The Album Review Club - Week #147 - (page 1942) - Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan

[mancity2012_eamo]

All fair points and thanks for the comments. This is an album I love and have listened to lots of times and I still struggle to catch the lyrics. I'm not a huge lyrics fan normally and actually taking part in this thread has caused me to examine words that would normally pass me by. That being said I do prefer songs with words in even when Im not paying much attention. I've only recently discovered that Oasis lyrics are widely considered nursery rhyme.

I think the nonsense lyrics in Soul-Junks work appeals to me because they are delivered seriously as if they mean something and it serves as a counter to what I consider to be an over sincerity in Christian music. It's not pastiche or played for jokes it's kind of just frivolous like just for the joy of making sounds and combining words.

I've tried to play this album to lots of people over the years and it hasn't landed with a single person yet so the 2 you gave it seems like a win and you listened to it more than once!

For what it’s worth MrB.
I’ve only gotten 10 songs in so far. I had to turn it off when my wife came home. Not her cup of tea.
But…. despite me agreeing with most of what has been written so far, particularly about the nature of a whole album of Rap, I actually found myself enjoying the total Zappa-esque non conformity and foot tapping beats and polyrhythms of the early offerings.
It did lag a bit at times due to the problems of Rap samishness, of unintelligible lyrics.

But I was expecting a lot worse than this.
It’s slightly refreshing and what this thread is all about.

Another backhanded compliment for you…. I’m almost looking forward to getting through the rest of it, on my own of course.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

It's not pastiche or played for jokes it's kind of just frivolous like just for the joy of making sounds and combining words.

I've tried to play this album to lots of people over the years and it hasn't landed with a single person yet so the 2 you gave it seems like a win and you listened to it more than once!

I love James Brown because he doesn't necessarily say words, he shouts and makes noises but it lands so well in the music that it makes it sound easy to do. But it isn't easy. Not sure if you've heard it but "Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol" is a song by an Italian (I think) who sings lyrics that sound like English does to someone who doesn't speak English. To me it's just sounds but again the idea that singing for sounds - as opposed to lyrics - is amazing. I can hear what Soul-Junks are trying to do but - for me - they aren't landing it. It's genuinely hard to write frivolous lyrics that mean nothing and everything at the same time. The simplest things are really, really hard to do.

I sometimes think if I was in a startup band, I'd focus all my energy on hooks and melody. In a live setting that's all you hear!

The best parts from this thread are where you take an album that means a lot and put it out there. I've listened to LOADS of albums now from here I'd never have considered listening to and it broadens the horizons. That, for me, is the point of the thread just to make you listen to something you'd not normally consider and I've found some belters on here. I'd rather listen to an album and say 'Hey, it's not quite for me but I am glad others like it' than never hear it! :)

I gave it a 2 - and I felt mean doing it - just because it didn't land with me. Some of my nominations have been given worse scores! :D but it's music! If we all agreed on it, this thread would've died after 1 message from Rob!

If this album takes the bottom score, I might change my nomination to try to win the bottom prize! :D

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

I love James Brown because he doesn't necessarily say words, he shouts and makes noises but it lands so well in the music that it makes it sound easy to do. But it isn't easy. Not sure if you've heard it but "Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol" is a song by an Italian (I think) who sings lyrics that sound like English does to someone who doesn't speak English. To me it's just sounds but again the idea that singing for sounds - as opposed to lyrics - is amazing. I can hear what Soul-Junks are trying to do but - for me - they aren't landing it. It's genuinely hard to write frivolous lyrics that mean nothing and everything at the same time. The simplest things are really, really hard to do.

I sometimes think if I was in a startup band, I'd focus all my energy on hooks and melody. In a live setting that's all you hear!

The best parts from this thread are where you take an album that means a lot and put it out there. I've listened to LOADS of albums now from here I'd never have considered listening to and it broadens the horizons. That, for me, is the point of the thread just to make you listen to something you'd not normally consider and I've found some belters on here. I'd rather listen to an album and say 'Hey, it's not quite for me but I am glad others like it' than never hear it! :)

I gave it a 2 - and I felt mean doing it - just because it didn't land with me. Some of my nominations have been given worse scores! :D but it's music! If we all agreed on it, this thread would've died after 1 message from Rob!

If this album takes the bottom score, I might change my nomination to try to win the bottom prize! :D

I’m pretty sure any one of us could pick a bottom feeder if we chose to.
Stuff like this that I have no doubt means a lot to MrB are great to listen to and to critique.
With a lot of the stuff I hear, I’m tempted to just give a score and move on. The stuff I love from in here are the ones that genuinely invoke a reaction from me whether it is supportive or not of the nominees review.
Inspiring a reaction whether positive or negative is what keeps this thread interesting.

