Bob Dylan

Robert Alen Zimmerman (Bob Dyaln) is turning 66. This is the tribute to the greatest song writer in history. He changed the world in the 60s. He changed his style more times than anyone esle. Discuss your favorite memories and songs form this great man.

I hope he doesn't die before July 11th!

1. His "folk" period highlighted by "Blowin in the Wind" "Motor Psycho Nightmanre" and Highway 61 Revisited.

2. His electric show at the Newport Folk Fesitval.

3. Bringing It All Back Home.

4. The Rolling Thunder Revue.

5. His "Christian Period" Highlighted by Slow Train Coming and "You Gotta Serve Somebody."

6. His last three albums which may be his best work yet.

He's not the greatest songwriter in history though.

John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Richard Thompson, and Captain Beefheart are all better.

I'd say it's much harder to write lyrics that appeal to millions and work musically and thematically than it is to write ambiguous imagery that's mostly meaningless overwrought metaphors.

Some of Dylan's lyrics are really stupid, but some make so much sense. It's like he throws a million words at you and lots of it is senseless shit, but there are some real gems hidden in the pile.

The man wrote a lot of damn words.

It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) is some of the most amazing shit I've ever heard though.

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.


Holy shit.

Happy birthday to Bob Dylan
Dylan has provided us with countless great songs and also one of the greatest bodies of work in the history of rock. He has released many great albums that vary greatly in style but all of which were very influential.

"there must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"there's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"no reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"there are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
-All Along the Watchtower

Wow, 66. Dylan is one of the best songwriters of all-time. I liked a variety of his work, but would choose his acoustic period as my favorite. I think "The Times They Are A Changing," "Blowin' in the Wind" among his best songs. His influences are all over the music industry, from Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison to Springsteen, Petty & Mellencamp.

Your post is absolutely mindnumbing.

the Beatles changed their songwriting b.c of Dylan. The same with Neil Young he was also heavily influenced by Dylan. Yep he wrote a lot of words but they all had great meaning behind them

Is greatest most influential, then? Is it judged by popular consensus?

i would say most influntial and greatest are on the same road

?

Okay. Whose road? Influential to whom? Me? You? Other great artists? And if those other great artists are great, why aren't they the greatest? Who do they influence in order to be great?

Is a case of Dylan inspiring more people than Young? That'd be difficult to measure, no?

Hows about celebrating the man on his birthday rather than arguing over how good he is.

oh dear God what anti-American blasphemy!!

Dylan was a genius!!

yea it would be difficult to count the people they influenced. I am a huge Neil Young fan but Dylan is better than neil IMHO.

He indeed was a genius. He's my favorite musician of all time.

Agreed - how good he is or isn't is based purely on opinion.

for my money, definitely the greatest songwriter to ever grace pop music - who would have thought of folk music implementing surreal, stream-of-consciousness narrative without dylan? who would have thought of the beatles' turn for introspection without dylan? surely, his songwriting accomplishments have not - & in my prediction - will never be surpassed.

his recent "renaissance" trilogy - time out of mind, love & theft, modern times - are uniformly excellent, his best work since the 70's. i'm glad the old man isn't content to merely sit around & rehash the past.

best albums are
-Highway 61 Revisted
-Blonde on Blonde
-Bringing it all back home
-Blood On the Tracks
-John Wesley Harding-
-Time out of Mind
-Modern Times
-Another Side Of Bob Dylan
-Times They Are a-changing
-THe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
-Bob Dylan
-Desire
-Love and Theft
-New Morning

that's pretty much all of them - but i understand how hard it is to choose with such a vastly superior back catalogue...

my top 5 greatest dylan records would be:

1.) blonde on blonde
2.) bringing it all back home
3.) blood on the tracks
4.) highway 61 revisited
5.) the basement tapes (with the band)

honorable mentions go to the freewheelin' bob dylan & another side of bob dylan.

Happy Birthday, Bobby. 66 and kicking ass. Not much that can be said that hasn't been already said. Simply the best, and still awesome after all these years.

Oh yeah, whoever hasn't read Chronicles, go and fucking read it NOW.

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

"Work musically and thematically" to your standards, I assume? Otherwise, your statement means that 50 Cent is a better lyricist than Bob Dylan, which may or may not be true, but I don't think you'd agree with that. Anyway, appealing to millions and working musically and thematically (as if Dylan's music doesn't do all three of those anyway) seem to be contradictory, here.

"mostly meaningless overwrought metaphors"

Christ. The word "meaningless" is countered in the same sentence there as "metaphor". His political allegory isn't Dadaist word-churning. I don't see how something can be metaphorical (working on a rich level of abstraction) and meaningless (being empty of meaning).

Anyway, enough of that sort of business, since people want to celebrate Dylan's birthday by copy and pasting the lyrics we already know.

My ranking of Dylan's albums are here.

Well, I obviously love Dylan musically, I'm just saying his lyrics don't lend themselves as well to the music as a band like The Beatles do. I mean, they still work, they're just not nearly as cohesive. That's the only point I was making. Dylan's lyrics seem clumsy in a melodical format, whereas The Beatles' lyrics just blend perfectly with the music.

Dylan is an amazing lyricist, but the guys I mentioned earlier in this thread are just way ahead of him. A lot of people talk about Dylan as if no one can come close to his songwriting abilities, and I think that's slightly ridiculous.

"I'm so Tired" by The Beatles has better lyrics than any Dylan song.

"I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink
I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No, no, no

I'm so tired I don't know what to do
I'm so tired my mind is set on you
I wonder should I call you but I know what you would do

You'd say I'm puttin' you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm goin insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind

I'm so tired, I'm feelin' so upset
Although I'm so tired I'll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh
He was such a stupid get

You'd say I'm puttin' you on
But it's no joke, it's doing me harm
You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain
You know it's three weeks, I'm goin' insane
You know I'd give you everything I've got
for a little peace of mind"

God damnit, now I sound like a "Dylan-hater." I'm not really criticizing him here, I'm just explaining why I think he's not the greatest lyricist ever. I'm trying to show the difference between him and Lennon.

