Bob Dylan Thread

[Matthew M.]

And here is a preview of the new Christmas album: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gundu1yLjWY

[grillo]

I've had the new xmas record for a few days and its definitely one of my top 5 Dylan records, no kidding!

[8o8o]

I've had the new xmas record for a few days and its definitely one of my top 5 Dylan records, no kidding!

Really?   

Well, personally I wouldn't go that far, but it definitely offers a lot of good fun, there's no real point in taking the album seriously as "the new Dylan album", more the result of Bob and his buddies having a good time in the studio recording all these songs. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[grillo]

Let's just say i enjoy listening to it more than most of the others, so, to me, that earns it the top 5 position.

[Luther]

I like it very much, too--more than Together Through Life, in fact. It doesn't sniff my top 5, but it might make my top 15 (which is still pretty good for somebody who has released as many, and as many good, albums as Dylan has).

[Sheriff John Stone]

I've had the new xmas record for a few days and its definitely one of my top 5 Dylan records, no kidding!

Really?    

Well, personally I wouldn't go that far, but it definitely offers a lot of good fun, there's no real point in taking the album seriously as "the new Dylan album", more the result of Bob and his buddies having a good time in the studio recording all these songs. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

I see you point, 8o8o, and at first I kinda felt the same way. Then I got to thinking, is Christmas In The Heart so different than World Gone Wrong, Good As I Been To You, or even most of Self Portrait? And they are considered "legitimate" Dylan albums.

True, Christmas In The Heart is not Blonde On Blonde, Blood On The Tracks, or Love And Theft. But I don't see much difference than Together Through Life. Like the last couple of Dylan albums, it has some highs and lows. And, it brings out a couple of emotions in me. As I listen to it, I find myself cringing to some of the slowers cuts, laughing (in a good way) to some of the fun tracks, and even feeling a little moved by one particular track, "Do You Hear What I Hear".

I think the voice is a problem, and this album is not for everyone. I think you have to appreciate Dylan to appreciate the album. You'll either like it or you won't. I like it, but, then again, I like Bob Dylan....

[Luther]

I don't think any--at least any of the good--Dylan albums are more than Dylan and his buddies (or a band, anyway ... I don 't know their social rapport) having a good time in the studio recording all these (those) songs. I don't think he went into the studio to cut Blonde on Blonde, Legendary Album. If he had, it probably would have sucked. But that's why Dylan creates great things. (It's also why he has created some terrible, terrible merda.)

[Sheriff John Stone]

I don't think any--at least any of the good--Dylan albums are more than Dylan and his buddies (or a band, anyway ...

....and some new Bob Dylan songs. I don't want to speak for 8o8o, but I think that's what he was getting at. There is a diiference between a band just recording "covers" - and most Christmas albums are covers - and a band CREATING new music through newly written songs. I'm not a musician, but I have to believe the process is different when you're recording standards, and when you're molding, experimenting, and creating new material.

[Luther]

Maybe yes, maybe no. Plenty of brilliant musicians have rarely or never written their own music. It's different, but not inferior. And Dylan comes from the folk tradition where really he was the exception (in bringing his own material), not the rule. I'd guess his heart is every bit in this project--at least it sounds like it.

[8o8o]

I see you point, 8o8o, and at first I kinda felt the same way. Then I got to thinking, is Christmas In The Heart so different than World Gone Wrong, Good As I Been To You, or even most of Self Portrait? And they are considered "legitimate" Dylan albums.

True, Christmas In The Heart is not Blonde On Blonde, Blood On The Tracks, or Love And Theft. But I don't see much difference than Together Through Life.

Of course it deserves its place in Dylan's catalogue, just like any other album would, but I regard it as a sort of sidestep. It's not the greatest Christmas album ever recorded, neither is it the worst. I say enjoy it for what it is (and we all agree there is plenty to enjoy!) or leave it be, but please don't take it too seriously, as some critics and fellow Dylan fans love to do everytime he puts out something new, by analysing every single song, every line, flipping it over, turning it upside down to find any possible links with the work of James Joyce or whatever. They can't do that now, that's why it gets a lot of stick. It seems that with whatever he puts out, it's either "the greatest thing he's ever done" or "a load of crap", there's no middle way.

