Dylan speaks his mind

[jacky54]

The blues, influenced all the white boy wanabees from the 60's Dylan included and the stones. Dylan certainly wrote some great lyrics but was a terrible performer who could barely play the guitar or sing. Others made more of his work than he ever did. nuff said

Edited February 12, 2015 by jacky54

[rgs2001uk]

Bob Dylan's music will be just as vital and important centuries from now much like the great, classic composers who have never been surpassed. His musical masterpieces range from huge numbers of individual songs as well as many, many albums. His voice is amazing,

I don't think so, although some of his songs probably will survive but only with other people doing them (all along the watchtower) You can't really call a three chord folk song sung out of tune the work of a classic unsurpassed composer. Much of his output since the mid 60's is forgettable, his last decent album was blood on the tracks. Poor guitar player, bravely made the most of not having a voice and wrote a few great songs= over rated. he was also never an active supporter of equal rights unlike Baez, he was all talk and no action.

Everybody's got an opinion but 1997's "Time Out Of Mind" won the Grammy for best album of the year and a few others too. I thought ""Infidels" was an overlooked album that was quite good. "I and I" being one of my favorite Dylan tunes.

Infidels was at the time seen as his "comeback album" after some of the "born again albums" he had released just prior.

Personally I think Blone On Blonde was his finest work.

If we take the benchmark of BOTT, it would be 10 years before he would release anything of note, a la Infidels, and his last decent album to me was the Unplugged concerts from 20 years ago.

Interestingly enough, its not what he releases that catches my ears, its what he doesnt release.

The BOB, BOTT and Infidels bootlegs all have an array of material that could have and should have been released.

Infidels sounds dated now, '80s recording, Mark Knopfler too way up in the mix.

The thing with His Bobness is, he could release an album of himself sat on the toilet "blowing in the wind" and the Bobophilles would be clamouring all over it searching for some sort of inner mystic and hidden meanings.

Cant to this day understand why two of his greatest concerts have never seen the light of day, I refer to, Stolen Moments from 4-12-63 and Unravelled Tales from 10-26-63.

[Ulysses G.]

The blues, influenced all the white boy wanabees from the 60's Dylan included and the stones. Dylan certainly wrote some great lyrics but was a terrible performer who could barely play the guitar or sing. Others made more of his work than he ever did. nuff said

The funny thing is that Hendrix couldn't sing either. I did not think much of him in the 60s, but he has grown on me since. He definitely had something special going for him.

[Patsycat]

I liked Zebedee. My mum, probably too, when he said "time for bed"!!

[rgs2001uk]

The blues, influenced all the white boy wanabees from the 60's Dylan included and the stones. Dylan certainly wrote some great lyrics but was a terrible performer who could barely play the guitar or sing. Others made more of his work than he ever did. nuff said

The funny thing is that Hendrix couldn't sing either. I did not think much of him in the 60s, but he has grown on me since. He definitely had something special going for him.

And on the eighth day celestial beings delivered unto us, this.

Never mind who killed JR Ewing, Lady Di or Kennedey, who killed James Marshall?

Jimi, we salute you for your service, not only for your country but to mankind.

Edited February 12, 2015 by rgs2001uk

[lannarebirth]

Bob Dylan's music will be just as vital and important centuries from now much like the great, classic composers who have never been surpassed. His musical masterpieces range from huge numbers of individual songs as well as many, many albums. His voice is amazing,

I don't think so, although some of his songs probably will survive but only with other people doing them (all along the watchtower) You can't really call a three chord folk song sung out of tune the work of a classic unsurpassed composer. Much of his output since the mid 60's is forgettable, his last decent album was blood on the tracks. Poor guitar player, bravely made the most of not having a voice and wrote a few great songs= over rated. he was also never an active supporter of equal rights unlike Baez, he was all talk and no action.

Everybody's got an opinion but 1997's "Time Out Of Mind" won the Grammy for best album of the year and a few others too. I thought ""Infidels" was an overlooked album that was quite good. "I and I" being one of my favorite Dylan tunes.

Infidels was at the time seen as his "comeback album" after some of the "born again albums" he had released just prior.

Personally I think Blone On Blonde was his finest work.

If we take the benchmark of BOTT, it would be 10 years before he would release anything of note, a la Infidels, and his last decent album to me was the Unplugged concerts from 20 years ago.

Interestingly enough, its not what he releases that catches my ears, its what he doesnt release.

The BOB, BOTT and Infidels bootlegs all have an array of material that could have and should have been released.

Infidels sounds dated now, '80s recording, Mark Knopfler too way up in the mix.

The thing with His Bobness is, he could release an album of himself sat on the toilet "blowing in the wind" and the Bobophilles would be clamouring all over it searching for some sort of inner mystic and hidden meanings.

Cant to this day understand why two of his greatest concerts have never seen the light of day, I refer to, Stolen Moments from 4-12-63 and Unravelled Tales from 10-26-63.

Almost everybody thinks Blonde on Blonde is his greatest album. No surprise there.

