Posted on 09/17/2009 9:28:59 AM PDT by pissant
pong
I love the comment in his first biography where he said how amazed he was at the political positions attributed to him in the sixties. He said that he was non political in the early sixties but if he was interested in any candidate it was Goldwater.
Nearly fell out of my chair.
True, but Bowie has been inconsequential for the last 25 years. Dylan has made some of his best work.
I think Bowie's accomplishments as an actor have gone largely unheralded...
I thought he gave some pretty intense performances in The Hunger, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and Labyrinth (among others)....
GAMBLE: Bob Humbug? Dylan does it again
By Molly Gamble
When I heard about Bob Dylan’s Christmas album that comes out in October, I was stunned. I wouldn’t have guessed the iconoclast himself would ever subscribe to mainstream music like “Winter Wonderland.” Then again, it makes perfect sense.
At Dylan’s Summerfest performance in July, all big-screen monitors were shut off at his demand. He never greeted the crowd. In fact, never spoke at all, other than brief introductions of his band near the end of the show. Seeing him on stage was like watching Boo Radley come out of his dilapidated house.
Now the Man of Mystery wants to sing “Here Comes Santa Claus” and “Little Drummer Boy” on his first charity record. All U.S. royalties from “Christmas in the Heart” will be donated to Feeding America, a charity that funds soup kitchens and food banks. Though he’s doing this for a good cause, Dylan doesn’t come off as the most festive or spirited of carolers.
The songs he played at Summerfest were so re-arranged that I didn’t recognize some of them until the next day when I read the set list in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. As much as I respect him, I couldn’t help but feel cheated. He’s notorious for switching up his music to avoid boredom, but still, this was not how I wanted to remember my first Dylan experience.
But I should have known better. That concert wasn’t about my expectations — and for me to think otherwise, even for a split second, is subscribing to major Generation-Me thinking. It’s not like I showed up with “Tangled Up in Blue” written in glitter paint on a poster board, but still, it was pretty delusional to hope that Dylan would make this a show I’d tell grandkids about. He’s not that cliché.
Basically, the thing you think Bob Dylan would most likely do is probably the wrong answer. Case in point with this Christmas album. Holiday music is seen as a perennial seller by record labels. And he not only signed on, but actually approached Feeding America with the idea, according to reports by Rolling Stone.
Dylan wasn’t even insulted when cops stopped him in New Jersey this summer and didn’t know who he was. He apparently wanted to take a walk in the rain, and was peering in the windows of a house for sale when neighbors grew uneasy and called police.
The officers didn’t know who Dylan was and asked to see identification. Being Bob Dylan, he didn’t have any I.D. on him, so they followed him back to his tour bus. According to news reports, he was rather unfazed by the incident. It was probably one of the better moments of his life, as opposed to some musicians, who would have been irate.
My dad can’t wait to buy the Christmas album. My friends think it’s a disgrace. In other words, perfect. Dylan’s done it again. He’s confused the heck out of everyone, and this time he’s doing it while spreading holiday cheer.
(Not a bad looker, either...)
Worst live act i’ve ever seen. BY FAR. By the time he was done about half the crowd had left. He was almost a parody of himself. Never once did he face the crowd or say a word to them! He played facing away from the crowd! What an arrogant prick. And nobody understood a single syllable. It was so bad that it was hilarious and well worth staying for. I’m sorry that so many couldn’t see the humor in his pathetic presentation and didn’t stick around.
It's not shocking at all, anyone who knew Goldwater would know he was about as libertarian as they come. And contrary to what most would believe, he really didn't change all that much, he just became more vocal about his beliefs about the extreme right in his later years, but then again, he always felt that way, even in the 60s.
Precious little, to be sure.
Unlike many of today’s libertarians, Goldwater was very dedicated to defeating the international enemies of the United States.
Although not to everyone's taste, I admire the dynamism of protest music from the 1960's -- and in the 1970's, I like the excitement of the punks and the despair of Springsteen as he watches the heartland suffer under stagflation. I think art often comes from sadness and/or anger.
I wonder, as the Obama economy starts to crater, will we see a rebirth in music, expressing protest, anger or despair. So far, I'm not really aware of anything other than Rap attempting social commentary.
No. He was most prolific - 7 albums in 5 years - in the early/mid 1960s from album Bob Dylan (doing folk covers) to the universally acclaimed and game changing Blonde on Blonde in 1966. This is considered his “classic” music.
He switched gears, took a couple years off, then returned with 3 laid back, but influential albums, John Wesley Harding, the country-fied Nashville Skyline, and New Morning (1970).
He laid low for awhile, but in 74 started a string of bestsellers - Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks, and Desire(1975). Not to mention a release of “The Baseement Tapes” recorded with The Band in the late 60s that has become iconic. Many consider Blood on the Tracks to be his finest album ever.
Then he started his much maligned “Christian” phase. Starting with 1978s Street Legal, followed in close proximity by Slow Train Coming, Saved, and Shot of Love. In my humble opinion, this phase contained some of his best songwriting of this career, but it teed off many longtime fans for its overt Christianity.
In 1983 he ended this phase (supposedly) with the brilliant Infidels album, which contains the best pro-Israel anthem ever put to vinyl.
It was after Infidels that he released a string of relatively weak albums, for the only time in his career. 3 to be exact: Empire Burlesque, Knocked Out Loaded, and Down in the Groove. Each contained flashes of greatness, but as a whole, weak tea. In 1989 he rebounded with the highly acclaimed Oh Mercy.
In the meantime, several official ‘bootleg’ albums have been released containing tracks never released, from all phases of his career. And they cemented hsi songwriting prowess. I’d say the bootleg series is as good as anything he has ever officially released.
In the mid 1990s he also released two albums of folk/americana classic covers, something he had not done since 1962. Then in 1997, starting with Time Out of Mind to the present day, he has released a string of very good to great original material CDs.
Yeah....I’ve seen him a couple of times. First time....he blew in and played like he had a plane to catch. Second time....he was a ‘little’ better...but not worth a third.
Was just listening to that yesterday. What a great collection. Love Dylan. Love the Band. Love that album.
You obviously are not a big fan. He has been getting very good reviews for his tour.
I saw him in 2007, he was excellent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PSaQIJ_wmo
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