The Bob Dylan Motorcycle-Crash Mystery

American Heritage.com ^ | July 29, 2006 | Tony Scherman

[pissant]

I saw Dylan after Time out of Mind came out (1997 or 1998), and it was a double bill with Van Morrison at the Columbia River Gorge theatre. (joni mitchell also played a set, but I spent that time in the beer garden). Best copncert I'd ever been too, and I've been to alot. The live version of Cold Irons Bound was worth the price of admission alone.

[Mr. Mojo]

"When I Paint my Masterpeice"

One of Dylan's best, no doubt. Two songs on that (GH II) album that also deserve mention (and that aren't on any of his earlier releases) are "Watching the River Flow" and "Down in the Flood." Leon Russell did the arrangements on all three of those tunes. .....best arranger in the biz, imo.

[Mr. Mojo]

I missed that tour, sorry to say. (I lived in L.A. at the time, so I wouldn't have seen the Columbia Gorge concert anyway). "Cold Irons Bound" holds up to some of his best tunes, as does "Not Dark Yet" and "Highlands" (all from Time Out of Mind).

Bob, Van, and Joni? Man, that must've been some show.

[pissant]

Add: Tomorrow is such a Long Time, You ain't Goin Nowhere, and Tonight I'll be staying Here with You to the gems on that album.

[pissant]

It's the only time I've seen Van the man live, unfortunately, but damn what a show it was. Jonit and Van joined Bob for I Shall be Released at the end.

Highlands just cracks me up everytime I hear it. I guess the producer edited it down to 15 minutes from 20+. I'd like to hear the original take. LOL

[Mr. Mojo]

Highlands just cracks me up everytime I hear it.

lol....yeah, Bob's mid-song conversation with the waitress in "Bostontown" is an all-time classic:

I make a few lines, and I show it for her to see
She takes a napkin and throws it back
And says "that don't look a thing like me!"
I said, "Oh, kind miss, it most certainly does"
She says, "you must be jokin.'"
I say, "I wish I was!"

[Skooz]

Man. Dylan AND Van Morrison?

I know that was good.

[pissant]

I think he wrote that song in about 10 minutes. LOL

[pissant]

Oh yeah. Van was finally returning to singing some of his older songs, like Domino. Amazing. And Bob is Bob. Took him about 3 songs in to get his voice into shape, then he snarled out the lyrics pretty well after that.

[Mr. Mojo]

I've never seen Van in concert, strangely enough.

Seen Dylan only three times, which is even weirder. First was in '79 at the Santa Monica Civic during his "Saved" tour. I wanted him to play some of his old tunes, but no go. ....every song was from his recent "Born Again" period.

The next time I saw him it was quite by accident, in '87. I went to a Taj Mahal - one of my favorite bluesmen - show at the Palomino Club in N. Hollywood and saw Dylan and George Harrison hanging out at the bar about an hour before showtime. Then I knew we were in for a treat. John Fogerty showed up a little later and all three joined Taj during his second set and jammed classic rock and roll tunes for the next couple hours. Epic night.

Final time was in '91 (or '92) at the Palladium. .....the most "normal" of the Dylan shows I'd seen, and a great one.

[pissant]

First time I saw Dylan was during his born again phase after Slow Train Coming. It was a good show, but he only played a couple of "classics". Funny though, because now I consider that album to have it's own classics. Slow Train Coming is a great song.

[Mr. Mojo]

All three of his "Gospel" albums ('79 - '81) sounded a lot better to me about a decade after they were released. ....and yep, there are plenty of classic tunes on all three.

[dirtboy]

They sure burned brightly, but unfortunately for a (relatively) short period of time.

Robbie Robertson has put out some great solo albums and is a leading musical producer for movies. The rest never quite got it together afterwards.

[Mr. Mojo]

Unfortunately Robbie's solo albums come about 5 years apart. My favorite was probably his first one ('86 release), but his Music for Native Americans (written for the PBS series) and New Orleans' themed Storyville are right up there.

[pissant]

Very true. I think it was the shock of it at the time. But just as shocking was Infidels in 1983. Man of Peace is one of his best, IMO.

He's a great Humanitarian
He's a great philanthropist
He knows just where to touch you
And how you liked to be kissed
He puts both his arms around you
and you feel the tender touch of the beast
You know sometimes Satan, comes as a man of Peace.

[Mr. Mojo]

PBS series

Actually, I think it was TBS.

[pissant]

two of the Band are dead, Richard Manuel killed himself and I can't remember how the bass player died, Rick Danko.

[Mr. Mojo]

The amazing thing about Infidels is that Bob chose not to include the best material from those recording sessions on the album itself! (They were released 8 years later on the Bootleg Series). The songs I'm referring to, of course, are "Blind Willie McTell", "Lord Protect my Child," and "Foot of Pride." If those tunes were included I'd put Infidels as Dylan's best.

[Mr. Mojo]

Equally puzzling is Dylan choosing not to include "Dignity" and "Series of Dreams" - two of the best songs in his entire catalogue - on Oh Mercy.

Bob's a weird dude.

[pissant]

I'm not sure they are the better than the material on the original album, but he certainly could have made a double album. But yeah, the bootleg series has some real gems from all his eras up to that point.

I absolutely love the song called Wallflower, a little country tune that was included (by a different singer) in a movie I saw, and I cannot remember the movie, though I think it had Dennis Quaid in it. Nobody 'Cept You is awesome as is Seven Days.