Calexico Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 I think the last Dylan album is a stinker also. Modern Times? Really? I must say I thought it was the best thing he had done in years. You plough a furrow all on your own A-Man. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 That was a wicked googly. The last Dylan album I really cared for was Infidels. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Calexico Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 That was a wicked googly. The last Dylan album I really cared for was Infidels. Top marks for the cricket reference. I always find something worthwhile in most every Dylan album. The last one I really loved was one which lots of people don't like at all and that was Shot Of Love. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 That one too - I got that from a Jerry Seinfeld commercial. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Calexico Posted March 31, 2007 Share Posted March 31, 2007 That one too - I got that from a Jerry Seinfeld commercial. Seinfeld and cricket? A-Man you never cease to amaze me with your knowledge of pop culture and all things mostly irrelevant. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 he played House of the rising sun at the Newcastle show last night, on guitar hmm, eric burdon was born in newcastle - does that mean he'll play Unchain my heart in Sheffield as a nod to joe cocker? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
paul137 Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 That was a wild tour! Do you have it?that was a great tour i was at the ann arbor show. i wish bob would have done the woo's on brown sugar. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sister morphine Posted April 14, 2007 Share Posted April 14, 2007 yeah, i'm stoked about this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 > i wish bob would have done the woo's on brown sugar. just my luck, i saw the first show after he dropped this from the setlist. it was last played in canberra, 6 feb 2003 - i saw the following show 2 days later Quote Link to post Share on other sites
imsjry Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 That was a wicked googly. The last Dylan album I really cared for was Infidels. Wow, Modern Times is so much beter than Infidels in every way. Also, I can't believe people are ripping on his voice. His singing on "Spirit on the Water" rivals anything he has commited to record. I LOVE the vocals on Modern Times. You guys know he is older and stuff, right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
owl Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Nettie Moore & Ain't Talkin' are the gems on that record Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nettles Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 I maybe jumping in a little late here over the debate of Dylans most recent work, whether some of it is to similar to some tunes of the past. I for one, really love that tradition of writing music, I don't mean just ripping shit off directly which I'm sure he doesn't do, but letting things come out naturally and how it comes out if it feels right, is just how it is. I myself was in an Indie pop rock band about 5 years, with a little succes and many good times, now that's over and I am having a way better time writing for and playin in my good time rock n roll band, it's nowhere near as original as I was trying to be before, but lots more fun. Not to slag off on Tweedy at all, but there are many of his tunes espeically off of Being there, where he nicks lines ( word for word sometimes ) from songs from ths past, I don't think he tries to hide it either. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
coast to coast Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 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. I agree with some things in this, but especially the bit in bold, which I only noticed once I read it. I've always thought the bluesy rockers need to do something very interesting to make them stand out. I think I like Love and Theft more than you tho. I think that album is fantastic bar the opening track. But, you know your shit and you said what you said very well also. Deserves props Oh and one thing - yeh his voice is fairly ragged and fucked, but man what can you do... sorry his life got in the way of his vocal chords? Its passable live and fine for the recordings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.