( 19 reviews )
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Posted: 06-29-2009
The first paragraph of this review has been used to review other later Bob Dylan CDs. Okay, okay I have gone on and one over the past year or so about the influence of Bob Dylan's music (and lyrics) on me, and on my generation, the Generation of '68. But, please, don't blame me. Blame Bob. After all he could very easily have gone into retirement and enjoyed the fallout from his youthful fame and impressed one and all at his local AARP chapter. But, no, he had to go out on the road continuously, seemingly forever, keeping his name and music front and center. Moreover, the son of a gun has done more reinventions of himself than one could shake a stick at (folk troubadour, symbolic poet in the manner of Rimbaud and Verlaine, heavy metal rocker, blues man, etc.) So, WE are left with forty or so years of work to go through to try to sort it out. In short, can I (or anyone else) help it if he is restless and acts, well, ....like a rolling stone? All of this is by way of introduction to the latest group of CDs from the vaults of one Bob Dylan's vast repertoire of musical interests. I note that there is a touch of going back, way back, and a life times' summing up driving the music. I also note the increased emphasis on the music that influenced him early on in his rise to fame and many tips of the hat to the so-called American Songbook that he seemingly knows by heart. While we are all familiar with the various periodizations of the Dylan musical trajectory- folk troubadour a la Woody Guthrie, hard rockster, semi-Christian evangelical, old vaudeville showman and sentimental (for him) songster it is good to see him return ever more to his beginnings. "Bringing It All Back Home", "Blonde On Blonde" and "Blood On The Tracks" will probably be his monuments in the folk/rock/pop pantheons but some of the late work, especially some of the covers of the early blues men like Skip James and Blind Willie McTell will endure as well. Stick outs here include "High Water" (his tribute to the legendary Mississippi bluesman Charley Patton; a very lyrically mysterious "Mississippi"; a plaintive "Po' Boy": and, a seeming return to 1920's pop culture Rudy Vallee crooner-type "Bye And Bye".
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Posted: 06-27-2009
The first couple of times I played this record I wasn't very impressed and thought that it had little to offer. The music was good but I didn't like his voice and I couldn't believe that Dylan would open the album with a song called 'Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum'. After repeated listens I still was having trouble identifying the greatness of this album so I set it aside. Then I purchased Together Through Life, which I enjoyed, and it made me take another listen to L&T and I finally got it! He was trying to summon old blues styles from the 40s and 50s...and was doing it masterfully! As for the tracks, I still don't like Tweedle Dee. So if you were to take it off of the album you would start with Mississippi, which is a great song! I think it belongs on Time Out Of Mind (the album for which it was written) but it plays nicely here. Summer Days and Bye & Bye are good songs but I think the album really kicks in right after. Lonesome Day Blues, Honest With Me and Cry A While are blistering blues jams, which Dylan's hard and raspy voice fits perfectly with the old school blues rhythms. High Water is unique and is sung with attitude. With the addition of the banjo, the subtle accordion and backing vocals this song really stands out. Floater, Moonlight and Po' Boy are graceful ballads which Dylan sings with a playfully slyness. Sugar Baby is a nice slower ballad and is a good closing track. L&T doesn't flow perfectly like Blonde On Blonde but the strength of a majority of these songs pulls this album to the top of Dylan's catalog. It represents the start of another great phase of his musical genius.
