All Time Top 1100 Albums (Aerosmith - Big Ones) P265

out of interest

what do you make of ‘a rolling stone ‘
Not sure if I'm honest mate. It's never been on any of my play lists. I've not got the vinyl and if it comes on the radio it becomes white noise. I never notice it.

Sure I'm aware of it but I really have no opinion on it. Apart from his nasal assault on my delicate ears.

Does that make sense?

I'm the same with a few old "classics".

Johnny Cash passes me by, same with Elvis. Even modern people like Ed Sheeran. My brain just ignores them.
 
out of interest

what do you make of ‘a rolling stone ‘
Personally I always thought of like a rolling Stone as the perfect song, it has brilliant words, it starts with "Once upon a time"…....(like a story) that paint a picture, a description of an egotistical friend who has fallen from grace, it has a wonderful feel right from the word go,
I love the Hammond organ with the Leslie speaker revolving and swirling away and the way in the structure of the song the chords move upwards on the verses giving me a sense of optimism rather than going downwards.
Dylan's voice actually sounds really good I think. Fits perfectly.
"He's not selling any alibis, as you stare in the vacuum of his eyes"
Freaking phenomenal lyrics !
There aren't many top 10 hits with such brilliant lyrics, maybe Whiter shade of Pale, American Pie or Strawberry Fields Forever.
Like a Rolling Stone is a massive contender for the best.....


Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People call say 'beware doll, you're bound to fall'
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh you've gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you're gonna have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discovered that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To have on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinking, thinking that they've got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
 
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Ha ha - nice reworking of Subterrenean Homesick Blues there, Eamo.

I had a read about "Ballad of a Thin Man" and it seems that it's about the press, coming and asking him pointless questions all the time.
My own take on BOTM is that, as with many Dylan songs, the idea came from an encounter with a journalist (I think he was actually called Jones) but he then universalises such incidents - hence I think that we are all Mr Jones at points, we are struggling to try to understand what is going on when there really is no point as there is no greater meaning to the experience than the experience itself. We try to construct a 'narrative' about the world we encounter and then seek some verification to back that up (not always from lumberjacks but it might as well be for all the good the facts are worth).

That's what I hear in the song - but then I might just be hoist by my own petard....
 
I must start by saying that I love Bob Dylan and I love this album.

Bruce Springsteen talks about the opening snare slap being like the door to your mind getting kicked open. It stops me from what I am doing every time I hear it and then the song that follows is as near a perfect rock song as I have heard. The music the words the singing all come together so well as it builds and builds in vitriol and contempt (with a bit of pity). If you get the chance to go through any of the bootleg albums there are various early recordings of this as the song developed from a piano waltz to this version and of course he has continued to develop it in a live setting every since.

The next three tracks are a mixture of Americana and Dylan's wistful and witty lyrics driven along by a solid blues band. I love so many of the lines in Tombstone Blues ("With a fantastic collection of stamps, to win friends and influence his uncle") but the best of the 3 is It Takes a Lot to Laugh It takes a Train to Cry. It is so simple and yet it just rambles along (like a train). Again check out the version on Concert for Bangladesh.

Ballad of a Thin Man is probably my favourite. There are many instruments that feature prominently on this album but the piano is the one that stands out on the best tracks (Rolling Stone, Ballad, Queen Jane and Tom Thumb) and its that honky-tonky piano that you would get in old westerns that is such an American sound (to me). The slightly (self) mocking delivery of (self) deprecating attempts to comprehend a world that either has no meaning or, if it does, not one you will ever understand is sublime.

Side two opens with what would be a standout track, the standout track, on any other album but plays second fiddle to the similarly veined Rolling Stone.

Highway 61 is again so tightly written and played. The idea that you can encounter all of American life if you travel down Highway 61 is possibly the overarching theme of the album. The opening lines are so 60s - 'God said to Abraham kill me a son, Abe said man you must be putting me on' and the music drives you on and on along the highway to the next encounter.

Then we get a fantastically laid back blues that opens with one of the earliest examples of Dylan's ability to place you precisely where he wants you with one single opening line. 'When you're lost in the rain in Juarez and it's Easter time too'. You are in the wrong place at the wrong time and you spend the rest of the song struggling to regain you bearings before you do believe you've-had-e-nough and you head on back to New York City (home).

Dylan is so creative at this point in his career and Desolation Row is a perfect example of his need to get ideas out of his head and to lay them out. There are many obvious literary references but I don't think there is any on-going theme particularly (or at least, not one I have discerned) I just think I he is wringing out the sponge and doing so beautifully. It's an odd way to end what is essentially a rock and blues album but then that's why we (I?) love him so much.

I have mentioned elsewhere how this album is the 2nd in this mini-series of albums for Dylan (Bringing it All Back Home, this and Blonde on Blonde) and you can see the development musically as he works with other musicians culminating in BoB, on which some of the rougher edges of the full band compositions are filed off as I am sure we will see when that album comes up for review in the future.