 

[BimboBob]

I love a good clear lyric, be it ABC singing about lost love, I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart, or Depeche Mode's seminal offering from Enjoy The Silence, All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here, in my arms, words are very, unnecessary, they can only do harm to Pink Floyd singing about fishbowls. Such a beautiful fishbowl. I'm imagining a small underwater castle. And funny coloured gravel.

Lyrics speak to me, remind me of so called hard times, when I've won or lost love, when I've felt a little down, and believe me I'm not a person who gets down a lot, it's an experience, move on. Even my cancer hasn't caused me to lose sleep, it's just angered me enough to think, fuck it, I'll fight you, you bastard thing.

Song lyrics can evoke so much in the human mind. And when a lyric is sung clearly, with heart felt timbre and just the right amount of gravitates it hits you. Bloody hell, that is what I felt, that's exactly what I was feeling. It's sometimes hard to quantify. It just hits you.

I gave the JJ Cale album on here a high score because, at the time I was properly angrily battling terminal cancer, chemo and it's lovely side effects, hospitals, waiting rooms, corridors, hospital beds, losing 5 stone battling, death door battling, mumbling, Wife bedside crying, always battling, drifting in and out of conscious, yes lighted tunnels, and it hit me. Beautiful lyrics. I felt most of them. It resonated. It was far too short, each song was far too short, but oh my it was beautiful stuff. I cried listening to it. That rarely happens. I think my review gave nothing away. Except I loved it. I apologise. OB1, I owe you so much for that nomination. More than I probably gave away with the review I gave it. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.

So yes, I love a good lyric. But it needs to hit me, clever or not, it needs to make feel like I'm singing very loudly with mates at a drunken party, oh how I've missed a drunken party, but on my own. In my music room. Loudly. Just to annoy the mutt. Above all it needs to trigger something in my brain.

Someone mentioned Oasis. I never got them because the lyrics were nonsense and the guitar work felt old, rehashed. I've always felt that if you are going to write rubbish/ banal lyrics then hit me with something to amplify them or drown them out. This didn't happen. They then carried on with the same. Regurgitate and repeat. it was a winning formulae so why change it? Except my brain wouldn't and still doesn't compute. And I'm not having a go at people who love them, my Wife included, they just didn't hit the part of my brain that needed hitting.

This album also isn't doing that. I can take mumbling , I can take weird and bizarre lyrics, I can take lyrics that mean nothing to me but I find it very hard to get worked up over something that passes me by musically and lyrically. And before anyone jumps all over me I'm a big fan of old school Rap/ hip hop. Lyrics really meant nothing, rhyming is hard sometimes, but the exciting mixes, odd samples from songs I knew, and nice use of beats meant a lot of it stood out. See It's Tricky by Run DMC for a commercial offering. Or for more of an extreme example, Din Daa Daa by George Kranz. God I love that 12".

Notice my choices on the other thread which might show how my brain works. Rocket From a Crypt? Madness. But I love it. Awful lyrics but what a banging tune.

This album has neither lyrics I can relate to or music I can get down with. Man. I'm loathed to mark it down to my usual base offering, oh I sometimes hate my scoring system, as it's something different in what feels like a sea of predictability at times but I fear I have to. I got nothing from it. Sorry about that.

1/10

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

I love a good clear lyric, be it ABC singing about lost love, I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart, or Depeche Mode's seminal offering from Enjoy The Silence, All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here, in my arms, words are very, unnecessary, they can only do harm to Pink Floyd singing about fishbowls. Such a beautiful fishbowl. I'm imagining a small underwater castle. And funny coloured gravel.

Lyrics speak to me, remind me of so called hard times, when I've won or lost love, when I've felt a little down, and believe me I'm not a person who gets down a lot, it's an experience, move on. Even my cancer hasn't caused me to lose sleep, it's just angered me enough to think, fuck it, I'll fight you, you bastard thing.

Song lyrics can evoke so much in the human mind. And when a lyric is sung clearly, with heart felt timbre and just the right amount of gravitates it hits you. Bloody hell, that is what I felt, that's exactly what I was feeling. It's sometimes hard to quantify. It just hits you.