He's still my favorite musician guys!

i laughed out loud at this.

as far as the term "meaningless" goes - isn't that a subjective term, anyhow? what is meaningless to you may hold a profound form of meaning to somebody else. & who, exactly, has the right to make the assumption on whether or not the lyrics an artist writes hold any meaning for the artist, unless they blatantly said "my lyrics are bullshit, don't listen to them"? & even then, how many artists - musicians, filmmakers, writers, etc. - are purposely cryptic & contradictory to keep the press off their coattails? in fact, dylan has been infamous for these type of statements. of course, we all hold our own opinions - & if an artist's lyrics are meaningless to you, what is the point of listening to them?

i wholeheartedly agree that the beatles' - & especially lennon (my all-time favorite musician, period) - lyrics are more cohesive with their music; but the beatles are more renown as innovative musicians, whereas dylan is praised for the most part solely because of his lyrics. the problem here is the fine & often misunderstood line between songwriting (writing a song - the music, structure, arrangement, lyrics) & writing lyrics. whereas i think the greatest songwriters to ever grace pop music are most definitely - & by a long shot - lennon & mccartney, i think dylan's lyrics are by far greater on their own.

it's impossible to deny dylan's magnificent way with a pen, though; he's pioneered so many schools of songwriting - from barely concealed confessions to stream-of-consciousness narratives to topical folk songs - that he's impossible to deny as the most influential lyricist pop music has ever produced.

Your avatar kicks epic amounts of ass.

I think people massively underrate Dylan's vocals and his music. The sheer force in his voice gives me chills. Idiot Wind, Gates of Eden, It's All Over Now Baby Blue, etc...

And Tombstone Blues, oh man. I can't even describe what that song does to me. Especially when I'm listening to Highway 61 and it comes on right after Like a Rolling Stone. <3<3<3

"just like tom thumb's blues" is my favorite song off of highway 61 revisited - the way he says, "i'm going back to new york city, i do believe i've had enough" is badass. it's as if whoever has wronged him better watch their back - as beaten as he sounds, the authority in his voice is nearly as frightening as it is paradoxical.

I admit this reluctantly that I am not a Bob Dylan aficionado. I have, however, had many instances where I heard a song and said to myself "Wow, who is this?" and found out it was of course, Bob Dylan.

My question to the rest of you is, what is the best way to take in Bob Dylan? Does he have an exceptional album that stands out from the rest or should I buy a best-of CD?

i generally try to stay away from best-of compilations, especially with an artist like dylan whose albums stand on their own as cohesive efforts. bringing it all back home, highway 61 revisited & blonde on blonde are the best places to start - they're his greatest albums that best demonstrate what he did & does best. blood on the tracks is my personal favorite dylan album, but it's not the best introduction since it's kind of an oddity in his discography - dylan is best known for his surrealistic wordplay & pioneering the folk-rock movement, & BOTT is a more somber, reflective album about the dissolution of a relationship; definitely something you should check into later on down the road though. the three aforementioned releases see dylan cementing his reputation as a groundbreaking cynical street poet who played folk music as garage rock - bringing it all back home is dylan starting his transformation, highway 61 revisited is dylan solidifying his transformation, & blonde on blonde is dylan stretching the transformation. from there you can check into the rest of his catalogue, but those are his most acclaimed records that best represent what dylan basically stands for - i'm pretty sure we all have our personal favorites, but those three albums are really the best places to start.

Then how, in your next post, is he "underrated"?

Not sure about the Beatles being the best songwriters ever. As far as verse-chorus-verse-chorus four-beats-to-a-bar popular music-that-everyone-can-cheer-to goes, they may be in with a shout.

But that's an entire different topic altogether.

As for an introduction to Dylan, I'd say Bringing It All Back Home. Work your way back to his first album, Bob Dylan, and then after that start moving forward. That's the way I did it, leaving bootleg releases out and then filling them in at the end.

With an artist like Bob Dylan, he has so many albums that it's hard to say one album is the one. Strong arguments can be made for one studio album over another. A good sampling is his Greatest Hits album released in 1967. I've included a link to his discography, and as you can see, some of his best work is on this record: Blowin' in the Wind, Rainy Day Women, It Ain't Me Babe, etc.

I also like Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blood on the Tracks. He did a great song (not sure which one of his albums) that was featured on The Soprano's Soundtrack Vol 1 called You Gotta Serve Somebody.

That's on Slow Train Coming, an album part of his "Christian" period.

Thanks Capo - I figured someone would know. You bring another interesting thought - the different periods of Dylan:

acoustic
going electric
Christian
rock

How many artists can we really say have such a diverse style of music through the course of a career? Very few.

While it could be argued that the Beatles at their peak (Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgtr. Pepper and White Album) were probably better than anyone of that era, there is no question that Dylan is far more prolific, he has lasted as a major influence for more than forty seven years, and like Picasso has had different "periods" as he grew as an artist. Lennon and Harrison died too soon, and McCartney, while a great tunesmith who occasionally comes up with something good and catchy has seen his best days long ago.

Great point Dontomasso. Dylan is one of the most prolific artists in rock history. While the Stones keep releasing albums and have been around nearly as long as Dylan, they are essentially a "greatest hits" band that tours on their past glories. That's not a shot against the Stones, but they've been making essentially the same music ever since Brian Jones left the band. Dylan keeps trying new things.

Springsteen has been following Dylan in a similar vein with different outlets. He has a couple of folk-style albums (The Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust) as well as a cover of old folk classics (We Shall Overcome). But even Bruce can't hold a candle to Dylan's changes in style and output of released music. I think Bruce is trying to catch up, but the Boss went many years between albums for a good portion of his career trying to release great "albums" instead of a collection of songs (not that I'm at all implying Dylan does the latter).

