What can be said about Bob Dylan that hasn't been said already? Genius poet...Talented songwriter and musician...A true artist...An impossible enigma. Dylan is all those things, and more. He's the Marlon Brando of music...and especially songwriting. I've been thinking about Bob Dylan a lot these days...listening to the great boxed set from the 80's BIOGRAPH, listening to his new CD TOGETHER WITH LIFE, reading an interview with him in Rolling Stone magazine...Plus I am still on a high from seeing a Santa Monica Bob Dylan concert in 2008...
It's strange...I've had an on again/off again love affair with Dylan's music ever since I was 16. Never took to him like the way I took to all my time faves...The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Dylan disciple Bruce Springsteen. These bands/artist are like family to me...lived with them for years, know them, more or less understand them...love 'em even when I don't want to hear them...Yet Bob Dylan is more like...extended family...like the estranged cousin you see every now and then...whose persona escapes you. Dylan was never part of my scene when I first started really listening to rock and roll...and taking music seriously. Part of the reason was lack of exposure...as I didn't hear him too much on the radio back then...and Dylan had stopped touring the U.S. from 1982-1985...so no one around me was mentioning him...in any context. I heard the name pop up every now and then...and noticed his name as the writer of one of my early Jimi Hendrix favorites "All Along The Watchtower." I only really became aware of Bob Dylan when I saw how much he affected and influenced Bruce Springsteen.
On July 13, 1985, I was fortunate enough to get a ticket for the huge Live Aid show in Philadelphia.
Still... I could not ignore the fact that Dylan was a presence in much of the music I listened to at the time...whether I realized it, or not. So, I eventually picked up BIOGRAPH...a 5 record boxed set covering a good sample of Dylan's music from the 60's, 70's and 80's...Though it took 2 or 3 years before I actually listened to it. You see, back then...before CDs saturated the market...and well before anyone spoke of iPods and "shuffling" music...you had wonderful vinyl records...with music broken up over two sides of plastic. And back in those days...I was insistent that I listen to an entire new album (no matter how long it was)...all at once...with no breaks...or not at all. And the time required to set through 5 albums worth of music stressed me out. Insane as I was, I waited and waited and waited until it was in the right frame of mind, and had the time. Sure enough...the day (or night) arrived...and I dove right in. What a journey it was...traveling through such 60's gems as "I'll Keep It With Mine", "Visions Of Johanna", and "Positively 4th Street"..through the 70's pastiche of "Isis", "I Believe In You" and "Forever Young" to 80's obscurities like "Solid Rock", "Caribbean Wind" and "Heart of Mine."
Slowly but surely, I was hooked...going to see several Bob Dylan concerts in 1986 and 1988. By 1989, I had all of his albums...my favorites being ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, NEW MORNING, most certainly...1976's DESIRE, as well as his excellent 1989 record OH MERCY. I bought books about Dylan...and was blown away seeing a great concert of his in October 1989 at the Beacon Theater in New York. After playing an exciting set, which included the great song "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry"...Bob Dylan came out for an encore and performed a cool version of BLONDE ON BLONDE's "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat"...at the end of the song, Dylan walked to the front of the stage...did a little dance...then leaped into the audience, and just...disappeared...just like that. It was bizarre, beautiful, and just plain weird...another words...I loved it! Yet despite all of this...I never fully became a die hard Bob Dylan fan.
Not long after attending a great 30th anniversary all-star Bob Dylan retrospective concert in New York (with George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Neil Young, and more...) in 1992...I pretty much dropped Dylan from my life. Perhaps the reason was two-fold...I didn't understand his enigmatic words, music and poetry...and...well...Dylan's singing voice (which had gotten worse over the years)...became an issue for me...I simply did not enjoy his music as much as other bands/artists that I really, truly loved. So, I moved on...for about 16 years...rarely listening to Dylan at all...I bought one of the live BOOTLEG series CDs a few years back, and a friend gave me 2001's LOVE AND THEFT...plus I went to see the horrible 2003 Dylan movie MASKED AND ANONYMOUS...yet for the most part...I no longer cared for Bob Dylan nor his music.
What changed, you asked? Once again...the 33 1/3 book series brought me back around. Mark Polizzotti's excellent HIGHWAY 61 REVISTED 33 1/3 book was quite inspiring...especially while listening to the album HIGHWAY 61 REVISTED at the same time. My Bob Dylan taste buds were awoken once more...
When I heard he was going to play a concert near my office...at the historic SANTA MONICA CIVIC AUDITIORIUM no less...I knew I had to go. It was an excellent concert, and I blogged a review the next day: "I saw Bob Dylan last night at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. I hadn't seen a Dylan live in about 16 years, and last night was a real treat. It was a really good, interesting show...Dylan's voice has somehow gotten more gravely than ever (I didn't think that was possible)...and he spent the whole show NOT facing the audience...Dylan stood in profile, and played keyboards all night (no guitar at all)...If his face ever turned to the audience...the most he would give was a half-nod. His interpretation of his songs was...well...loose, at best. It was all GA, yet it was not a GA crowd...the mean age of the audience must have been around 45...First show I've ever been to where 98% of the crowd all arrived on time for the scheduled 8:00pm start...Dylan hit the stage around 8:25pm, and played about a new 90 minute set, plus a 2-song encore. Great setlist...including rousing versions of I Don't Believe You and All Along The Watchtower.
The sound on his vocals wasn't perfect, though neither was Dylan's voice. Didn't matter though...it was great just to see him. Isn't that the reason to go in the first place? Just to see the man, the icon, the legend perform? We're never going to get the 1960's or 1970's Bob Dylan we all know and love...we just need to accept the fact that Dylan is 67 years old...and has sung these songs a billion times...and needs to perform them the way he feels NOW, today...in 2008. Thanks Bob, I had a fun time." And I was hooked once again...buying up a whole bunch of Bob Dylan CDs...and loving and listening to his music like I was 19 years old again. Well Bob...hopefully you'll stick around for good this time. I still don't understand much about you, your music, your poetry, and your general artistic choices...yet I perhaps I'm not supposed to. Just keeping doing what your doing...and I'll respond accordingly...
You've Got a Lot of Nerve