sadly, i would settle for saving the neighborhood….
The Aaron Copland / Bob Dylan connection
Do I have your attention now?!
I am about 2/5th's the way into an amazing book that anyone with the slightest interest in American art forms should find well worth his or her time. It was written by Sean Wilentz, a Professor of American History at Princeton, and author of a few books on that subject. But the book I'm reading is entitled Bob Dylan In America, and it is, hands down, the best writing on Dylan I have yet to read. And I have read a lot about Dylan!
Wilentz starts the book by laying out the context within which Dylan's work will be examined and discussed, starting with the very American music of Aaron Copland. I guarantee you, you have never before heard what Wilentz has to say about the connection between that composer and Dylan. The next section is about the overlap between the Beat writers and the Folk singers of the late 50's and early 60's, but not without tracing their origins back to the 1930's. The relationship between Dylan and Allen Ginsberg is discussed in great detail, and continues into future chapters. It is fascinating stuff.
Wilentz finally gets to Dylan himself, and provides details on the writing and recording of Bob's first six albums, as well as the live shows coinciding with them, culminating in by far the best examination of his masterpiece, "Blonde On Blonde", I have read. Every song, every recording session, every musician involved (there are some surprises!), all examined with fanatical attention to detail. I thought I already knew a lot about the album, but I learned much more than I already knew. Absolutely fantastic!
I do believe this may be the best book I have ever read on the subject of, not just Dylan, but of any artist. I found it at my Public Library, but I'm going to buy a copy. That I'll want to read it again I have no doubt.
98 responses Add your response
No @jafant, and most likely never will. His worst period! I loved the three Christian albums which immediately preceded it, however. I saw him live in the very-early 90’s, and he was just awful, as was his 3-piece band. Ten years later he was great live, one of the best I’ve ever witnessed. I just saw Mary Gauthier live in a small (maybe 150 seats), great sounding club (the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon), and she was playing a harmonica mounted on a neck-brace (ala Dylan). She also displayed great ability as an acoustic rhythm guitarist, very dynamic. |
Have finally read the book recommended at the start of the thread and… well it’s okay. There were a few fascinating insights but not that many if you have followed Dylan at all in the last few decades and it’s poorly written overall; repetitive in places and nowhere near the top of the list. Found myself agreeing with a lot of the Amazon reviews. It’s okay but has massive blind spots. One of those books you’ll like if you already approach Dylan from that perspective. Far less persuasive if you take a wider view. Similarly I think it’s true to say that the most revelatory Bootleg Series releases have been those covering his weakest periods. Found myself listening to the new one on Qobuz having steered clear of all the so called religious period Dylan albums and… well it’s inarguably once again something of a revelation. Strongly recommended. |
It doesn’t change anything that Willentz may have written about Dylan, but readers of this thread probably should be aware that Willentz is a very politically active figure who has been a bit of a lightning rod. He actively defended the Clintons , intitially during the impeachment of Bill and later during Hiliary’s campaign against Obama, with such fervor that even the New York Times censured him in an editorial. He called both W. and Trump the “worst Presidents in History “. He also vigorously has defended Thomas Jefferson’s policies of land grab from Native Americans in his professional writings. He can reliably found on CNN commenting. I am not commenting on him either way, but it may help prospective readers know what his Political Orientation is, as his writings about music go beyond discussing individual artists to encompass the milieu that they inhabited |
Damn @jafant, 60 years! I was a little too young to like (or even know about) Dylan in '62, not learning of him 'til on the radio hearing "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", and then not being able to relate to it at all. That song was of course on the Blonde On Blonde album, after which he had his motorcycle accident and didn't release another album until John Wesley Harding. By the time of the arrival of that album I was ready for him, though only barely.
That same year ('68) Music From Big Pink was released, and I was not ready for it.
By the time of Blonde On Blonde's follow up Nashville Skyline I was pumped and primed, and loved it. I even loved his next album, the generally-misunderstood and appreciated Self Portrait.
