Bringing It All Back Home is a masterpiece, it is even more crazy to think that his next two albums top this one. Hands down the greatest three album run of all time. Glad to see Joe keeping an open mind and really enjoying this record more than I thought he would. Can't wait for Highway 61.
@@Firefoxy-rz1nw If you include Basement Tapes and leave out Street Legal (which I like a lot) you might have a case but not really. Desire for me is not on the right level to be considered. How can you follow BOTT?
Love it, my personal favourite of Dylan's. The thing that many people don't understand is that Dylan is a genre unto himself. He didn't do anything the way you were supposed to. He didn't sing like normal singers, he didn't write songs like normal songwriters. I wouldn't call it poetry, it's somewhere between singing, songwriting, recording, and poetry, but it's Dylan. He created his own genre. And either it's on your wavelength or it's not.
I found this channel the other day. Almost immediately it became my favorite RUclips channel, full stop. I'm recommending it to friends. The series is absolutely perfect for me and my interests. I'm as big a student of Dylan as this Dylan is, and his comments about the records so far are just brilliant -- insightful, impassioned, nuanced but also sober. I'm amazed and thrilled, partly because I'm twice his age and have been at this for decades longer, and it moves me to hear such depth of understanding coming from someone who wasn't alive when so many of Dylan's greatest albums were released. And then there's Joe -- his honesty about his doubts, his willingness to listen, learn, and re-consider is very exciting. Sometimes I'm halfway out of my chair with outrage...but I love that honesty; for all of Dylan's early fabrications about his life, at the core of his work is a bone-deep commitment to honesty, wherever it leads him. Joe's openness and the passionate dialog between these two guys blows me away. This series already includes the best commentary on Dylan I've ever encountered -- and that includes the work of Greil Marcus, Sean Wilentz, and David Remnick, all of whom are great Dylan scholars. I'm thrilled that these guys have committed to 40 episodes -- just thrilled. You gotta turn this into a book, and / or package it as a course in deep Dylan, for those who want to learn. Close study of Bob is as rewarding as studying Blake or Keats or Wordsworth or Whitman or Rilke or Dickinson or the greats of other languages, genders and cultures. Just brilliant, guys.
Love Minus Zero/No Limit is such an astoundingly beautiful song. In my mind, it stands alongside the classic poems it invokes. Plus, very possibly Dylan's prettiest melody. I think that the three albums in the electric trio are all a bit inconsistent, but this one is pretty great. Love Bob Dylan's 115th Dream and Subterranean Homesick Blues. I wish there was a perfect version of Mr. Tambourine Man, with the Byrds' arrangement and vocals, but with all the verses. Dylan, I completely get what you're saying about The Beach Boys. I had a similar experience until I listened to Holland and it became one of my favorite albums. Really great discussion!
This album is a masterpiece. "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" has one of favorite lyrics of all time Well, I rapped upon a house With the U.S. flag upon display I said, “Could you help me out I got some friends down the way” The man says, “Get out of here I’ll tear you limb from limb” I said, “You know they refused Jesus, too” He said, “You’re not Him"
I was 13, mowing the lawn in 1983 while wearing my mom's sony walkman. The sunday morning radio played a show called "Sunday morning 60s". Mr. Tambourine Man came on and I was immediately struck by the "terrible" voice which caused me to listen super hard. By the end of the song, I had left the lawnmower running while I ran inside to write down as many lyrics as I could remember. My dad asked me what the hell I was doing and I excitedly asked him if he could take me to a department store later so I could spend my lawn cutting money on a bob dylan album.
It was my first Dylan album I bought, the first Dylan album I heard was Desire I was hooked, at the time I was a metal head, Iron maiden, Metallica, Slayer, But soon as I heard Desire and the hurricane which I didn't want it to end I have never stopped listening to BOB DYLAN
@@elston3153 Nice. The 1980s? All my high school friends were metal heads. I turned them onto Dylan. I think this whole channel is a trip down memory lane of how you formed your musical tastes. It's too bad they don't cover jazz b/c that's where I'm mostly at now. Brian Wilson, the Beatles are great pop stars, but don't hold a candle to the pop songs of Jerome Kern or Harold Arlen. Songs by Chet Baker blow them out of the water. The Rolling Stones are kind of badass, but not compared to Charles Mingus. The real musical revolutionaries are Charlie Parker, Monk, Miles, Coltrane. The best psychedelic music is bobby hutcherson and Grachan Moncour. Mwandishi. The funkiest music ever is Herbie Hancock. Anyway, I'm off on a tangent. Enjoying the trip down bob lane!
Another excelllent episode! Cool that Joe has changed his opinion on Dylan at least a little bit. My favorite Dylan album is "Slow Train Coming", so looking forward to that episode especially!
Bringing it all Back Home is the album that got me hooked on Dylan especially in college. Some of my best memories in my early 20s were driving, smoking a few squares and listening to this record. The second side of the album is probably my favorite stretch of music of all time and the acoustic/electric split was brilliant. This could be his best album even though Blonde on Blonde is my favorite currently..it used to be BIABH and Time out of Mind at different points and I could see it switching again.
On the Road Again is an incredible song, in the context of the rest of the album. Obviously it's an overtly light-hearted throw-away to lighten the tone a bit amidst all the heavy stuff, but it's still utterly brilliant. Your grandpa's cane, it turns into a sword / Your grandma prays to pictures that are pasted on a board....
This was a tremendous discussion. Dylan Sevey's description of what Dylan did lyrically compares to what the Beatles, Beach Boys and others did with sound is one of the most original and unique takes I have heard on what makes Dylan so great. The first four songs on the electric side are really good, Subterranean Homesick Blues is a classic and Maggie's Farm and 115th dream start the electric roar that would become Highway 61. For me the acoustic side (aside from SHB) is what truly elevates the album. Dylan took the folk concept of acoustic music and poetic lyricism to undreamed of heights. Nobody could touch this level at the time and few have since. I personally believe "It's All Right Ma" is the greatest singular lyrical achievement in contemporary popular music. Next to its dexterity and genius, something lyrically like "Stairway to Heaven" feels like it was written by a third grader. When I was in college I put on "It's All Right Ma" every night because I could not get over (and still can't) the incredible raw honesty and the brilliance of the lyrics. It is the song Dylan uses the most to explain how he can't write like he did at the time. Dylan would not give permission to use his version for Easy Rider so McGuin covered it and he falls completely flat. There is no real bite, his version has no center and he is trying too hard, it is rushed and the phrasing stinks, where the rage just flows out of Dylan. Who, or how many, have ever made a really good cover of that song? It's good to see that perhaps Joe dies not fully think that Dylan was "wildly overrated". For me Tambourine Man has wonderful stretches and continues a theme that is inherent in all of Dylan's career, a fierce desire for true transcendence (and imo never found it, despite an intense *religious* period, which I never bought, but that's me). Visions of Johanna, Stuck Inside of Mobile, and much of his later work convey this despair at not finding it. One last thing. Lyrically this album is near the height of Dylan's poetic prowess but musically it is a very raw exploration as to the possibilities of electric for him. It has to be considered in terms of its time. We cannot try to retrofit our understanding of what came later in appraising it. Next comes Highway 61, my favorite album of his, and if you don't get the surrealism that is at a much higher level consistently and authentically, except for SHB, you might then think it is "overrated". But that would be to miss its brilliance as an all out assault on an America gearing up for the Vietnam War. 'Tombstone Blues" imo is the only song Dylan wrote in that period that directly alluded to the war as its theme. I will leave you with an analogy of my own. Highway 61 Revisited is in song and music what Guernica was to 20th century art. That is the greatness of the man and why he won the Nobel Prize. If Bob Dylan had not created such an immense foundation in his 60's through mid 70's work, including the amazing Blood on the Tracks, I'm not sure he would have been anything but a curiosity, a quirky man of inconsistent, sometimes very good talent. And who would have been the groundbreaker for the genre of singer songwriter and brought lyrical sensibility to rock? A lot of his stuff later was beyond lousy but one paid attention because it was Dylan, hoping the genius within would strike again and show itself.
P,S. Ironic that Joe gets that Dylan was a hipster who knew the streets and landscape and his sensibility derived from the Beats, among others. He was never a Hippie.
Great episode, great commentary. Bob Dylan goes punk-blues, still only a young man (23, 24 years old). He had tried to be the older Woody Guthrie so hard before, achieved it, and then rediscovered a more youthful attitude. All good music should ultimately be joyous on some level, and Dylan seems to be as happy as a kid in a toy store on this album. (Well, maybe this last part is more appropriate for the next album to come).
Loving this series, so I had to subscribe to make sure I don't miss the next three. This period of time is so amazing for both the quantity and the quality of albums, and for how different they are from each other.
