I am totally loving your Bob Dylan reviews mate, binging them all right now. You have a great way of breaking down these albums. I dont think Ive disagreed once with your reviews. If I do, I will let you know lol :) These mid to late 80s albums are fascinating. Until he gets his groove back in the 90s
Thanks, Kurt. I tried not to be TOO harsh about things on this album....haha! There ARE some good things to say about it. And I love live-Dylan of this time, including some of these songs from this album that he did live.
@@CalicoSilver Yes Dylan was GREAT live during the mid 80's but he also had some just ok albums until the great Oh Mercy, Im glad he closed out the 80's with something good.
Bob Dylan is the king in my opinion. Been listening to him since the 60's. I found this album in a thrift store, it's never been opened, I would never ever sell it , but am curious as to what it might be worth.
I don’t know the value of records these days. I haven’t bought a record since the early’80s. Haha! All I listen to are digital files and CDs. Congrats on finding an unopened copy of Empire, though. Perhaps you can get a feeling of its worth via Discogs website or via a knowledgeable record dealer.
It is amazing how many artists were swayed by that mid-80s thing and put out albums loaded with it. I can't think of any other cultural force that affected nearly every single artist as much as that '80s thing. Haha! Thanks, Dan. Jeff
You know something brother? You are such a sweetheart, you make me blush - your forgiveness is saint like - you inspire me deeply; you are a better man than our bard, and I am prepared to defend this statement in front of Orpheus himself - may all the Gods in the Olympus bless you; you moved me right in the deep, and please, let me know how can I show gratitude for these shockingly forgiving, heart warming reviews of yours, so that I can be released. Dylan's low waters of the 80's, and not only, had made me almost physically ill - I live of poetry and certain defections hurt me like the lack of food in the supporting meal basket -
But you heal my disease in some way - you make me able to deal with an amount of being unconfortable, which I thought had lost me to uncle Bob, for as long as ... well very much .. EVER
Thank you very much for your kind words, Elifon. I am humbled by your words, and if I have in any way enhanced your appreciation and enjoyment of Dylan's music, even his often-unappreciated work, then that please me very much. That was my #1 goal for starting this channel. Best regards to you. Jeff
@@CalicoSilver You most certainly have, and I am so very grateful to you for that - thank you again, you made me come to terms with so much, and now I can move forward; 😘 best regards, Eli
Hello Jason. I think the music on this album is very good also, and despite the production style I find myself listening to it quite often. Thanks for your comment. Jeff
The Empire Burlesque Album was another album I listened to on repeat. My big favourites are Emotionally Yours and I'll Remember You. Good Album review again by yourself Jeff 👍. Some of those songs like Seeing the Real You at Last and When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky would have sounded better if they were fired out 10 years earlier in an untampered Bob "Hard Rain" Live version.
Indeed! The MUSIC from this album is good and it deserved better production/mixing/etc.. Some days I don't mind that '80s sound, though, so..... Also we have good live versions (bootlegs and videos and such) of some of these songs to listen to.
I tolerate no criticism of this album! From the very first time I heard it (1992) I knew it was one of Dylan's deepest and most beautiful albums. Complaints about the production were always exaggerated out of all proportion. Empire Burlesque (hands-down his best album title) is where all the work Dylan started doing after Blonde On Blonde finally started falling into place, learning how to structure songs and hone lyrics and incorporating all his magpie, Joycian intertext invisibly into a new, whole-cloth creation: without this album there's no Oh Mercy, no Time Out of Mind and all that came after. The new box set makes it possible to reconstruct it without the "production" if anyone cares to. But for me this is a better album than any he put out in the 60's. The most intelligent album "about" the 80's that anyone made in that decade. Profound, epic, and deeply moving. Might be my third favorite after World Gone Wrong & Love and Theft.
Hey, I'll take this album's collection of songs anyday over that dreadful "Driftin' Too Far From Shore" outtake, which unfortunately ended up on KOL, haha! I think that that is the only song I truly can't hardly stand by Dylan. But like I said in the video and in my other response to your other comment, I thought I made it clear that there were some brilliant songs here that were muddied up somewhat by the production....a production aesthetic that doesn't bother me nearly as much now as it did in the '80s. Thanks for your great comments! I am really enjoying them. Cheers. Jeff
@@CalicoSilver It's funny how that happens: I absolutely hated the production/mastering of the 90's, but lately I've been buying original CD's/cassettes from that era purely for the nostalgia of that sound; I spent the whole decade dumping on the sound of classical CD's, and I still think it's crap, and yet...
