30th August - Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited

Artist – Album: Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited

Released:  30^th August 1965

Sounds Like: A special day

I’ve had days on this Albumaday… journey where I’ve had a pretty tough choice between two awesome records – in June, for example, Radiohead’s OK Computer came directly up against Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On – and occasionally, say once or twice, there’s been as many as three brilliant albums released on the same day. But today is just plain ridiculous. Today I’ve had to listen to, and then reconcile not writing about, one of the Nineties best albums in Oasis’ Definitely Maybe, The Beach Boys’ forgotten classic Surf’s Up, The Byrds’ sweetest record Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Kanye West’s superstar- status-confirming Late Registration, The Libertines’ stunning self-titled debut and Björk’s majestic Medúlla. It’s just not fair is it? As difficult as it was to justify ignoring each of these genuinely great records, however, it would have been a hell of a lot more difficult to overlook Highway 61 Revisited.

The album that definitively marked Dylan’s transformation from a folk artist to a rock star, Highway 61 Revisited is bookended by two of his most iconic tracks – the sneering, bile-fest that also happens to be the most acclaimed song of all time ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, and the mystic, flamenco tinged stream of consciousness ‘Desolation Row’. An album made of just these two alone would be worthy of mention in this blog, and, at seventeen and a half minutes between them, would roughly equate to the length of the average Ramones record. In between though, there’s wit, romance and, yes, a little bit more anger. The title track is blues boogie plays like a circus act, and it’s followed by the nervous, hallucinatory ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’. Along with ‘Desolation Row’, the shuffling ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ is probably my favourite, with Dylan filtering every bit of venom in the delivery of his put down “something’s happening but you don’t know what it is, do you Mr Jones?”. Highway 61 was seen by Dylan as the road that connected his birthplace, Duluth, to all the blues landmarks, such as the birth places of Muddy Waters and Charley Patton and the point where Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil, and, as such, a lot of the music within has blues foundations.  

Better writers than I have found themselves fumbling fruitlessly for satisfactory expressions when attempting to describe albums as great as this. Professors of English would struggle to decipher Dylan’s lush, abstract poetry, whilst the backdrop against which the album was released – with the US entering conflict in Vietnam and the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King still being mourned, the Sixties were yet to truly swing – is something that I’ve read about but have had no experience of. Nevertheless, even with my weak and feeble mind, living in these considerably less turbulent times, this album for me is still spectacularly good.

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Like a Rolling Stone – 6:13

2.       Tombstone Blues – 6:00

3.       It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry – 4:09

4.       From a Buick 6 – 3:19

5.       Ballad of a Thin Man – 5:58

6.       Queen Jane Approximately – 5:31

7.       Highway 61 Revisited – 3:30

8.       Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues – 5:32

9.       Desolation Row – 11:21

Listen to ‘Desolation Row’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-8KA4G4S9o

Also released on 30^th August:

1967: The Byrds – Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Also released on 30^th August:

1994: Oasis – Definitely Maybe

Also released on 30^th August:

2005: Kanye West – Late Registration

27th May - Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Artist – Album: Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Released:  27^th May 1963

Sounds Like: Another day, another Dylan

It’s gradually becoming clear that Bob Dylan is one of my favourite artists of all time.  I mean, I always knew he was good, and that I was supposed to like him, but it never occurred to me that I ACTUALLY liked him. I do! I really do. Today is the fourth time, in only 148 days that I have sat here trying to convince you just how awesome each album is, that a Dylan has been the centre of attention. Another indication of my adoration is the fact that I had a huge poster of this album cover on my bedroom wall since I was 16.

