Sup, Sup Forums
I've really been getting into Dylan lately. So far The Times They Are A Changin, Highway 61, Bringing It All Back Home and Blood On The Tracks really appeal to me. However, for whatever reason, despite the praise this album gets on Sup Forums and elsewhere, I cannot for the life of me find pic related interesting at all. It's like every song sounds basically the same and a lot of them get boring halfway through. Can someone maybe try and tell me what I'm missing with it?
I don't see how anyone can say Rainy Day Women, Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands and Swedish Redwoods and Just Like A Woman sound the same.
I'll say that at quite a few points here Dylan steps over the line between poetry and gibberish though.
Just a friendly reminder that Bob is great, but ultimately only a step on your journey to Laughing Len
But when you want a real poet just walk right into town.
stop listening to that and listen to the directly superior album john wesley harding
"If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to me, and ease my pain?
If you needed me, I would come to you
I'd swim the seas for to ease your pain"
VS
"Your body like a searchlight
My poverty reveals
I would like to try your charity
Until you cry, "Now you must try my greed.""
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
[spoiler]
Where's good to start with Townes though? Not listened to him before; I'm just being a dickhead comparing lyrics[/spoiler]
I'll be frank and say I like the lyrics on the top better. Cohen strikes me like he's trying to be a poet rather than just letting things naturally flow a lot of the time. Mind you, I'll admit all three of them can be guilty of that.
My personal favorite Townes lyric:
So close and yet so far away
And all the things I'd hoped to say
Will have to go unsaid today
Perhaps until tomorrow
Your fears have built a wall between
Our lives and all what loving means
Will have to go unfelt it seems
And that leaves only sorrow
You built your tower strong and tall
Can't you see, it's got to fall someday
You close your eyes and speak to me
Of faith and love and destiny
As distant as eternity
From truth and understanding
The wind blows cold outside your door
It whispers words I've tried before
But you don't hear me anymore
Your pride's just too demanding
You built your tower strong and tall
Can't you see, it's got to fall someday
The end is coming soon it's plain
A warm bed just ain't worth the pain
And I will go and you'll remain
With the bitterness we've tasted
A mother's breast, a newborn child
A poet's tear and drunken smile
I can't help feelin' all the while
Their meaning won't be wasted
You built your tower strong and tall
Can't you see, it's got to fall someday
>It's like every song sounds basically the same and a lot of them get boring halfway through. Can someone maybe try and tell me what I'm missing with it?
I kind of agree with you. I feel like he was just rehashing the ideas from the previous album, and stretched it on for a double-album length. it's exhausting.
Another favorite:
Won't you lend your lungs to me?
Mine are collapsing
Plant my feet and bitterly
Breathe up the time that's passing.
Breath I'll take and breath I'll give
Pray the day's not poison
Stand among the ones that live
In lonely indecision.
Fingers walk the darkness down
Mind is on the midnight
Gather up the gold you've found
You fool, it's only moonlight.
And if you stop to take it home
Your hands will turn to butter
Better leave this dream alone
Try to find another.
Salvation sat and crossed herself
And called the devil partner
Wisdom burned upon a shelf
Who'll kill the raging cancer
Seal the river at its mouth
Take the water prisoner
Fill the sky with screams and cries
Bathe in fiery answers
Jesus was an only son
And love his only concept
But strangers cry in foreign tongues
And dirty up the doorstep
And I for one, and you for two
Ain't got the time for outside
Keep your injured looks to you
We'll tell the world that we tried
And I just realized you were asking for album recs instead of lyrics recs. s/t, Our Mother the Mountain and Live at Old Quarter are all equally good starting points.
This album is almost entirely about relationships, which he barely touched on in Highway 61 Revisited.
*musical ideas
its not that the album sounds the same, its just a cohesive album listening experience from start to finish. give it a few tries, it'll dawn on you how much of a masterpiece this album is.
Eh. I agree that he uses the same ones again and again throughout this album there's still a distinct musical difference between this one and Highway 61 Revisited, which I'd say doesn't really expand on the electric sound of BIABH. BoB has way more prominent organ than the other two.
I'll give Our Mother a go lad, cheers for the recs and I enjoyed those lyrics.
I personally like the 'literary' poetry of LC's lyrics, but I get that it's not to everyone's taste/can be a bit opaque at times.
>distinct musical difference between this one and Highway 61 Revisited
Which is what?
>which I'd say doesn't really expand on the electric sound of BIABH
Of course it did.
>prominent organ
That's a mixing choice rather than indicative of it's nature. Not relevant.
While not the best description, I find that Highway 61 is made with vinegar while BoB is made with honey. People prefer different approaches and that's fine.
>Of course it did.
You could put any song that isn't Love Minus Zero or She Belongs to Me from the electric side of BIABH onto Highway 61 Revisited and it would fit.
blonde on blonde was musically his greatest artistic statement and further showed his versatility as a song writer to that point with his arrangements becoming increasingly more interesting and complex. while highway 61 is a fantastic record but it was just a stepping stone to blonde on blonde which really showed maturity in his song writing as he fleshed out a lot of ideas he had just dabbled in before. for instance pledging my time and leopard skin pillbox hat are straight blues songs which he'd never done befroe
>You could put any song that isn't Love Minus Zero or She Belongs to Me from the electric side of BIABH onto Highway 61 Revisited and it would fit.
