Bob Dylan
He's been touring a lot for the last 20 years. People call it the Never Ending Tour. A name he poo pooed is his recent Rolling Stone interview when he said "Critics should know that there's no such thing as forever." Occasionally I'll visit the great website Dime a Dozen and download a Dylan show and see what he is up to. Dime a Dozen is a great place to find concert recordings. They don't allow people to post officially released stuff, only true bootlegs so no one loses out on any income. Last night I downloaded a show from May 5th in Dublin, Ireland. He tends to pick a song at times that he hasn't played in a while in order to give the fanatics something to chew on. Either that or it helps keep him interested. Or both. I am only halfway through listening to the show right now but the early standout song is "John Brown." It's an antiwar song from the early 60's that he never officially recorded until he did that MTV unplugged album in 1995. Give it a listen, it's an audience recording but it sounds good and you can even understand the lyrics which is sometimes not so easy when Bob is singing. If you do need some assistance you can read the lyrics here.
Bob Dylan - John Brown 05/05/2009
If that isn't enough you can hear the MTV Unplugged version below. It's a Youtube video but there is no video, just the audio.
2 comments:
Ya know, I´ve tried to get into newer Dylan stuff and nothing has really caught my attention. I was listening to Johnny Cash´s Orange Blossom Special the other day (one of his greatest albums IMHO) and his versions of It Aint Me Babe and Don´t Think Twice It´s All Right really showed the strength of Dylan´s work. However, what have ya done for me lately, Bob? I just wish, selfishly, that he was still making stuff that I liked as much as the old stuff. I haven´t given up on ol Bob completely. He might still have something like the Stones´ Sweet Neo Con in him if he gets pissed off enough or, God forbid, tragedy strikes. As Asia so eloquently put it in their 1982 hit "only time will tell". (coincidentally Asia´s musical masterpiece is not so highly regarded by some. See: http://dullard.blogspot.com/2009/02/worst-song-ever-only-time-will-tell.html
I agree with ajp. Rock n Roll is for the young and there has to be a certain amount of anger for it to work. I also say this not having heard any of Zimmerman's newer stuff but it holds true for most rock bands. Once they become insanely rich, the edge fades. Metallica is a perfect example. How vain do you have to be to think your 2 guitar/bass/drums heavy metal sounds better with a symphony orchestra? Guns N Roses fell into that trap too. The Beatles pulled it off only because nobody had done it before.
Ramble ramble bitch and fuss and piss and moan.
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