So great to see this break through! For a long time this was my favourite Dylan album of 1965 but recently I revisited them both and Highway 61 "clicked" more for me and overtook it. They're still close so that is always open to change. But looking forward to see how it goes for Joe all the same!
Wow Joe, congratulations on actually doing this. I am also known to be a Dylan denier hahaha but I am sure that if I actually gave him time (and had an awesome friend to guide me along) I could learn to appreciate him more.
Great discussion, as usual, with plenty of valuable insights and personal opinions. I would only add two items: despite Joe wanting to prematurely jump on the "Judas!" remark, some mention should be made regarding Dylan's appearance at the Newport Folk Festival (July, 1965). This is where he showed up with the Butterfield Blues Band and cranked up "Maggie's Farm" and "Like a Rolling Stone" live for the first time. HIGHWAY 61 wouldn't be released for another couple of months (though "Rolling Stone" was already on the charts). One might consider this as the start of the wave of boo's from the folkies; the famous story of Pete Seeger threatening to cut the power with an axe is also from this show. Keep in mind that some of the audience reaction might have been due to the poor sound quality while others were pissed at the short playing time. Nonetheless, this marks the line in the sand where Dylan heads in a new direction, leaving acoustic protest music behind. The folk audience he may have lost was made up 100X by the rock and pop crowd. Dylan was on such a creative roll that, though he had recorded an earlier version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" for ANOTHER SIDE, he held the song back until he got the right voice and arrangement (with harmonica) for BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME. Having "Tambourine Man" ready to go probably meant that ace songs like "Farewell Angelina", "If You Gotta Go" and "I'll Keep It With Mine" would be relegated to other artists and, eventually, his own BIOGRAPH and THE BOOTLEG SERIES archival releases. Between January '65 and March '66, Dylan recorded his classic 'electric trilogy' (plus charting singles), changing the face of rock music forever. Has any contemporary artist had a better 14-month run?
I got high hopes for blood on the tracks! That is up there with my best albums of all time. Bringing it all is great as well, probably the first Dylan album that I heard and loved.
Hi guys, these Bob Dylan's episodes are becoming better and better, I can't wait to the next one, you're doing great. Bringing it all back home could be number 4 in my list
Bringing it all back home. I wish I could love this but I really only love one song and like a few others a good deal. Joe and I have different tastes in music but we have a similar take on Dylan so far. Though Joe is brilliant and I am highly suspect? And I already took the trip Joe is on many years ago.
Subterranean Homesick Blues. 10. Finally, the first great word-salad song from Dylan with a catchy hypnotic bouncing Beat (Poet) melody and surreal lyrics and an enchanting great video with Dylan showing the lyrics on cue cards that he tosses like a salad in a video. One doesn't have to get the meaning in total to just have a great time with the surreal rhyming metaphoric lyrics and onlooker Allen Ginsberg. "Don't Look Back" with actual concert footage and Dylan mocking very serious-minded and uncool reporters w/o their cue-clue cards. I did think Dylan was nasty the first time I saw part of this movie but now it's just fun,. This movie shows Dylan surrounded by some famous folks like Donovan who sings and Baez sings "Percy's Song" (Turn Turn to the Rain and the Wind) which is a great song that Bob soft-spoken(ly) sings just as well as other singers. A case where Bob sings so well. Bob borrowed the melody and refrain, that's the only bad news I have. It's All Over Baby Blue. 9. Fine song and Dylan does great though Van Morrison's version is the definitive and more powerful one for me. I wasn't impressed until I heard the eerie Morrison take. Again, brilliant lyrics but is it OK if I don't love his vocals and I am not really concerned with vocals, in general. I will like more songs and vocals on the next two albums.
Mr. Tambourine Man. 8 . I guess others just love this more than me. Thanks for coming through for me Joe and not liking it that much. The chorus is a bit silly.
Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream Dy is spinning yarns about old and new America with references to lots of literature. I get the humor and most references (or so I proclaim!) but I'm not enjoying the ride much, probably mostly the melody is not great to me. 6
Maggie Farm. 8 Melody somewhat like Sub Homesick Blues. Good song. "Love Minus Zero/No Limit. I think this is considered great but I'm not feeling it. 5. She Belongs to Me. 7 Pretty good. Bob's harmonica playing is improving. On the Road Again 6 Outlaw Blues 5 It would be a top 10 album for me of that year. But I don't think albums were so strong yet. 1967 might be the launch year of great albums. But I"m so glad he went electric though I like folk a lot but I like another folk singer a lot more.
comment from my comment " When I was in college I put on "It's All Right Ma" every night because I could not get over (and still can't) the incredible raw honesty and the brilliance of the lyrics. It is the song Dylan uses the most to explain how he can't write like he did at the time. Dylan would not give permission to use his version for Easy Rider so McGuin covered it and he falls completely flat. There is no real bite, his version has no center and he is trying too hard, it is rushed and the phrasing stinks, where the rage just flows out of Dylan. Who, or how many, have ever made a really good cover of that song?" Different strokes for different folks.
Dylan,you mentioned about doing a ranking..would you consider doing one at the end of all these discussions?..I've been on and off with dylan over the years,but am about to deep dive again, and these are fantastic discussions...thanks in anticipation..
Joe, there's nothing to fear about "Highway 61 Revisited." You're already broken in. I absolutely love that this is a 4 1/2 star record for you. But can I be disappointed that you don't like "Mr. Tambourine Man?" When I really sat down and listened to "Mr. Tambourine Man" at the age of 19, I was enraptured...enthralled. My previous belief that the Byrds version was better was utterly destroyed. I was in the "anything is possible" now frame of mind. Poetry MEANT something. The written word was everything. The whole world was open. It's just difficult to believe that THIS song of any of them is the one that means the least to you. But Bravo, man! I love this series.
@@TastesLikeMusic Having just listened to it, I can see where you might find his lyrics wordy surrealistic ramblings. I don't think think I can convince you otherwise. I just hooked into the emotional feeling of the song. Maybe I was the right age for it at the time that it hit me. Maybe I just wanted to be "ready to go anywhere" at the time. I caught a sense of what it must have been like for younger people in the 60's to listen to him. I think some day, the song will hit you and you won't feel this way about it. As I said, I think you're broken in already. At some point, you've got to listen to a lot of those songs he DIDN'T release on the original albums. Some great stuff out there. I mean, can't you listen to "Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie" while you're rocking your baby to sleep?
Dylan's version for me is far more intimate and penetrating. The Byrds leaving out two verses did not exactly enthrall me. But they made Dylan accessible for many.
I think Dylan said he "received" all of those amazing earlier lyrics beamed into his brain from somewhere else, he received them and wrote them down. He said one day whoever was sending them stopped, and the hard work began. He could have been quoting one of the great composers, who's name escapes me, who also said he didn't write his compositions, he received them like a stream into his brain and he wrote them all down. Maybe they were describing the death of their artistic peak and the beginning of the artistic decline I don't know but I do like the thought that when we do artistic things maybe we are doing them on behalf of a higher power. And I don't mean the record label lol. Thanks for the show guys this is a really good series, The Dylanizing of Joe! Sounds Biblical lol.
" think Dylan said he "received" all of those amazing earlier lyrics beamed into his brain from somewhere else, he received them and wrote them down." That's the "sensation" for a writer when the writing is going as it should -- one is writing by the seat of one's pants on the edge of one's seat. But that does not make the "sensation" a fact. Perhaps it "stopped" for him when he realized that he either stop the amphetamine (and weed) or it would kill him.
My favorite 60s Dylan album, this and Highway 61! My actual favorite Dylan album is Blood on the Tracks, not only for Bob Dylan but one of my "All Time" favorite albums period!
Oh how I resonated with what DS said about enjoying the lyrical wordplay of a song on an equal level to the music. I’d rather listen to my fave songs from Dylan 8 days a week over the musicality, melodies, and harmonies of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. Bob’s emotional vocal delivery and lyrics connect with me on such a different, deeper level than those three aforementioned bands ever could.
