Thursday, August 25, 2011

The Dylan Album Project: Bob Dylan


The Dylan Album Project

As a way of approaching Bob Dylan’s studio work, I have decided upon a way of profiling Dylan’s studio albums. First, a description of the album. Second, my favorite song. Third, my least favorite song. Fourth, the best outtake (when available). Fifth, the best live version. Sixth, the five best rhymes on the album. Seventh, the five best images on the album. Eigth, the five best axioms on the album (or in the liner notes). This will provide a good intro, and when the best songs from the worst albums pop up, it will be obvious they are bad. Even more so, when the bad rhymes, images and axioms come out, run for the hills. Likewise, if the bad songs are good and everything thing else fits, get a copy and give it a spin. Dylan rhymes like a lyrical genius (cause he is), crafts images like Ezra Pound and has almost as many axioms as Proverbs, so those all make sense. When I list the best, worst, and outtake I may or may not provide some background and justification as to my choices. And of course, since my choices are at least half subjective, you may end up thinking what I think is the worst song on an album is better than my pick for the best, in which case its worth discussing what the hell I was thinking.



Bob Dylan (1962)

He looks so young and puffy-cheeked on the cover, but you listen to it and he sounds old. He also sounds like he’s trying to sound old, but I don’t think he sounded that convincingly old again until maybe Oh Mercy. The songs are mostly about death – “Fixin’ to Die,” “In My Time of Dyin’,” “See That My Grave is Kept Clean.” He’s trying all sorts of crazy shit here – that breathless, manic harmonica on “Gospel Plow,” that forever-long note on “Freight Train Blues.” He’s throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Dylan only wrote two of the thirteen songs on this album – “Song to Woody” and “Talkin’ New York” – and to me that are in some ways the two songs that least stand up over time. He sounds wild and alive, afraid he’ll die before getting a chance to go back in the studio again. Dylan regretted this album as soon as it was in the can, and that’s probably why. That and most of the songs were not part of his stage show and some he’d never played before the session at all. This maybe isn’t the best Dylan album, but many people underrate it. It is loose, ramshackle takes on a bunch of covers, but Dylan has always done more with loose and ramshackle than anyone else, and his covers, especially of folk material, inhabit the performances more than just about anyone else’s. As you can see below in the rhymes, images and axioms below, there isn’t too much that blows you over in terms of poetry, but the passion and conviction Dylan brings to these songs makes this album a winner in my book.

Best song: In My Time of Dyin’ – Dylan’s using young socialist hottie Suze Rotolo’s lipstick case as a slide.

Worst song: Talkin’ New York – Maybe it is just that it pales in comparison with all of Dylan’s other talkin’ blues (except maybe “Talkin’ Hava Negilah”). I had thought “Pretty Peggy-O” was weaker, and in some ways it is certainly sillier, but Dylan is doing some pretty interesting things there with a frame story, tonal shifts, polysemic text…. it’s just too interesting to be the worst. Of course, I’ve always appreciated Dylan as a cover artist, so what do I know?

Best live rendition: Song to Woody – Dylan hasn’t played these live very often. Some songs he might not have played live at all. They were a departure from his concert repertoire at the time he recorded them and months later his shows were mostly his own compositions so they never snuck into the playlist. “Song to Woody” has probably gotten the most play. I was blessed and surprised to see it performed in 2001 in Topeka, KS when Dylan send his band to the wings and began to sing “Song To Woody” accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. Naked and badass. He receives some accompaniment by the end. The overall effect is jaw-dropping.

Best outtake: He Was A Friend of Mine – This song’s nuance is unmatched by “Man of Constant Sorrow” and “Song to Woody.” Its pathos can blow you right over. It is tender and deep. So why didn’t Dylan choose to include it? Probably because it was a Dave Van Ronk song and Dylan already felt guilty about stealing his arrangement of “House of the Rising Sun” for this album. Van Ronk was the first to arpeggiate the chords in “Rising Sun.” Dylan stole his arrangement and tried to take it off the album, but the record company thought it was too good. A year or two later the Animals copied it, playing the arpeggios on organ, and had a number one hit. Van Ronk, had he recorded it first, would have done quite well for himself. Dylan is able to slay the listener so completely with “He Was A Friend of Mine,” though, that who knows what would have happened with an Animals cover of a Dylan cover of this song.

Rhymes: lion’s den/let me in (You’re No Good); brains/insane (You’re No Good); sorrow/Colorado/railroad (Man of Constant Sorrow); cry/lullaby; joke/broke (Freight Train Blues)

Images: “People going down to the ground (Talkin’ New York);” “a bloody spade (Gospel Plow);” “the gospel line gets mighty hot (Gospel Plow);” “boomer shack (Freight Train Blues);” “froze right to the bone” (Talkin’ New York)

Axioms: “[People] got a lot of forks and knives, and they gotta cut something.” (Talkin’ New York); “Freight train taught me how to cry.” (Freight Train Blues); “[The World] looks like its dyin’ and it’s hardly been born.” (Song to Woody); “The very last thing that I’d want to do is to say I’ve been hitting some hard travelin’ too.” (Song to Woody); “A lot of people don’t have much food on their table.” (Talkin’ New York)

No comments: