May 242011
My boys know I despise ketchup; in fact, more than my dislike of its taste I’m aesthetically opposed to it. Every year on my birthday they get their revenge on me for all the times I’ve told them stuff like, “Come on, you haven’t tried sauteed spinach since you were 3; you might like it now!” So every year on my birthday they see that I eat a couple of french fries dipped in ketchup. Yuck!
Bob Dylan turns 70 today. Bob’s never been one to look back, but who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Who says he might not succeed where he fell short the first time around? If you could convince Dylan to try something he rejected long ago—Come on, Bob, it’s been 30 years since you last tried it!—what would it be?
I swear that I never thought I would say this, but Dylan needs to go back to playing solo acoustic or at least with an unamplified band. The Voice at this point is not sufficient to rise above the din of a loud rock band. He can still sing effectively. He can still do great things with his voice. But within limits, limits that have become more and more narrow. Trust me on this one, Bob.
Funny, I was thinking he might want to put himself in the hands of Jeff Lynne for a full album of deliberately produced material and just let his croak float through the mix.
Back in Wilburys’ days, I dreaded what seemed like the inevitable Lynne-produced Dylan lp. Never happened. Close call. (That said: Under the Red Sky would have been worse if Lynne rather than Don Was produced it? I think not.)
He could get saved again. People liked that so much the last time. How about some new protest songs?
I was afraid that Lynne was going to produce just about every veteran artist at that point, but now I think it could be fun to let Lynne control the music and allow Dylan’s wit to have some instrumental backing do what his voice no longer can.
Cagefighting
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Start to sing in his “Lay Lady Lay” voice again
Tour With Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (and do another record with them as b/u band)
Do an entire album of Simon and Garfunkel tunes since his version of “The Boxer” on Self-Portrait still gives me chills.
Oh, and this is something he hasn’t done yet, but if he could a album with a vocoder like Neil Young’s Trans, that would be the icing on the cake.
Maybe at least some talk box acoustic grooves?
Retire, like he did in 1966.
Unfortunately, he came back.
Maybe go back to performing the occasional 60s song with the familiar vocal cadence.
Record another one with Mark Knopfler.
I would like to have him do songs like “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” or “Motopsycho Nightmare” again.