Okay, Mod. You’re starting to scare me. I was going to post this clip, but decided against it as it was way off subject. I was actually looking for the follow up bit where they had an understudy for Kevin MacDonald. Classic!
So, who’s heard the new Dylan?
I’ve got it and I like it. Many folks called Modern Times the third part in a trilogy. I only saw it as trilogy in terms of quality albums since Time Out Of Mind. This new one really feels like the thrid part of a trilogy in Dylan’s path down Americana. It’s got a Doug Sahm Tex-Mex vibe, but fans of Love and Theft will be pleased. This one has more instant satisfaction than Modern Times, but I think I might like it better. It feels like it has better longevity.
How cool is it that one the great writers is still kicking it and releasing important music? I, too, would have “written him off as a has-been by the end of the 80s”, but the dude’s turned it around and found his muse. Being someone who never got experience 60s Dylan and that whole revolution, I think it’s rad that I get to have new Dylan that’s just as cool.
I have not yet heard the new Dylan. One question: Does he sing melodies on it? Not croak nonspecific notes but sing discernible melodies. I know there’s supposed to be great dignity and depth to his newer style of singing – and I’ve liked a song or two at a time from recent albums – but I miss his melodies. His melodies are the reason his songs were so well covered. Are there melodies buried in that new singing style?
I know there are at least a few Mike Leigh fans here. What did you think of Happy Go Lucky? I watched it last night, and I think it ranks up there with Leigh’s best. Don’t be fooled: it’s not a lightweight comedy by any means–although at times it’s extremely funny–and it has a truly poignant last scene.
I love most of Mike Leigh’s films (High Hopes is my favorite – the scene when the hippie couple have the huge, depressing fight may be the most realistic of a certain type of fight that long-term couples can have that I’ve ever seen depicted on film), but I was disappointed by this one. I didn’t dislike it, but to me the main woman was the converse of the guy from Naked (the only Leigh movie I hated let alone disliked). The guy in Naked was pathologically negative and misanthropic. Hearing him tell everyone in the film how fucked up they while he was more fucked up than anyone wasn’t worth my time after the first 45 minutes. Similarly in Happy-Go-Lucky, the woman seemed to be pathologically optimistic and “open.” I think the film offered this as a possible read on her personality, but after a while her character became too predictable, too insulated from her surroundings to move the drama of the movie along. In the other Leigh movies the characters are always open to that one piercing moment of insight and recognition of their plight in life. In Happy-Go-Lucky and Naked, I felt the protagonists were completely closed to the world, shutting me out as a viewer in the process. I’m glad I saw the movie, but when I see a Mike Leigh movie I like to have a serious gut-wrenching moment with *at least* one of the main characters. I thought that final scene in the car (if that was indeed the final scene) lost something because the woman had grown increasingly unsympathetic. I thought this film kind of wasted its other fine characters, including the roomate and the driving instructor.
I’ve always considered Dylan’s melodies more “implied” than actually sung, even in his hey day. Let’s face it: Dylan’s voice has been shot since the 90s. Make no bones, he sounds more gruff than usual on this new record. I, personally, adore this nasally growl. I also understand people’s problems with it. So, the answer is “no”. There are no melodies sung on the new Dylan album.
Thanks for your honest answer, TB. I knew I could count on you! I have heard great things about the album – looking forward to checking it out shortly.
I got the new Dylan & it sounds pretty good to me. His voice sounds OK. It think he sounded the worse on Love & Theft.
Mr. Mod, if you don’t me talking a bit o’ ball, have you been to Citizens Bank Park & if so how is it? The reason I’m asking is that I saw a bit of the FOX game last weekend when Jamie Moyer gave up those 2 homers (oops)& the park looked like a fitting home for the F***ing World Champions.
Diskojoe, I’ve got a 17-game plan with a friend at CBP. I’m there probably 20-25 times a year. I love the park. Of the new parks I’ve been to, I’d say maybe only the Giants’ park is better – and that’s mainly because you can look over the rightfield wall into the bay. If you ever make it to Philly, let me know. We can take in a game.
Quick baseball update before I return to my super-busy day at work:
Manny Suspended 50 Games for Substance Violation! (He blames something his doctor prescribed for an unidentified “personal issue.) Sorry, Sammymaudlin.
Danny Ozark, manager of the winningest Phils teams (regular season edition) of the ’70s, died at 85. Every few years he’d be mentioned in a story and I thought he was dead already. This time, apparently, he really is. He was a GREAT…man.
Mod, I’m not sure why you think the woman is unsympathetic. I mean, she is dealing with a guy who is a psychotic, a stalker, and, possibly, a rapist (the speech he gives pretty much suggests that he thinks she is “asking for it”).
And I think that encounter is a moment of realization for her. Only that she won’t change right away (like in a typical Hollywood film).