Great point goombah. The same can be said for The Who, Aerosmith and whats left of Pink Floyd as well. All great talents that have not maintained their creative edge.

As for Springsteen.... dont get me started!

I said his voice and his music are underrated.

I'd divide Dylan's career not by sound, but by theme; simplistic, and not without overlap (or outright oddities), but here goes:

Political (1962-65)
For which he made his name, and besides his first album being covers of existing material, his first four albums thereafter all come under this period.
Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home

Abstract (1965-1967)
In which he seems most comfortable making obscure literary references, paying homage to TS Eliot and telling sweet fables such as "Frankie Lee and Judas Priest".
Highway 61 Revisited, John Wesley Harding, Blonde on Blonde

The "Down" Period (1969-1973)
I don't mean "down" in a negative sense, and he's certainly still very prolific, but there's definitely a loss of distinctive originality or creativity, though, I would argue, it's still very self-consciously so. From the smiling Dylan on the front cover of Nasvhille Skyline to the mish-mash of tunes and oddities on Self-Portrait, which isn't really a self-portrait at all (though it's a nice album cover).
Nashville Skyline - Dylan

Love-torn (1973-1975)
Despite The Basement Tapes with The Band in between the three albums which comprise this period, this is my favourite of Dylan's periods, and the one in which he is most consistent since his political period.
Planet Waves, Blood on the Tracks, Desire

Christian (1979-1981)
Street Legal in between Love-torn and Christian; this is the one in which Dylan found God, and as Omar once said, even if you don't believe in God, you don't doubt that he does.
Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot of Love

1980s (1981-1990)
Seems a bit silly to call a period 1980s, but since this is the one I am least familiar with, it seems adequate enough right now. He's still very, very prolific, and still very, very good, though nowhere near as consistently so... and it's an interesting departure from his sixties stuff and his recent rejuvenation.
Infidels - Under the Red Sky

Reflection (1992-present)
The longest of the periods, I think, by some distance. There may be arguments to be made for a division after World Gone Wrong, since his last three albums seem to work together as a cohesive whole, but for now, I'll keep it as this until I revisit it. Time Out of Mind is one of his best albums. Anyway, in some form or another, he seems to be revisiting previous themes and reflecting on his own career, sometimes obviously, sometimes not.
Good As I Been to You - Modern Times

Any thoughts and revisions welcome.

don't you think that description is a bit reductive of the beatles' career? i find it almost insulting to the depth & profundity of their songwriting. can you name me one artist that had their stylistic range (from folk to country to blues to rockabilly to soul to r&b to music hall to psychedelic rock to hard rock, the list goes on & on & on) in such a short period of time, accomplished with such a dazzling array of success (including vast amounts of critical favor & praise nearly a half century later, peerless enduring popularity, record-breaking album sales & unmatched influence)? i doubt you could name a single musician. the beatles played these styles so successfully & exerted such influence - even now - that the type of music they popularised is commonly looked unfavorably upon as "simple pop/rock," but let's not forget that nobody was this daring before them & very few have been since. their production innovations, intricate arrangements & songwriting techniques have been worked so firmly into pop music that it's easy to reduce their music to mere vere-chorus-verse four-beats-to-a-bar rock & roll. the problem with discovering a work of art commonly lauded as influential at a later date is that you've probably encountered the work it influenced first, so its truly innovative qualities are lost - this is a real shame, especially with a band so wildly creative & talented.


i'd hardly call such masterworks as sticky fingers, exile on main street & some girls - all recorded after brian's departure - "the same music" over & over again. to be fair, they didn't truly sink into that territory until the 80's.


i'd end dylan's political era (& change the name to "topical") short of bringing it all back home since that album is filled with mostly surrealistic poetry, & it's mostly renown for his stylistic & lyrical diversions; an argument could be made for it ending before another side... as well, but i won't get nitpicky. also, desire was released in 1976, so the "love-torn" era should probably be extended thus far.

on another note, i quite like nashville skyline - it may be a bit slight in its ambition, but it's got a warm, earthy sound that's both comforting & friendly. i recall one critic referring to it as "a deep, humane & interesting statement about being happy" - i agree. not to mention, from a musically historical standpoint, it did much to popularise country-rock & concrete the genre as a significant force in pop music.

Yeah, I'd end the political/topical era with The Times.

I like Topical better than Political.

Here are my revised rankings of his albums:

1. Highway 61 Revisited
2. Bringing it All Back Home
3. Blonde on Blonde
4. Another Side of Bob Dylan
5. John Wesley Harding
6. Blood on the Tracks
7. Desire
8. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
9. The Times They Are A' Changin'
10. Bob Dylan

To be honest, I don't really see why people feel the need to consistently compare them to the Beatles and Dylan. The Stones are good, but a tad over-rated in that they're compared to two of the greatest artists of all time, when there were so many other bands around at that time worthy to be placed into the trinity of rock; Pink Floyd was starting (and honestly, I think they produced some of their best work from 1967-1972.. the pre-Dark Side years), the Grateful Dead were on a rampage, Hendrix and Joplin dominated, Steppenwolf maintains in being one of the best bands of the time but only receives acknowledge for "Born to be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride", and the Velvet Underground achieved a sound no one will ever match.

I just think it's weird that when people try to think of the "best" rock bands of all time, they ignore all of the great San Francisco bands of the 1960s. It's probably one of the best periods/scenes in rock... It defined an entire generation, and the basic parameters of rock music.