Good evening, Michele. I imagine we both might have a hectic day tomorrow, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas! I hope it's been a healthy and happy holiday season for you. Thanks for engaging in conversation with me so many times! I consider myself lucky. Wishing you all the best, Michele. 💙
@@brentjackson6839 Good morning, Brent! Wishing you a holly, jolly Christmas! And cheers to a happy, healthy, and music-filled 2024! Always a pleasure to converse with you, any time of year. I hope Santa was good to you. Til next time. 😊🎄🥂
Great commentary again gentlemen, thank you! But I don’t think Joe is any danger of losing his self-defined cred as a Dylan doubter, as he seems to have been dragged kicking and screaming into his appreciation for the album. For me, it’s a masterpiece, easily in my top 5 Dylan albums, sometimes top 3. Five stars for sure…maybe 2 weaker tracks on side 1, but all of side 2 (especially It’s All Over Now, one of my three favourite songs, full stop) is definitive and beyond excellent. If anything, I found Dylan S’s commentary too restrained, too deferential to our Joe…even if it’s not his choice Dylan album, he knows it’s damn good and should give Joe more of a smack about the ears! But Joe is right that this is the emergence of Dylan as the ultimate in hipster cool, the insider who knows how things work. And his attitude, almost more than anything, enlivens the songs. BTW, I saw Dylan here in Toronto at Massey Hall last week…fabulous, especially a beautiful rendering of one of his classic mid- period songs, Every Grain of Sand. And who was in the audience, sitting (ahem) just behind me? Elvis Costello, together with his wife Dianna Krall. Gave a shout out to Elvis, told him I loved Imperial Bedroom ( did a review for the channel on that one), and he blew me a kiss! Oh and that’s Albert Grossman’s wife (BD’s manager), not John Hammond’s on the cover. But very impressed that Joe went out to buy the Dylan songs research book! That’s commitment! Cheers and thx for a great series! JPE
I was hoping there would be some small mention of the Dylan/Donovan scene in Don't Look Back. Some people claim it's just two colleagues playing songs for each other, others say it's a deliberate attempt to make Donovan look inferior. At first I thought Dylan was trying to upstage Donovan, but it wasn't until later viewings I caught that Donovan actually asks Dylan to sing It's All Over Now Baby Blue, which is my favorite tune off Bringing It All Back Home and might be in my top 30 Dylan tracks. I'd like to add that Mr. Tambourine Man may have been inspired by the great Bruce Langhorne. Besides playing with Dylan, Langhorne also did great work with a variety of other artists, my favorites being on Tom Rush's version of Urge For Going and the soundtrack to Peter Fonda's Western The Hired Hand.
One of the greatest albums of the 60s. Side 1 basically codifies an entire branch of rock music. Side 2 is the peak of Dylan's acoustic music. Maybe the greatest acoustic music since Robert Johnson.
"Mr. Tambourine Man The title character of Bob Dylan's song "Mr. Tambourine Man" was probably inspired by (Bruce) Langhorne, who used to play a large Turkish frame drum in performances and recordings.[3][4] The drum, which Langhorne purchased in a music store in Greenwich Village, had small bells attached around its interior, giving it a jingling sound much like a tambourine. Langhorne used the instrument most prominently on recordings by Richard and Mimi Fariña.[5] The drum is now in the collection of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa." (Wikipedia) And "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the favourite song of the late great Hunter Thompson.
@michelewiese48 I just heard Everday Is Halloween on Halloween ! They were really good & really developed as a band. It's fascinating how they changed over the years but constantly excelled !
Yes! Ministry's cover is better than the original -- the driving bass line adds a whole new dimension to it as does the vocal performance -- really heartfelt and passionate. And come to think of it, Jesus Built My Hot Rod probably owes more than a bit to Dylan as well !!!
@@Yakaru1 The Ministry cover is Powerful, but the original melts me. Whether another lover or societal pressure is trying to push her out that door, he just isn’t having it.
Traditional folkies hated Dylan even right from the start. Ewan MacColl, for example, (English trad folk collector) hated him and said it's not real folk music what he's doing. The English folk singer Martyn Carthy took Dylan to MacColl's folk club in London in '63 and Dylan performed Hollis Brown and left the audience shell-shocked, but MacColl hated it. He'd have liked it if it had have been set in 1740 and sung in some traditional dialect like a proper folk song! Subterranean, the single, also landed like a bomb shell at the time I think. No one had heard anything like it.
I have deeper appreciation and preference for this album now. I think it's him at his acoustic and lyrical best. I think I liked this iteration of him the most. I think he is at his wisest right here. I feel he has no convictions here and is in like this blank slate phase where he says goodbye to the "howling beast on the borderline" of folk music and does something so completely different with the rock genre. She belongs to me and love minus zero are hidden gems. And there is nothing that needs to be said about it's all over now baby blue. I haven't even mentioned Maggie's farm and other songs which are great in their own right. Perfect marriage of acoustic and electric Dylan
4.5 stars. I've been on a Dylan craze recently, and I'm revisting some albums i overlooked. Definitely my second favorite artist behind the Beatles. This album is excellent, but i hold it behind the others in the trilogy because it isnt quite as consistent and reflects a bit of the older, less refined Dylan style. On here, theres GOAT songs, great songs, good songs, and decent ones, too. I like the variety on this one. Heres my song ranking: 11: Outlaw Blues, 5/10. It's not quite as well written as its sister song, but it's not terrible. Just not as interesting lyrically. 10: On the Road Again, 6/10. This song is hilarious and has great imagery. A little too nonsensical and impersonal, though, for how the instrumentation is. 9: Love Minus Zero, 7/10. Good song, but it isnt working for me quite as well as some others. The lyrics are obviously the best part, but Dylan's singing could have been better. 8: She Belongs to Me, 8/10. This is a very pretty song with very charismatic lyrics. Feels a bit more refined than the aforementioned songs. 7: Mr. Tambourine Man, 8/10. I never liked this song as much as everyone else. The concept falls apart slightly for me, but the imagery is top-notch. Bangladesh version is my go-to. 6: Subterranean Homesick Blues, 9/10. Sometimes i think I've got the whole thing down, and then it'll pull a fast on me. Pretty interesting song and reflects upon Dylan's ability to make concise songs, even though he doesn't typically like to do that. 5: Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, 9/10. Hilarious song with a well written rhythm section. The laugh at the beginning is priceless. Dylan has a personality. 4: Gates of Eden, 9/10. Awesome song that gets ignored. It enchants me far more than Tambourine Man. 3: Maggie's Farm, 9/10. Never get tired of this song. Hilarious, conceptual, concise, interesting, and fantastic. 2: It's All Right Ma, 10/10. Stunning performance and lyrically impossible to match. Dylan's lyrics are fantastic, but so is his character, which pulls us right into his stories. 1: Its All Over Now Baby Blue, 10/10. One of my favorites from him. Tough to choose between this and It's All Right Ma, but this one goes even further with his atmosphere. Love it to death.
The Rolling Stones were doing mostly covers on their albums as did BD in his first few lp's. I feel Bob had done ''dark menacing'' lyrics /topics by 1963 years ahead of the Aftermath release. In 1965 ''dark menacing'' seems light due to the timeframe , we were still a very compliant society and this thing called Rock and Roll was still being developed lyrically, technologically, instrumentally and musically . The Beatles had ''long hair'' then but wore a suit and tie so they wouldn't rock the boat so much , lol. Jagger had Richards and vice versa - Dylan wrote solo ...... See Live ''Maggies Farm'' 7/25/65 Newport for livelier version ....IMO
One of the greatest posters I ever saw that contained the essence of "Maggie's Farm" was a black light poster. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy are all sitting around a hookah, stoned out of their minds and the words read "Ain't gonna work on Dizzies farm no more". No more exploitation here.
Funny how music is Joe. I remember listening to Alice In Chains Dirt, prob about 5 times in a few days. Didnt like it. Put it away, came back to it months later and it just clicked!!
After Blonde on Blonde the consistency really drops off. There’s albums that remind you what he is capable of like Blood on the Tracks and Time Out of Mind but I can see this series struggling to keep the momentum going for someone who just doesn’t enjoy Bob. The run from 62 to 66 is the vintage stuff. If he’s not trumping the Byrds and the Beach Boys by this point then Self Portrait and Knocked Out Loaded are going to get ripped to shreds.
As a fellow reluctant Dylan listener, I have always liked this one. Enough musical adventure to complement his peak level lyrics. But 4 and a half stars? Maybe after a few more listens.
I'm not sure why there's a question mark in the title? It's pretty much universally accepted that Dylan's electric trio of 60s albums are all masterpieces. I will admit that Bringing it All Back Home is the "weakest" of the three, but its best songs are still immortal. We owe Bob so damn much.
I was a punk growing up and I hated thrash metal. My friends loved it I thought it was a sterile pop version of punk. I'm 49 years old now and I'm buying thrash albums that I ignored when they released. There is the odd one that I still dislike but on the whole I've discovered some new favourites and my stubborn brain all those years got in my way. I like punk and I like thrash that's ok now but wasn't back then for some reason.
@@TastesLikeMusic I was there. The "Hippy" movement, which was looked down on by most "Beats," was 1966 and thereafter. I bought "Blonde on Blonde" on first release.