Dr. John, until that scene (sorry about the SPOILER, folks:), she’s asking for all sorts of trouble. She’s socially clueless. What about the scene with the homeless guy? I’m not saying she wants to be raped or anything, but her cluelessness in dealing with strangers is not to be advised. If you were raising a girl, would you want her, as a young woman, to be walking a crappy part of town late at night and then have her aggressively approach a disturbed homeless guy, not in any “official” capacity but in hopes of trying to “break through” to him? That was a pretty gripping scene, and I don’t think it was merely meant to show her as some kind of “good” person. I think Leigh invited us to see her a a bit of wreck as much as she may have thought of herself as “happy-go-lucky.” I don’t know, I wish I could be a little more articulate about why I felt this movie lacked something aesthetically. That’s really at the heart of what I’m saying, not just that I couldn’t identify with the woman or whatever. It’s going to be easy for you to think that I can’t handle the truth, you know, but I’m really trying to get at more than that. I honestly thought the character was too one-dimensional for her own good. There should have been more scenes with her roommate and her school kids for crying out loud to give me a better taste of who this woman really was. There was one brief, wasted party scene with her friends, and even in that setting she was a self-centered pain in the ass. At points I simply had trouble buying her character as more than what was on the screen. Don’t give me this “You were expecting Hollywood bullshit” bullshit. I surely wasn’t. I was expecting slightly better movie-making from a guy who’s made some excellent, fully-dimensional movies in the past.
Hey Mod,
can you throw up a quiz for favorite show out of the following:
a Kid in the Hall
b. SCTV
c. SNL
d. the Young Ones
Feel free to add other appropriate choices. There are a lot of SCTV references in these Halls but there have been a few KITH lately. I’d like to see this thing settled once and for all.
After that, I’d like to see this throw down:
a Backstreet Boys
b N Sync
c O Town
d KNOTB
e 2gether
I’ve listened to the new Dylan about about a half-dozen times and it does nothing for me. There’s very little memorable about it. It’s “pleasant”…and that’s not what I’m looking for in a Dylan album.
And then there’s the song-writing issue. Robert Hunter co-wrote the lyrics to 9 of the 10 songs. And the melodies are borrowed on a few tunes (Willie Dixon, though, is the only one to get a co-write credit). Maybe this explains the lack of memorable melodies. And put me down as one who believes that Dylan does write great melodies.
Whether I think it’s warranted or not, the album debuts at number one on the charts in the US and the UK. That’s an amazing achievement. The guy turns 68 later this month and has been releasing albums for 48 years.
Mod, I didn’t mean to put you on the defensive. The hole, as you so aptly put it, I think, is the non-answer Leigh provides to the question of whether someone like Poppy could survive in these times. Being currently in the Black Hills, with a lot of wanna be hippies, I find such a question worth considering.
Okay, Mod. You’re starting to scare me. I was going to post this clip, but decided against it as it was way off subject. I was actually looking for the follow up bit where they had an understudy for Kevin MacDonald. Classic!
So, who’s heard the new Dylan?
I’ve got it and I like it. Many folks called Modern Times the third part in a trilogy. I only saw it as trilogy in terms of quality albums since Time Out Of Mind. This new one really feels like the thrid part of a trilogy in Dylan’s path down Americana. It’s got a Doug Sahm Tex-Mex vibe, but fans of Love and Theft will be pleased. This one has more instant satisfaction than Modern Times, but I think I might like it better. It feels like it has better longevity.
How cool is it that one the great writers is still kicking it and releasing important music? I, too, would have “written him off as a has-been by the end of the 80s”, but the dude’s turned it around and found his muse. Being someone who never got experience 60s Dylan and that whole revolution, I think it’s rad that I get to have new Dylan that’s just as cool.
TB
I have not yet heard the new Dylan. One question: Does he sing melodies on it? Not croak nonspecific notes but sing discernible melodies. I know there’s supposed to be great dignity and depth to his newer style of singing – and I’ve liked a song or two at a time from recent albums – but I miss his melodies. His melodies are the reason his songs were so well covered. Are there melodies buried in that new singing style?
I know there are at least a few Mike Leigh fans here. What did you think of Happy Go Lucky? I watched it last night, and I think it ranks up there with Leigh’s best. Don’t be fooled: it’s not a lightweight comedy by any means–although at times it’s extremely funny–and it has a truly poignant last scene.
I love most of Mike Leigh’s films (High Hopes is my favorite – the scene when the hippie couple have the huge, depressing fight may be the most realistic of a certain type of fight that long-term couples can have that I’ve ever seen depicted on film), but I was disappointed by this one. I didn’t dislike it, but to me the main woman was the converse of the guy from Naked (the only Leigh movie I hated let alone disliked). The guy in Naked was pathologically negative and misanthropic. Hearing him tell everyone in the film how fucked up they while he was more fucked up than anyone wasn’t worth my time after the first 45 minutes. Similarly in Happy-Go-Lucky, the woman seemed to be pathologically optimistic and “open.” I think the film offered this as a possible read on her personality, but after a while her character became too predictable, too insulated from her surroundings to move the drama of the movie along. In the other Leigh movies the characters are always open to that one piercing moment of insight and recognition of their plight in life. In Happy-Go-Lucky and Naked, I felt the protagonists were completely closed to the world, shutting me out as a viewer in the process. I’m glad I saw the movie, but when I see a Mike Leigh movie I like to have a serious gut-wrenching moment with *at least* one of the main characters. I thought that final scene in the car (if that was indeed the final scene) lost something because the woman had grown increasingly unsympathetic. I thought this film kind of wasted its other fine characters, including the roomate and the driving instructor.