But I'm starting to go off on a wild tangent now.

i'm going to have to disagree with that by a long-shot, LLC -- the stones are, in my opinion, the third greatest artists to ever grace pop music (the beatles being the first, dylan being the second). furthermore, i think the san francisco scene was filled with bloated, pompous, misguided freak-out music that was all surface & no substance. the grateful dead are one of my top three most hated groups of all time, & i think pink floyd's post-syd work is highly over-rated, marred by being unbearably pretentious & bombastic; janis joplin was an incredible vocalist who suffered from not always having a first rate set of material, & hendrix obviously needs no introductions (best guitarist to ever walk the earth, hands down). therefore, i think the stones' general praise ahead of such bands is most definitely justified: keith richards is the greatest riff-writer in the history of pop music - there will never be a guitarist who wrote as many instantly memorable, effortlessly classic, life-affirming pop hooks; mick jagger's arrogant, macho yet flamboyant swagger was the perfect foil for keef's eye-of-the-storm, almost paradoxical elegant on-stage persona. records like sticky fingers & exile on main street (both would be on my list of the 20 greatest albums ever recorded) are down & dirty, weary, druggy hazes filled with so much heart & soul, & songs that absolutely explode with energy, even below the utterly beaten surface. rock & roll has always been about heart & soul, & to me the stones absolutely exemplify that better than almost any other band.

The Rolling Stones were indeed one of the most prolific bands of their time and rest somewhere behind Credence Clearwater Revival and The Beatles. Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile, and Beggar's Banquet are all essential. From there it's more of a personal thing, picking out what parts of their sound you dig and going from there. Their early albums do have some filler, sure, but I mostly take it in stride, because they're still a tight band with a thick sound even when their material is less than inspired.

Damn, I haven't listened to them in a while. Gotta get back on track.

along with the four albums you mentioned - which i completely agree with on the subject of being essential - i'd throw some girls into the mix too; that album is totally under-rated, always getting the shaft when it comes to discussions on the "definitive stones albums." it's often stated that the record is a "response" to the disco & punk era, & it's filled with piss & vinegar, a renewed focus, energy & soul, mick's determination to reclaim the title as rock's crowning frontman, & some of keef's best guitar hooks - his best since their 60's & 70's heyday, anyhow. they just sound plain nasty on that album. not to mention "miss you," "beast of burden" & "shattered" are some of mick & keef's greatest songwriting efforts. am i the only some girls fan here? along with the aforementioned releases, i'd say it rounds out their top 5 greatest albums...

i love how a topic on bob dylan's birthday has turned into a pop music free-for-all, haha - i guess it had to be expected.

Some Girls is okay...not on the level of their other stuff though.

What I say is totally irrelvant though, considering I haven't listened to the Stones in ages.

Listening to "Gimme Shelter" now though, because of this thread.

Have you heard anything from Credence Clearwater Revival, Lombardi?

i never could stomach them, but lately their songs have been growing on me - i still find their melodies more annoying than catchy though...

Ok, I admit I misspoke about the Stones creativity ending with Brian Jones leaving. Their string of albums, from Beggar's Banquet through Exile are fantastic. I can't think of too many artists who have a string of four albums that are considered among the all-time greatest records. Let It Bleed was Jones' last recording and has always been my favorite Stones record. I do like Some Girls a lot, but in spite of crap like "Beast of Burden" and "Shattered." I think its best moments are "Before They Make Me Run," "Far Away Eyes," and "Respectable."

What I should have said is that after Some Girls, the Stones rehashed a lot of the same kind of material, with Tattoo You to now. Again, that's not a knock. They're one of my favorite all-time bands. Artists can only reinvent the wheel so many times musically. I'd take the Stones making the same music over artists who try to change each record for the sake of change.

Don't get me wrong. The Stones are spectacular. But I put so many other artists above them.

I think the San Francisco scene is full of a LOT of heart and soul... I mean, look at what it did with politics. It was actually quite similar to the London scene (it inspired the Beatles to change, and for the better) it was just a bit more blatant in its advocation of drugs... Which really shouldn't be a problem in rock music. But, San Francisco innovated the guitar, and use of politics in music. And the overall sound produced is brilliant to me.

Floyd are actually one of my favorite artists of all time. Roger Waters is most deffinately a mad genius. I actually see them as the opposite of pretentious, up until Roger Waters realized he's talented, and decided to go ape-shit insane. Which is funny, because I find rock music of the 70s and 80s to be incredibly pretentious, which is something I both love and hate about it at the same time (thank the lord or Darwin for punk rock, or we'd probably still be stuck in that mindset). I understand Floyd's live performances can appear a bit pretentious, but I think they serve the opposite purpose. Floyd's always had the intention of distracting the audience from the members of the band, and focusing more so on the music by using other elements to enhance the atmospheric experience of their songs, as they've said again and again in interviews. Furthermore, I feel like so many people overlook Waters' lyrics as nothing relevent. I think the idea of many of his lyrics, that being to write about little things that go unnoticed or ignored by the human race, is brilliant... But I think more so, people miss some of the political meaning to his lyrics, just because he's so subtle... Or very subtle compared to other artists of the time. It's just no surprise that the general public don't think of Floyd as a political band, while "Animals" is probably the most overlooked and most political album released during their "mainstream" period.

And the Grateful dead revolutionized the live performance and song structure in rock music.

To each his own.

Yeah, that's kind of my fault, isn't it?

