Bob Dylan
1965
Amanda: So for this Bob Dylan attempt, I actually looked up the lyrics so I could follow along and try to glean some meaning from them. No such luck. I can't even work out what the title "Subterranean Homesick Blues" means. This can mean one of two things in my book: 1. It means absolutely nothing or 2. It is purposefully hard to understand for the sake of being pretentious. Now I don't even care. That one song bugged the hell out of me. Music shouldn't be that hard to understand. How can you tell when it is too hard? Hint: you have three different windows open on possible interpretations, you are listening so intently your head starts to hurt, and you have fantasies of knocking Dylan's stupid harmonica out of his guitar-apparatus. I will put that much effort into understanding literature or historical events, not two minute songs.
RATING:
We made it to 50!!!!
Brie: Okay, so I kind of took a bit of a hiatus, just because I had a huge workload, and I knew I would write a sizable review for this album. So, non existent followers, I apologize.
Firstly, "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is my number one played song in my iTunes library. It is a stream of consciousness nothing that a lot of Dylan fans live by. I mean, you get a lot of advice out of that two minute song. "You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows", "Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters". Plus, the song is just so groovin'. Very, very fun.
"She Belongs To Me" and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" are carefully tiptoeing the border between electric and acoustic. Both are beautiful love songs. "She Belongs To Me" is an ironic title, because as we can learn from the song, that woman belonged to no one ("You will start out standing... You will wind up peeking through her keyhole down upon your knees").
"Maggie's Farm" is what some could call a protest against protest music. As Dylan was going electric with some songs on this album, he no longer wrote his topical songs which folkies treasured so dearly. His turn to electric upset a lot of people, and "Maggie's Farm" is an awesome metaphor sticking it to the folk fans. I prefer the live version of this song, which can be found on the "No Direction Home" soundtrack (Bootleg Series, vol. 7).
"Outlaw Blues", "On The Road Again" and "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" are basically Dylan testing the electric waters, so to speak. Both are good, solid rock songs with great lyrics and stories. "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" is so entertaining! I want to hear the first 114 dreams!!!
The second side of the album (if I was listening to vinyl, which sadly I am not), is more for the acoustic fans. "Mr. Tambourine Man" has always been one of my favorites. Something about the chorus just goes very deep for me. The song sounds desperate, uplifting and so true all at the same time. Definitely one of my all time favorite songs. "Gates Of Eden" and "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" are Dylan's most poetic and serious tracks on this album.
It never ceases to amuse me that if you listen to this album, then Dylan's next ("Highway 61 Revisited") the tracks go "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (some people think that Baby Blue is the folk fans, other people think it is Dylan himself), and then "Like A Rolling Stone".
Can anyone guess what my rating will be?
RATING:
Six of the first seven tracks are classics. The folk side isn't quite as interesting after that musical leap, though the songs are very good.
ReplyDeleteSome of Dylan's lyrics have become very abstract on this album, seems like a hopeless task to understand them at times. I'm reminded of the joke that he just wanted it to rhyme (I don't believe that). But I like them anyway, don't know why.
They used some very good players. I especially like the guitar licks on the rockier songs.
Standout track: "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"