In '69 the Band's incredible second album was released, and it immediately became (and remains) the most important album of my life. By then I was making music with a coupla guys who had seen Dylan with The Hawks live in '65 (at The San Jose Civic Auditorium, where the previous year I had attended my first live show: The Beach Boys), which I would do just about anything to be able to say. |
@jafant: BS17 is going to be great! I love the Time Out Of Mind album, and am anxious to hear it remixed with some of Daniel Lanois’ production "haze" removed (like the Spector-free Let It Be Naked). In addition to the regular CD and LP versions, a 10 LP box is available on the Dylan website (only). 230 bucks though, a lotta dough. I haven’t yet decided which version to get, but there’s no hurry (except for the 10 LP box, which is a limited edition). For future Bootleg releases, I'd love ones devoted to the Planet Waves and Love And Theft albums. Let me repeat that a new Dylan book is out (The Philosophy Of Modern Song), and it’s essential reading. |
@jafant: I finally made up my mind on Bootleg Volume 17, and went with the 4 LP iteration. The 5 CD set includes a lot more material, but mostly live shows, with which I’m not particularly interested. Some of the live recordings are from Dylan’s appearance in L.A. in 2001, a show I may have been in attendance at. He played The Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd. (a beautiful Art Deco building) five nights in a row. He and his band were absolutely fantastic the night I saw & heard them! I played a show on that stage once, and it’s a "difficult" room (the back wall reflections arrive back at the stage rather quickly---it’s not a deep room, making it hard to hear the sound coming from the stage monitors). So hats off to Bob and his fantastic band. Opening for Dylan that night (he had a different opening act every night) was an unaccompanied Beck, who was underwhelming. |
@jafant: I bought all the deluxe CD boxset versions of previous Bootleg series releases (I really wanted ALL the Basement Tape recordings, for instance), but for this one I chose the 4-LP set. The extra material in the 5-CD box didn't particularly interest me. But I love you don't let hardcore audiophile peer pressure intimidate you into not buying CD's ;-) . Some of my favorite music has been released on CD only, and if it's truly "about the music"..... |
Haven't a clue @jafant. But I would love any Planet Waves unreleased tracks or alternative versions. And an expanded Before The Flood---from the 1974 tour with The Band, if any unreleased tracks exist. Bill Graham sold tickets for the San Francisco Dylan/Band show in a mail-order raffle manner, and received requests for ten times the number of tickets available. I was one of the 90% who was disappointed. 😭 |
And hopefully a Happy 2025 to you @jafant
I just finished reading The Double Life Of Bob Dylan---A Restless, Hungry Feeling (1941-1966) by Clinton Heylin. Highly recommended! Now I gotta get my ass to the theater to see the new movie on his 1961-65 period.
I still want to hear any unreleased material from the Planet Waves sessions, though there is fact may be none. I love that album, as well as the live album from the related 1974 Dylan/Band tour. I sent for tickets to the show at The Oakland Coliseum, but like 9 out of 10 people who did the same wasn't among the luckier people who got tickets.
|
@jafant: I find the post-’66 period very interesting myself. While in 1967 the Rock world was turning to psychedelia, long instrumental jams, and non-U.S.A. instruments and music forms (I consider the introduction of the sitar into Rock ’n’ Roll a miserable idea. Does anyone actually like "Within You Without You"? Oy!), Dylan spent the whole year in the basement of Big Pink, schooling The Hawks in all things American), recording the musical collaboration that became known as The Basement Tapes. That year has already been covered in the great Bootleg Series Vol. 11 that Columbia finally put out in 2014. Then on December 27th of 1967, out of nowhere Dylan reappears with the very low key John Wesley Harding album, which could not have been more different from what everyone else was doing (and what Dylan had himself doing on his last album, Blonde On Blonde) if Dylan had tried. Actually, that is perhaps exactly what he was doing with that album. I remember hearing it and being completely mystified. I was in the throes of my Cream/Hendrix/etc.phase, which I didn’t snap out of until the Summer of ’69. I heard Music From Big Pink when it was released in June of ’68, but found it incomprehensible. It wasn’t until that Summer of ’69 that I had my musical epiphany, so when The Band’s "brown" album came out that year I was ready for it. I also found a copy of the 2-LP bootleg of The basement tapes, and set about studying them. Every other musician I knew (well, the good ones at least) was doing the same.
|