"TOWNES VAN ZANDT is the BEST SONG WRITER in the world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table and say that."-Steve Earle


- Wikipedia-Townes Van Zandt

-Pancho and Lefty LIVE performance

-Waiting Around to Die from HEARTWORN HIGHWAY (THIS IS AMAZING)

-Townes Van Zandt movie trailor

actually, brian jones had very, very little involvement in the let it bleed sessions, as he was often far too strung out on drugs or out of it to participate, & was mostly supplanted by session musicians. i recall a story where brian jones came into the recording studio at one point & asked, "what can i play?" to which mick jagger replied, "i don't know, brian, what can you play?" beggar's banquet was really brian's last gasp.


it was actually the burgeoning folk scene (& particularly bob dylan, who was blurring the lines between folk, pop & rock) which inspired the beatles, & the san francisco scene, to delve into the realm of politics - especially in the beatles' case. bob dylan has been extensively noted to have been at the heart of inspiration for both pop music's immersion in political music, & the beatles' immersion into folk-rock & introspection. so, if anybody is going to get the credit for this, it's zimmy. furthermore, the sound of the scene - along with the completely blatant, clunky, cretin-like lyrics - is what turns me off so much; it sounds like a bunch of overwrought, in-your-face, unsophisticated hippie bullshit to me.


this is partially why i am fascinated by music - it's amazing to me how i could look at pink floyd (post-syd) & see the most pretentious band in the world, & someone else can look at them & see the complete opposite. albums like the wall & animals are textbook examples to me of over-the-top, super-pretentious, uber-serious, bombastic arena prog rock. his lyrics may have some relevancy to the real world - which, in this case, may turn out to be his fatal flaw - but they're delivered with no compassion, & little empathy; it's self-indulgence with no sense for self-ordainment, restraint thrown out the window, & forced metaphors that make his nastiness seem callow rather than inspired.

& don't get me wrong, i like post-syd pink floyd well enough - i just think they're possibly the most over-rated band to ever grace pop music. animals is actually my favorite post-syd work, even if - along with the wall - it's probably their worst in the aforementioned areas. i guess the reason is because i don't like it as much as i'm fascinated by it; it's still lifeless & void of compassion (although the bookending "pigs on the wing" songs do their best to battle this issue), so over-the-top in its completely overwrought message that i can't help but be marveled by how far he can go.


again, i see the complete opposite here - i feel like their meandering, aimless, self-indulgent jams actually completely obliterated the rock & roll song structure, making it more pompous & affected than it needed to be. this sense of bloated pretense gave free reign to other rock acts to do the same, & tah-dah, out birthed (or at least inspired) progressive rock - the most overblown genre of music to ever have been created.

See, having read those comments on the dead--particularly the bit on their jamming, I think you and I view them in two completely different ways on the basis that I am an active musician (making the art of jamming a bit more personally relevant) and to my knowledge, you are not. If you are, then... Well that sort of dislodges anything I have to say of this matter.

But to me, when two, or three, or four, of ten or whatever musicians can get together, do something that is mostly improvisational, and make it work for both an audience, and more importantly, themselves, something beautiful has happened. Actually, as much as I love a lot of the bands mentioned here, the one complaint I have to offer of many is that none of them ever really engaged in much improvisational work in their live routines. Which is a shame, it really adds dynamic and energy to the performance, and separates it from the studio recordings we can listen to again and again.

But back on track, to me, an improvisational jam can be one of the most beautiful things to occur in music. It's so emotionally truthful and sincere, that I just can't help but be overwhelmed by the idea, in a purely positive way. No two jams will ever be the same... It's hard to explain. In my band, the way we make songs is we'll all get together, and someone will either bring in a riff or make one up off the top of their head, and we all jam on it. Sometimes for five minutes, sometimes for an hour. And from there, you digress into the original riff into so many others that you'd never would have discovered if not for the combined efforts of each member of the band, in such a way that no time is allotted to tweak it or divert it from its initial sincerity unless each member of the group were to come together and meet on one emotional or spiritual plane, or whatever, and allow it to naturally digress in the next direction. It really is a spectacular notion. Then we take the bits we like of that jam, and make them into a little ditty ranging from 3 to maybe 6 minutes. Jake, our guitarist/lyricist will write some lyrics, add them, and presto, we have a conventional song.

But even when we jam live, infront of an audience, a whole new dynamic is added that is just impossible to explain... You just have to experience. Back to my original point, when a group of musicians can actually connect on that level as to make something so raw, true, and maintain something that sounds good and feels right, it's a very cosmic thing, and it's my favorite part about being a musician. Finding a group of musicians that feel as comfortable together and can connect on such improvisational patches as to reach a seemingly telepathic level of brotherhood, as have such bands as The Dead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, etc... It's practically like finding that one person you'd want to spend the rest of your life with.

It's just the best feeling in the world for a musician.

Oh, and I'll point out that, yeah, most prog-rock is pretty ridiculous. But I think certain bands, the Floyd in particular, manage to surpass a hefty load of the ridiculousness by being originals, making a sound unlike anything else, feeling free to experiment with some really bizarre sounds and techniques, and trying to disconnect themselves from the notion of the band consisting of a mash-up of individual personalities, and instead presenting a whole being to the audience. In fact, when Floyd was touring the Wall in the early 80s, the first number, "In the Flesh?" would be performed by the band from offstage, while a seperate group of men dressed like the members of the band would stand on stage and mime along as if it were them playing the song. This was to play off of the fact that, despite Floyd being continually successful, they were technically a one-hit wonder, having only reached constant radio-play with "Money", and few people were able to name the members of the band or recognize them based on physical appearance. Mind you Floyd was an underground act until 1973, when Dark Side of the Moon blew up. I just think that is ingenious.

But, I am a huge fan of experiential music, and I don't think other prog-rock bands really met the level of experimentation as Floyd... They couldn't, really, Floyd pretty much set the standards for the genre from 1969-1972 by producing 20 minute songs, rewiring wah pedals, sampling sound effects, and releasing lengthy, ambient, noise-jams, lacking traditional structure or melody. These are mainly the reasons that I still enjoy albums like "Atom Heart Mother" and "Meddle" over "Dark Side of the Moon" or "Wish You Were Here".