I gave the JJ Cale album on here a high score because, at the time I was properly angrily battling terminal cancer, chemo and it's lovely side effects, hospitals, waiting rooms, corridors, hospital beds, losing 5 stone battling, death door battling, mumbling, Wife bedside crying, always battling, drifting in and out of conscious, yes lighted tunnels, and it hit me. Beautiful lyrics. I felt most of them. It resonated. It was far too short, each song was far too short, but oh my it was beautiful stuff. I cried listening to it. That rarely happens. I think my review gave nothing away. Except I loved it. I apologise. OB1, I owe you so much for that nomination. More than I probably gave away with the review I gave it. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.

So yes, I love a good lyric. But it needs to hit me, clever or not, it needs to make feel like I'm singing very loudly with mates at a drunken party, oh how I've missed a drunken party, but on my own. In my music room. Loudly. Just to annoy the mutt. Above all it needs to trigger something in my brain.

Someone mentioned Oasis. I never got them because the lyrics were nonsense and the guitar work felt old, rehashed. I've always felt that if you are going to write rubbish/ banal lyrics then hit me with something to amplify them or drown them out. This didn't happen. They then carried on with the same. Regurgitate and repeat. it was a winning formulae so why change it? Except my brain wouldn't and still doesn't compute. And I'm not having as go at people who love them, my Wife included, they just didn't hit the part of my brain that needed hitting.

This album also isn't doing that. I can take mumbling , I can take weird and bizarre lyrics, I can take lyrics that mean nothing to me but I find it very hard to get worked up over something that passes me by musically and lyrically. And before anyone jumps all over me I'm a big fan of old school Rap/ hip hop. Lyrics really meant nothing, rhyming is hard sometimes, but the exciting mixes, odd samples from songs I knew, and nice use of beats meant a lot of it stood out. See It's Tricky by Run DMC for a commercial offering. Or for more of an extreme example, Din Daa Daa by George Kranz. God I love that 12".

Notice my choices on the other thread which might show how my brain works. Rocket From a Crypt? Madness. But I love it. Awful lyrics but what a banging tune.

This album has neither lyrics I can relate to or music I can get down with. Man. I'm loathed to mark it down to my usual base offering, oh I sometimes hate my scoring system, as it's something different in what feels like a sea of predictability at times but I fear I have to. I got nothing from it. Sorry about that.

1/10

Man I love you.
This is exactly what is so great about this thread.
The fact you hate it, according to your score, but it evoked such a great response from yourself. I say response rather than review as it is pouring out of you what pushes your buttons rather than what doesn’t.

And to MrB. I haven’t a clue what my final response will be but I predict that this will prove to be a fabulous pick for discussion in here.

Well done you, and I haven’t even listened to it all yet.

 

[RobMCFC]

just for the joy of making sounds and combining words.

That's also something I appreciate in lyrics - they don't always have to be deep and meaningful, but the right combination of nonsense, or in some cases just banal, sometimes sounds wonderful: Beck and Crowded House are very good at this, which is part of their appeal.

 

[RobMCFC]

I love a good clear lyric, be it ABC singing about lost love, I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart, or Depeche Mode's seminal offering from Enjoy The Silence, All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here, in my arms, words are very, unnecessary, they can only do harm to Pink Floyd singing about fishbowls. Such a beautiful fishbowl. I'm imagining a small underwater castle. And funny coloured gravel.

Lyrics speak to me, remind me of so called hard times, when I've won or lost love, when I've felt a little down, and believe me I'm not a person who gets down a lot, it's an experience, move on. Even my cancer hasn't caused me to lose sleep, it's just angered me enough to think, fuck it, I'll fight you, you bastard thing.

Song lyrics can evoke so much in the human mind. And when a lyric is sung clearly, with heart felt timbre and just the right amount of gravitates it hits you. Bloody hell, that is what I felt, that's exactly what I was feeling. It's sometimes hard to quantify. It just hits you.

I gave the JJ Cale album on here a high score because, at the time I was properly angrily battling terminal cancer, chemo and it's lovely side effects, hospitals, waiting rooms, corridors, hospital beds, losing 5 stone battling, death door battling, mumbling, Wife bedside crying, always battling, drifting in and out of conscious, yes lighted tunnels, and it hit me. Beautiful lyrics. I felt most of them. It resonated. It was far too short, each song was far too short, but oh my it was beautiful stuff. I cried listening to it. That rarely happens. I think my review gave nothing away. Except I loved it. I apologise. OB1, I owe you so much for that nomination. More than I probably gave away with the review I gave it. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.

So yes, I love a good lyric. But it needs to hit me, clever or not, it needs to make feel like I'm singing very loudly with mates at a drunken party, oh how I've missed a drunken party, but on my own. In my music room. Loudly. Just to annoy the mutt. Above all it needs to trigger something in my brain.

