The Smiley Smile Message Board

Who here loves Bob's 1967-1974 work where he turned his back on fame and made albums like JWH, Nashville Skyline, New Morning, and Planet Waves?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOG3wj_-enc

I do. JWH was probably the first album of his I heard - checked it out at my local neighborhood, kept checking it out again and again. Nashville Skyline is also a favorite - the songs aren't "heavy" enough with meaning for most Bob fans, but I think it's perfectly alright to do an album of pop/country songs. These songs would've worked very well for Charlie Rich, Elvis Presley, or Johnny Cash. Rick Nelson did a great version of "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You".

Nashville Skyline is great little album with Bob's smooth voice. New Morning is my favorite, it shows Bob at one of the few times in his life where he was at peace.  It is a true shame that events in the next few years changed all that.

The 'Rolling Thunder' Bootleg Series is amazing. The band is loose and crazed. Dylan's on fire. Sadly, Joan Baez turns up and butchers my favourite Dylan song with him, but pobody's nerfect.

That is a great Bootleg series, I wish they would have Bootleg Series release more of Bob's 1974 tour with the Band. Also want the full Basement Tapes released.

We also need a Bootleg Series Isle of Wight disc. Not Bob's best performance, but it's a rare one, and I think that merits a release. Possibly the nicest version of I Threw it All Away ever.

I like that show because he's in such good voice.

Agreed, it's a very important show with unique songs performed.

I wonder if there are many studio outtakes from the JWH/NS/NM period? I suppose most of the Self Portrait/New Morning outtakes were used on the 1973 "CBS' Revenge" album, "Dylan". I quite like the Dylan/Cash sessions, even if it is just them fooling around on studio time.

"Once it's in your blood, you won't be the same no more...", "It's in the heart of every boy and girl..." 

The only Dylan I'll ever need!!!  :lol :lol :lol :lol

I really like New Morning!

I actually think that period is him at the peak of his craft, if not his inspiration.

I'll never understand why he only sang those two lines...

JWH is amazing, and one of his very best albums. The songs have very simple arrangements but that really makes the songs even feel more "old-west." I can easily imagine a lone cowboy sitting on a doorstep somewhere in the American Southwest in the late 19th century playing these tunes.

I'm not a big fan of the rest of the albums in this period, but I don't think he lost his muse during this period. He just wanted to relax and enjoy his time with his new family so he didn't push himself as hard.

Yeah good stuff I really like most of the stuff then except maybe some of the odder cuts on Self Portrait or Dylan. Even those I feel are underrated though. Nashvile Skyline, New Morning, and Planet Waves are among his best ever. Basement Tapes and JWH are pretty darn good too. I like his voice at the time. Very melodic for Bob.

Some of Bob's best singing is on the Basement Tapes. It was rare to hear him singing harmony with anyone before that, but Richard and Rick seemed to just join in like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Bob's voice on the basement tapes just sounds so clean and natural. He was just relaxing and recovering after the chaos of the 1966 world tour. The full tapes could make a great boxset like the SMiLE box.

I think stuff like this is going to be on the next Bootleg series
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUra9RYAMic

Anybody here listen to Bob's Theme Time Radio Hour? It was a lot of fun!

http://youtu.be/lEgcyaHg-pY

Holy sh*t....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr3kZK71sAY

That version is so good. I do love Nashville Skyline Bob, it would seem the next Bootleg Series is covering the 1969-1970 period.... Can I get a hell yeah?

I am so excited for it because "New Morning" is my favorite Dylan album. Such an interesting time for Bob....

Hell yeah!
Gotta love that croon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9VYtywNOA&list=UUv2Uo8biou4ZgbXM3SvVsxw&index=21

Yo want to hear something strange? Listen closely to the melody in the song you posted, and then listen to this clip, and tell me they aren't basically the same song.  ;D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imt_x0teoa0

Gotta love that Elston Gunn. The post-crash stuff is so underrated.

Here's a nice piece on the unfairly maligned Dylan album that also looks forward to the next Dylan Bootleg - Volume 10.

http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/bob-dylan-dylan-and-bootleg-series-vol.html

Also, Sign on the Window and Went to See the Gypsy are classics!

yeah!

HELL YEAH!!!

Found mp3's of the single he put out for RSD - Thirsty Boots is a bit of alright!

So last night I was listening to John Wesley Harding, and I was blown away by it. I don't know if I'm chatting sh*t really, but it might even be his best lyrically.

