Bob Dylan

Jim_Are_Great

Is he all that?

If so, why so? If not, why not?

dream brother

He's all that and more!

MrJones

it all depends on yourself. nobody can really tell you why another artist
is great. personally i think he's great but it's up to yourself

Jim_Are_Great wrote:

Is he all that?

If so, why so? If not, why not?

Oobie

Like him but was dissapointed when I saw him live.

John

I think it's hard to like everything he's done but that there's no denying that he's a fantastic songwriter. As a performer he's patchy, I've seen him twice and the first time was one of the best gigs I've ever seen, the second time was one of the worst.

DerekD Goldfish

He was great but hes a bit of a has been now
he may not be able to "Sing" but hes one of my favorite vocalists of all time and a fantastic songwriter

Jim_Are_Great

I like the man a lot. His are some of the best albums ever (Highway 61, Desire, Blood On The Tracks). Having said this, his may be some of the worst also. Has anyone heard Dylan And The Dead?

His best lyrics are inspirational. His enigmatic charm since unmatched. But he's far from perfect. He's not a terribly talented singer, guitarist or harmonica player. Sometimes I think he would have been better off just as a poet.

What I really want to know is why Dylan fanatics feel the way they do about him. I never got such a thrill from listening to him. Am I missing something, or does he just divide audiences?

dream brother

I think there's alot of people out there who alway hated the way he sang and they found the harmonica playing a tad too much the whole time! But for me, Dylan has got to be one of the greatest, he's done everything and back again. His lyrics are what drive me into getting album after album, they've always got a story or a message in them. Plus his harmonica playing, i think, is very underrated. He maybe pushing on in years but he's still doing it his way, still releasing albums, still touring and still a legend! With Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen following him closing for 2nd and 3th!

Jim_Are_Great

dream brother wrote:

His lyrics are what drive me into getting album after album, they've always got a story or a message in them.

Bob Dylan, Wiggle Wiggle from the 1990 album Under The Red Sky wrote:

Wiggle 'til you're high, wiggle 'til you're higher, Wiggle 'til you vomit fire.

... ?

ianmc38

DerekD Goldfish wrote:

He was great but hes a bit of a has been now

Absolute bullsh*t.

Love and theft and Time out of mind are among the best works of his career.

Dylan is a genius and not just as a songwriter.

ianmc38

Jim_Are_Great wrote:

... ?

Very clever. Take one of Dylans worst songs (Wiggle wiggle) and ignore the hundreds of brilliant ones. WP.

Jim_Are_Great

ianmc38 wrote:

Very clever. Take one of Dylans worst songs (Wiggle wiggle) and ignore the hundreds of brilliant ones. WP.

I was just attempting to disprove the statement that his lyrics "ALWAYS have a story behind them". He's not the most consistent of artists.

I think he benefits from a lot of the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome: One person praises him, and many more agree at the risk of appearing foolish by not seeing his genius. By my reading, I think that Idiot Wind bemoans that phenomenon. Slightly educated guess, though.

dream brother

Jim_Are_Great wrote:

... ?

That is a bit hazy!

I think you'll find the good songs out number the bad! 99% of the time, his songs do have a theme to them, just because he wrote a song with wiggle in it doesn't mean that he should be shot down for it. Every artist goes thru a bad patch. As for Idiot Wind, that song is high up on my favourite's, the live version is great! Do you sit down and read his lyrics???

MrJones

im a huge admirer of the man as well. to be honest, i just listen to the songs. i dont pay a huge amount of attention to the lyrics. i certainly would not be sitting down reading through his lyrics.
i would not agree with this "idiot wind" theory that we are all duped into thinking he's great. albums like the freewheelin',blood on the tracks,blonde on blonde,love and theft,time out of mind,the times they are a changin',desire,another side of, bob dylan live 1966(the bootleg series volume 111),oh mercy,bringing it all back home and hard rain are all at the very least excellent albums.
live 1966 is my favourite album, up there with the greatest albums ever released. To see the man live these days is a privilege,he's reinvented all of his songs and they sound great. a true artist in my opinion.

dream brother wrote:

That is a bit hazy!

I think you'll find the good songs out number the bad! 99% of the time, his songs do have a theme to them, just because he wrote a song with wiggle in it doesn't mean that he should be shot down for it. Every artist goes thru a bad patch. As for Idiot Wind, that song is high up on my favourite's, the live version is great! Do you sit down and read his lyrics???

ianmc38

Jim_Are_Great wrote:

I was just attempting to disprove the statement that his lyrics "ALWAYS have a story behind them". He's not the most consistent of artists.

I think he benefits from a lot of the Emperor's New Clothes syndrome: One person praises him, and many more agree at the risk of appearing foolish by not seeing his genius. By my reading, I think that Idiot Wind bemoans that phenomenon. Slightly educated guess, though.

You reckon you can interpret Idiot Wind?

Lol.

DerekD Goldfish

ianmc38 wrote:

Absolute bullsh*t.

Love and theft and Time out of mind are among the best works of his career.

Dylan is a genius and not just as a songwriter.

I never said he was just a songwriter I love his voice
and I didnt like Love and Theft much

gracehopper

I'm a huge fan. He is by no means perfect but folk and rock and blues etc are designed with the heart in mind. Dylan said: " I gave up on perfectionism a long time ago" - this is from a programme i bought at one of his concerts were he certainly wasnt perfect or even consistent. I didnt enjoy the gig but i'm still going to his kilkenny one in the hope that he puts on a better show.

