Posted on 08/22/2006 8:43:55 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bob Dylan says the quality of modern recordings is "atrocious," and even the songs on his new album sounded much better in the studio than on disc.
"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really," the 65-year-old rocker said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
Dylan, who released eight studio albums in the past two decades, returns with his first recording in five years, "Modern Times," next Tuesday.
Noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."
"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them," he added. "There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."
Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it's a losing battle.
"Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."
Sixty five.......crikey......!!!
He came of age, musically, in an era of warm, buttery analog. I'm more than 20 years his junior, and still think, sometimes, that digital sounds crunchy and harsh, particularly with musical styles that predate it.
Da MAN speaks.
Even on CD...it's like "butta".
screw dylan.
he's always been a tom hayden type malcontent.
How bout fixing that?
"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really,"
My teens didn't even know what a record was until I showed them some of our old ones, and then I had to explain what a record player was for when they saw one in an antique shop.
ARGH!!
There doesn't seem to be much space on digital recordings...it's harder to differentiate the indivdual instruments than on the old analog recordings.
The engineers at motown could create some amazing sounding music working from the premise that it was being played a four inch mono car speaker. Today's "artists" have a much larger palette to work with but it just sounds cluttered
I remember being in a "record" store back in the 80's sometime and suddenly realizing there were no records anywhere in the store. That's when I felt officially "out of it."
I love Bob Dylan's music. That being said, I disagree with his statement that no good albums have come out in 20 years.
I agree. We've had to condition our ears to think that digital sound is the best of all possible worlds.
You would think they would learn to record digitally and make that method do what they want.
Ummm... I hate to tell you Bob, it's not the technology. You just can't sing.
Funny, wasn't that what the old has-been musicians were saying in the 60s and 70s, when Dylan had his heyday, about Dylan and his contemporaries???
He hasn't heard the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Stadium Arcadium. Every song sounds great. Great production. Perfect sound. He's an idiot.
Shut up, Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpMPNbXsUCo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tw6vBbwVY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D4-vz-hpxc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyz0psP2lYk
Ah, oops....
Yeah there's a stereo-ized mushiness to today's rock. Not only sonically, but melodically there isn't much to sink your teeth into.
I dedicate that third one to Iran btw.
I have to disagree. I've listened to recordings both on analog and digital. What digital does is enhance the analog recording so you can hear the flaws more easily. Thus, the issue is, and Dylan may be right about this in many cases, bad production quality. This shoddy production quality is more easily picked up on digital than analog.
I think Matthew has eaten too much butter...he's really packed on some weight. I love the cd of 60's covers that he and Susanna Hoffs put out this year.... Here's a youtube link of them performing Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSzNb-p2ftQ
I wouldn't be much of a guy if I didn't point out that Susanna Hoffs is looking HOT at 48...
Yum Licorice Pizza!
I can listen to vinyl/analog all day without getting "listener fatigue." Not so with digital. The instrument spacing is better, and it just sounds warmer. ...no harshness.
I guess nobody told ole Bob that when you get older your hearing takes a hit. YO BOB, WHEN YOU GET ON IN YEARS THINGS DON'T SOUND AS CLEAR AN CRISP AS WHEN YOU WERE 20 YEARS OLD.
I'll bet the old codger knows everything there is to know about Whurled Peas though.
There is no sound in the world that is a bigger assault to the ears than Dylan's screech.
Think that's bad, try wandering around the record store wondering where they keep the MP3's;))
Yeah, AAD albums never have the best quality.
On the other hand, playing the Truth And Reconciliation Suite (*all digital*) over a good system knocks the socks off of any vinyl recording of any other classical music I've ever heard.
Of course.... I think the problem for Bob (if he's talking about the technical quality of the recordings, not the content) is that now, with digital clarity, people can really hear that he SUCKS as a singer. He can't claim that the reason people can't understand a word he's singing is because of the recording tech any more.
Serious audiophiles eventually develop a taste for vinyl, and acquire the means to play it. I'm not against digital recording, but there are musical styles that work in that environment, and there are those that don't.
ROFL
I wonder what they'd think of tube equipment?
Lots of "old" tube analog equipment and vinyl sound great. Warm, nice vibration and timbre.
yeah that's a good point. After I posted I wanted to ammend it by saying that there have a few recent anaologue to digital transfers that have been done with great care: The Cure reissues and the Dylan and Rolling Stones SACDs for example.
That is on the mark. The guy is no Vic Damone, Lol! His voice is a nasal cat screech.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1iMjSu362g
Snicker....
Yes, I know the literary reference as well....
good one, wonder if they have Rock the Casbah too?
Thankfully Dylan hasn't played the harmonica much in his recordings since the mid-70s. He's an amazing songwriter, and his vocal phrasing - not to be confused with range or pitch - is as good as I've ever heard. But his harp playing sounds like a wounded duck. ...unlistenable.
already posted: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1688105/posts
This from the man with the voice that could make an entire opera cringe.
It's bad when you're favorite Doors and Hendrix albums are in "antique" stores.
He'l her outa a jam oe tii, bu ah ussa lita tuu ma fo.
(how in the world does anyone know he said any of the quoted things in the article???)
Ta'n el u pe buuu
McIntosh power amp / pre-amp, Linn Sondek turntable, Nakamichi cassette deck, B&W speakers. ....it doesn't get much better than that.
I guess he doesn't like his son's work then?
The band sounds kick as*. Susanna is a walking fantasy girl. Very hot.
His "Blood on the Tracks" album is still one of my all time favorites. I wore out two casette versions.
The Stones SACDs are incredibly GREAT.
The first five Moody Blues albums have recently been given the same treatment, four of them in 5.1, taken from the Quad mixes done in the early 70s ... they're beautiful.
I like vinyl.
I like digital.
I like music that's good to my ears, don't matter the source.
The problem with today's music is lack of vision, passion and inspiration.
Everyone copies Madonna, the Moonwalking pederast, or Nirvana.
I'll stick to the oldies, thank you.
Guess not - sad part is, Jakob is a lot better than his dad. For starters, you can actually UNDERSTAND what Jakob is singing.
Typical Bob Dylan song: "blah blah bheh bhlah bleh BLAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
name one.
You *really* need to check out modern electronica. Start with Everything But The Girl - Wrong.
Real music (not the crap that the US record companies over promote) has *long* since moved on from what you describe.
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