You need to listen to Maggie's Farm there's some great live versions Newport folk festival 1965, Hard Rain 1976 etc I prefer them to the original recordings. With Mr Tambourine Man I think the live versions on the Rolling thunder tour 1975 and at the Bangla desh benefit concert 1971 are great versions worth listening to. you never know it might you win you over!! Baby Blue is another one too great live versions 1965/66 brings out the melody more not forgetting the alternative studio take is which is better melody wise than the official studio version
When I think of BD the first impression isn’t melodic😂Elton, David, extremely melodic. The comment about listening to Dylan 8 days a week over hearing the Beatles Beach Boys means melody isn’t the prerequisite
Of dylans "big" albums this is my least favourite, I don't really know why, the songwriting is masterful; maybe it is the sequencing of it or the production. Great episode of this series, as always
@@kenkaplan3654 you’re right. But I think as long as it rocks, he’ll like it. Joe has to consider really psychedelic lyrics are the lyrical equivalent of a psychedelic guitar solo. Like a Hendrix solo. Let your mind free associate…
Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisted and Blonde Of Blonde How can ANYONE record three records like that in the space of 18 months? Three masterpieces and all sound very different. This would be my least fav or the three but still think it’s a masterpiece
Ok I will chime in with my history with BD. I was first introduced to him shortly after this album came out , I was 12. I did not like it it was beyond my grasp at that time, the whining voice and some what doubtful tuning on the instruments kind of put me off at that point! I was a Huge BEATLES, STONES AND even BYRDS fan already but BOB was not grabbing me yet. Flash forward to 1971 I am 17 and he appears as GEORGE HARRISONS guest at THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH , I saw the movie and I was riveted by DYLAN from then on. Believe it or not the first album of his I got really into was NEW MORNING which had just come out in 1970 I believe. So I AM a big DYLAN devotee but it can take awhile for the musicality of his work to be discovered as well as his incredible lyrics. I would say now I rate the next chronological Dylan albums HIGHWAY 61 Revisited and BLONDE ON BLONDE as close to his best. So Joe I give you credit for listening😄 Don’t be scared!
The biggest revelation for me was hearing the mono mix for the first time, so much more punch and drenched in dreamy reverb on side 2. The stereo version is dry, flat and too bright imo.
Willie Stargell was once being hounded by reporters about his personal life , and he got fed up and said, " I've turned DOWN more p*ssy than you guy will ever even get." I am sure this is also the case for other famous folks, including Dylan... that said, I am surprised to be finding myself not responding to the love songs on the first 5-6 albums... its I think bc he doesnt come across here with much if any sexuality.....think of all the musicians from this era who traded on their sexuality, either in hinting or blatant... Dylan doesnt roll this way... as a result, I dont believe in the dramas he is writing about ...granted this is surely a reflection of my own shallowness, but still.. he seems like he's posing .... with Desire and rolling thunder he starts to push sexuality a bit more with the make up and androgyny and I think that works pretty well... I buy the love songs from that era more...
I do not even understand the comparison of Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man with Dylan's full song. The Byrds basically just take the chorus as the center piece and make it more musical with their vocal harmonies and nice jingle jangle trademark guitars. but the verses are only there to postpone and tease, they mean nothing here. And the chorus really is a bit silly, as Joe says, when it has to stand alone - without the chain reaction of increasingly hypnotic verses, each starting at the higher level to which the former one had climbed. The basic thing is: Joe would never just recite the lines of a long verse like Dylan-the-fan does in each conversation, because really there is already so much in it: they are music already, in a profound way, there is a voice in there, and Dylan-the-artist is by far the best interpret. Other people are just singing, he is phrasing. This may not be to the taste of the majority, but one has to try to get this if one wants to understand where Dylan's greatness may lie.
Only if you totally buy into the lyrics, which I only halfway do on a song like that. Everyone seems to be Pooh-poohing the Byrds, but what the Byrds did no one had ever done before. They literally invented an entire genre with their version. That goes beyond what Bob did with his. - Joe
@@TastesLikeMusic You seem to miss the point that if Dylan had not written it, the Byrds would never have covered it, From our other encounter, it seems you are not particularly enthralled with Dylan's 60's lyrical density, dexterity and acumen. It's kind of like Shakespeare. If you don't love the language, what do you have? For those whose lives were changed by the man utterly, and there are millions, it was lyrical creations beyond anything anyone had ever done and few still who have ever done it. Take two very early songs "Hard Rain" and "with God on Our Side". The guy had a way of inverting POV "Through many a dark hour I've been thinkin' about this That Jesus Christ was Betrayed by a kiss But I can't think for you You'll have to decide Whether Judas Iscariot Had God on his side." **At the time** who did that, who dared to do it? That's part of what enthralled people, he went places inside of one a person did not know existed and have it voice. As I said earlier, it is easy and perhaps too cavalier to look back and not understand the fullness of the musical landscape we now take for granted just did not exist. For me the intricacy of the first and third verses of Tambourine Man gave the song its depth. The Byrds left them out, mostly for commercial reasons but also because it made the song inaccessible to a conventional person of the time. One has to appreciate as you note what the Byrds did, but for many the version was flat.
it is a matter of taste, obviously, what one likes more. it is just not really comparable artistically - a different kind of ballgame. (interesting that the ruin of a song ist still working _somehow_ in in the byrds sound-focused Version.)
The old school folk fans were rabidly dedicated anti-capitalists, so going electric was treason. These were far far left Marxists, though for good reason, since it was the unabashed capitalists that were preserving racism, and racism in the late 50s and onward was brutal. If you were anti racist, the only music that addressed it was folk. Even comedians at the time (those who started Second City) said that being able to say the single word “Eisenhower” on stage was not allowed except in small hipster clubs. Politics was just not in the arts.
Bowie wrote a song about BD described his voice as glue and Sandpaper. His best music was folk but when he moved into Christian music the Critics were unkind. His cultural, musical importance was somewhat exaggerated I believe
How can you spend all this time talking about Bob Dylan without ever mentioning his son, Jakob, who fronted one of the greatest rock bands ever, the Wallflowers? “The only difference that I see is you are exactly the same as you used to be.”
You've confused two incidents - the Judas comment was on the British tour of 1966, but the first people who complained about the electric set (some even booing him) was at the Newport Folk Festival of 1965, which was indeed between Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Dylan_controversy
![Bob Dylan - Tell Me, Momma (LIVE HD FOOTAGE) [Paris, 1966]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YgMZcq2Y2U8/mqdefault.jpg)
The lyric to "Mister Tambouring Man," even without the music, is musical. The language DANCES!
Bringing It All Back Home is a masterpiece, it is even more crazy to think that his next two albums top this one. Hands down the greatest three album run of all time. Glad to see Joe keeping an open mind and really enjoying this record more than I thought he would. Can't wait for Highway 61.
yes, except for Street Legal, Blood on the Tracks and Desire
@@Firefoxy-rz1nw If you include Basement Tapes and leave out Street Legal (which I like a lot) you might have a case but not really. Desire for me is not on the right level to be considered. How can you follow BOTT?
Just to say, I love this series. I’ve spent decades avoiding Bob, but have found myself sinking into his world. This is the road map.
Love it, my personal favourite of Dylan's. The thing that many people don't understand is that Dylan is a genre unto himself. He didn't do anything the way you were supposed to. He didn't sing like normal singers, he didn't write songs like normal songwriters. I wouldn't call it poetry, it's somewhere between singing, songwriting, recording, and poetry, but it's Dylan. He created his own genre. And either it's on your wavelength or it's not.
I found this channel the other day. Almost immediately it became my favorite RUclips channel, full stop. I'm recommending it to friends. The series is absolutely perfect for me and my interests. I'm as big a student of Dylan as this Dylan is, and his comments about the records so far are just brilliant -- insightful, impassioned, nuanced but also sober. I'm amazed and thrilled, partly because I'm twice his age and have been at this for decades longer, and it moves me to hear such depth of understanding coming from someone who wasn't alive when so many of Dylan's greatest albums were released. And then there's Joe -- his honesty about his doubts, his willingness to listen, learn, and re-consider is very exciting. Sometimes I'm halfway out of my chair with outrage...but I love that honesty; for all of Dylan's early fabrications about his life, at the core of his work is a bone-deep commitment to honesty, wherever it leads him. Joe's openness and the passionate dialog between these two guys blows me away. This series already includes the best commentary on Dylan I've ever encountered -- and that includes the work of Greil Marcus, Sean Wilentz, and David Remnick, all of whom are great Dylan scholars. I'm thrilled that these guys have committed to 40 episodes -- just thrilled. You gotta turn this into a book, and / or package it as a course in deep Dylan, for those who want to learn. Close study of Bob is as rewarding as studying Blake or Keats or Wordsworth or Whitman or Rilke or Dickinson or the greats of other languages, genders and cultures. Just brilliant, guys.
Wow. If we ever turn this into a book, you’ll get the back cover blurb!!! - Joe
Love Minus Zero/No Limit is such an astoundingly beautiful song. In my mind, it stands alongside the classic poems it invokes. Plus, very possibly Dylan's prettiest melody. I think that the three albums in the electric trio are all a bit inconsistent, but this one is pretty great. Love Bob Dylan's 115th Dream and Subterranean Homesick Blues. I wish there was a perfect version of Mr. Tambourine Man, with the Byrds' arrangement and vocals, but with all the verses.