I admire his ability to paint a picture in his songs. I have a ten year long argument with a mate who hates bob dylan and cant understand what the fuss is but i suppose its what diff. people get from music. I mean he'd have a hard-on about some weird diminished dorian scale that satriani or Vai would play but i enjoy music with a bit of heart & soul. Weither it be the Rolling stones or led zeppelin or jeff buckley. Most of all i enjoy music that has a bit of a message and there is no one better than Dylan for writing a song with a message.

ianmc38

Last time I saw him was last year in the Point and he played a phenomenal rendition of Forever Young. his best live version of a song for at least 10 years I reckon.

blastman

The new album, due on 28th of August has been described as being as good as Love & Theft and Time Out Of Mind.

Jim_Are_Great

ianmc38 wrote:

You reckon you can interpret Idiot Wind?

Lol.

Yep. Everyone can interpret Dylan's surrealish work differently. Therin lies its beauty.

Having just heard The Rolling Stones cover Like A Rolling Stone, though, I concede that nobody can do it quite like Bob.

I stand by my original theories, though.

And I am a fan, by the way.

peckerhead

I'm old. REAL old...:(

I never saw the attraction/fascination, back in the 70s, and I certainly don't see it now. Like the Stones (much more interesting, musically...), he shoulda STFU and retired a decade or two ago.

So there!

MrJones

what? new album. that's brilliant news.can't wait for it/:)

blastman wrote:

The new album, due on 28th of August has been described as being as good as Love & Theft and Time Out Of Mind.

dream brother

peckerhead wrote:

I'm old. REAL old...:(

I never saw the attraction/fascination, back in the 70s, and I certainly don't see it now. Like the Stones (much more interesting, musically...), he shoulda STFU and retired a decade or two ago.

So there!

Man you were right there when it was all happening and you still missed it!

Rockerette

i've been sucked into Dylan since i was 15 (im now the ripe old age of... 18!) and i just think he's brilliant - and no, not because everyone thinks he should.
most of my friends: "bob dyaln.. is he not dead?!"

im hardly trying to be cool here!




the man has CLASS.
damn it, he's just so cool. and his songs are so diverse, thats why i love them.


i understand why people dont like him. it took me about 2 months to get over the harmonica.. and his voice is.. different


i've seen him 3 times so far, and another 2 at the end of the month
one of those was possibly the best show i've ever been at.

all along the watchtower in the encore is divine...



so yeah, i think he's great. not many like him at all







"People tell me it's a sin
To know and feel too much within.
I still believe she was my twin, but I lost the ring.
She was born in spring, but I was born too late
Blame it on a simple twist of fate."

RE*AC*TOR

Bob Dylan.

As much as I love Neil Young. He can never be Bob Dylan. No one can. Dylan has an ability for word-craft. He combines words and phrases to devestating effect. He constantly shifts, so people could not hold on to their perceptions of him. He was a reluctant hero for the 60s counter-culture. His songs of protest stack up among the best ever written, if you took them on their own he would be a great artist, but if you took them away, it would do little to diminsh him because he has done so much since.

Neil Young, John Prine, Loudon Wainwright, Bruce Springsteen - have all been dubbed the "New Bob Dylan". None of them despite their various illustrious careers could ever live up to that moniker.

Its difficult to convey Bob Dylan in words. It has to be listened to. Think of any modern singer-songwriter. Without Bob Dylan there is no modern singer-songwriter.

Bob Dylan is a genius. He's a genius because he sees the world differently. He uses words differently. We use words like a builder uses bricks, Dylan uses words like a juggler uses balls of fire. They are his play thing.

Earthhorse

The only Dylan I know is Blood on the Tracks and I thought the lyrics were pretty bad. Sure, there were nice moments (like the one quoted above), but overall I was underwhelmed by his words.

Is Blood on the Tracks considered to be (lyrically) some of his best work?

What Dylan albums are the best from a lyrics point of view?

RE*AC*TOR

Blood on The Tracks? You can't be serious:

"Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form.
"Come in," she said,
"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

anyway - I think maybe, Bringing it all Back Home, is one of his most vivid lyrical works.

Laplandman

originally posted by RE*AC*TOR

Its difficult to convey Bob Dylan in words. It has to be listened to. Think of any modern singer-songwriter. Without Bob Dylan there is no modern singer-songwriter

Did you lift that off the sleeve of an album or something?

I think Dylan's best is what is most popular and easiest to talk about - it doesnt have some impenetrable mystical essence.

Most of his best songs are 'about' something - thats what makes him a popular songwriter.

RE*AC*TOR

Laplandman wrote:

originally posted by RE*AC*TOR


Did you lift that off the sleeve of an album or something?

no.

Laplandman wrote:

I think Dylan's best is what is most popular and easiest to talk about - it doesnt have some impenetrable mystical essence.

Most of his best songs are 'about' something - thats what makes him a popular songwriter.

All songs are about something, how can you have a song about nothing? (ask Lou Reed). You do Dylan a disservice, there's plenty of his material that has failed to touch the public at large that is artistically spectacular.

Whereas, one of his more popular songs, Mr Tambourine Man, I could take or leave. Some of his "ignored" album, like Good As I Been To You, are better than most songwriters will put out in their careers.

dream brother

for me, highway 61 has to be his best work lyrically, Desolation Row has to be one of the greatest pieces. The way he talks about people as if he was right there with them is class

quickbeam

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Bob Dylan.

As much as I love Neil Young. He can never be Bob Dylan.

MUCH prefer Neil Young. But that's jut my opinion.

But Dylan is a legend, and I'll be seeing him for the first time in Kilkenny next weekend. Hope he's good because I've heard mixed reports about him live. I like Dylan for his lyrics but prefer when other artists sing him - The Byrds, whoever. Dylan's own voice grates somewhat. But then again there's no accounting for taste - some people find Neil Young's voice grating too; or Leonard Cohen's ... both of whom I prefer to Dylan.