As much as my brain tells me that this album stinks, I find myself listening to it because in my heart I know the songs are good. I've just learned to listen through the production.
Great review, 80s may not be the heyday of Dylan career, but it definitely worth us to explore. I notice there are fewer and fewer people listening to good music from 70s 80s 90s. Personally, as a 19 years old student, I really think nowadays music ( especially hip-pop and those "Top 100 songs in Billboard") are all very very superficial. ( Some can't even call it music ). Anyway, Looking forward to seeing the review of "Tempest" and " Modern Times", I think these two albums along with “Time out of mind" marks a strong come back in Dylan career.
I agree very much, Ying Zhang! I love the later Dylan albums from "Time Out Of Mind" all the way through to "Tempest". They are so good! Thank you for your kind comment.
Nice. Springtime in NY definitely gives this period some added clarity- definitely could have shied away from the New Order synths. Too bad there is no Scarlet violin - some of these tracks brings me to Desire - On a side note to me thematic speaking the albums songs brings to my mind the movie Ms Sadie Thompson / thanks.
I have a notion that if you come back to this album in a few years you'll change your mind. I gave you a thumbs down because I like this record but I've learned a lot from you and appreciate your commentary very much.
I sometimes wonder if albums such as Empire Burlesque weren't maybe a way for Dylan to fulfill a contract obligation. It's hard to say at times whether the musician had that much input or whatever. I know what you mean by 80s production though. However I guess with such a long career as Dylan, not every album is going to be stellar. Maybe there's a reason for that cynicism. :) Enjoying these individual reviews.
Thanks, Dave. You know, I don't honestly think that Dylan ever did anything to merely fulfill a contractural obligation....not that one didn't need to be fulfilled....but I seriously think he liked everything he did, at least at the time he did it. Even the 1973 "Dylan" album which was released without his approval....even that album sounds to my ears that he was enjoying what he was doing. That is my take on it, anyway. And it is one of the many reasons I love Dylan - he seems to genuinely love music: his music, and most music. And he doesn't mind saying so. We listeners might not appreciate it all, but I never got the impression he was just "tossing off" an album just for the heck of it. About that '80s production style.....that will always remain a mystery to me, because I frankly never thought it sounded good, unless the music was meant for it (stuff like New Wave, etc.). But hey, it was what was being done at the time....
I know - I wish it WAS a double album. But not this Empire Burlesque album.....one album's worth of that production stuff was enough! Good songs, though.
I just had a listen to the Black Crowes version of the song, Shaun, and enjoyed it very much. Very rocking and tightly performed. Thanks for letting me know about it.
The cover looks like the eighties vomited all over it, and I had the same reaction to the photograph on the back. lol - I think this is a pretty good example of what we discussed in a previous comment concerning music in the eighties .
I've been thinking about this album lately and I keep thinking it's a gospel album and a great one at that. The production quality however just ruins it.
Ethan, thanks for your comment. Yes, I think that most of Dylan’s albums can be viewed as gospel albums. Some fans would bristle at such a notion but I certainly know what you are saying here. Thanks again. Jeff
@CalicoSilver I totally agree, look at albums such as rough and rowdy ways, which has a ton of Catholic imagery or ones like tempest which has lots of scripture in it, its so sad that most people don't see this and they ignore some of his albums because they don't see the depth and the passion put into them.
Haha!! Yeah, there are some albums coming up soon that I will have some fun "reviewing". As huge of a Bob Dylan fan as I am, I don't mind having a little fun teasing some of his output either. It's all in fun.....
The first minute if this review was hilarious. Also I agree completely, the damn production is just god awful. I think if he had kept up the underground sound he started going back to in the 70s with records such as The Basement Tapes, then he might have recorded some great material. Instead we have this corporate manufactured shitshow
Haha, thanks for the comment, Caleb. Yes, this one is hard to listen to sometimes. I do think some of the songs are quite good (and sounded good when performed live), and some of the lyrics have that Dylan greatness, but man oh' man....how ANYONE thought this production sounded good, even at the time, is beyond me. I was there then, and even then I couldn't understand it. Haha! Thanks again. Jeff
Indeed, sir! Someone (maybe it was you) suggested that it would be great if a "naked" version of this album came out, sans the '80s production mixing. That would be great.