The production, instrumentation, theme and performances would not fit. Sorry
No
>for instance pledging my time and leopard skin pillbox hat are straight blues songs which he'd never done befroe
These are awful songs. Examples of Dylan going too far.
>The production, instrumentation, theme and performances would not fit.
All of them would fit just fine with the qualifications you just mentioned.
Listen more. It's one of the best records ever made, but it takes a real music listener to appreciate the nuances and really see Dylan's brilliance shine.
>All of them would fit just fine with the qualifications you just mentioned.
By your logic then all of Hwy 61 would fit on BoB as well.
leopard skin pill box hat fucking rocks and the lyrics are playful and fun. the live in 66 version is the best version though.
i agree with your point on the songs for bringing it all back home not fitting on highway 61 though
Another song with the same production as those songs, instrumentation, performances and a similar theme is Like A Rolling Stone. Has the same producer and many of the same players even. Are you going to tell me that Like A Rolling Stone doesn't fit with the rest of Highway 61 Revisited?
>leopard skin pill box hat fucking rocks and the lyrics are playful and fun
No
>the live in 66 version is the best version though.
OK I admit this is true, but even the New York Sessions versions are better than the BoB
Learn to quote if you want someone to reply to you.
Nothing I've said implies that.
>Learn to quote if you want someone to reply to you.
There's no need to quote if you can follow the conversation clearly.
How so?
>There's no need to quote
Have a nice day.
So because someone doesn't follow your arbitrary rules of discussion there's no need to continue a discussion?
>your arbitrary rules of discussion
No this is how Sup Forums works. Nice try summerfriend
obsessive Dylan fan here. I Actually felt the exact same about Blonde on Blonde for so long when I first started listening to Dylan. I initially got into his earlier folk stuff, moving up to his first 2 electric albums and fucking loved them, but for some reason I just couldn't "get" this album. Now, after years of listening to not only his music, but interviews, documentaries, etc. It eventually snapped and it's now one of my favorite albums. I think when you take the album into full context of the time, it becomes much more striking. Also, with more and more listens, the melodies and the lyrics just start to flow together so wonderfully, more together than any other album I've ever listened to. Visions of Johanna is probably the greatest example of this.
tldr give it a few more listens user, put it into historical context.
Dude it's pottery, you gotta feel it.
OP here
At work so it's hard to keep up with the thread.
When I say every song sounds the same, I mean like how so many songs have that *du dun* *12 bar* *harmonica*. Like I know some songs sound different like said, but for the most part if you just skip through the album it's like each song feels so similar. The album doesn't feel like it changes pace at all.
OP here again
Maybe 12 bar isn't technically what I mean since the chords don't necessarily change that way but you guys hopefully get what I'm saying.
>I initially got into his earlier folk stuff, moving up to his first 2 electric albums and fucking loved them, but for some reason I just couldn't "get" this album.
This is exactly how I got into Bob Dylan in the past 3 months. I haven't deleted the album from my phone because I still wanna get a feel for it but maybe it's just because I'm used to his more protest related subject matter, so I don't find the relationship topics as interesting. I can definitely say that Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat is my favourite.
And historical context is one of my favourite parts of getting into Dylan, especially with Highway 61.
Early Dylan rankings?
1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Bringing It All Back Home
3. Freewheelin Bob Dylan
4. The Times They Are A Changin
5. Blonde on Blonde
6. Another Side of Bob Dylan
I really did not get Blonde on Blonde, aside from Visions of Johanna it was all forgettable to me.
Should I listen again?
Yeah. Despite the fact that I agree with OP, there are TONS of great cuts, and maybe if BoB was paired down to a single album, it's be his best. Listen to:
>Rainy Day Women
>Visions of Johanna
>One Of Us Must Know
>Stuck Inside of Mobile
>Just Like a Woman
>Sad Eyed lady
It's probably not an opinion shared by a lot of people but to me Ballad of a Thin Man is Dylan's greatest achievement, for whatever reason I like it more than Like A Rolling Stone
The music itself is consistent yet dynamic enough to not seem boring, the lyrics are surreal but actually have a core message that you can discern so it doesn't seem like rambling, and he doesn't place gratuitous harmonica in just to remind his listeners DUDE I'M STILL FOLK I PROMISE
Plus the piano
Hey OP, I used to feel that way. Listened to it in high school and didn't really feel it, even though I loved his other albums. Years later I thought I'd give it another shot and I still wasn't really into it. Over time though, it became my favorite of his and one of my favorites of all time.
unironically, you need to be high.
I can't decide if I like Thin Man or Rolling Stone more but I don't see why that opinion should be unpopular.
What do you guys think of Blood On The Tracks?
>What do you guys think of Blood On The Tracks?
One of his greatest albums.
One of the greatest break-up albums of all time as well