Dylan's 80

HarryVegas said:
A Dylan covered album would be interesting.
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Here is a fantastic CD of Dylans music released with Uncut Magazine. Someone has been good enough to load all the tracks on to YouTube. Its really excellent and if I remember correctly I don't think there is a bad track on it.


www.uncut.co.uk

Introducing Uncut’s amazing Bob Dylan covers CD

Featuring 14 brand new versions of Dylan songs by The Flaming Lips, Cowboy Junkies, The Weather Station and more - plus one previously unreleased Dylan track
www.uncut.co.uk www.uncut.co.uk
 
Ballad of a Thin Man for me probably.

Only saw him live once... at he MEN early 2000s. Was one of the shiittest, most disappointing gigs i've ever been to. Garbage
 
These lyrics are so cutting and befit one or two along the road....

"Positively 4th Street"


You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down you just stood there grinning
You got a lotta nerve
To say you got a helping hand to lend
You just want to be on the side that's winning

You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt why then don't you show it
You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose and you know it

I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd you're in with
Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide what he don't know to begin with

You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you? Good luck"
But you don't mean it
When you know as well as me
You'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once and scream it

No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief perhaps I'd rob them
And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand it's not my problem

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you
 
Impossible to pick one, Dylan says things that no one has, in a way that no-one else can.
Blood on the tracks is a work of genius, I'm glad to see planet waves getting a mention.
He lost the plot a bit with his gospel stuff and apart from the odd track didn't release anything of note for me until the recent exception of rough and rowdy ways.
But since we're putting favourites in this is one from me if only for the harminica part!

 
I have a similar thing with Dylan that I have with the Stones in that I love the sixties and early seventies stuff but then I just kind of lose interest. Probably a bit lazy of me because I can't say that I've listened to all of the later albums but there does seem to be a pretty notable drop in quality after that. Similar thing with Bowie too. Love the seventies stuff. The later stuff does absolutely nothing for me.
 
I know what you mean. It's impossible to sustain such ground-breaking material forever but if you take Bowie, there is some late-period stuff that's definitely worth a go - a lot of Heathen I love, and I think Blackstar is stunning, among his very best.

Back to Dylan, I really need to catch up on him. I must confess I haven't heard anything after Oh Mercy and that's over 30 years old now. But there's even stuff on that album I really like and it's generally considered a good 15/20 years past his peak.
 
Synths and the 80s absolutely did for a lot of the 60s stars. The only Dylan album I bother with after the early 70s is that one he wrote a few years ago after he nearly died.
 
From a personal perspective I think Bowie and Dylan have stood the test of time due to their continual reinvention. Rather than simply play poorer versions of songs they wrote in their prime they both adapted, trying different styles and as a result kept the music interesting.

The Stones are a great band for instance, but I can't help thinking their later stuff is essentially their old stuff, just not as good (if that makes sense?)
 
First saw him in 1969 at the Isle of Wight, where he did a half acoustic, half electric set.

A track from a later album that's up there with the early stuff.


Introspective Dylan

Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb
I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from
 
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HarryVegas said:
Back to Dylan, I really need to catch up on him. I must confess I haven't heard anything after Oh Mercy and that's over 30 years old now.
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You have a lot of good catching up to do. He hit a rich seam in 1997 and has been mining it on and off ever since:

Time Out Of MInd - 1997
Love And Theft - 2001
Modern Times - 2006
Together Through Life 2009
Tempest - 2012
Rough And Rowdy Ways - 2020
 
Agree, Time out of mind through to Modern Times is as good a run as he's had in my opinion.

I also recently got into his early 90s folk/blues covers albums - obviously not up there with his best but opens a lot of doors musically and good versions (I'm not sure he ever toured them in that acoustic style around that time but would have been great to see/hear)?
 
changingman said:
Agree, Time out of mind through to Modern Times is as good a run as he's had in my opinion.

I also recently got into his early 90s folk/blues covers albums - obviously not up there with his best but opens a lot of doors musically and good versions (I'm not sure he ever toured them in that acoustic style around that time but would have been great to see/hear)?
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A lot of people agree with you that that run was up there with Bringing it all Back Home - Highway 61 Revisited - Blonde on Blonde if not as good. Many also place his last album RARW in their top five.
 
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