bob dylan

Critical Acclaim Over Blood on the Tracks Makes Me Feel Ashamed for Dylan

Jul 132011

People seem to love Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. I bet you do! I like it. It’s a very good album, but I never feel the love for it that seemingly all Dylan fans and critics do. In part, perhaps, this may be because the album seems a little slick by Dylan standards. The drum parts on “Tangled Up in Blue,” for instance, include uncharacteristic hi-hat flourishes that wouldn’t sound out of place on an album one of those LA Soft-Rock Mafia members, involving Russ Kunkel, or a painstaking overdub on a Fleetwood Mac album. The acoustic guitars sound really tight, too, maybe a little too tight. Not Ovation Roundback tight, but close. I shouldn’t hold a little professionalism against Dylan at this point in his career, at this point in recording history, but I do.

Part of the reason it bugs me is because so many people love this album, they talk about how great it sounds on their hi-fi, how great it sounds through their super-duper noise-canceling headphones. I don’t deny that Blood on the Tracks goes down easy, and that’s also part of my problem. This is one Dylan album where even non-fans resist saying stuff like, “I like some of his songs, but I don’t like the way he sings!” Dylan pulls off a true powerhouse performance on songs like “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Idiot Wind.” I get chills just thinking about some of his vocal performances on that album, but I can’t help but feeling ashamed for Dylan whenever I consider the critical acclaim and public adoration of this album. Continue reading »

RTH Glossary Update: Hershey Squirting Finally Defined and Ready for Usage

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 122011

The following Glossary term was submitted by Rock Town Hall’s favorite Dylanologist, E. Pluribus Gergely.

Hershey Squirting: An artist’s continual release of uninspired singles and LPs that do nothing but soil a back catalog of solid work

Now that that’s taken care of, I’d like all RTHers to carefully examine the catalogs of our beloved heroes to determine which artist has done the most Hershey squirting. To qualify for the designation, the artist in question has to have a back catalog of some merit. In other words, choosing someone like The Replacements or Tom Petty is totally unacceptable.

My choice, and I defy and RTHer to come up with a more deserving nominee, is Bob Dylan. Bob’s Hershey squiriting started right after Desire and hasn’t shown any sign of abating. Dylan diehards stand tall and firm behind the so called nuggets found on Infidels, Empire Burlesque, Time Out of Mind, etc., claiming that the deep trax on the noted long players are every bit as good as the stuff found on the holy trinity of Dylan’s first three electric LPs. That is simply not true. Ever take one of those nasty penicillin influenced dumps that make you gag while you’re wiping your hiny? If so, then you know what I think of tunes like “Tight Connection to My Heart.” There isn’t a single Dylan number recorded after Desire that even comes close to the dartboard of the electric trinity’s snoozers, to something like Blonde on Blonde‘s “Temporary Like Achilles.” The post-Desire slop is lyrically, structurally, melodically, instrumentally, and sonically chronically inferior to anything pre-Desire. Continue reading »

1-2 Punch!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

May 242011

Let’s try another 1-2 Punch, shall we? Top 10 lists are too much; Top 5 lists invite too many opportunities for throwing in a hipster, obscuro choice to distinguish oneself from the raging masses. What I’d like to know is what TWO (2) songs you would choose from an artist’s catalog to say as much about that artist that you believe represents said artist’s core as possible? In other words, if you could only use TWO (2) songs from an artist’s catalog to explain all that said artist is about to a Venusian, what TWO (2) songs would you pick to represent said artist’s place in rock ‘n roll?

I’ll pose two artists and you—love ’em or leave ’em—give me each artist’s representative 1-2 Punch. Dig? Here goes!

Try, Try Again: Bob Dylan to Look Back on His 70th Birthday

Posted by Mr. Moderator

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?

How Long…Can You Listen to Roky Erickson Ramble?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

May 042011

Man, this was tough for me to sit through, simply because it was so boring. I confess: at the 1:18 mark I had to skip forward a bit. How long can you last?

Roky Erickson couldn’t seem less committed to his own bullshit. Around the 2:20 mark he’s asked if he’s ever met Bob Dylan. You don’t need to be a poker player to get a read on the veracity of his answer, do you?

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know Already: Artists in Need of No Further Biographies

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Mar 072011

Blah blah blah...

For god knows what reason a recent issue of Rolling Stone has a cobbled together piece on The Clash. I love The Clash and for years read everything I could on them, but there came a point when I could no longer stomach another hashed-over exercise in myth-making. Tell me something I don’t know already, maybe even some details on how particular records were made. Instead, as this Rolling Stone article does, it’s more of the same-old, same-old: band members from broken homes, The 101’ers, Keith Levene and the London SS, the dawn of Thatcherism, idealism of The Clash contrasted with the nihilism of the Sex Pistols, Bernie Rhodes, the sprawling blah blah blah of London Calling, etc. Enough! The same goes for another one of my favorite bands, The Beatles.

I’m finishing a biography of Elvis Presley, written by one of his Memphis Mafia cronies. I think this is the first Memphis Mafia memoir I’ve read. His close personal friends shed new light on the man. Last night I read about the time he smoked pot. For me, at least, there may be plenty more to learn about the King. I feel the same way about Bob Dylan. Until I see a police report and photos from his motorcycle accident, I hold out hope for learning new details about this great artist.

For what favorite artist would you like to see a moratorium placed on new biographies? Is there anything new you may learn about one of these artists? Perhaps a fellow Townsperson can revive your interest in reading a new biography on said artist. For instance, if anyone can tell me a single new thing about The Clash that I don’t know already, I’ll promise to finish reading this boring Rolling Stone article.

Rock’s Most Iconic Squeeze, Suze Rotolo, Dead at 67

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Feb 282011

Alternate "squeeze" shot!

Rock’s most iconic squeeze, Suze Rotolo, is dead at 67. What rock nerd hasn’t looked at the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and not wanted to be at least one of the two lovebirds pictured?

The young couple walked up and down Jones Street for a few minutes while Hunstein snapped shots. “Bob stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and leaned into me,” Rotolo wrote in her 2009 book A Freewheelin’ Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties. “We walked the length of Jones Street facing West Fourth with Bleecker Street at our backs. In some outtakes it’s obvious that we were freezing; certainly Bob was, in that thin jacket. But image was all. As for me, I was never asked to sign a release or paid anything. It never dawned on me to ask.”

Previously…

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