Bob Dylan's "Modern Times"

[Roger Ryan]

I was pleased that Circuit City was giving away a disc containing one of Dylan's "Theme Time Radio" shows from XM radio. It's completely fascinating to hear Dylan introducing and commenting on old big band, showtunes and early rock and roll numbers (the disc's theme is "Baseball"). Licensing issues aside, I hope all of Dylan's XM broadcasts appear in a box set someday.

[andrew k]

Re Basement Tapes v 2, I don't think the production of TooM is anything like Basement Tapes. My opinion, but what those guys did in that house in NY, and what Lanois did in Louisiana (or wherever they recorded that one) don't sound a thing alike. The former was mostly dry room sounds. The latter is drowned in typical Lanois fog.


But in closing, hey--to each his own.

couldnt disagree more with that one point though.  listen to dirt road blues, and tell me it doesnt sound like a cut from basement tapes. .  basement tapes are not some 'dry'  room recording.    going to acapulo?  again, sounds like a cut from time out of mind.  i think if you A/B these two albums you'll find major similarities in places. not everywhere of course.

[the captain]

Well, we'll just disagree. I did as you said, and while I will give you that a person can find moments of similar sounds, I don't believe those moments are representative of the two albums' moods and sounds on the whole.

[donald]

Circuit City giving away the xm broadcast, Best Buy giving away booklet of album covers...

what else is out there?  Sounds like quite the marketing campaign.

[CosmicDancer]

I wish I would have known about the Circuit City/XM Radio show promo.  The album cover book is nice and all but I own all of Bob's albums so if I wanted to see that, I would need to look no further than my album collection!  I have been dying to hear his radio show but haven't jumped on the satellite radio wagon yet.

[donald]

Cosmic, I had a friend with xm who taped one of the theme shows  for me, the one on the weather.  Aparently a number of these have been broadcast.  I'll bet you could find copies if you looked around.

[the captain]

I got the xm disc when I bought the "special edition" version of the album at my local indie record shop. Cosmic, I am very willing to bet you could find a copy... (pm me)

[Sheriff John Stone]

Modern Times is the No. 1 album in the country per the Billboard charts! This is the first Dylan album since Desire in 1976 to hit No. 1.

We have to celebrate Bob Dylan more. He and these other surviving legends (Wilson, McCartney, Davies, Clapton, Townsend, etc) are still out there doing it. We can't take it for granted. You don't know how much longer they'll be around, and then we'll miss them terribly.

Anybody else wanna comment on Modern Times, or see Dylan live lately?

[dude ll doo]

Saw him last Wednesday- he rules- go see him-just go-his band is amazing

[donald]

I last saw him following the release of Time Out of Mind.  A killer band.

Have you seen the IPOD/Dylan commercial on television?  I was surfing around last night and saw it on at least two channels.  And there is an xm radio advertisement that came with the CD plugging xm and the Dylan show.  We're selling IPODS, satellite radio, the entire Dylan catalogue, and the new Dylan record. This is quite the marketing campaign.  And it appears to be working.

Long live Zimmy!!!

[Sheriff John Stone]

I keep checking the Bob Dylan-related site "Bob Links". It shows up to date concert set lists and reviews. Interestingly, Bob hasn't yet played any songs from Modern Times. I say interestingly because Dylan likes to keep things new and fresh. But who can ever figure him out?

[dude ll doo]

I get the vibe that the fall tour will be heavier with new stuff-the minor league stadium tour was a shorter set, cause of all the supporting acts. Even tho' it was only about 90 mins, it was still great.

[Roger Ryan]

Yeah, Dylan usually waits a month or two before debuting material from a new release. He did a whole truckload of material from "Love & Theft" in the months following that release and improved upon the studio versions track for track.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Yes, Dylan must've really liked to perform "Tweedle Dum And Tweedle Dee" live, because it consistently popped up somewhere in his set list. Also, he closed the main part of his shows, right before the encores, with "Summer Days"; he would really get into it. Because some of the faster songs on Modern Times sound slightly like "Summer Days", I wonder if he'll keep it in the live show?