[AYJAYDEE]

Almost everybody thinks Blonde on Blonde is his greatest album. No surprise there.

almost everybody? lol. I can find just as many who say it was Blood on the Tracks

[kayo]

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I lost all respect for this guy when I watched the Bob Dylan cocert. Sinead o'Connor ripped up a picture of the pope on stage and said something like 'screw the pope'. As things turned out, this was about all the hidden and lied about paedophilia going on in the Catholic church and which she had been a victim of. Chris Christoffen, god bless him, went out to help her out emotionally and Dylan sullenly stayed very visibly in the background, not moving. He was probably thinking about his reputation or something. So, all though I liked some of his early stuff, I regard the guy with revulsion these days.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/flashback-sinead-oconnor-booed-offstage-at-bob-dylan-celebration-20131119

Wow, that is pretty amazing that you made a conclusion and a decision about the guy based on how he stood in the background. You must be much smarter than me to understand his reasoning and know precisely what he was thinking.

Seeking fame and fortune all his life and suddenly he gets shy? Chris Christoffsen has more humanity in his little finger than this introverted shrinking violet. If you think thatr's the kind of guy you can admire, then ok. I can't.

@ Cooked (1st quote 10 feb at 09:30)

Excuse me? kind of argument is that?

Just thought I should point out, I've got no problem with S o'C. I like some of her music. And what she does on her own gigs is her business, be it political, religious or otherwise. But there's a glaring Factual Omission in your rational here.

It was a Special Concert to celebrate Dylan's 30th year as recording artist. Not Sinead's personal crusade. And how did she react? She made it even more of a personal crusade.

If Dylan stayed in the background it probably had more to do with the fact that he was, if anything, a special guest at the event. And generally speaking, if you're a guest at an event, and somebody else misbehaves, common etiquette is to not get involved (or help kick the troublemaker out).

So I'm sorry but while I agree child abuse and catholics go hand in hand, and should (have, largely, in the interim) be dealt with, it doesn't mean that it has to become a topic for every wedding, funeral, bar-mitzvah, and celebration of somebody.

@ Cooked (2nd quote an hour later) Refer to above. Time and place. And I don't know if you are aware of some of Dylan's music, but he was grinding down the powers that be, long before Kris Kristofferson and Sinead. On a general, Global scale (Blowin' in the Wind, to name but one) and on an individual scale (Hurricane, to name but one)

And by the way, the correct spelling of KK's name is in the article of the link posted. That's just lazy keyboard warrior-ing.

Dylan's recent interview with the AARP was also an interesting read. http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/style-trends/info-2015/bob-dylan-aarp-magazine.html

I like this particular question (which I'll copy here for people who can't read/spell, etc...- by the way, if you can't be bothered to read it, just highlight it and press alt+n to make it noisy...

Q: Do you think of this album as risky? These songs have fans who will say you can’t touch Frank’s version.

A: Risky? Like walking across a field laced with land mines? Or working in a poison gas factory? There’s nothing risky about making records. Comparing me with Frank Sinatra? You must be joking. To be mentioned in the same breath as him must be some sort of high compliment. As far as touching him goes, nobody touches him. Not me or anyone else.

[kayo]

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Historically yes....he's good at identifying trending possibly lucrative situations and writing sellable verse......to accompany the his other work....Joan Baez - who I have met a couple of times and was absolutely was besotted by with her as a person was good at the same thing.....there are many different styles and people and we all appreciate something different.....

Hi Bob, thanks for joining this topic...

Bob Dylan's music will be just as vital and important centuries from now much like the great, classic composers who have never been surpassed. His musical masterpieces range from huge numbers of individual songs as well as many, many albums. His voice is amazing,

I don't think so, although some of his songs probably will survive but only with other people doing them (all along the watchtower) You can't really call a three chord folk song sung out of tune the work of a classic unsurpassed composer. Much of his output since the mid 60's is forgettable, his last decent album was blood on the tracks. Poor guitar player, bravely made the most of not having a voice and wrote a few great songs= over rated. he was also never an active supporter of equal rights unlike Baez, he was all talk and no action.

It takes talkers to motivate the actioners.

No rebellious folk singer has taken all that much action! name one?? Most of 'em even avoided military service (though in 60's that was probably for sound moral reasons)

Jim Morrison got his cock out.oh and shouted a lot. ***

Marley smoked an enviable amount of pot and snorted excellent cocaine.

Hendrix... see above.

Baez was a performer, a great one, nothing more.

Young, completely brilliant lunatic entertainer.

Joplin, all of the above. (maybe not the cock bit)

***Jimi & Jim jamming in some underground club in new york. Unlistenable but a collectors item.

the list goes on

Edited February 12, 2015 by kayo

[kayo]

People claim that rap is poetry as well

It is. Lousy poetry.

Oh Uly.... Time and place...

I was never into rap and am still not a huge fan. But my respect for some stuff has grown.

NWA, Dré, Cube, DMX, all that era of rap was exactly what Dylan was doing in the sixties. but relevant to them.

