Posted on 03/09/2009 3:57:08 PM PDT by pissant
I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver/And I'm reading James Joyce/Some people tell me I got the blood of the land in my voice," Bob Dylan sings in a leathery growl, capturing the essence of his forthcoming studio album — raw-country love songs, sly wordplay and the wounded state of the nation — in “I Feel a Change Coming On," one of the record's 10 new originals.
Set for late April, the as-yet-untitled album arrives a few months after Dylan's outtakes collection Tell Tale Signs, and it “came as a surprise," says a source close to Dylan's camp. Last year, filmmaker Olivier Dahan, who directed the 2007 Edith Piaf biopic, La Vie en Rose, approached Dylan about writing a song for his next feature. Dylan responded with “Life Is Hard," a bleak ballad with mandolin, pedal steel and him singing in a dark, clear voice, “The evening winds are still/I've lost the way and will." (The song appears in the film My Own Love Song, starring Rene Zellweger.)
Inspired, Dylan kept writing and recording songs with his road band and guests, with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo rumored on accordion. Dylan produced the album under his usual pseudonym, Jack Frost.
The disc has the live-in-the-studio feel of Dylan's last two studio records, 2001's Love and Theft and 2006's Modern Times, but with a seductive border-cafe feel (courtesy of the accordion on every track) and an emphasis on struggling-love songs. The effect — in the opening shuffle, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," the Texas-dancehall jump of “If You Ever Go to Houston" and the waltz “This Dream of You" — is a gnarly turn on early-1970s records like New Morning and Planet Waves.
Dylan makes references to the national chaos, as on the viciously funny slow blues “My Wife's Home Town" ("State gone broke, the county's dry/Don't be lookin' at me with that evil eye"), culminating in the deceptive rolling rock of “It's All Good." Against East L.A. accordion and a snake's nest of guitars, Dylan tells you how bad things are — “Brick by brick, they tear you down/A teacup of water is enough to drown" — then ices each verse with the title line, a pithy shot of sneering irony and calming promise. “You would never expect the record after Modern Times to sound like this," the source says. “Bob takes all of those disparate elements you hear and puts them into a track. But you can't put your finger on it — 'It sounds exactly like that.' That's why he's so original."
I love Dylan. He’s a national treasure.
And as enigmatic today as he was in 1963
No, that’s a Bob Dylan impersonator.
Okay, NOW you’re posting. Dylan is awesome. I had that psychedelic poster from his greatest hits album on my bedroom wall for years when I was a kid (late ‘60s). ‘Nashville Skyline’ was my favorite until his ultimate masterpiece, ‘Blood on the Tracks’ came out.
Now wait a cotton picking minute. Any Bob fan surely has to recognize Van is indeed the man, not georgejohnpaulandringo.
Guess Bob’s piggybank is running low from Obama’s spreading the wealth scheme. Gotta crank a few more crappy songs out, eh Bob?
Those are indeed two great songs. One can only imagine what else he has in the vaults that may or may not appear in future “bootleg” releases.
Bob hasn’t had too many crappy songs lately. BTW, I’d be willing to bet he is far from an Obama fan.
Brownsville Girl is one of my very favorite quircky Bob songs. But Someday maybe off Knock Out Loaded is also quite good. I’d toss out Empire Burlesque and Under a red Sky as my two least favorite Dylan albums.
Ooh...it shall be mine....
Yes, it would be hard for me to pick a favorite Bob Album. It would probably come down to about a choice of 10 or so. Same with Van the Man.
Yep, that wasn't easy. ...and depending on my mood I could easily move 2 or 3 of those down from the top 10 to the top 15.
Kind of hard to point to anything on his last three albums that is “crappy”.
On this subject though I have kind of wondered how much money Bob has. Judging by all the time he spends on the road he doesn’t really have much time to spend what he has. And it isn’t like you can go too long without hearing something he wrote. Three of his songs were in Watchmen. Which is really interesting, because you had a Bob original, Jimi’s definitive All Along the Watchtower and My Chemical Romance’s doing violence to Desolation Row. Such a terrible version.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.