Back after a long absence, in between other writing and musical activities.
Back after a long absence, in between other writing and musical activities.
Member since:13.07.2000
Reviews:258
Members who trust:44
In 1965 Bob Dylan went electric, stood firm when audiences tried to boo him off stage (or else turned the amps up twice as loud) and moved the goalposts again with the unforgettable 'Highway 61 Revisited'. It opens with what must be the most famous single drumbeat in rock music and Al Kooper's matchless swirling organ work on the intro to "Like a Rolling Stone", a song which still sounds just as powerful now as it did the first time round. Poet meets rock'n'roller again on the next track, the action-packed "Tombstone Blues", takes a breather for the finger-pointing "Ballad of a Thin Man" ('something's happening but you don't know what it is, do you Mr Jones?') and the bluesy "It Takes a Lot to Laugh...". There's a mesmerising, surreal quality to "Queen Jane Approximately" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", and the whole record culminates in a descent into a world of dark imagery and startling happenings in the 11-minute magnum opus "Desolation Row".
'John Wesley Harding', recorded nearly three years later after Dylan's period of hibernation (the story at the time was that he had an almost fatal motorbike accident, but now it seems that may have been a smokescreen), is a more reflective, relaxed piece of work. Mainly acoustic, with little more than bass and drums accompanying his vocals, harmonica and acoustic guitar, its themes are steeped in Biblical and religious imagery on songs like "All Along the Watchtower" (immortalised by Hendrix a few months later) and "I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine", wild west mythology in the title track, and what many take to be an autobiographical lyric, "Drifter's Escape" - in other words, his escape from the punishing schedule of his life 1965-66. The last two tracks are a pointer towards the country music he embraced on the next album, 'Nashville Skyline' (an album Dylan fans either love or hate, frankly I can't abide it!), the mellow "Down Along the Cove" and the much-covered "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight".
I'm not convinced these albums really fit together as a pair, especially as they leave out the magnificent "Blonde on Blonde" which came in between, but if you want to start your Dylan collection, this is as good a place as any.
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