I’ve always considered Dylan’s melodies more “implied” than actually sung, even in his hey day. Let’s face it: Dylan’s voice has been shot since the 90s. Make no bones, he sounds more gruff than usual on this new record. I, personally, adore this nasally growl. I also understand people’s problems with it. So, the answer is “no”. There are no melodies sung on the new Dylan album.
TB
Thanks for your honest answer, TB. I knew I could count on you! I have heard great things about the album – looking forward to checking it out shortly.
Kids in the Hall is my favorite tv show ever.
I got the new Dylan & it sounds pretty good to me. His voice sounds OK. It think he sounded the worse on Love & Theft.
Mr. Mod, if you don’t me talking a bit o’ ball, have you been to Citizens Bank Park & if so how is it? The reason I’m asking is that I saw a bit of the FOX game last weekend when Jamie Moyer gave up those 2 homers (oops)& the park looked like a fitting home for the F***ing World Champions.
Diskojoe, I’ve got a 17-game plan with a friend at CBP. I’m there probably 20-25 times a year. I love the park. Of the new parks I’ve been to, I’d say maybe only the Giants’ park is better – and that’s mainly because you can look over the rightfield wall into the bay. If you ever make it to Philly, let me know. We can take in a game.
Quick baseball update before I return to my super-busy day at work:
Manny Suspended 50 Games for Substance Violation! (He blames something his doctor prescribed for an unidentified “personal issue.) Sorry, Sammymaudlin.
Danny Ozark, manager of the winningest Phils teams (regular season edition) of the ’70s, died at 85. Every few years he’d be mentioned in a story and I thought he was dead already. This time, apparently, he really is. He was a GREAT…man.
Steroids can cure the Madonna clap!?!
Mod, I’m not sure why you think the woman is unsympathetic. I mean, she is dealing with a guy who is a psychotic, a stalker, and, possibly, a rapist (the speech he gives pretty much suggests that he thinks she is “asking for it”).
And I think that encounter is a moment of realization for her. Only that she won’t change right away (like in a typical Hollywood film).
Sorry, wrong superstar!
Dr. John, until that scene (sorry about the SPOILER, folks:), she’s asking for all sorts of trouble. She’s socially clueless. What about the scene with the homeless guy? I’m not saying she wants to be raped or anything, but her cluelessness in dealing with strangers is not to be advised. If you were raising a girl, would you want her, as a young woman, to be walking a crappy part of town late at night and then have her aggressively approach a disturbed homeless guy, not in any “official” capacity but in hopes of trying to “break through” to him? That was a pretty gripping scene, and I don’t think it was merely meant to show her as some kind of “good” person. I think Leigh invited us to see her a a bit of wreck as much as she may have thought of herself as “happy-go-lucky.” I don’t know, I wish I could be a little more articulate about why I felt this movie lacked something aesthetically. That’s really at the heart of what I’m saying, not just that I couldn’t identify with the woman or whatever. It’s going to be easy for you to think that I can’t handle the truth, you know, but I’m really trying to get at more than that. I honestly thought the character was too one-dimensional for her own good. There should have been more scenes with her roommate and her school kids for crying out loud to give me a better taste of who this woman really was. There was one brief, wasted party scene with her friends, and even in that setting she was a self-centered pain in the ass. At points I simply had trouble buying her character as more than what was on the screen. Don’t give me this “You were expecting Hollywood bullshit” bullshit. I surely wasn’t. I was expecting slightly better movie-making from a guy who’s made some excellent, fully-dimensional movies in the past.
“Kids in the Hall is my favorite tv show ever”
Hey Mod,
can you throw up a quiz for favorite show out of the following:
a Kid in the Hall
b. SCTV
c. SNL
d. the Young Ones
Feel free to add other appropriate choices. There are a lot of SCTV references in these Halls but there have been a few KITH lately. I’d like to see this thing settled once and for all.
After that, I’d like to see this throw down:
a Backstreet Boys
b N Sync
c O Town
d KNOTB
e 2gether
I’ve listened to the new Dylan about about a half-dozen times and it does nothing for me. There’s very little memorable about it. It’s “pleasant”…and that’s not what I’m looking for in a Dylan album.
And then there’s the song-writing issue. Robert Hunter co-wrote the lyrics to 9 of the 10 songs. And the melodies are borrowed on a few tunes (Willie Dixon, though, is the only one to get a co-write credit). Maybe this explains the lack of memorable melodies. And put me down as one who believes that Dylan does write great melodies.
Whether I think it’s warranted or not, the album debuts at number one on the charts in the US and the UK. That’s an amazing achievement. The guy turns 68 later this month and has been releasing albums for 48 years.
Mod, I didn’t mean to put you on the defensive. The hole, as you so aptly put it, I think, is the non-answer Leigh provides to the question of whether someone like Poppy could survive in these times. Being currently in the Black Hills, with a lot of wanna be hippies, I find such a question worth considering.
I got you, Good Doctor. Thanks!