Bob Dylan - new album just out on Tidal - Rough and Rowdy Ways
Just a heads up. Bob’s new album is out on Tidal today. Just finished my first listen - I am a big fan of Bob Dylan - I consider him the Poet of my generation - at 79 his lyrics tell beautiful stories - IMO. Enjoy the music.
I believe Dylan was asked once ‘what he was’, and he replied a ‘trapeze artist’. That’s exactly how I would expect Dylan to respond to a question like that.
Seriously, I don’t think you can classify Dylan, and I doubt he would do so if asked (see above).
There are a lot of bands I don’t consider rock even though others do, and the ‘Hawks’, er I mean The Band, was one of those. I never considered The Band a ‘rock band’. Some band and musicians just don’t fit in a nice tidy box, some others do.
Dylan was a fan of Bobby Vee, born in Fargo, ND of Like a Rubber Ball I’ll Come Bouncing Back to You fame. Dylan progressed from songs about death and doom on his first records to some outright rockers when he went electric. Then back to doom and gloom! 😩
Early in Vee’s career, a musician calling himself Elston Gunn briefly toured with the band.[11][12][13] This was Robert Allen Zimmerman, who later went on to fame as Bob Dylan. Dylan’s autobiography mentions Vee and provides complimentary details about their friendship, both professional and personal.
Actually, Robert Zimmerman WAS a member of a Rock ’n’ Roll band, while a high school student in Hibbing, Minnesota. I forget their name, but can you imagine having been in that band with him? Who knew?!
Yeah, but there comes a time when you have to say, enough! it's time to quit, Bob. You're embarrassing yourself. That time is different for everyone, but he’s reached it for me.
There may already be a few out there in the world, and may have been, but language barrier becomes a real barrier.
Oh, there are, such as an album I have by John Trudell - Johnny Damas And Me
It’s interesting, and I used to listen to it a lot when I was younger. Tried to again not so long ago, but just lost interest. It wasn’t his message, but rather his method to the musical part of it, or a lack thereof.
Cohen is ‘the granddaddy’ of this style, and he still interests me as he does it so well. Same to a degree with Tom Waits. Or, later, Laurie Anderson who I have a lot of work of, but she never really touted herself as a musician or singer either. Simply a performance artist and composer. She may of rubbed off on Lou, or Lou her.
I am not too impressed with Bob's raspy, nasal recitations. He doesn't sing much anymore. IMHO, he would be better off finding a singer if he still wants to play in a rock band. I doubt he will give up that much control, though. I give his albums a listen nowdays, but I'm not likely to listen to them more than once or twice.
A lot of his later stuff is overly compressed, I look for cassettes like Time out of Mind, Love and Theft but the one I really want, Modern Times, is only available from Russia, at some insane price. I met Paul Clayton a long time ago in Charlottesville, he was Dylan’s best friend in the early Village years. Clayton was a dulcimer player and singer of sea chanties.
I’m a big Dylan fan, but some of his later releases have been hard to become attached to as opposed to Highway 61, Blond on Blond, or Blood on the Tracks, his work with The Band, etc. Yea, I know, old stuff.
I’ll tell you though, I last saw Bob was around 2000ish. Natalie Merchant opened, and to be honest, I went more for Natalie than for Bob, but he and his band kicked butt, and he ‘blew me away’. Unfortunately his albums at that time seemed inconsistent, and really were not recorded/engineered (perhaps over engineered) well. So, I’ve really not paid much attention since Modern Times.
OK, this album; actually, I enjoyed it, probably because he did strip it down more bare. perhaps that’s where Bob is right now in his life, just concentrating on his poetry and lyrics more than the actual music. Unfortunately that also shows. It all started sounding the same. Great lyrics and poetry (as usual and expected), but the music seems like an excuse to make an album instead of a book.
As I was listening I kept thinking of Leonard Cohen. Leonard has made many albums this same way, but to me, there was usually still a greater musical diversity no matter how ‘simple’ in accompaniment. Do we really need another Cohen?
I really enjoyed it. His singing is more straightforward and his poetry and subject matter are still weighty and the music itself is enjoyable. I like the elder Bob more in some ways than the young Bob. Blood on the Tracks will always be my favorite, but I also really enjoy Time Out of Mind. There's a lot more gravitas to some of his later work.
Just been streaming it on Qobuz in hires. First track did not move me, in fact it nearly made me want to turn it off. Fortunately I persevered and things improved a lot. Will I buy it? Probably not though......
I like it a lot. Wonderful, well recorded album. I always admired Dylan's poetry and compositions, but singing was not his forte. Surprisingly his singing is really good. Songs, on slow side, are very melodic while the band and musical arrangements are first class. Strings in Murder Most Foul are brilliant addition. All lyrics are very interesting (need more time to digest). I'm not sure about Amazon Prime - Music bitrate, but CD sounds much better (cleaner and more open).
John to - I take your comment as asking me for more detail as to what I hear in Dylan’s new album - so hear goes.
The main musical theme in the album is simplicity. You can still make great music with limited musicians - piano, Hammond B3, acoustic guitar guitar, snare drum. He focuses on delicate rhythms for the majority of the album. He did I add strings to ‘Murder Most Foul’.
oOn ‘Mother of Muses’ he adds a bass drum to the rear of the soundstage to great effect.
Two of the cuts are what I consider Honky Tonk - ‘Goodbye Jimmy Reed and Crossing The Rubicon’. More guitar and drum kit and cymbals.
The star of the album are the lyrics in all of the songs - like I said in my original post - he is a Poet - his ability to paint a picture in my mind while he sings is a gift he offers to those who want to listen, he makes me think, and he creates a musical web to help me focus on the story he is telling in his lyrics.
Wow, such a broad sweeping statement. Sorry to read this, and realize how much you have missed. So much great music after that record. So much. But, to each his own. Rock on.
Took a listen on Spotify and didn't really dig it. I do really like "Murder Most Foul", but none of the other track did much for me. It was a very casual listen, so maybe I'll try it again when I can give it more attention.
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