

March 28, 2007

 

1. Cat's In The Well (Bob on electric guitar, Donnie on violin)

2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

(Bob on electric guitar, Tony on standup bass)

3. Watching The River Flow (Bob on electric guitar)

4. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

(Bob on electric guitar, Tony on standup bass)

5. When The Deal Goes Down (Bob on electric guitar, Stu on acoustic guitar)

some of the song choices on guitar are interesting (dont think twice and lay lady lay, for example). i hope the number of tunes doesnt keep dwindling. better seeing him center stage rather than crouching behind the toy casio at the edge of the stage! last time he played guitar at his own shows was in october 2003.

 

picture here:

 

http://expressen.se/noje/1.614098

 

 

Thanks my friend! I should've done that to start with lol...

[froggie]

[Is Chicago Is Not Chicago]

I'm so pissed he didn't play guitar on the U.S. tour! Nevertheless, he'll be around again soon i'm sure. This is great news! When did he "stop" playing guitar? The first time I saw him in '99 I can't recall wether he played the ole guitar or not...

[solace]

I'm so pissed he didn't play guitar on the U.S. tour! Nevertheless, he'll be around again soon i'm sure. This is great news! When did he "stop" playing guitar? The first time I saw him in '99 I can't recall wether he played the ole guitar or not...

2001 or 2002 i think. just after i saw him for the first time.

[MattZ]

I'll admit that all seems right with the world when Dylan is front and center holding a guitar at a show, but its not like his guitar playing ever did or ever will carry the show. I understand the excitement, but it seems a bit over the top, no? I mean, the last time I saw him on guitar he had Charlie Sexton on one side and Larry Campbell on the other. I have never had the good fortune to be up close -- I mean REALLY up close -- so I suppose I wasn't able to appreciate what he was doing on guitar on that tour, but my impression was that he was basically mailing it in on guitar and letting Sexton/Campbell do the heavy lifting.

 

Which is why I always assumed he went back to the keys. His heart wasn't in it on guitar.

 

As for the sidebar spat with TheMaker: I hear ya, man. Like I said, I dig your passion for this stuff. I just happen to disagree.

[tongue-tied lightning]

for me, Bob just looks more into the show if he has his guitar.

 

I've been to his recent shows and he just looks down the whole show, and plays his little keyboard.

It just looks wierd.

 

when ya think of Bob, you think guitar, not keyboard.

[Sir Stewart]

Last time I saw Bob on geetar it was a hell of a night

(yes, #6 is the Stones song)

[elston gunn]

i love Bob, but his voice is too shot for my ears. i enjoy every show but i just wish he had now his late 90s-early 00's voice. which was shot, but in a beatiful way.

 

the voice is what it's all about. there isn't anyone who could sing these later-period Dylan songs but him. his voice is perfect. he's proved himself to be one of the finest singers and interpreters of the blues ever. go back and listen to Charley Patton, Robert Johnson or Dock Boggs sing and you might have a different perspective about what is great...and why they (and Dylan's recent work) are considered to be such.

 

-justin

[froggie]

the electric keyboard first appeared in Seattle, 5 oct 2002. first time he played keyboard since the infamous stuttgart 91 show

 

edited to add, here's new morning from the stuttgart show... unstead camery for the first minute or 2 but worth the wait

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KUqOjCNf93M

[P Dub]

Last time I saw Bob on geetar it was a hell of a night

(yes, #6 is the Stones song)

 

That was a wild tour! Do you have it?

[P Dub]

the electric keyboard first appeared in Seattle, 5 oct 2002. first time he played keyboard since the infamous stuttgart 91 show

 

edited to add, here's new morning from the stuttgart show... unstead camery for the first minute or 2 but worth the wait

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KUqOjCNf93M

 

That was great to see! Thanks! I love playing that Pelham Al show from 4/20/91...some improv piano playing there too.!

[bjorn_skurj]

I have no idea what this thread is about.

 

 

Through the darkness of future past

the magician longs to see

one chants out between two worlds

'Fire walk with me.'

[Sir Stewart]

That was a wild tour! Do you have it?

No, none from that tour. You?

[Adam2]

I hope this wasn't addressed to me (although I do seem to be the guy who slagged on Dylan's recent work the hardest in this thread). Because I assure you, I'm in no desperate need for a refresher course on how great Patton, Johnson, Boggs, Thornton, Hurt, Hopkins, Jefferson, Muddy or any of the blues giants were, and continue to be.

 

My major beefs with Dylan's work began at the outset of the current decade, more or less. I'm one of the few Dylanphiles who rank Time Out of Mind among my top three Dylan records of all time, so I certainly have no quarrel with anything pre-dating Love & Theft. L&T is a mixed bag for me, however. A song like "Mississippi" stands up well next to anything Dylan's ever written, but hey, it's a holdover from the '90s, so that shouldn't be surprising. I suspect a few other numbers appearing on that record also date to the '90s, but obviously there's no way of knowing for sure when they were composed. Unfortunately, no fewer than three songs on that record are note-for-note lifts of other artists' tunes. Although the lyrics are Dylan's, the music for "Tweedle Dee" is a shameless plundering of the old Johnny and Jack song "Uncle John's Bongos," right down to the bridge. Gene Austin's "Rebecca" was transposed from piano to guitar for "Summer Days," while Austin's "Lonesome Road" was lifted part and parcel for "Sugar Baby." A few of Austin's lines even survived the transition, like "Look up, look up / And seek your maker / 'fore Gabriel blows his horn."

 

Modern Times, on the other hand, is just minor Dylan, not to be taken seriously. It has less in common with TOOM and L&T than it does albums like Under the Red Sky and Dylan's Traveling Wilburys contributions. Half the record is bar band blooze-rock filler, uninspired and anything but compelling; funnily enough, you can pretty much go down the track listing and cross off all of the odd-numbered songs with a red pen, for all they're worth. There are plenty of breezy workouts here, but there are no Dylan songs anywhere. There's "Rollin' and Tumblin'," another note-for-note swipe of a superior old song, although this one isn't nearly as obscure as "Uncle John's Bongos." "Someday Baby" is a snoozer of a Muddy Waters remake, originally known as "Trouble No More," which, hilariously, Dylan himself covered in the early '90s. And although it's credited as a Dylan original, I'm sure every pre-war blues fan in the world has heard "The Levee's Gonna Break" countless times before. "Ain't Talkin'" works well enough on paper, but in practice it sounds like later-period Dylan on autopilot, or maybe even a kind of self-parody. "Workingman's Blues #2" at least sports a fine melody, but the lyrics are yet more pastiche, a superficially interesting skeleton without any marrow. What's the song about? Anything? I'm not convinced it is.

 

And his voice is just shot. Opinions will vary, of course, but ever since Sexton left the touring band, Dylan has sounded laryngitic and snarled. The vocals from the last few live shows I've downloaded have been devoid of both melody and panache, regrettably, and Dylan has never sounded more consumptive and breathless on record than he does on Modern Times. He's really struggling, and buddy - that ain't a stylistic conceit. A lot of people love to believe Dylan's still got it, and that's fine by me. Everybody needs something to believe in. For what it's worth, I still consider Bob Dylan the greatest American artist ever to have lived. Nobody's perfect, though.

 

is this an excerpt from your new book?

[TheMaker]

Congratulations! You win!