And the world they lived in. But instead of going out shooting people and all that, they rapped about it. And people liked it. because the rappers - again, like Dylan - were saying what people were thinking.

It was relevant to them in their world.

Later most of it became commercial ccrap, like so much.

But it was relevant, and every now and then, can still be.

Just like every type of music, there are still people making relevant music. It has always been drowned out by pop-py rubbish, or pop wannabees (Byrds, Monkees, anyone?)

and it is like that in Folk, Rap, Rock, everything going. The good guys are still out there, but they are definitely being drowned out, and the waters get deeper with every ridiculous increase of population and pop stars.

edit: just Came across this link while googling Dylan Rap fairly interesting (and far as i know accurate)

Edited February 12, 2015 by kayo

[AYJAYDEE]

People claim that rap is poetry as well

It is. Lousy poetry.

Oh Uly.... Time and place...

I was never into rap and am still not a huge fan. But my respect for some stuff has grown.

NWA, Dré, Cube, DMX, all that era of rap was exactly what Dylan was doing in the sixties. but relevant to them.

And the world they lived in. But instead of going out shooting people and all that, they rapped about it. And people liked it. because the rappers - again, like Dylan - were saying what people were thinking.

It was relevant to them in their world.

Later most of it became commercial ccrap, like so much.

But it was relevant, and every now and then, can still be.

Just like every type of music, there are still people making relevant music. It has always been drowned out by pop-py rubbish, or pop wannabees (Byrds, Monkees, anyone?)

and it is like that in Folk, Rap, Rock, everything going. The good guys are still out there, but they are definitely being drowned out, and the waters get deeper with every ridiculous increase of population and pop stars.

edit: just Came across this link while googling Dylan Rap fairly interesting (and far as i know accurate)

If you think the Byrds are pop-py, you obviously havent got a copy of :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_of_the_Rodeo

Edited February 12, 2015 by AYJAYDEE

[Ulysses G.]

Oh Uly.... Time and place...

I was never into rap and am still not a huge fan. But my respect for some stuff has grown.

Actually, my problem with rap is not the rapping. It is the fact that they call it rap music. I have only heard one or two songs with good music and I did not mind them at all, but, IMO, most of it is just pap. If they wanted to classify rap as spoken word poetry, I would not be so down on it, but of course it would not sell. I actually liked "The Last Poets", back in the 60s, but have not had much use for it since.

[pgrahmm]

Rap....until you live in the US and hear the lyrics blasting as they drive slowly down the street...."kill the motherf##kn pOlice"kill the cracker".."f##k the bitch"....etc...it's programming which is now baring the fruit of reverse hatred racism.....not by accident that things are happening now.....

Edited February 13, 2015 by pgrahmm

[AYJAYDEE]

Rap....until you live in the US and hear the lyrics blasting as they drive slowly down the street...."kill the motherf##kn pOlice"kill the cracker".."f##k the bitch"....etc...it's programming which is now baring the fruit of reverse hatred racism.....not by accident that things are happening now.....

america reaps the whirlwind

[kayo]

Granted there is plenty of crappy and crude rap also. Just like anything and everyone. There's the good, the bad, and the Horse with no Name...

[kayo]

Granted there is plenty of crappy and crude rap also. Just like anything and everyone. There's the good, the bad, and the Horse with no Name...

[SpokaneAl]

Like him or loath him, Mr. Dylan still seems to have a lot to say.

http://www.bobdylan.com/us/news/post-musicares-conversation-bill-flanagan

[piersbeckett]

What comes to mind? - wasn't afraid to diversify - great song writer & harmonica player - profound as well as comical lyrics - excellent lyrical phrasing - "I don't have no sports car & I don't even care to have one; I can walk any time round the block" - "You must tell me baby how your head feels under somethin' like that, your brand new leopard-skin pillbox hat" - "I needs a real good woman to do just what I say" - "You can't win with a losing hand" - "Get outta here, I'll break yer bones, I ain't yer pop, I decided to have him arrested and went looking for a cop" - "All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie" - "To dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waiving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the golden sands with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget today until tomorrow" - "You never understood, it ain't no good, you shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you" - "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now" - "she never stumbles, she's got no place to fall" e.g..

His stuff either got you or it didn't; if it did, apart from his religious phase and some comparatively weak stuff you'll be aware that he not only varied his output a lot but when he got older, he wrote as an older person which I agree just wouldn't have sold if that's where he'd begun but was so meaningful if you had followed him.

When he was young he sang "she a brown skinned woman but I love her just the same"; when he was older he sang "that woman's so crazy she's drivin' me to tears, I swear I ain't gonna touch another one in years" & "I couldn't tell the difference between a real blonde and a fake and what difference would it make" - I'm not saying that it matters one way or the other whether or not these things contradict each other but only that the 'take' is different & I stand corrected if some of the quotes ain't quite right.

To me the main point of his speech was his declaration that his output was the result of dedication to his craft and a willingness to experiment.

Personally I've never been able to stand the man, no, seriously, he's contributed to my enjoyment of music a great deal over many years.

Edited February 15, 2015 by piersbeckett