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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 09:06 - Jun 20 by oldcob
Always liked his stuff, but could never work out why.
But it's easy to work out why. He speaks to our futile but beautiful hopes and is honest and witty about human failure. He's political, romantic, relevant, nostalgic, complex and simplistic; his stuff crosses genres like Gene Kelly crossing a street; he inhabits the mundane and the mythic world and fuses the two like no one else around these days. I used to think he was a terrible singer of great songs. Now his Tom Waits/Leonard Cohen growl is almost haunting. The man is an utter genius. I wouldn't go and see him live again though; he's not very audience aware.
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 10:18 - Jun 20 with 5803 views
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 10:12 - Jun 20 by GreatBritton
But it's easy to work out why. He speaks to our futile but beautiful hopes and is honest and witty about human failure. He's political, romantic, relevant, nostalgic, complex and simplistic; his stuff crosses genres like Gene Kelly crossing a street; he inhabits the mundane and the mythic world and fuses the two like no one else around these days. I used to think he was a terrible singer of great songs. Now his Tom Waits/Leonard Cohen growl is almost haunting. The man is an utter genius. I wouldn't go and see him live again though; he's not very audience aware.
'I used to think he was a terrible singer of great songs. Now his Tom Waits/Leonard Cohen growl is almost haunting. The man is an utter genius. I wouldn't go and see him live again though; he's not very audience aware.'
Agreed. The song the vast majority of people know him for is Blowing In The Wind. Thousand of people sing it better than him. In theory. They've got better singing voices, they can hold a note better. They have better tone in the traditional sense.
But the best version of Blowing In The Wind is by Bob Dylan (before the growl). To my mind it's as if his voice was created to sing that song. And many others of his. It still sends shivers down my spine all these years later.
I saw him once just to be able to say I saw him. I wouldn't go again.
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 12:13 - Jun 20 with 5773 views
Last post encapsulated my views better than I could articulate them. I hated, and still hate Bob Dylan’s whiny monotone.
However, my favourite, Joe Strummer, was also a terrible singer, unintelligible at times. But when the package is as good as the two above, perhaps it doesn’t matter.
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 13:36 - Jun 20 with 5750 views
Has anyone heard the long-awaited release of Homegrown by Neil Young yet? Got released yesterday, only 35 years late. Going to give it a listen this evening.
I have a few of what people call Dylan's classic albums, but I prefer his later releases. People talk of his whiny voice on earlier albums and I agree that can be annoying but he's lost that with age. Like Johnny Cash's American 6 series , I think he sounds better in his latter years. Comparisons with Tom Waits are valid - nowhere near as gravelly/cigarette/whisky drenched as Tom but, the song structures are such that you can imagine an early years Tom Waits singing these songs. I think this is a very good album and one that I will be buying, even though I've bought way too much during this lockdown.
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 13:36 - Jun 20 by Ebo
Has anyone heard the long-awaited release of Homegrown by Neil Young yet? Got released yesterday, only 35 years late. Going to give it a listen this evening.
Funnily enough, I streamed this yesterday before I played the Dylan one. There's a couple of songs which are a bit too "country" for my liking but that's being too picky. It does sound like and fits into that batch of 1970-1975 series of his albums and has several very good songs on it. I think that phase and his grungy dabblings were his best years. This is another one I'm going to have to buy.
Proud to have been one of the 231
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 17:51 - Jun 21 with 5645 views
Funnily enough I'm listening to it on Spotify now. It's excellent so far. I'm almost prepared to forgive him for being rubbish in Hyde Park last summer.
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 14:52 - Jun 23 with 5517 views
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 17:51 - Jun 21 by Scotia
Funnily enough I'm listening to it on Spotify now. It's excellent so far. I'm almost prepared to forgive him for being rubbish in Hyde Park last summer.
I saw him when he was in Cardiff. Awful. Then suddenly THIS! Fantastic album with his voice suiting the melancholy, the rage, the wisdom, the age. Listening to Rough and Rowdy Ways was like discovering T S Eliot when I was 14. I don't now what it means, but I want to find out.
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 15:46 - Jun 23 with 5495 views
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 14:52 - Jun 23 by GreatBritton
I saw him when he was in Cardiff. Awful. Then suddenly THIS! Fantastic album with his voice suiting the melancholy, the rage, the wisdom, the age. Listening to Rough and Rowdy Ways was like discovering T S Eliot when I was 14. I don't now what it means, but I want to find out.
” Listening to Rough and Rowdy Ways was like discovering T S Eliot.”
Ha! come now, let’s not over-egg it!
An idea isn't responsible for those who believe in it.
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 18:43 - Jun 23 with 5483 views
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 17:46 - Jun 21 by Vetchfielder
Funnily enough, I streamed this yesterday before I played the Dylan one. There's a couple of songs which are a bit too "country" for my liking but that's being too picky. It does sound like and fits into that batch of 1970-1975 series of his albums and has several very good songs on it. I think that phase and his grungy dabblings were his best years. This is another one I'm going to have to buy.
I’ve got it on now. Yes I agree - one to buy for sure. It’s a mixed bag of country, blues and his trademark folk.
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 14:24 - Jun 24 by dna
Blood on the Tracks is a superb album, full of some of his best work
Most def. Anyone who doesn't respond to the humility and self-recognition of lines like 'I helped her get out a jam/but I guess I used a little too much force' or the entire lyrics of' 'If You See Her Say Hello' is a hard hearted soul indeed.
I've taken it as a personal mantra to 'keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew' all my life
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Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 17:05 - Jun 24 with 5371 views
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Days on 15:16 - Jun 24 by GreatBritton
Most def. Anyone who doesn't respond to the humility and self-recognition of lines like 'I helped her get out a jam/but I guess I used a little too much force' or the entire lyrics of' 'If You See Her Say Hello' is a hard hearted soul indeed.
I've taken it as a personal mantra to 'keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew' all my life
Christ I feel old - it was over 40 years ago when I bought that.
I've only put 3 of the tracks on my iPod tho'.
"Buckets of Rain" (many of his shorter, "throwaway" songs are gems, others being "Winterlude" and "Sign on the Window").
"Idiot Wind" - vicious, bitter classic.
"Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts" - magisterial & mesmerising story-telling. (I once tried to memorise all the lyrics but gave up 😂)
Ironically, considering recent events, half of this album was recorded in Minneapolis, which is in his home state, of course.