Dylan, I completely get what you're saying about The Beach Boys. I had a similar experience until I listened to Holland and it became one of my favorite albums. Really great discussion!
This album is a masterpiece. "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" has one of favorite lyrics of all time
Well, I rapped upon a house
With the U.S. flag upon display
I said, “Could you help me out
I got some friends down the way”
The man says, “Get out of here
I’ll tear you limb from limb”
I said, “You know they refused Jesus, too”
He said, “You’re not Him"
I love that line.
I was 13, mowing the lawn in 1983 while wearing my mom's sony walkman. The sunday morning radio played a show called "Sunday morning 60s". Mr. Tambourine Man came on and I was immediately struck by the "terrible" voice which caused me to listen super hard. By the end of the song, I had left the lawnmower running while I ran inside to write down as many lyrics as I could remember. My dad asked me what the hell I was doing and I excitedly asked him if he could take me to a department store later so I could spend my lawn cutting money on a bob dylan album.
It was my first Dylan album I bought, the first Dylan album I heard was Desire I was hooked, at the time I was a metal head, Iron maiden, Metallica, Slayer,
But soon as I heard Desire and the hurricane which I didn't want it to end I have never stopped listening to BOB DYLAN
@@elston3153 Nice. The 1980s? All my high school friends were metal heads. I turned them onto Dylan. I think this whole channel is a trip down memory lane of how you formed your musical tastes. It's too bad they don't cover jazz b/c that's where I'm mostly at now. Brian Wilson, the Beatles are great pop stars, but don't hold a candle to the pop songs of Jerome Kern or Harold Arlen. Songs by Chet Baker blow them out of the water. The Rolling Stones are kind of badass, but not compared to Charles Mingus. The real musical revolutionaries are Charlie Parker, Monk, Miles, Coltrane. The best psychedelic music is bobby hutcherson and Grachan Moncour. Mwandishi. The funkiest music ever is Herbie Hancock. Anyway, I'm off on a tangent. Enjoying the trip down bob lane!
It's Alright Ma was the song that made me a Dylan fan. Its easily in my top 5 songs ever. Lyrically is an absolute monster...
Excellent conversation.
Another excelllent episode! Cool that Joe has changed his opinion on Dylan at least a little bit. My favorite Dylan album is "Slow Train Coming", so looking forward to that episode especially!
Bringing it all Back Home is the album that got me hooked on Dylan especially in college. Some of my best memories in my early 20s were driving, smoking a few squares and listening to this record. The second side of the album is probably my favorite stretch of music of all time and the acoustic/electric split was brilliant. This could be his best album even though Blonde on Blonde is my favorite currently..it used to be BIABH and Time out of Mind at different points and I could see it switching again.
My first Dylan Album I listened to back circa 1980 when I was 15/16.
A discussion of what makes a good singer/songwriter with Dylan would be worth the price of admission.
yes yes yes ... completely agree with Joe's take about how the first album's vibe returns here.. .esp with Sub Blues... which is ridiculous great
On the Road Again is an incredible song, in the context of the rest of the album. Obviously it's an overtly light-hearted throw-away to lighten the tone a bit amidst all the heavy stuff, but it's still utterly brilliant. Your grandpa's cane, it turns into a sword / Your grandma prays to pictures that are pasted on a board....
11:32 the 1st time i saw Dylan live (in the '90s) he opened with Maggie's Farm, so it is a sentimental favourite.
This series continues to be gold. So much in depth discussion
This was a tremendous discussion. Dylan Sevey's description of what Dylan did lyrically compares to what the Beatles, Beach Boys and others did with sound is one of the most original and unique takes I have heard on what makes Dylan so great.
The first four songs on the electric side are really good, Subterranean Homesick Blues is a classic and Maggie's Farm and 115th dream start the electric roar that would become Highway 61. For me the acoustic side (aside from SHB) is what truly elevates the album. Dylan took the folk concept of acoustic music and poetic lyricism to undreamed of heights. Nobody could touch this level at the time and few have since.
I personally believe "It's All Right Ma" is the greatest singular lyrical achievement in contemporary popular music. Next to its dexterity and genius, something lyrically like "Stairway to Heaven" feels like it was written by a third grader. When I was in college I put on "It's All Right Ma" every night because I could not get over (and still can't) the incredible raw honesty and the brilliance of the lyrics. It is the song Dylan uses the most to explain how he can't write like he did at the time. Dylan would not give permission to use his version for Easy Rider so McGuin covered it and he falls completely flat. There is no real bite, his version has no center and he is trying too hard, it is rushed and the phrasing stinks, where the rage just flows out of Dylan. Who, or how many, have ever made a really good cover of that song?
It's good to see that perhaps Joe dies not fully think that Dylan was "wildly overrated". For me Tambourine Man has wonderful stretches and continues a theme that is inherent in all of Dylan's career, a fierce desire for true transcendence (and imo never found it, despite an intense *religious* period, which I never bought, but that's me). Visions of Johanna, Stuck Inside of Mobile, and much of his later work convey this despair at not finding it.
One last thing. Lyrically this album is near the height of Dylan's poetic prowess but musically it is a very raw exploration as to the possibilities of electric for him. It has to be considered in terms of its time. We cannot try to retrofit our understanding of what came later in appraising it.
Next comes Highway 61, my favorite album of his, and if you don't get the surrealism that is at a much higher level consistently and authentically, except for SHB, you might then think it is "overrated". But that would be to miss its brilliance as an all out assault on an America gearing up for the Vietnam War. 'Tombstone Blues" imo is the only song Dylan wrote in that period that directly alluded to the war as its theme.
I will leave you with an analogy of my own. Highway 61 Revisited is in song and music what Guernica was to 20th century art. That is the greatness of the man and why he won the Nobel Prize. If Bob Dylan had not created such an immense foundation in his 60's through mid 70's work, including the amazing Blood on the Tracks, I'm not sure he would have been anything but a curiosity, a quirky man of inconsistent, sometimes very good talent. And who would have been the groundbreaker for the genre of singer songwriter and brought lyrical sensibility to rock? A lot of his stuff later was beyond lousy but one paid attention because it was Dylan, hoping the genius within would strike again and show itself.
P,S. Ironic that Joe gets that Dylan was a hipster who knew the streets and landscape and his sensibility derived from the Beats, among others. He was never a Hippie.
Superb commentary here, Ken. Thanks! Jeff
@@CalicoSilver Thanks
Great episode, great commentary. Bob Dylan goes punk-blues, still only a young man (23, 24 years old). He had tried to be the older Woody Guthrie so hard before, achieved it, and then rediscovered a more youthful attitude. All good music should ultimately be joyous on some level, and Dylan seems to be as happy as a kid in a toy store on this album. (Well, maybe this last part is more appropriate for the next album to come).
Loving this series, so I had to subscribe to make sure I don't miss the next three. This period of time is so amazing for both the quantity and the quality of albums, and for how different they are from each other.
Great episode. That said...now we have to have a side project where Dylan Sevey walks us through each installment of The Bootleg Series.
So great to see this break through! For a long time this was my favourite Dylan album of 1965 but recently I revisited them both and Highway 61 "clicked" more for me and overtook it. They're still close so that is always open to change. But looking forward to see how it goes for Joe all the same!
One of the greatest albums of all time, it establishes the true beginning of Folk Rock.
Wow Joe, congratulations on actually doing this. I am also known to be a Dylan denier hahaha but I am sure that if I actually gave him time (and had an awesome friend to guide me along) I could learn to appreciate him more.
Great discussion, as usual, with plenty of valuable insights and personal opinions. I would only add two items: despite Joe wanting to prematurely jump on the "Judas!" remark, some mention should be made regarding Dylan's appearance at the Newport Folk Festival (July, 1965). This is where he showed up with the Butterfield Blues Band and cranked up "Maggie's Farm" and "Like a Rolling Stone" live for the first time. HIGHWAY 61 wouldn't be released for another couple of months (though "Rolling Stone" was already on the charts). One might consider this as the start of the wave of boo's from the folkies; the famous story of Pete Seeger threatening to cut the power with an axe is also from this show. Keep in mind that some of the audience reaction might have been due to the poor sound quality while others were pissed at the short playing time. Nonetheless, this marks the line in the sand where Dylan heads in a new direction, leaving acoustic protest music behind. The folk audience he may have lost was made up 100X by the rock and pop crowd.
Dylan was on such a creative roll that, though he had recorded an earlier version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" for ANOTHER SIDE, he held the song back until he got the right voice and arrangement (with harmonica) for BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME. Having "Tambourine Man" ready to go probably meant that ace songs like "Farewell Angelina", "If You Gotta Go" and "I'll Keep It With Mine" would be relegated to other artists and, eventually, his own BIOGRAPH and THE BOOTLEG SERIES archival releases. Between January '65 and March '66, Dylan recorded his classic 'electric trilogy' (plus charting singles), changing the face of rock music forever. Has any contemporary artist had a better 14-month run?