Scores on the doors and it's a 10 from Len (me).
 
Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited
Why oh why isn't Desolation Row a 5-7 minute song?

I can be relatively scathing of quite a lot of things about Dylan (which has probably raised it's head when reviewing some of his other stuff), however I find a lot of the stuff on this album much more palatable.

I dare say, the guy recording this is barely recognisable to the old bloke who is still releasing stuff and that I witnessed at the MEN circa 20 years ago (it could have literally been anyone stood their on stage in a cowboy hat). Maybe it was Madonna?

Like a rolling stone is a shoe-in, that's how you want him to sound - it's a great track and his vocals work for it.

Tombstone Blues and It takes a lot to cry are decent (as already noted the honky tonk piano is a great addition and fits his harmonica). So to is In a Buic - all seem to fit the overall cut of the album.

Against the mood on here, I don't like Ballad of a thin man, it feels creepy to me somehow. Not sure if it's supposed to be as I'm not sure my understanding of the song is the same as everyone else's.

Queen Jane is alright.

What is the fucking whizzing noise on Highway 61!?! It completely doesn't fit the music (not that I would ever offer up the whizzing thing as an instrument to use) and spoils an otherwise fantastically enjoyable song to me.

Desolation Row is good, but as we are finding out with lots of albums that we review, 12+ minutes is way too long for a single track.

Producer
'Right Bob, go and soak your vocals in whiskey and honey whilst I trim this down to a far greater 5 minute effort.'

'Don't look at me with that scowl, you'll thank me in 60 years time when you aren't getting hammered on Bluemoons Top thousand albums for running the tracks too long.'

Dylan
'What the fuck is Bluemoon'?

I think the album feels a 6 out of 10 to me - there is some really lovely great and enjoyable stuff for me on this but some of it falls lower (which to be fair the bar was set very high from the start).

His vocals are decent, his band set up is really good and yet somehow some of the songs just still don't do it for me...............
 
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Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited
Why oh why isn't Desolation Row not a 5-7 minute song?

I can be relatively scathing of quite a lot of things about Dylan (which has probably raised it's head when reviewing some of his other stuff), however I find a lot of the stuff on this album much more palatable.

I dare say, the guy recording this is barely recognisable to the old bloke who is still releasing stuff and that I witnessed at the MEN circa 20 years ago (it could have literally been anyone stood their on stage in a cowboy hat). Maybe it was Madonna?

Like a rolling stone is a shoe-in, that's how you want him to sound - it's a great track and his vocals work for it.

Tombstone Blues and It takes a lot to cry are decent (as already noted the honky tonk piano is a great addition and fits his harmonica). So to is In a Buic - all seem to fit the overall cut of the album.

Against the mood on here, I don't like Ballad of a thin man, it feels creepy to me somehow. Not sure if it's support to be as I'm not sure my understanding of the song is the same as everyone else's.

Queen Jane is alright.

What is the fucking whizzing noise on Highway 61!?! It completely doesn't fit the music (not that I would ever offer up the whizzing thing as an instrument to use) and spoils an otherwise fantastically enjoyable song to me.

Desolation Row is good, but as we are finding out with lots of albums that we review, 12+ minutes is way too long for a single track.

Producer
'Right Bob, go and soak your vocals in whiskey and honey whilst I trim this down to far greater 5 minute effort.'

'Don't look at me with that scowl, you'll thank me in 60 years time when you aren't getting hammered on Bluemoons Top thousand albums for running the tracks too long.'

Dylan
'What the fuck is Bluemoon'?

I think the album feels a 6 out of 10 to me - there is some really lovely great and enjoyable stuff for me on this but some of it is falls lower (which to be fair the bar was set very high from the start).

His vocals are decent, his band set up is really good and yet somehow some of the songs just still don't do it for me...............

Superb as always
 
Cheers BH - it was quite the rush to get it out to be honest (I knew I wouldn't get chance to do it tomorrow) so looked a bit skinny in places to me.........

Edit: And littered with the usual spelling and grammatical errors :-)
In a rush? Can’t do it tomorrow? You need to get your Top 15 artists in, sonny jim!
 
I got into Dylan after listening to Bruce Springsteen in the mid 70s
I went out and bought ‘Desire ‘and ‘ Blood on the tracks ‘ which are probably my favourite albums of his ,I lost interest after ‘Oh Mercy ‘due to his voice getting worse on each release.
I was also given a copy of the single ‘ Positively 4 th Street ‘ which I love and I believe should’ve been on this album.
Ive not listened to the album in full before but Im familiar with most of the tracks having
bought his greatest hits and ‘ More Bob Dylan’s greatest hits ‘at the time.

For me this period along the mid seventies are Dylan at his best lyrically, musically
And Vocally

For anyone who loves the songs but hates his voice; the late Jimmy Lafave does a lot good covers on most of his albums.

This gets an 8/10
 

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