In many ways, this was the first record on which Dylan showed his true genius. His debut, though pleasant, was riddled with covers which only served to dilute his skill and rein in his immense talent. Here, there are still a couple of covers – the fine ‘Corrina, Corrina’  and ‘Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance’ – but it’s the originals that really stand out. ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ wasn’t just a milestone song, it was a torch song, a landmark for the flower power ideal. Other protest songs such as ‘Masters of War’ and, particularly, ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’ shone, but Dylan was more than a one trick pony. ‘Girl from the North Country’ was a delicate love song, possessing that inalienable quality of Dylan’s folk songs of sounding timeless. ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’ is ostensibly a love song but with tongue driven squarely in cheek. Elsewhere, there are the oft-lauded but questionable ‘Bob Dylan’s Blues’ and ‘Bob Dylan’s Dream’ that maybe I just don’t get.

I may have already given two Dylan album’s the full ten out of ten so far, but the eight I’m going to give this is not to be sniffed at. This was a fantastic effort, and really paved the way for the brilliance that was to come.

Albumaday... rating:  8/10

1.       Blowin’ in the Wind – 2:48

2.       Girl from the North Country – 3:22

3.       Masters of War – 4:34

4.       Down the Highway – 3:27

5.       Bob Dylan’s Blues – 2:23

6.       A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall – 6:55

7.       Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right – 3:40

8.       Bob Dylan’s Dream – 5:03

9.       Oxford Town – 1:50

10.   Talkin’ World War III Blues – 6:28

11.   Corrina, Corrina – 2:44

12.   Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance – 2:01

13.   I Shall Be Free – 4:49

Listen to ‘Don’t Think Twive It’s Alright’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZPh3hpxLKs

Also released on the 27^th May:

2003: The Thrills – So Much for the City

27th March - Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home

Artist – Album: Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home

Released:  27^th March 1965         

Sounds Like:  A record breaker

So, Bob Dylan here becomes the first artist to have had three albums reviewed on this blog, following 1964’s The Times They Are A-Changing and 1975’s Blood on the Tracks in January.

What’s surprising is that this effort doesn’t really sound anything like the other two. I mean, sure, his voice is still a squawk as in the older recording, and his lyrics are as well chosen, funny and tender as in later album, but, musically, this is going down a very different path. Here, Dylan’s forsaken the limited folk of his earlier records for the electric folk rock that he made his own. He has a go at Chuck Berry style Rock and Roll for ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, a song hilariously revealed to be a George Formby original in mock news comedy The Day Today (youtube it!). The second half is more traditional in tone but there’s a succession of more than five minute long songs, sprawling, all-encompassing tales that broke the rigid conventions of the time.

The calibre of the songs on this album is just extraordinary: ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’, ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, ‘Gates of Eden’, ’It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) and ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’; each one stakes a credible claim to be Dylan’s greatest ever single track, and each works exceptionally well with the others to create an entirely listenable and rewarding masterpiece of a whole.

And for that reason, Bob Dylan also becomes the first artist to have more than one perfect rated album on this blog. Now hear this Robert Zimmerman, I gave two tens to you.  

Albumaday... rating: 10/10

1.       Subterranean Homesick Blues – 2:21

2.       She Belongs to Me – 2:47

3.       Maggie’s Farm – 3:54

4.       Love Minus Zero/No Limit – 2:51

5.       Outlaw Blues – 3:05

6.       On the Road Again – 2:35

7.       Bob Dylan’s 115^th Dream – 6:30

8.       Mr Tambourine Man – 5:30

9.       Gates of Eden – 5:40

10.   It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – 7:29

11.   It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue – 4:12

Listen to ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqNk9C8iUII

Also released on the 27^th March:

1991: Slint - Spiderland

17th Jan - Bob Dylan's Blood On the Tracks

Artist – Album: Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks

Released: 17^th January 1975

Sounds Like: Dylan opens up about the breakdown of his relationship. Possibly

Fanfare please for Mr. Bob Dylan, who, following The Times They Are A-Changin’ on the 13^th, becomes the first person to have a second album reviewed in this blog. Well done sir, you must be very proud...

The year after that 1964 album Dylan went electric, famously being labelled Judas at the Manchester Free Trade Hall, about a mile away from where I’m sat right now. His songs moved on from simple protest songs to elegant and complex riddles; abstract poetry that continues to be interpreted and reinterpreted nearly fifty years later.  Later, he was involved in a motorcycle accident and stopped touring. His critical output seemed to have peaked with Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde in 1965/66, and his releases began edging steadily towards mediocrity by the 70s.