And beyond that, prog-rock, in a way, lead to one of my favorite, if not my favorite, classifications of music; post-rock, a genre that seems to be at its underground height right now with unconventional song structures but the exact opposite personality and mentality of prog-rock.

i actually play guitar - not so much anymore, but i understand the aesthetics of musicianship - so i understand the pleasure derived from that cohesive structure, everything sort of falling into place during a jam session with fellow musicians. my quibble with jam-bands, & the dead in particular, is self-indulgence; i find the fine art of restraint in music to be a much more difficult act to accomplish. to say more with less - without meandering, aimless, lifeless excursions - is a true act of beauty in itself. do i feel that all jam-bands, & all jam sessions, are embedded with such a bloated atmosphere or ambition? absolutely not. many of them feel natural, earthy; they have a feeling of purpose & destination in them. like i said, my problem is the act of self-indulgence, which almost inevitably leads to a messy lack of focus. bands like the rolling stones have that unifying theme as well - that you & so many other musicians feel when they jam - in their act of "guitar weaving" (if you don't know what it is, i'd look it up - it's rather extraordinary). but it's an understated, subtle technique that gives structure & foundation to a song. jamming may give the musicians, & fellow musicians, a certain feeling of unity - & that's fine & dandy - but making music for yourself & fellow musicians only, & assuming that non-musicians don't understand music, is rather elitist & esoteric to me. it's rather silly to state that if you're not a musician you don't understand music; it's like saying only writers understand literature. pretty ridiculous. i do get where you're coming from though, i just think the line between self-indulgence, & a natural, purposeful jam with a strong, earthy structure is very, very fine, & that only a select few musicians know how to walk that line.

as far as pink floyd goes, like i said, i do not loathe them by any means - i just feel that they're impossibly over-rated. the whole act of their live shows just has a whiff of pretense to me that turns me off. i remember the good old days when all a band needed to strike emotion in their fans was their instruments & some tight, structured songs - not bloated experiments as if their stage was a film set. i think their stuff with syd is a wonderfully swirling psychedelic bliss, filled with childlike enthusiasm & spirit, organic sounding experiments & strong songwriting; however, their latter-day stuff just leaves me cold because of the bloated sense of importance pervading everything they set to wax. i don't deny that they're a talented group of musicians, i just think their lack of restraint & their love of indulging in any pompous idea they have & blowing it up to the extreme is incredibly pointless.

I'm not quite sure if you're generalizing, or reflecting on my exact words, but that's not what I meant by my passages on jamming. I just think that a musician and a listener get two different things from a spontaneous act of music. But I think both points are viable and important. I kind of miss listening to music before having picked up an instrument, because I certainly listened to it from a different perspective.

But, then, what's lovely to me is different musician's will still listen to music differently. I think a drummer will listen to music differently than a guitarist. I think a bassist will try to listen to the common ground of a song to bring the two together. And so on.

What I'm getting at is the feeling or connection founded amongst musicians engaged in a jam. Which certainly is rather hard to explain to a non-musician, and pointless to explain to a musician.

by no means was i reflecting on your words, i was speaking in generalities. i agree that a listener & a musician both get different senses of pleasure & purpose from a jam; however, that can be said for music as a whole. music is what you make of it, & what holds meaning to you could either hold an entirely different meaning, or even be completely meaningless, to someone else. also, what meaning it holds to the musician can hold an entirely different purpose & profundity to the listener, according to their own experiences & perspective.

i should point out & reiterate though, that i am a musician - i just don't play with the same frequency that i used to. like i said, i find the art of self-ordainment & restraint to be much more effective than jamming, but that's just my perspective - as we all have our own.

Well, I love both restraint and jamming. I hate to keep making an example of Floyd, but there was a time where I had wished they'd jam here and there live. Then came a point where I realized it'd have a complete different impact and disrupt the atmosphere of the music and show. With other bands, I feel that jamming is beautiful, and restraint would destroy them. Take RHCP. I think John Frusciante and Flea have excellent chemistry as the two string/melodic instrumentalists of the groups, and the four-way connection of the band is even more impressive. If they didn't utilize that connection by almost telepathically going into jams and improvisations at their live shows, I think it'd be a waste of a gifted relationship.

Then you have post-rock, as I've mentioned. Post-rock songs, Dependant on band, seem to range from 6-30 minutes, and yet I think they still have a restraint. Jamming would ruin that restraint, and cutting the songs down to four minutes would also ruin that restraint, if you can make sense of that... It's a rather minimalistic genre, I think the restraint comes from not fighting to do too much, but still managing to make an impressive wall of sound with conventional rock instruments like guitar, bass, drums, and occasionally keys, and then still working in complimentary instrumental cells like string quartets, brass bands, electronic sampling and experimentation, and so on.

totally agree with the RHCP example - john frusciante & flea have great chemistry, excellent use of restraint & powerful grooves. sometimes they tend to indulge a bit much for my tastes, but it's never less than interesting & always tasteful.

not much of a fan of post-rock, it's completely & totally boring to me actually. i've always been a lyric man, anyhow.

So uh...how about that there Bob Dylan!

Top 10 Dylan songs:

1. Visions of Johanna
2. Tombstone Blues
3. Masters of War
4. Idiot Wind
5. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
6. It Aint Me, Babe
7. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
8. Gates of Eden
9. Chimes of Freedom
10. It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

a month or so ago, i actually made myself a mixtape compiling my favorite dylan songs. i normally don't make single artist mixes unless i'm making an intro mix for a member of the uninitiated (since i'll invariably choose to listen to the original albums over a self-assembled playlist), but i was talking with a friend of mine about our favorite dylan albums/songs, & it came up that i tend to have a "type" of dylan song that i gravitate towards. with this in mind, i compiled a mixtape of my favorite dylan songs to see if there was indeed a unifying theme or atmosphere permeating throughout. this was the final product (it's in chronological order by date & time recorded):

"with your eyes like smoke & your prayers like rhymes"