How’s this idea for a future show...The whole album is crap except for one amazing great song...A good example of this is...Spooky Tooth’s 1969 album ..Ceremony...It’s really bad!! except for.......for.....wait a minute.....now I remember...there is no redeeming song.... it’s all crap...👎
Haha! Well, I thought I did a pretty good job of going into some detail regarding the good songs on the album and their lyrics. Like I said in the video, the album was much better than people usually say about it. But yeah, I had some good fun poking at the production too. As I get older, I find that the "'80s production" that I once loathed has become more palatable to me. And yes it is a good album. Dylan never made a bad album.
@@CalicoSilver Woo-hoo! To my ear the production flies in and out, there's much more piano, acoustic rhythm guitar, Hammond organ etc. than drum machines & synth.
1965: Dylan goes electric
1985: Dylan goes "electronic" :(
Haha! I wish I would have thought of that. Funny!
I am totally loving your Bob Dylan reviews mate, binging them all right now. You have a great way of breaking down these albums. I dont think Ive disagreed once with your reviews. If I do, I will let you know lol :) These mid to late 80s albums are fascinating. Until he gets his groove back in the 90s
Thanks Eddy!
I seen him perform seeing The Real You in Glasgow Scotland in 1991 and it blew the album version out of the water. Brilliant.
I know - he was GREAT live in the '80s and '90s, I think.
The australisn tour was amazing.
baby!!! great review
Hahaha, yeah "baby"!!
this album is on my top 10 dylan albums...
tight connection is perfect to me
FANTASTIC Review!!! This is why I'm a subscriber to your channel. Jeff, You nailed it, I feel the same about this seldom played CD in my collection.
Thanks, Kurt. I tried not to be TOO harsh about things on this album....haha! There ARE some good things to say about it. And I love live-Dylan of this time, including some of these songs from this album that he did live.
@@CalicoSilver Yes Dylan was GREAT live during the mid 80's but he also had some just ok albums until the great Oh Mercy, Im glad he closed out the 80's with something good.
As Springsteen said..if a new writer wrote these songs..had be hailed as the new Dylan..
Haha! So true again!
@@CalicoSilver I'm never wrong!
Bob Dylan is the king in my opinion. Been listening to him since the 60's. I found this album in a thrift store, it's never been opened, I would never ever sell it , but am curious as to what it might be worth.
I don’t know the value of records these days. I haven’t bought a record since the early’80s. Haha! All I listen to are digital files and CDs. Congrats on finding an unopened copy of Empire, though. Perhaps you can get a feeling of its worth via Discogs website or via a knowledgeable record dealer.
@@CalicoSilver wow thank you for responding! Lol I only listen to CDs now myself. Enjoyed your video. Thanks again
Just listened today. Yeah, many greats moved in that direction: Stones' Dirty Work, Procol Harum's Prodigal Stranger, Blue Oyster Cult . . .
It is amazing how many artists were swayed by that mid-80s thing and put out albums loaded with it. I can't think of any other cultural force that affected nearly every single artist as much as that '80s thing. Haha! Thanks, Dan. Jeff
You know something brother? You are such a sweetheart, you make me blush - your forgiveness is saint like - you inspire me deeply; you are a better man than our bard, and I am prepared to defend this statement in front of Orpheus himself - may all the Gods in the Olympus bless you; you moved me right in the deep, and please, let me know how can I show gratitude for these shockingly forgiving, heart warming reviews of yours, so that I can be released.
Dylan's low waters of the 80's, and not only, had made me almost physically ill - I live of poetry and certain defections hurt me like the lack of food in the supporting meal basket -
But you heal my disease in some way - you make me able to deal with an amount of being unconfortable, which I thought had lost me to uncle Bob, for as long as ... well very much .. EVER
Thank you very much for your kind words, Elifon. I am humbled by your words, and if I have in any way enhanced your appreciation and enjoyment of Dylan's music, even his often-unappreciated work, then that please me very much. That was my #1 goal for starting this channel. Best regards to you. Jeff
@@CalicoSilver You most certainly have, and I am so very grateful to you for that - thank you again, you made me come to terms with so much, and now I can move forward; 😘 best regards, Eli
I love I'll remember you, Emotionally yours, something is Burning and being a 16 year old new Dylan fan when this album came out I loved it .