I think the voice is a problem, and this album is not for everyone. I think you have to appreciate Dylan to appreciate the album. You'll either like it or you won't. I like it, but, then again, I like Bob Dylan....

That's right, but it has been like that since "Modern Times" at least, then again, his voice has always put people off, even in the mid 60s or when he came up with his "Nashville Skyline" voice a couple of years later. Once you can get over it, it's not so bad, for those who can't and need something more smooth there's Andy Williams' or Engelbert Humperdinck's Christmas album. But yes, as with Tom Waits' voice, you either like it, or you don't.

....and some new Bob Dylan songs. I don't want to speak for 8o8o, but I think that's what he was getting at. There is a diiference between a band just recording "covers" - and most Christmas albums are covers - and a band CREATING new music through newly written songs. I'm not a musician, but I have to believe the process is different when you're recording standards, and when you're molding, experimenting, and creating new material.

That is indeed what I meant, Sheriff. But Luther's right too of course, you don't go into the studio to create your masterpiece or anything, it happens or it doesn't, but this is different, the songs and lyrics were already there.

The idea to record some Christmas songs may even have its origin in Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour (his radio show), where he played some of these songs, and/or maybe they started doing one or two Christmas songs one day during the "Together Through Life" sessions (December 2008!) and it led to this.

[Sheriff John Stone]

The idea to record some Christmas songs may even have its origin in Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour (his radio show), where he played some of these songs, and/or maybe they started doing one or two Christmas songs one day during the "Together Through Life" sessions (December 2008!) and it led to this.

Yes, I thought that, too. Dylan also recorded these little 30 second to 1 minute Christmas "messages" or trivial snippets which are kind of cool. I like to hear him talk.

But, anyway, does anybody want to offer more of a review or detailed opinion of Christmas In The Heart?

[Shady]

Heard the new XMAS album, something very cool and relaxed about it. The perfect Christmas album IMO,  Definitely not everyone's type though, I don't see it doing very well.

Funny, the idea of Bob releasing a Christmas album a few years ago would of been a bad joke.

[Ed Roach]

He ignores songs from his new album -- that's nothing new. Neither is his attempt to define himself through his changing set list.

Bob Dylan opened his three-night stand Tuesday at the Hollywood Palladium, essentially in the backyard of his Malibu residence, on the same day his latest studio album was released. How many songs did he play from the new collection for the hometown crowd? Zip. Nada. Zilch.

That's not a huge surprise given that the album happens to be “Christmas in the Heart,” his first holiday collection. Mid-October feels a little early to be dipping into the seasonal songbook -- even assuming Dylan would ever offer up "Must Be Santa," "Here Comes Santa Claus" or other chestnuts from the Christmas set in his live act.

The fact is, he's bypassed other new albums in concert before. Two decades ago he came through town just after "Oh Mercy" was released, but you never would have known it from his concert set list. The salient point being that the word "promotion" seems to be the one entry in the English language missing from his otherwise unabridged dictionary.

Instead, Dylan seems to treat the song selection at each night's performance as something of cabalistic ritual, a mystical exercise in which something transcendent might emerge from the proper sequence and combination of thoughts, sounds, notes and rhythms on a given evening.


On a new tour swing that opened last week in Seattle, several cornerstone numbers have appeared nearly every night. From the early years, he's relying regularly on "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)," "Highway 61 Revisited," "Ballad of a Thin Man," "Like a Rolling Stone" and "All Along the Watchtower." Then there are linchpin songs from his most recent studio releases, including "Cold Irons Bound," "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," "My Wife's Home Town," "High Water (for Charley Patton)," "Thunder on the Mountain" and "Jolene."

It might well be Dylan's way of emphasizing who he is right now -- the face the artist always had been most interested in sharing -- while offering enough of a reminder of who he used to be to keep hits-conscious fans from staging an uprising.