Someone mentioned Oasis. I never got them because the lyrics were nonsense and the guitar work felt old, rehashed. I've always felt that if you are going to write rubbish/ banal lyrics then hit me with something to amplify them or drown them out. This didn't happen. They then carried on with the same. Regurgitate and repeat. it was a winning formulae so why change it? Except my brain wouldn't and still doesn't compute. And I'm not having a go at people who love them, my Wife included, they just didn't hit the part of my brain that needed hitting.

This album also isn't doing that. I can take mumbling , I can take weird and bizarre lyrics, I can take lyrics that mean nothing to me but I find it very hard to get worked up over something that passes me by musically and lyrically. And before anyone jumps all over me I'm a big fan of old school Rap/ hip hop. Lyrics really meant nothing, rhyming is hard sometimes, but the exciting mixes, odd samples from songs I knew, and nice use of beats meant a lot of it stood out. See It's Tricky by Run DMC for a commercial offering. Or for more of an extreme example, Din Daa Daa by George Kranz. God I love that 12".

Notice my choices on the other thread which might show how my brain works. Rocket From a Crypt? Madness. But I love it. Awful lyrics but what a banging tune.

This album has neither lyrics I can relate to or music I can get down with. Man. I'm loathed to mark it down to my usual base offering, oh I sometimes hate my scoring system, as it's something different in what feels like a sea of predictability at times but I fear I have to. I got nothing from it. Sorry about that.

1/10

Bravo, sir.

I'm re-quoting this in full because 1) As others have said, it's very moving and this is what this thread is all about, and 2) It's a long text that @OB1 might miss or not see the important bit, so I'm tagging him to give him the best chance of seeing your thanks.

 

[GornikDaze]

I love a good clear lyric, be it ABC singing about lost love, I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart, or Depeche Mode's seminal offering from Enjoy The Silence, All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here, in my arms, words are very, unnecessary, they can only do harm to Pink Floyd singing about fishbowls. Such a beautiful fishbowl. I'm imagining a small underwater castle. And funny coloured gravel.

Lyrics speak to me, remind me of so called hard times, when I've won or lost love, when I've felt a little down, and believe me I'm not a person who gets down a lot, it's an experience, move on. Even my cancer hasn't caused me to lose sleep, it's just angered me enough to think, fuck it, I'll fight you, you bastard thing.

Song lyrics can evoke so much in the human mind. And when a lyric is sung clearly, with heart felt timbre and just the right amount of gravitates it hits you. Bloody hell, that is what I felt, that's exactly what I was feeling. It's sometimes hard to quantify. It just hits you.

I gave the JJ Cale album on here a high score because, at the time I was properly angrily battling terminal cancer, chemo and it's lovely side effects, hospitals, waiting rooms, corridors, hospital beds, losing 5 stone battling, death door battling, mumbling, Wife bedside crying, always battling, drifting in and out of conscious, yes lighted tunnels, and it hit me. Beautiful lyrics. I felt most of them. It resonated. It was far too short, each song was far too short, but oh my it was beautiful stuff. I cried listening to it. That rarely happens. I think my review gave nothing away. Except I loved it. I apologise. OB1, I owe you so much for that nomination. More than I probably gave away with the review I gave it. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.

So yes, I love a good lyric. But it needs to hit me, clever or not, it needs to make feel like I'm singing very loudly with mates at a drunken party, oh how I've missed a drunken party, but on my own. In my music room. Loudly. Just to annoy the mutt. Above all it needs to trigger something in my brain.

Someone mentioned Oasis. I never got them because the lyrics were nonsense and the guitar work felt old, rehashed. I've always felt that if you are going to write rubbish/ banal lyrics then hit me with something to amplify them or drown them out. This didn't happen. They then carried on with the same. Regurgitate and repeat. it was a winning formulae so why change it? Except my brain wouldn't and still doesn't compute. And I'm not having a go at people who love them, my Wife included, they just didn't hit the part of my brain that needed hitting.

This album also isn't doing that. I can take mumbling , I can take weird and bizarre lyrics, I can take lyrics that mean nothing to me but I find it very hard to get worked up over something that passes me by musically and lyrically. And before anyone jumps all over me I'm a big fan of old school Rap/ hip hop. Lyrics really meant nothing, rhyming is hard sometimes, but the exciting mixes, odd samples from songs I knew, and nice use of beats meant a lot of it stood out. See It's Tricky by Run DMC for a commercial offering. Or for more of an extreme example, Din Daa Daa by George Kranz. God I love that 12".