Great comment.
Loving this series.
I got high hopes for blood on the tracks! That is up there with my best albums of all time. Bringing it all is great as well, probably the first Dylan album that I heard and loved.
Love these conversations. I wish I had a mentor lead me through the discography of an artist I just don't get.
Hi guys, these Bob Dylan's episodes are becoming better and better, I can't wait to the next one, you're doing great. Bringing it all back home could be number 4 in my list
Same for me topped only by Highway 61, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks
115th dream. Ha, crazy name for a song.
My favorite of the electric trilogy. Can’t wait to see your rankings after this is all said and done
Bringing it all back home. I wish I could love this but I really only love one song and like a few others a good deal. Joe and I have different tastes in music but we have a similar take on Dylan so far. Though Joe is brilliant and I am highly suspect? And I already took the trip Joe is on many years ago.
Subterranean Homesick Blues. 10. Finally, the first great word-salad song from Dylan with a catchy hypnotic bouncing Beat (Poet) melody and surreal lyrics and an enchanting great video with Dylan showing the lyrics on cue cards that he tosses like a salad in a video. One doesn't have to get the meaning in total to just have a great time with the surreal rhyming metaphoric lyrics and onlooker Allen Ginsberg. "Don't Look Back" with actual concert footage and Dylan mocking very serious-minded and uncool reporters w/o their cue-clue cards. I did think Dylan was nasty the first time I saw part of this movie but now it's just fun,. This movie shows Dylan surrounded by some famous folks like Donovan who sings and Baez sings "Percy's Song" (Turn Turn to the Rain and the Wind) which is a great song that Bob soft-spoken(ly) sings just as well as other singers. A case where Bob sings so well. Bob borrowed the melody and refrain, that's the only bad news I have.
It's All Over Baby Blue. 9. Fine song and Dylan does great though Van Morrison's version is the definitive and more powerful one for me. I wasn't impressed until I heard the eerie Morrison take. Again, brilliant lyrics but is it OK if I don't love his vocals and I am not really concerned with vocals, in general. I will like more songs and vocals on the next two albums.
Mr. Tambourine Man. 8 . I guess others just love this more than me. Thanks for coming through for me Joe and not liking it that much. The chorus is a bit silly.
Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream Dy is spinning yarns about old and new America with references to lots of literature. I get the humor and most references (or so I proclaim!) but I'm not enjoying the ride much, probably mostly the melody is not great to me. 6
Maggie Farm. 8 Melody somewhat like Sub Homesick Blues. Good song.
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit. I think this is considered great but I'm not feeling it. 5.
She Belongs to Me. 7 Pretty good. Bob's harmonica playing is improving.
On the Road Again 6
Outlaw Blues 5
It would be a top 10 album for me of that year. But I don't think albums were so strong yet. 1967 might be the launch year of great albums. But I"m so glad he went electric though I like folk a lot but I like another folk singer a lot more.
comment from my comment
" When I was in college I put on "It's All Right Ma" every night because I could not get over (and still can't) the incredible raw honesty and the brilliance of the lyrics. It is the song Dylan uses the most to explain how he can't write like he did at the time. Dylan would not give permission to use his version for Easy Rider so McGuin covered it and he falls completely flat. There is no real bite, his version has no center and he is trying too hard, it is rushed and the phrasing stinks, where the rage just flows out of Dylan. Who, or how many, have ever made a really good cover of that song?"
Different strokes for different folks.
Dylan,you mentioned about doing a ranking..would you consider doing one at the end of all these discussions?..I've been on and off with dylan over the years,but am about to deep dive again, and these are fantastic discussions...thanks in anticipation..
Oh he’s doing one. - Joe
Great news joe 😂@TastesLikeMusic
Joe, there's nothing to fear about "Highway 61 Revisited." You're already broken in.
I absolutely love that this is a 4 1/2 star record for you.
But can I be disappointed that you don't like "Mr. Tambourine Man?" When I really sat down and listened to "Mr. Tambourine Man" at the age of 19, I was enraptured...enthralled. My previous belief that the Byrds version was better was utterly destroyed. I was in the "anything is possible" now frame of mind. Poetry MEANT something. The written word was everything. The whole world was open. It's just difficult to believe that THIS song of any of them is the one that means the least to you.
But Bravo, man! I love this series.
I appreciate Dylan’s wordiness, but it doesn’t do much for me when it’s just surrealistic ramblings and it’s not tied to something real. - Joe
@@TastesLikeMusic Having just listened to it, I can see where you might find his lyrics wordy surrealistic ramblings. I don't think think I can convince you otherwise. I just hooked into the emotional feeling of the song. Maybe I was the right age for it at the time that it hit me. Maybe I just wanted to be "ready to go anywhere" at the time. I caught a sense of what it must have been like for younger people in the 60's to listen to him.
I think some day, the song will hit you and you won't feel this way about it. As I said, I think you're broken in already.
At some point, you've got to listen to a lot of those songs he DIDN'T release on the original albums. Some great stuff out there. I mean, can't you listen to "Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie" while you're rocking your baby to sleep?
@chrisdelisle3954 mostly make the kids listen to ABBA and The Beatles.
Dylan's version for me is far more intimate and penetrating. The Byrds leaving out two verses did not exactly enthrall me. But they made Dylan accessible for many.
I pull out the album and listen before the review … even if i have heard it a million times . They keep on surprising me. Fun series .
Back in the day, this was the album that convinced me that Dylan was the real deal.
The song It’s Alright Ma made me understand the importance of Bob Dylan in popular music…. Probably my favorite Dylan Album
I think Dylan said he "received" all of those amazing earlier lyrics beamed into his brain from somewhere else, he received them and wrote them down. He said one day whoever was sending them stopped, and the hard work began. He could have been quoting one of the great composers, who's name escapes me, who also said he didn't write his compositions, he received them like a stream into his brain and he wrote them all down. Maybe they were describing the death of their artistic peak and the beginning of the artistic decline I don't know but I do like the thought that when we do artistic things maybe we are doing them on behalf of a higher power. And I don't mean the record label lol. Thanks for the show guys this is a really good series, The Dylanizing of Joe! Sounds Biblical lol.
What a thought-provoking post.
I unequivocally believe this. Artists channel with ebb and flow. Those on their wavelength will understand the message.
" think Dylan said he "received" all of those amazing earlier lyrics beamed into his brain from somewhere else, he received them and wrote them down."
That's the "sensation" for a writer when the writing is going as it should -- one is writing by the seat of one's pants on the edge of one's seat. But that does not make the "sensation" a fact.
Perhaps it "stopped" for him when he realized that he either stop the amphetamine (and weed) or it would kill him.
I’d imagine Joe thinks (maybe not this point but especially when he hits the 70s) that Dylan is more diverse from album to album than most think
Joe have you heard the live version of Maggies Farm from 1965?
Now that’s menacing
My favorite 60s Dylan album, this and Highway 61! My actual favorite Dylan album is Blood on the Tracks, not only for Bob Dylan but one of my "All Time" favorite albums period!
Wondering if Joe prefers the Newport Folk festival version of Maggie's Farm to the album version. It definitely has more menace
I’ll have to listen. - Joe
Bringing The Bridges All Back Home
Oh how I resonated with what DS said about enjoying the lyrical wordplay of a song on an equal level to the music. I’d rather listen to my fave songs from Dylan 8 days a week over the musicality, melodies, and harmonies of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. Bob’s emotional vocal delivery and lyrics connect with me on such a different, deeper level than those three aforementioned bands ever could.
Good evening, Michele. I imagine we both might have a hectic day tomorrow, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas! I hope it's been a healthy and happy holiday season for you. Thanks for engaging in conversation with me so many times! I consider myself lucky. Wishing you all the best, Michele. 💙
@@brentjackson6839 Good morning, Brent! Wishing you a holly, jolly Christmas! And cheers to a happy, healthy, and music-filled 2024! Always a pleasure to converse with you, any time of year. I hope Santa was good to you.
Til next time. 😊🎄🥂
I bought this album on 2nd-hand vinyl in the '90s. There was a scratch that skipped most of Subterranean Homesick Blues.
Great commentary again gentlemen, thank you! But I don’t think Joe is any danger of losing his self-defined cred as a Dylan doubter, as he seems to have been dragged kicking and screaming into his appreciation for the album. For me, it’s a masterpiece, easily in my top 5 Dylan albums, sometimes top 3. Five stars for sure…maybe 2 weaker tracks on side 1, but all of side 2 (especially It’s All Over Now, one of my three favourite songs, full stop) is definitive and beyond excellent. If anything, I found Dylan S’s commentary too restrained, too deferential to our Joe…even if it’s not his choice Dylan album, he knows it’s damn good and should give Joe more of a smack about the ears! But Joe is right that this is the emergence of Dylan as the ultimate in hipster cool, the insider who knows how things work. And his attitude, almost more than anything, enlivens the songs.