Blood On the Tracks was an exquisite return to form. He revisited simply constructed acoustic music, albeit with the backing of a full session band. The writing too was more back to basics than previous efforts without losing the skill and use of metaphor of his more enigmatic lyrics.

And Dylan really had something to write about. Although the man himself denies it, it’s hard to imagine that this set of songs is about anything other than the separation with his then wife Sarah. From the how-I-met-your mother tale of ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ we follow the full arc of their relationship. The album contains a plethora of emotions, from the venomous ‘Idiot Wind’ to the reconciliatory ‘Shelter from the Storm’. Each song contains his trademark wit, and despite the subject matter, there’s no soppiness to be found.

There isn’t a dud note on the whole album. Which means that, as well as being the first artist to have a second album on this blog, Dylan also becomes the first to receive the perfect ten. Congratulations indeed.

Albumaday... rating:   10/10

1.       Tangled Up in Blue – 5:42

2.       Simple Twist of Fate – 4:19

3.       You’re a Big Girl Now – 4:36

4.       Idiot Wind – 7:48

5.       You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go – 2:55

6.       Meet Me  in the Morning – 4:22

7.       Lily, Rosemary  and the Jack of Hearts – 8:51

8.       If You See Her, Say Hello – 4:49

9.       Shelter from the Storm – 5:02

10.   Buckets of Rain – 3:22

Listen to ‘Idiot Wind’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdmH3y3AxY0

Also released on the 14^th January:

1966: Simon & Garfunkel – Sounds of Silence

Also released on the 14^th January:

1974: Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark

Also released on the 14^th January:

2003: The Knife – Deep Cuts

13th Jan - Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin'

Artist – Album: Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’

Released:  13^th January 1964

Sounds Like: The times they have a-changed

Bob Dylan’s third effort is now almost 50 years old and the world into which it was introduced was quite different from the one which we now inhabit. Having just perused 1964’s Wikipedia page (hey, history isn’t my strong point!) a number of important names stood out: Martin Luther King Jr, Che Guevara and Lyndon B Johnson, who between them represent racial struggles, communism and the war on Vietnam and poverty*. Later that year Dr Robert Moog would invent his first synthesizer and The Kinks’ first self-titled album would be released, kick starting the evolution of rock and roll in to pure rock. But back in January 1964 the acoustic-y folk sound, alongside Spector-ish girl groups and mop top era Beatles, were where it’s at.

With all that in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that this collection of protest songs sounds of its time. With just Dylan’s idiosyncratic drawl and guitar it can sound bare, and some of the political allegories, although historically interesting, mean less today. The title track, ‘One Too Many Mornings’, ‘With God on Our Side’ and ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’ are timeless stories; thankfully, ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ and ‘The Ballad of Hollis Brown’ are (mostly) not.

That being said, even if it does belong to a different time, it’s still brilliant, like repeats of Keith Floyd’s cookery programmes. Dylan’s playing is masterful, and his poetry, though more direct than that to come on the following year’s Highway 61 Revisited and notably more sombre than his first two albums, is still staggeringly well constructed; the sound of a genius becoming comfortable with his talents.  

*1964 was also the year Nicolas Cage and my Dad were born but I’m unsure how to shoehorn them in. Oh look, I just did!

Albumaday... rating:   8/10

1.       The Times They Are a-Changin’ – 3:15

2.       Ballad of Hollis Brown – 5:06

3.       With God on Our Side – 7:08

4.       One Too Many Mornings – 2:41

5.       North Country Blues – 4:35

6.       Only a Pawn in Their Game – 3:33

7.       Boots of Spanish Leather – 4:40

8.       When The Ship Comes In – 3:18

9.       The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll – 5:48

10.   Restless Farewell – 5:32

Listen to ‘With God on Our Side’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnRdsSC3YwM