Hello Jason. I think the music on this album is very good also, and despite the production style I find myself listening to it quite often. Thanks for your comment. Jeff
The Empire Burlesque Album was another album I listened to on repeat. My big favourites are Emotionally Yours and I'll Remember You. Good Album review again by yourself Jeff 👍. Some of those songs like Seeing the Real You at Last and When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky would have sounded better if they were fired out 10 years earlier in an untampered Bob "Hard Rain" Live version.
Indeed! The MUSIC from this album is good and it deserved better production/mixing/etc.. Some days I don't mind that '80s sound, though, so..... Also we have good live versions (bootlegs and videos and such) of some of these songs to listen to.
I tolerate no criticism of this album! From the very first time I heard it (1992) I knew it was one of Dylan's deepest and most beautiful albums. Complaints about the production were always exaggerated out of all proportion. Empire Burlesque (hands-down his best album title) is where all the work Dylan started doing after Blonde On Blonde finally started falling into place, learning how to structure songs and hone lyrics and incorporating all his magpie, Joycian intertext invisibly into a new, whole-cloth creation: without this album there's no Oh Mercy, no Time Out of Mind and all that came after. The new box set makes it possible to reconstruct it without the "production" if anyone cares to. But for me this is a better album than any he put out in the 60's. The most intelligent album "about" the 80's that anyone made in that decade. Profound, epic, and deeply moving. Might be my third favorite after World Gone Wrong & Love and Theft.
Hey, I'll take this album's collection of songs anyday over that dreadful "Driftin' Too Far From Shore" outtake, which unfortunately ended up on KOL, haha! I think that that is the only song I truly can't hardly stand by Dylan. But like I said in the video and in my other response to your other comment, I thought I made it clear that there were some brilliant songs here that were muddied up somewhat by the production....a production aesthetic that doesn't bother me nearly as much now as it did in the '80s. Thanks for your great comments! I am really enjoying them. Cheers. Jeff
@@CalicoSilver It's funny how that happens: I absolutely hated the production/mastering of the 90's, but lately I've been buying original CD's/cassettes from that era purely for the nostalgia of that sound; I spent the whole decade dumping on the sound of classical CD's, and I still think it's crap, and yet...
Great review...very funny.....he would do a lot worse songwriting wise!!
Oh yeah, very true...... ;-)
Always liked this album. When the Night Comes Falling is covered by Jeff Healey over the closing credits of Roadhouse.
As much as my brain tells me that this album stinks, I find myself listening to it because in my heart I know the songs are good. I've just learned to listen through the production.
Great review, 80s may not be the heyday of Dylan career, but it definitely worth us to explore. I notice there are fewer and fewer people listening to good music from 70s 80s 90s. Personally, as a 19 years old student, I really think nowadays music ( especially hip-pop and those "Top 100 songs in Billboard") are all very very superficial. ( Some can't even call it music ). Anyway, Looking forward to seeing the review of "Tempest" and " Modern Times", I think these two albums along with “Time out of mind" marks a strong come back in Dylan career.
I agree very much, Ying Zhang! I love the later Dylan albums from "Time Out Of Mind" all the way through to "Tempest". They are so good! Thank you for your kind comment.
Nice. Springtime in NY definitely gives this period some added clarity- definitely could have shied away from the New Order synths. Too bad there is no Scarlet violin - some of these tracks brings me to Desire -
On a side note to me thematic speaking the albums songs brings to my mind the movie Ms Sadie Thompson / thanks.
Some great songs here that were poorly served by the production, yes. Thanks for the Ms Sadie Thompson recommendation - I will check that movie out.
I have a notion that if you come back to this album in a few years you'll change your mind. I gave you a thumbs down because I like this record but I've learned a lot from you and appreciate your commentary very much.
Hi Buddy. Well, I sure enjoy this album more today than when I first heard it, so maybe you will be right! Haha. Cheers! Jeff
He wrote emotionally your s for Elizabeth Taylor...
I sometimes wonder if albums such as Empire Burlesque weren't maybe a way for Dylan to fulfill a contract obligation. It's hard to say at times whether the musician had that much input or whatever. I know what you mean by 80s production though. However I guess with such a long career as Dylan, not every album is going to be stellar. Maybe there's a reason for that cynicism. :) Enjoying these individual reviews.