BTW, I saw Dylan here in Toronto at Massey Hall last week…fabulous, especially a beautiful rendering of one of his classic mid- period songs, Every Grain of Sand. And who was in the audience, sitting (ahem) just behind me? Elvis Costello, together with his wife Dianna Krall. Gave a shout out to Elvis, told him I loved Imperial Bedroom ( did a review for the channel on that one), and he blew me a kiss!
Oh and that’s Albert Grossman’s wife (BD’s manager), not John Hammond’s on the cover. But very impressed that Joe went out to buy the Dylan songs research book! That’s commitment! Cheers and thx for a great series! JPE
Awesome about EC!
❤❤❤ this album and bob
I was hoping there would be some small mention of the Dylan/Donovan scene in Don't Look Back. Some people claim it's just two colleagues playing songs for each other, others say it's a deliberate attempt to make Donovan look inferior. At first I thought Dylan was trying to upstage Donovan, but it wasn't until later viewings I caught that Donovan actually asks Dylan to sing It's All Over Now Baby Blue, which is my favorite tune off Bringing It All Back Home and might be in my top 30 Dylan tracks. I'd like to add that Mr. Tambourine Man may have been inspired by the great Bruce Langhorne. Besides playing with Dylan, Langhorne also did great work with a variety of other artists, my favorites being on Tom Rush's version of Urge For Going and the soundtrack to Peter Fonda's Western The Hired Hand.
truly some of the most handsome men around!
One of the greatest albums of the 60s. Side 1 basically codifies an entire branch of rock music. Side 2 is the peak of Dylan's acoustic music. Maybe the greatest acoustic music since Robert Johnson.
"Mr. Tambourine Man
The title character of Bob Dylan's song "Mr. Tambourine Man" was probably inspired by (Bruce) Langhorne, who used to play a large Turkish frame drum in performances and recordings.[3][4] The drum, which Langhorne purchased in a music store in Greenwich Village, had small bells attached around its interior, giving it a jingling sound much like a tambourine. Langhorne used the instrument most prominently on recordings by Richard and Mimi Fariña.[5] The drum is now in the collection of the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa." (Wikipedia) And "Mr. Tambourine Man" was the favourite song of the late great Hunter Thompson.
Thanks for the info.
My bet: Joe is going to love '78-'83 Dylan
1985-1988 Not so much Agree 78-'83 Dylan is enjoyable even Saved
More like 76-78 - Desire and Street-Legal - is what I‘d guess.
I’m gonna throw down that Street Legal may be his favorite Dylan album….maybe Nashville Skyline
My three favorite Dylan covers are Wheels 🛞 On Fire 🔥 By Siouxsie & The Banshees , Lay Lady Lay by Ministry & All Along The Watchtower by XTC.
Hi David, Ministry sure did have an unstoppable run of albums from ‘83 to ‘96. I would love for them to be covered by TLM someday.
@michelewiese48 I just heard Everday Is Halloween on Halloween ! They were really good & really developed as a band. It's fascinating how they changed over the years but constantly excelled !
@@davidellis5141 💯🎃
Yes! Ministry's cover is better than the original -- the driving bass line adds a whole new dimension to it as does the vocal performance -- really heartfelt and passionate. And come to think of it, Jesus Built My Hot Rod probably owes more than a bit to Dylan as well !!!
@@Yakaru1 The Ministry cover is Powerful, but the original melts me. Whether another lover or societal pressure is trying to push her out that door, he just isn’t having it.
Lennon told Dylan to get a band -- and he did.
Traditional folkies hated Dylan even right from the start. Ewan MacColl, for example, (English trad folk collector) hated him and said it's not real folk music what he's doing. The English folk singer Martyn Carthy took Dylan to MacColl's folk club in London in '63 and Dylan performed Hollis Brown and left the audience shell-shocked, but MacColl hated it. He'd have liked it if it had have been set in 1740 and sung in some traditional dialect like a proper folk song!
Subterranean, the single, also landed like a bomb shell at the time I think. No one had heard anything like it.
I have deeper appreciation and preference for this album now. I think it's him at his acoustic and lyrical best. I think I liked this iteration of him the most. I think he is at his wisest right here. I feel he has no convictions here and is in like this blank slate phase where he says goodbye to the "howling beast on the borderline" of folk music and does something so completely different with the rock genre. She belongs to me and love minus zero are hidden gems. And there is nothing that needs to be said about it's all over now baby blue. I haven't even mentioned Maggie's farm and other songs which are great in their own right. Perfect marriage of acoustic and electric Dylan
4.5 stars. I've been on a Dylan craze recently, and I'm revisting some albums i overlooked. Definitely my second favorite artist behind the Beatles. This album is excellent, but i hold it behind the others in the trilogy because it isnt quite as consistent and reflects a bit of the older, less refined Dylan style. On here, theres GOAT songs, great songs, good songs, and decent ones, too. I like the variety on this one. Heres my song ranking:
11: Outlaw Blues, 5/10. It's not quite as well written as its sister song, but it's not terrible. Just not as interesting lyrically.
10: On the Road Again, 6/10. This song is hilarious and has great imagery. A little too nonsensical and impersonal, though, for how the instrumentation is.
9: Love Minus Zero, 7/10. Good song, but it isnt working for me quite as well as some others. The lyrics are obviously the best part, but Dylan's singing could have been better.
8: She Belongs to Me, 8/10. This is a very pretty song with very charismatic lyrics. Feels a bit more refined than the aforementioned songs.
7: Mr. Tambourine Man, 8/10. I never liked this song as much as everyone else. The concept falls apart slightly for me, but the imagery is top-notch. Bangladesh version is my go-to.
6: Subterranean Homesick Blues, 9/10. Sometimes i think I've got the whole thing down, and then it'll pull a fast on me. Pretty interesting song and reflects upon Dylan's ability to make concise songs, even though he doesn't typically like to do that.
5: Bob Dylan's 115th Dream, 9/10. Hilarious song with a well written rhythm section. The laugh at the beginning is priceless. Dylan has a personality.
4: Gates of Eden, 9/10. Awesome song that gets ignored. It enchants me far more than Tambourine Man.
3: Maggie's Farm, 9/10. Never get tired of this song. Hilarious, conceptual, concise, interesting, and fantastic.
2: It's All Right Ma, 10/10. Stunning performance and lyrically impossible to match. Dylan's lyrics are fantastic, but so is his character, which pulls us right into his stories.
1: Its All Over Now Baby Blue, 10/10. One of my favorites from him. Tough to choose between this and It's All Right Ma, but this one goes even further with his atmosphere. Love it to death.
This Album shows best the song and dance man's wild humor all over the place, especially on his 115th dream, which ist hilarious.
Yes-- (oder ja -- iss es!)
The Rolling Stones were doing mostly covers on their albums as did BD in his first few lp's. I feel Bob had done ''dark menacing'' lyrics /topics by 1963 years ahead of the Aftermath release. In 1965 ''dark menacing'' seems light due to the timeframe , we were still a very compliant society and this thing called Rock and Roll was still being developed lyrically, technologically, instrumentally and musically .
The Beatles had ''long hair'' then but wore a suit and tie so they wouldn't rock the boat so much , lol.
Jagger had Richards and vice versa - Dylan wrote solo ...... See Live ''Maggies Farm'' 7/25/65 Newport for livelier version ....IMO
Come on Joe, Darth Bob is your father!!
One of the greatest posters I ever saw that contained the essence of "Maggie's Farm" was a black light poster. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy are all sitting around a hookah, stoned out of their minds and the words read "Ain't gonna work on Dizzies farm no more". No more exploitation here.
Funny how music is Joe.
I remember listening to Alice In Chains Dirt, prob about 5 times in a few days.
Didnt like it. Put it away, came back to it months later and it just clicked!!
After Blonde on Blonde the consistency really drops off. There’s albums that remind you what he is capable of like Blood on the Tracks and Time Out of Mind but I can see this series struggling to keep the momentum going for someone who just doesn’t enjoy Bob. The run from 62 to 66 is the vintage stuff. If he’s not trumping the Byrds and the Beach Boys by this point then Self Portrait and Knocked Out Loaded are going to get ripped to shreds.
Bingo
As a fellow reluctant Dylan listener, I have always liked this one. Enough musical adventure to complement his peak level lyrics. But 4 and a half stars? Maybe after a few more listens.