1.) "don't think twice, it's all right"
2.) "one too many mornings"
3.) "to ramona"
4.) "mama, you been on my mind"
5.) "i'll keep it with mine"
6.) "love minus zero/no limit"
7.) "it's alright, ma (i'm only bleeding)"
8.) "mr. tambourine man"
9.) "just like tom thumb's blues"
10.) "4th time around"
11.) "visions of johanna"
12.) "sad-eyed lady of the lowlands"
13.) "tonight i'll be staying here with you"
14.) "you're a big girl now"
15.) "if you see her, say hello"
16.) "buckets of rain"

i encourage any of you to attempt such a task; due to the stunningly high quality of dylan's early 60's through mid 70's work, it's incredibly difficult to trim it down to a mere 80-90 minutes. it took me quite a while & cost me alot of frustration. if any of you decide to try it, make sure to post the playlist here, i'd love to see how our tastes differ.

my top 5 favorite dylan songs are as follows:

1.) "mama, you been on my mind"
2.) "don't think twice, it's all right"
3.) "love minus zero/no limit"
4.) "i'll keep it with mine"
5.) "if you see her, say hello"

There are times I tend to dulge in lyrics, and others when I'm just over taken by the force of the music itself... I enjoy classical music a bit, so post-rock is sort of a common ground between rock and symphonic. And I just find Sigur Rós' music to be some of the most beautiful to grace my ears.

But... uh... Yeah... Dylan. I think I mostly prefer the abstract period, as Mick put it. Highway 61, Blonde on Blonde... There's just too much to list or get into.

If CDs weren't limited to 80 minutes, and if it weren't so damn fucking long, "Highlands" would definitely be on any Dylan compilation I made.

I was actually planning a thread over on FCM which would ask members to consider one 80-minute-long CD, and choose their ultimate favourite Dylan songs to fill it.

Visions of Johanna pwnz my soul right now.

"highlands" would definitely be on volume two or three if i decided to go that far. the part where the waitress asks him to draw a portrait of her is an absolute riot.

i suggest you attempt a dylan mix yourself; it's even harder than it sounds. come on, don't be a wuss.

Sorry, I meant to return to this.

Well, versatility alone doesn't amount to greatness, of course, and I'm not sure whose opinion you're going by on "success", your own, or "The Majority". "Vast amounts of critical favour" again doesn't bring inherent greatness. (But it might.) Shakespeare's still studied today, but he's not necessarily good. (I think he is, but that's because I like his work.)

Everybody loves Gone With the Wind, but I gave it a prompt "no stars" when I saw it last; also, I recognise and acknowledge influence, but consider it separately to measuring greatness. But we've been down this path before.

How, by the way, would you define the following phrases:
"unmatched influence"
"peerless enduring popularity"
"dazzling array of success"

They sound like fashionable (and dismissable) buzz-phrases, to me.

Anyway, to answer your question, here's a few names that come to mind, for versatility, artistic innovation, enduring appeal and ultimately, influence.
DJ Shadow, Aphex Twin, Radiohead, Tom Waits, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Damon Albarn.

Oh wait, and Dylan.

(Should Dylan be dismissed because The Beatles sold more records than him?)

And, for what it's worth, since we're all sounding very snobbish already, I'll say that Eminem's Marshal Mathers LP is worth ten Sgt. Peppers as far as lyricism goes.

My favorite Dylan song :

JOEY

Born in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in the year of who knows when
Opened up his eyes to the tune of an accordion
Always on the outside of whatever side there was
When they asked him why it had to be that way, "Well," he answered, "just
because."

Larry was the oldest, Joey was next to last.
They called Joe "Crazy," the baby they called "Kid Blast."
Some say they lived off gambling and runnin' numbers too.
It always seemed they got caught between the mob and the men in blue.

Joey, Joey,
King of the streets, child of clay.
Joey, Joey,
What made them want to come and blow you away?

There was talk they killed their rivals, but the truth was far from that
No one ever knew for sure where they were really at.
When they tried to strangle Larry, Joey almost-a-hit the roof.
He went out that night to seek revenge, thinkin' he was bulletproof.

The war broke out at the break of dawn, it emptied out the streets
Joey and his brothers suffered terrible defeats
'Til they ventured out behind the lines and took five prisoners.
They stashed them away in a basement, called them amateurs.

The hostages were tremblin' when they heard a man exclaim,
"Let's blow this place to kingdom come, let Con Edison take the blame."
But Joey stepped up, an' he raised his hand, said, "We are not those kind of men.
It's peace and quiet that we need to go back to work again."

Joey, Joey,
King of the streets, child of clay.
Joey, Joey,
What made them want to come and blow you away?

The police department hounded him, they called him Mr. Smith
They got him on conspiracy, they were never sure who with.
"What time is it?" said the judge to Joey when they met
"Five to ten," said Joey. Judge says, "That's exactly what you get."

He did ten years in Attica, reading Nietzsche and Wilhelm Reich
They threw him in the hole one time for tryin' to stop a strike.
His closest friends were black men 'cause they seemed to understand
What it's like to be in society with a shackle on your hand.

They let him out in '71 he'd lost a little weight
But he dressed like Jimmy Cagney and I swear he did look great.
He tried to find the way back in , to the life he left behind
To the boss he said, "I have returned and now I want what's mine."

Joey, Joey,
King of the streets, child of clay.
Joey, Joey,
What made them want to come and blow you away?

It was true that in his later years he would not carry a gun
"I'm around too many children," he'd say, "they should never know of one."
Yet he walked right into the clubhouse of his lifelong deadly foe,
Emptied out the register, said, "Tell 'em it was Crazy Joe."

One day they blew him down in a clam bar in New York
He could see it comin' through the door as he lifted up his fork.
He pushed the table over to protect his family
Then he staggered out into the streets of Little Italy.

Joey, Joey,
King of the streets, child of clay.
Joey, Joey,
What made them want to come and blow you away?