Because as dizzyingly inventive as, say, Blonde On Blonde is or as knowing and funny as The Basement Tapes are, you kinda don't care why Bob Dylan took that kids chinese flute (what an asshole) or you just laugh when he punches himself in the faaaace with his fiiiist. With the former, going too deep into intention lies Weberman and the ilk. But obviously he can create blinding images, juxaposing high and low signifiers (Shakespeare talking to prostitutes in Memphis Blues, being a good example) to disarm the listener. Probably a reaction to his deification as folk hero, probably just cos he could. Again, that way lies madness.

But John Wesley Harding has none of the jokes. Well, none of the obvious ones - Frankie Lee has a very gnomic punchline. Some songs have this strange malice, such as As I Went Out One Morning, and All Along The Watchtower. He reveals nothing. He seems to be talking about everything from the inevitable cruelty of man (Is that why he cries after he dreams he casts out St. Augustine to his death? And why does Tom Paine appear to hush the woman appealing to Dylan in AIWOOM?) to, I reckon, the falseness of friendships or conversation - most of the tracks feature a dialogue which doesn't resolve or appear normal, such as Frankie or Watchtower.

But if man is cruel, why does the judge cry when he condemns The Drifter? Btw, 'Inside the Judge was stepping down while the jury cried for more' is probably one of his finest. But Drifters Escape is a fable. Lots of these are. Maybe I don't buy that Dylan and The Band were seriously excavating old American music and harnessing it's power for revolutionary yadda yadda like Greil Marcus - I think they were horsing around, getting high and playing songs and genre exercises that range from the straight laced to the insane sometime in the course of the same track. If he learnt any truths about Old American Music, I think he applied them to JWH. He starts the album praising a folk hero who's only a hero because Bob says he is (wasn't the real JWH supposed to be a murderous bastard?), then follows to sing songs about the people who are in folk songs. It's so odd.

I'm out of practice when it comes to analysing a text. So I'll shush.

Heard these alternates of both?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUra9RYAMic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9VYtywNOA

Anyone a big fan of Kingsport Town?
Wonderful song.

I think the theory with 'watchtower' is that the verses are in reverse order, if you read it that way, the story makes a little more sense.

Only slightly - that makes it strongly imply that the two ominous riders are The Joker & The Thief. But then the dialogue makes less sense - I always thought 'let us not talk falsely now' is admonishing the Joker for whining about his wine and land. Life is a joke, after all. If you make it lead into that, you lose that - in fact, the Joker could be seen as going 'no-one knows what my property is worth' as speaking truthfully. And then Bob has to call him The Joker, which makes him slightly unreliable. Cheers, Bob.

What I didn't quite get round to suggesting in that other post is that this is an album that wilfully avoids dissection in a different way to the others. Whereas the others lapse into sheer incoherence if you, for example, tried to actually draw a picture of Desolation Row, which Bob presents as a physical location after all, JWH deliberately leaves a lot out - but its central images are essentially 'real'.

Need more coffee.

 Great insights about JOHN WESLEY HARDING, guys. Yeah, behind the basic simplicity of the instrumentation you get a series of endless riddles that add up to some kind of wisdom.  Bob as cowboy/sage/prophet.

 It's about time Columbia released an offical update of THE BASEMENT TAPES. Those Band tracks were good ("Yazoo Street Scandal" especially) but they did not belong on that album. Tracks like "You Ain't Going Nowhere" and "Tears of Rage" find Bob's singing/phrasing at a peak.

 NASHVILLE SKYLINE is always easy to take. Bob sounds like he is crooning from the bottom of a deep well. Is SKYLINE te Dylan equivalent of Neil Young's HARVEST?

 I've never heard NEW MORNING but the PAT GARRETT soundtrack is another album I can play most of the time.

 No, Bob Dylan did not lose his muse whatsover during this time. After standing at the precipice in mid-1966, he had to pull back in order to save himself.

Bob Dylan made honorary member of US Arts Academy

And being cool like Dylan is, he didn't even show up.
He rules.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22567117

My JWH insight is fairly dim, imo. Reckon there's so much I'm not picking up on. Which is a testament to the artistry of the piece.

You need to listen to New Morning, it's really sweet. It's a weirdo 70's singer/songwriter album. You have the utter masterpiece The Man In Me, for starters. And as I hail from there, the lyric 'Brighton girls are like  the moon' gets much love from me.

Love love love Bob Dylan. His new album is a favorite of mine. Roll On John is one of my favorite songs ever.

Amazon's persistence paid off.  After a year of Emailing me an advertisement for Bob Dylan's Empire Burlesque CD for only $4.99 - I finally gave in and bought it. I bought the vinyl the day it came out in 1985, but haven't listened to it in years. So, I was looking forward to revisiting it.