Notice my choices on the other thread which might show how my brain works. Rocket From a Crypt? Madness. But I love it. Awful lyrics but what a banging tune.

This album has neither lyrics I can relate to or music I can get down with. Man. I'm loathed to mark it down to my usual base offering, oh I sometimes hate my scoring system, as it's something different in what feels like a sea of predictability at times but I fear I have to. I got nothing from it. Sorry about that.

1/10

The best 1/10 review we’ve ever had - imho. Hope all is well with your continued recovery Bimbo.
Music is the only means of time travel we currently have. I can be on a plane going on holiday at 8 years with T Rex whenever I hear Children of the Revolution, I can spend time with my late dad whenever I hear anything by a Welsh male voice choir.
Aren’t we blessed.

 

[mrbelfry]

I love a good clear lyric, be it ABC singing about lost love, I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart, or Depeche Mode's seminal offering from Enjoy The Silence, All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here, in my arms, words are very, unnecessary, they can only do harm to Pink Floyd singing about fishbowls. Such a beautiful fishbowl. I'm imagining a small underwater castle. And funny coloured gravel.

Lyrics speak to me, remind me of so called hard times, when I've won or lost love, when I've felt a little down, and believe me I'm not a person who gets down a lot, it's an experience, move on. Even my cancer hasn't caused me to lose sleep, it's just angered me enough to think, fuck it, I'll fight you, you bastard thing.

Song lyrics can evoke so much in the human mind. And when a lyric is sung clearly, with heart felt timbre and just the right amount of gravitates it hits you. Bloody hell, that is what I felt, that's exactly what I was feeling. It's sometimes hard to quantify. It just hits you.

I gave the JJ Cale album on here a high score because, at the time I was properly angrily battling terminal cancer, chemo and it's lovely side effects, hospitals, waiting rooms, corridors, hospital beds, losing 5 stone battling, death door battling, mumbling, Wife bedside crying, always battling, drifting in and out of conscious, yes lighted tunnels, and it hit me. Beautiful lyrics. I felt most of them. It resonated. It was far too short, each song was far too short, but oh my it was beautiful stuff. I cried listening to it. That rarely happens. I think my review gave nothing away. Except I loved it. I apologise. OB1, I owe you so much for that nomination. More than I probably gave away with the review I gave it. Thank you. I can't thank you enough.

So yes, I love a good lyric. But it needs to hit me, clever or not, it needs to make feel like I'm singing very loudly with mates at a drunken party, oh how I've missed a drunken party, but on my own. In my music room. Loudly. Just to annoy the mutt. Above all it needs to trigger something in my brain.

Someone mentioned Oasis. I never got them because the lyrics were nonsense and the guitar work felt old, rehashed. I've always felt that if you are going to write rubbish/ banal lyrics then hit me with something to amplify them or drown them out. This didn't happen. They then carried on with the same. Regurgitate and repeat. it was a winning formulae so why change it? Except my brain wouldn't and still doesn't compute. And I'm not having a go at people who love them, my Wife included, they just didn't hit the part of my brain that needed hitting.

This album also isn't doing that. I can take mumbling , I can take weird and bizarre lyrics, I can take lyrics that mean nothing to me but I find it very hard to get worked up over something that passes me by musically and lyrically. And before anyone jumps all over me I'm a big fan of old school Rap/ hip hop. Lyrics really meant nothing, rhyming is hard sometimes, but the exciting mixes, odd samples from songs I knew, and nice use of beats meant a lot of it stood out. See It's Tricky by Run DMC for a commercial offering. Or for more of an extreme example, Din Daa Daa by George Kranz. God I love that 12".

Notice my choices on the other thread which might show how my brain works. Rocket From a Crypt? Madness. But I love it. Awful lyrics but what a banging tune.

This album has neither lyrics I can relate to or music I can get down with. Man. I'm loathed to mark it down to my usual base offering, oh I sometimes hate my scoring system, as it's something different in what feels like a sea of predictability at times but I fear I have to. I got nothing from it. Sorry about that.

1/10

Thanks for the brilliantly honest response

 

[BimboBob]

The best 1/10 review we’ve ever had - imho. Hope all is well with your continued recovery Bimbo.
Music is the only means of time travel we currently have. I can be on a plane going on holiday at 8 years with T Rex whenever I hear Children of the Revolution, I can spend time with my late dad whenever I hear anything by a Welsh male voice choir.
Aren’t we blessed.

Recovery isn't really an option with terminal cancer, it will get me one day, but then so can a lot of other things. Busses, exes, etc etc. Best to ignore it and carry on with life. Much easier that way. But thanks for the sentiment.