Aug 272012
Despite a horrible album cover, as discussed previously here, “Duquesne Whistle,” the first track released from Bob Dylan‘s upcoming Tempest, is pretty good. Check it out here.
The song sounds nothing like the album cover! I only wish Bob’s beyond-repair voice was mixed a little lower so I could better enjoy the groove the band cooks up behind him.
Not bad, not bad at all. This is the first interesting thing I’ve heard from Bob since the first 3 songs on Infidels. He is really starting to sound like Louie Armstrong.
That Louis Armstrong reference is great! Can’t wait to hear Bob do “Hello Dolly!”.
As for “Duquesne Whistle”, it sure is a fun sounding tune but I can’t imagine not tiring of it after a very few spins. And God knows, Bob doesn’t need another boogie number to pad out his set lists.
I caught this today on the way to work. Not bad, but I can’t help but think what it might have sounded if it was on Highway 61 Revisited. There’s a bunch of stuff churning in the background that he put right up front in earlier days. It’s odd, the worse his voice becomes, the more out in front they mix it.
And yes, that album cover screams bad 80s movie poster.
Pretty good!
It is kind of catchy tune. I know the article says his vocal are reminiscent of Louis Armstrong but I couldn’t help but hear a little Leon Redbone in his singing. Funny thing is that I just went to check the spelling of Redbone’s name on Wikipedia and it states that it was Dylan’s mention of Rathbone in a Rolling Stone interview that led to a Rolling Stone feature on Redbone himself a year before his first recording contract. I had never heard of the Dylan-Rathbone connection before. Weird – huh?
I’m sorry – I meant Redbone NOT Rathbone …guess I have Basil Rathbone on the brain.
I like it, but I agree his voice have sat better in the mix if it were taken down a notch. I don’t mind his voice, and it’s not that much more ragged than his earlier voice (minus the Nashville Skyline period). If it were another singer I would have turned the vocal down a bit too. And I like the Tin Pan Alley stylings he’s been drawing on recently.
There’s really a lot going on in the backing track. My experience with recent Dylan albums is that it takes a while to take in the instrumental mix. I’m looking forward to spending time with the album.
And the video:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/bob-dylan-debuts-shockingly-violent-new-video-20120829
I like that video. It would have been great if they could have tapped Alicia Keys to play the role of the woman.
Excellent
Why Alicia Keys? Like me, can you not get enough of Alicia Keys appearances on TV shows?
The kids looks like young Feargall Sharkey.
What’s with this quote from the Rolling Stone write up:
Did Simmons modify his make-up in ’78?
I like that video. The song is not bad — another one for Bob to mumble through in concert.
He reminds of Willie Nelson — both still seem to make an effort to actually sing on albums, but seeing them live, they mumble and sing-speak.
Alicia Keys? Not me, but Bob can’t get enough. He sings about her in the song “Modern Times” for some stalkerish reason.
Perhaps you could ask Peter Criss a the upcoming Kiss Expo in Jersey!
Love the ad — so had to check it — face-painting for the kids! Natch!
http://njkissexpo.com/