Thanks, Dave. You know, I don't honestly think that Dylan ever did anything to merely fulfill a contractural obligation....not that one didn't need to be fulfilled....but I seriously think he liked everything he did, at least at the time he did it. Even the 1973 "Dylan" album which was released without his approval....even that album sounds to my ears that he was enjoying what he was doing. That is my take on it, anyway. And it is one of the many reasons I love Dylan - he seems to genuinely love music: his music, and most music. And he doesn't mind saying so. We listeners might not appreciate it all, but I never got the impression he was just "tossing off" an album just for the heck of it. About that '80s production style.....that will always remain a mystery to me, because I frankly never thought it sounded good, unless the music was meant for it (stuff like New Wave, etc.). But hey, it was what was being done at the time....
Down in the dumps..is a great fun album...it was going to be a double like self portrait
I know - I wish it WAS a double album. But not this Empire Burlesque album.....one album's worth of that production stuff was enough! Good songs, though.
Agree. Low point for Bob.
Ay Jeff check out the black crowes doing when the night comes falling from the sky l love the album but I love Dylan great review as always
I just had a listen to the Black Crowes version of the song, Shaun, and enjoyed it very much. Very rocking and tightly performed. Thanks for letting me know about it.
Nana miscouri did a great version of I'll remember you..
Thanks, I'll seek it out and have a listen.
The cover looks like the eighties vomited all over it, and I had the same reaction to the photograph on the back. lol - I think this is a pretty good example of what we discussed in a previous comment concerning music in the eighties .
Hahaha, so true, so true. It is like everyone took leave of their senses for a few years there. Haha!
I've been thinking about this album lately and I keep thinking it's a gospel album and a great one at that. The production quality however just ruins it.
Ethan, thanks for your comment. Yes, I think that most of Dylan’s albums can be viewed as gospel albums. Some fans would bristle at such a notion but I certainly know what you are saying here. Thanks again. Jeff
@CalicoSilver I totally agree, look at albums such as rough and rowdy ways, which has a ton of Catholic imagery or ones like tempest which has lots of scripture in it, its so sad that most people don't see this and they ignore some of his albums because they don't see the depth and the passion put into them.
I haven't listened to all of his 80's stuff yet but I almost hated Down in the Groove which is his worst album for me.
Haha!! Yeah, there are some albums coming up soon that I will have some fun "reviewing". As huge of a Bob Dylan fan as I am, I don't mind having a little fun teasing some of his output either. It's all in fun.....
His worst by a long way
Emotionally yours was a no1 hit, by The O Jays..
The first minute if this review was hilarious. Also I agree completely, the damn production is just god awful. I think if he had kept up the underground sound he started going back to in the 70s with records such as The Basement Tapes, then he might have recorded some great material. Instead we have this corporate manufactured shitshow
Haha, thanks for the comment, Caleb. Yes, this one is hard to listen to sometimes. I do think some of the songs are quite good (and sounded good when performed live), and some of the lyrics have that Dylan greatness, but man oh' man....how ANYONE thought this production sounded good, even at the time, is beyond me. I was there then, and even then I couldn't understand it. Haha! Thanks again. Jeff
a dud i m o.
Great album..bad production..dark eyes is a classic song..
So true!
Great album..underrated, poor production..
Indeed, sir! Someone (maybe it was you) suggested that it would be great if a "naked" version of this album came out, sans the '80s production mixing. That would be great.
Production is fine.
How’s this idea for a future show...The whole album is crap except for one amazing great song...A good example of this is...Spooky Tooth’s 1969 album ..Ceremony...It’s really bad!!
except for.......for.....wait a minute.....now I remember...there is no redeeming song.... it’s all crap...👎
Good idea, Harry, haha! Those albums never stayed in my collection for long....
More a complaint about some of the production than an album review.
Haha! Well, I thought I did a pretty good job of going into some detail regarding the good songs on the album and their lyrics. Like I said in the video, the album was much better than people usually say about it. But yeah, I had some good fun poking at the production too. As I get older, I find that the "'80s production" that I once loathed has become more palatable to me. And yes it is a good album. Dylan never made a bad album.
@@CalicoSilver Woo-hoo! To my ear the production flies in and out, there's much more piano, acoustic rhythm guitar, Hammond organ etc. than drum machines & synth.
@@Mythologos That's the best way to listen to this album, I agree. I need to hear this, thanks.
Great album. Bad production..
Yep, so true.