I’m pretty generous rater
@@TastesLikeMusic - Congratulations. Maybe Jason and Kram can follow suit. Kram can listen to The Beatles again and Jason can listen to Kate Bush
You have to love lyrics to really get this album. 4.5 for me too. Not quite the achievement of Highway 61 or B on B or BOTT.
He doesn't know menace yet 🤣🤣
I'm not sure why there's a question mark in the title? It's pretty much universally accepted that Dylan's electric trio of 60s albums are all masterpieces.
I will admit that Bringing it All Back Home is the "weakest" of the three, but its best songs are still immortal. We owe Bob so damn much.
Slow your roll there cat.
@@TastesLikeMusic ?
I've always thought that "Gates of Eden" would be a great song for a metal band to cover.
It was Sally Grossman not Albert Grossman's wife not John Hammond's wife.
Ahhh
I was a punk growing up and I hated thrash metal. My friends loved it I thought it was a sterile pop version of punk. I'm 49 years old now and I'm buying thrash albums that I ignored when they released. There is the odd one that I still dislike but on the whole I've discovered some new favourites and my stubborn brain all those years got in my way. I like punk and I like thrash that's ok now but wasn't back then for some reason.
I don’t know how you do it Joe. You’re a better man than i
God doing the bootleg series too. This will make the Neil Young discography seem a breeze
not if you know about the Neil Young Archives
Knocking Mr. Tambourine Man? He should try out for Olympic poll vaulting.
"Like a Rolling Stone" was 1965. Hippies were 1966-67 and thereafter.
That’s when they became most visible but the hippie movement started in the early 60s.
@@TastesLikeMusic I was there. The "Hippy" movement, which was looked down on by most "Beats," was 1966 and thereafter.
I bought "Blonde on Blonde" on first release.
That is not accurate. Glad you were there though.
@@TastesLikeMusic You weren't there, I was there -- so you must be the expert.
@@TastesLikeMusic The prior generation had the "Beatniks". They lasted into the 1960s. Most of them looked down on "Hippies".
You need to listen to Maggie's Farm there's some great live versions Newport folk festival 1965, Hard Rain 1976 etc
I prefer them to the original recordings. With Mr Tambourine Man I think the live versions on the Rolling thunder tour 1975 and at the Bangla desh benefit concert 1971 are great versions worth listening to. you never know it might you win you over!! Baby Blue is another one too great live versions 1965/66 brings out the melody more not forgetting the alternative studio take is which is better melody wise than the official studio version
Are Dylan and Jason related?
We are not.
When I think of BD the first impression isn’t melodic😂Elton, David, extremely melodic. The comment about listening to Dylan 8 days a week over hearing the Beatles Beach Boys means melody isn’t the prerequisite
The reason Dylan wrote ‘protest’ songs wasn’t due to a social conscience, rather he was just better at writing them than his contemporaries.
Of dylans "big" albums this is my least favourite, I don't really know why, the songwriting is masterful; maybe it is the sequencing of it or the production. Great episode of this series, as always
To give Joe a bit more security, Highway 61 is an improvement on the electric side of this lp
But he might hate the lyrics.
@@kenkaplan3654 you’re right. But I think as long as it rocks, he’ll like it. Joe has to consider really psychedelic lyrics are the lyrical equivalent of a psychedelic guitar solo. Like a Hendrix solo. Let your mind free associate…
Awesome!
Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisted and Blonde Of Blonde
How can ANYONE record three records like that in the space of 18 months?
Three masterpieces and all sound very different.
This would be my least fav or the three but still think it’s a masterpiece
Ok I will chime in with my history with BD. I was first introduced to him shortly after this album came out , I was 12. I did not like it it was beyond my grasp at that time, the whining voice and some what doubtful tuning on the instruments kind of put me off at that point! I was a Huge BEATLES, STONES AND even BYRDS fan already but BOB was not grabbing me yet. Flash forward to 1971 I am 17 and he appears as GEORGE HARRISONS guest at THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH , I saw the movie and I was riveted by DYLAN from then on. Believe it or not the first album of his I got really into was NEW MORNING which had just come out in 1970 I believe. So I AM a big DYLAN devotee but it can take awhile for the musicality of his work to be discovered as well as his incredible lyrics. I would say now I rate the next chronological Dylan albums HIGHWAY 61 Revisited and BLONDE ON BLONDE as close to his best. So Joe I give you credit for listening😄 Don’t be scared!
The biggest revelation for me was hearing the mono mix for the first time, so much more punch and drenched in dreamy reverb on side 2. The stereo version is dry, flat and too bright imo.
Willie Stargell was once being hounded by reporters about his personal life , and he got fed up and said, " I've turned DOWN more p*ssy than you guy will ever even get." I am sure this is also the case for other famous folks, including Dylan... that said, I am surprised to be finding myself not responding to the love songs on the first 5-6 albums... its I think bc he doesnt come across here with much if any sexuality.....think of all the musicians from this era who traded on their sexuality, either in hinting or blatant... Dylan doesnt roll this way... as a result, I dont believe in the dramas he is writing about ...granted this is surely a reflection of my own shallowness, but still.. he seems like he's posing .... with Desire and rolling thunder he starts to push sexuality a bit more with the make up and androgyny and I think that works pretty well... I buy the love songs from that era more...
The Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man is sleep inducing.
*Albert Grossman's wife on the cover
I do not even understand the comparison of Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man with Dylan's full song. The Byrds basically just take the chorus as the center piece and make it more musical with their vocal harmonies and nice jingle jangle trademark guitars. but the verses are only there to postpone and tease, they mean nothing here. And the chorus really is a bit silly, as Joe says, when it has to stand alone - without the chain reaction of increasingly hypnotic verses, each starting at the higher level to which the former one had climbed. The basic thing is: Joe would never just recite the lines of a long verse like Dylan-the-fan does in each conversation, because really there is already so much in it: they are music already, in a profound way, there is a voice in there, and Dylan-the-artist is by far the best interpret. Other people are just singing, he is phrasing. This may not be to the taste of the majority, but one has to try to get this if one wants to understand where Dylan's greatness may lie.
Only if you totally buy into the lyrics, which I only halfway do on a song like that. Everyone seems to be Pooh-poohing the Byrds, but what the Byrds did no one had ever done before. They literally invented an entire genre with their version. That goes beyond what Bob did with his. - Joe
@@TastesLikeMusic You seem to miss the point that if Dylan had not written it, the Byrds would never have covered it, From our other encounter, it seems you are not particularly enthralled with Dylan's 60's lyrical density, dexterity and acumen. It's kind of like Shakespeare. If you don't love the language, what do you have? For those whose lives were changed by the man utterly, and there are millions, it was lyrical creations beyond anything anyone had ever done and few still who have ever done it. Take two very early songs "Hard Rain" and "with God on Our Side". The guy had a way of inverting POV
"Through many a dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ was
Betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side."
**At the time** who did that, who dared to do it? That's part of what enthralled people, he went places inside of one a person did not know existed and have it voice. As I said earlier, it is easy and perhaps too cavalier to look back and not understand the fullness of the musical landscape we now take for granted just did not exist.
For me the intricacy of the first and third verses of Tambourine Man gave the song its depth. The Byrds left them out, mostly for commercial reasons but also because it made the song inaccessible to a conventional person of the time. One has to appreciate as you note what the Byrds did, but for many the version was flat.
it is a matter of taste, obviously, what one likes more. it is just not really comparable artistically - a different kind of ballgame. (interesting that the ruin of a song ist still working _somehow_ in in the byrds sound-focused Version.)
Bajamelajaulajaimebajamela
joe looks like he'd rather be waterboarded
Nodoby on this channel ever mentioned, that the song for this channel is a ripoff of... She's my baby. From Wings at the speed of sound album.
Ummmm….what?
The old school folk fans were rabidly dedicated anti-capitalists, so going electric was treason. These were far far left Marxists, though for good reason, since it was the unabashed capitalists that were preserving racism, and racism in the late 50s and onward was brutal. If you were anti racist, the only music that addressed it was folk. Even comedians at the time (those who started Second City) said that being able to say the single word “Eisenhower” on stage was not allowed except in small hipster clubs. Politics was just not in the arts.
Birds saccharine version
It’s called talent.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Bowie wrote a song about BD described his voice as glue and Sandpaper. His best music was folk but when he moved into Christian music the Critics were unkind. His cultural, musical importance was somewhat exaggerated I believe
How can you spend all this time talking about Bob Dylan without ever mentioning his son, Jakob, who fronted one of the greatest rock bands ever, the Wallflowers?
“The only difference that I see is you are exactly the same as you used to be.”
Jakob hasn’t even been born yet in our current chronology. But yes, Bringing Down the Horse and Breach are fantastic records.
You've confused two incidents - the Judas comment was on the British tour of 1966, but the first people who complained about the electric set (some even booing him) was at the Newport Folk Festival of 1965, which was indeed between Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Dylan_controversy