On Tuesday, following a spirited 40-minute set by an impossibly ageless-looking and sounding Johnny Rivers, Dylan also weaved in "Shooting Star" from "Oh Mercy" and "Nettie Moore" from 2006's "Modern Times," songs separated by nearly two decades that look differently on romances of yore.

"Shooting Star" savors the sweetness of what once was, while "Nettie Moore" becomes immersed in the loss: "I loved you then and ever shall/But there's no one here that's left to tell/The world has gone black before my eyes."

His sly sense of humor came through in subtle ways. "My Wife's Home Town," from "Together Through Life" is savagely funny on its own -- the hometown in question is Hell -- but segueing directly from that wicked sentiment into "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" added extra sting to that bluesy lament from the mid-'60s.

Many of the "Together Through Life" songs are rooted in the blues, a form his five-piece band excels at. Guitarist Charlie Sexton, who had been in Dylan's touring band nearly a decade ago, has returned to the fold and reeled out some fat rhythm support and a couple of nicely stinging solos. Drummer George Recile supplied much of the instrumental magic on several numbers with consistently surprising rhythmic accents that kept the musical train jumping.

And even though the momentum built inexorably toward the powerful finale combination that included "Ballad of a Thin Man," "Like a Rolling Stone" and "All Along the Watchtower," Dylan again defied any attempts for singalongs with his off-kilter phrasing of his signature tunes.

He piled the words in the verses of "Rolling Stone" into the front half of each measure, then allowed for a pregnant pause before dropping the last few words in behind the beat at the end of the musical phrase. It's as if he was going through that old enunciation exercise where you repeat a sentence multiple times, putting the accent on a different word with each repetition to see how it changes the emphasis in meaning.

Meanwhile, from his station at the keyboard, he pounded out descending notes during "Watchtower" that created the impression of soldiers marching down a castle staircase on the way to carrying out their duties. The band filled out the arrangement with a suitably thick, thunderous accompaniment.

Who needs Christmas carols anyway?

randy.lewis@latimes.com

[Sciencefriction]

I really love his new Christmas album, but I can see why people wouldn't like it.  I'm not really a big Dylan fan either, but I think he sounds pretty good on this release.  In fact, if I had to own a modern day Dylan record it would be this one.  Does anyone know if vinyl copies of this will be on sale at his current shows?  I'd rather pick up a copy for a bit cheaper and not worry about the post if I can.  Too bad he's not doing a Christmas tour really, I'd love to hear these songs live.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Too bad he's not doing a Christmas tour really, I'd love to hear these songs live.

That would be a interesting change for the "never-ending tour".

Dylan's last date on this current tour is 11/20/09, close to Thanksgiving, so you never know. Wouldn't it be cool if, at the last show, after the final encore, which is usually "All Along The Watchtower", Dylan would uncharacteristicly say, "Have a Merry Christmas everybody", and go into a rousing "Must Be Santa", complete with a hot guitar solo from Charlie Sexton!

[Sciencefriction]

I think it's nice when Bob Dylan surprises us, and a small Christmas tour would be nice I think.  Yeah, it might be uncharacteristic of him, but he did release a Christmas album.  Now if only he would play some of it for us. 

[Heywood Floyd]

I was at the Palladium show on Tuesday. It was the first time I've seen Dylan live and I was really disappointed. I don't like his band, they're just really loud, but then again the sound system at the Palladium sucks. Also, Bob Dylan has a strange way of performing songs, they don't sound anything like the songs he originally recorded. I guess I'm living in the past, because through the entire show I was watching Dylan on stage and thinking "what happened to this guy?"

[Sheriff John Stone]

Anybody catch Dylan on the recent PBS telecast of Music From The Civil Rights Movement from The White House. Bob sang "The Times They Are A-Changin'" with a small band while playing acoustic guitar. I thought he sounded quite good, singing in a mellow, almost tender voice. Played some interesting guitar, didn't miss a word...