I've read some reviews through the ensuing years, many criticizing the album. But, you know what? I kind of enjoyed it. First, some of the songs are pretty strong, particularly Side B which includes "Trust Yourself", "Emotionally Yours", "When The Night Comes Falling", and "Dark Eyes". "Tight Connection To My Heart", "Seeing The Real You" and "I'll Remember You" are decent. Second, Dylan's voice is in good form; there's no hint of the raspy and hoarse vocals that would appear later. He still sang very clearly.

Maybe too clearly. There's something that's not quite right with the album. Maybe it's the semi-slick production. Maybe it's the female chorus which accompanies many of the songs. I can't quite put my finger on it but the "sound" doesn't grab me, unlike "Oh Mercy", "Time Out Of Mind" and Love And Theft" which would come later. But, again, I think Dylan wrote some good songs on Empire Burlesque that still hold up almost 30 years - can you believe that - almost 30 years later! Anybody have an opinion on the album? Good? Bad?

I like Tight Connection but the rest isn't anything for me. I like very little mid eighties music though so....

For eighties Dylan I like Shot Of Love ok, Oh Mercy is decent. Wilbury's I like a lot. The best 80's Dylan to me is on The Bootleg Series box the original 1991 one.

Listening to "self portrait" today, a good album in my opinion. The live "isle of wight" tracks are a fun listen.

I remember a friend playing me a cassette of Empire Burlesque, and thinking "he sounds like he's TRYING to sound like Bob Dylan". Something about the album sounded forced to me. I love Shot of Love and Oh Mercy, 2 of Bob's best. Dylan's music should not be forced to sound slick, radio ready. Shot of Love has a sound like a blues record out of the 50's, Oh Mercy has that swampy thing, Bob sounds much more natural there.

The RSD version Of Wigwam is awesome. Better than the one on Self Portrait with the horns.

excited for the new Bootleg release but I don't own either Self Portrait or New Morning... hmmm

I honesty like Dylan's  modern (1997 - present) lyrical style the most. He sounds like a man who knows everything and has seen everything but only lets some of it come out. It's so much more rewarding than the onslaught of surreal images in his mid-60s albums.

++++++++++ 1!!!

Dylan is the only classic/legendary rock guy who I could go see, and if he only played stuff from 97 onward, I'd be actually MORE happy than if he didn't.... Bob's  been on fire since Time Out Of Mind and he seems like he's been having a blast the whole time too. Tempest is my fave album of the lot. Lyrics are amazing. Each song just makes you sit up straight and give it all your attention. I personally love his "non-arranging" things. He just finds the right few notes and hammers the idea home.... He's had the best band of his career since Love & Theft: therefore seeing Dylan now is more like seeing an honest to God band.... I love it and hope he keeps cranking out the albums.

I like a lot of the stuff since 1997, but Modern Times, Time Out Of Mind, and Love and Theft are better (to me) than his three most recent. I like his lyrics on Tempest but I am not a Roll On John fan. His voice since 1978 is a bit rough on me too. Funny because I really like his voice before that.

Roll On John is one of my favorite Dylan songs. Not just because it's about John Lennon, but because it has a great melody. "Docta', docta' tell me the time of day" is also one of the best opening lines to any song ever. 

Maybe I would like it if it were shorter, but I love Sad Eyes Lady or Highlands and they are long. Just didn't click with me for whatever reason. Tempest has some good stuff though.

Then you would enjoy Dylan's setlists from the last 9-10 years. Most of the songs he performs are from the post-1997, and the "oldies" have been aces like "Like A Rolling Stone", "Tangled Up In Blue", "Blowin' In The Wind", "All Along The Watchtower", "Ballad Of A Thin Man", and "Highway 61 Revisited". He usually performs about 15-16 songs, 10 "newer" and 5-6 classics.

Interestingly, Bob's had the same band for years now, with the exception of the lead guitar player. Denny Freeman was in the band for a couple of years in the mid/late-2000's, then Charlie Sexton replaced him for a few tours; in 2013 Duke Robillard replaced Charlie, but, for reasons that haven't come out yet, Duke was replaced last month by Colin Linden.

New Order's remixer was not the best choice for producer, but some of the tracks still come off well. If anything, "Dark Eyes" is one of the best songs Dylan ever wrote and I'm glad they kept a straight acoustic rendering for the album instead of piling on the drum machines and synths.

Hell yes!

Hasn't Dylan basically only had 2 drummers (David Kemper/George Recili) this whole time as well? Something of a record for Bob.