Sister Jacqueline and Carmela and mother Mary all did weep.
I heard his best friend Frankie say, "He ain't dead, he's just asleep."
Then I saw the old man's limousine head back towards the grave
I guess he had to say one last goodbye to the son that he could not save.

The sun turned cold over President Street and the town of Brooklyn mourned
They said a mass in the old church near the house where he was born.
And someday if God's in heaven overlookin' His preserve
I know the men that shot him down will get what they deserve.

Joey, Joey,
King of the streets, child of clay.
Joey, Joey,
What made them want to come and blow you away?

DC, that whole album is seeped in melancholic injustice. Desire is my favourite Dylan album. His voice is most appealing on it, too (he's accompanied by Joan Baez, of course).

It should be noted that he co-wrote the album with Jacques Levy, but that takes nothing away from its achievement.

"Isis" would be on any favourites compilation, for me, and "Sara" is one of the few songs during which I have to walk out of the room if others are present, since I feel an inner, jealous rage that I should share it with anyone else.

I'm a big fan of "Romance In Durango".

I fell down to my bended knees saying "I dig farmers, don't shoot me please!"

^coolest line ever.

I'll be seeing Bob Dylan in about two weeks. In a month I'll also be seeing Roger Waters. A good summer it's looking to be.

Lucky sons of bitches. The next time Bob is remotely close to bordering Florida at all I'm going. No matter what. I gotta see him.

Add Moby to my short list above. I dunno how I forgot him.

Lucky you!!

plawrence had tix for Dylan last year (about this time of year) and was trying to give them away (realizing he was too sick to attend) and he couldn't get any takers!

Yeah, but you gotta admit that Captain Beefheart....man he could cook.....lyrics, I think - what was his biggest hit again, I forget.

I'll be seeing Dylan too, like a few others here. I hope his mumbling is audible. Ah, who cares. I've never seen the man. I have a bunch of his recordings. His work has influence throughout the whole music industry.

Positively 4th Street

....do you know what a drag it is to see you.

Hurricane

....he no idea what kind of shit was about to go down.

Day of the Locust

.....the man standing next to me, his head was exploding.
I was praying the pieces wouldn't fall on me.

Serve Somebody

...it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody.


Last November I saw the Broadway production of "The Times They Are a Changin'" My wife and I loved it. It closed after a few weeks. The audience was raucous. Only true Dylan fans would appreciate it.

Bob Dylan has had a profound influence on my musical life. He influence is in my guitar and harmonica; no doubt. Can't wait to see him on the 22nd.

It's something he learned over in England!

This past Friday, June 22, I saw Bob Dylan at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Quite a show. At 66 years old, the man can play and sing. His body of work speaks for itself. His band was tight and they could rock and they could play mellow.

Dylan has a way of making his old songs fresh. His phrasing and delivery can through you off, but soon you realize you are listening to a revitalized version of "Blowin' in the Wind". His set is a mix of old and new. The show was about an hour and 45 minutes. He ended with a driving rendition of "All Along the Watchtower."

Just got back from the Bob Dylan concert, which was excellent. Sure, his voice is on it's way out, making it impossible to hear 90% of his lyrics, but the emotion is still there.

My favorite part was the more bluesy version of "Just Like a Woman," Dylan singing "She makes love" and all the other lines to pause for the audience to finish "just like a woman."

It was amazing enough seeing a legend.

Damn, I can't wait now.

This was last night's set list.

http://my.execpc.com/~billp61/062707s.html

Like A Rolling Stone missing, interesting.

Anyway, I've been meaning to ask this, what'd you guys think of Modern Times?

I thought it sounded like drunken Christmas blues.

Modern Times is great.

My favorite songs are the slower ones, mainly

Ain't Talkin'
Working Man Blues #2
Nettie Moore

Well, the whole world is filled with speculation
The whole wide world which people say is round
They will tear your mind away from contemplation
They will jump on your misfortune when you're down

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Eatin' hog eyed grease in a hog eyed town.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Some day you'll be glad to have me around.
-- "Ain't Talkin'

Well, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haul
Tossed by the winds and the seas
I'll drag 'em all down to hell and I'll stand 'em at the wall
I'll sell 'em to their enemies
I'm tryin' to feed my soul with thought
Gonna sleep off the rest of the day
Sometimes no one wants what we got
Sometimes you can't give it away

Now the place is ringed with countless foes
Some of them may be deaf and dumb
No man, no woman knows
The hour that sorrow will come
In the dark I hear the night birds call
I can feel a lover's breath
I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall
Sleep is like a temporary death
-- "Working Man Blues #2"

3. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
(Bob on electric guitar, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on Stratocaster)
10. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on Stratocaster)
11. Ballad Of A Thin Man
(Bob on keyboard and harp, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on Stratocaster)

You told me he didn't play anything from Highway 61.

I didn't have the set list until after. His songs were reworked and his voice didn't do the lyrics any justice clarity-wise.

Pretty much the set he did in Atlantic City. Not "Just Like a Woman" though.

We were hoping for "Like a Rolling Stone", but hey, it was good enough for me.

Kind of neat to go with my daughter - me 57, her 28 and we both loved the show.

Awesome, awesome, awesome show.

His voice is terrible, but who really cares. Nobody at the concert did. His performance of Like a Rolling Stone had to be one of the greatest things I've ever witnessed. As soon as he said "unzuponatime u dressd so fiine" the crowd went insane. After he finished, we gave him a standing ovation that lasted at least 7 or 8 minutes. Absolutely bone-chilling, one of the most powerful moments of my life.

About 95% of the people there were middle-aged married couples.

Man, I JUST found out Dylan played in Hershey PA last month. I wish I would have known.. that's not too far from where I live.

What are the odds of an '08 tour?

He's playing Cleveland tomorrow night.

I wouldn't despair - Dylan seems to tour on a regular basis in the summer.