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

[mancity1]

Neil D was a good if not great songwriter and could put on a great show ala the Greek Theatre with one of the best intros' to a song that ever been sung IMO bar some of the guitar work preventing it from being the best.

That build up is first class as Bill alludes to without mentioning the song.

IMO its not appropriate to compare these two artists.

This one I just couldn't get into I tried but it lacked the variety , ambience to get me emotionally attached.

I might listen to it again but having listened to it three times I might not , one or two good songs well written and performed and perhaps would enjoy some of American Gothic live but at a stretch 5/10 for me.

 

[BlueHammer85]

Just didn’t hit the spot this one

Was some nice moments and orchestral/Piano sounds for ‘One Night Stand’ and ‘Waiting For The Moving Van’

Stand out is definitely ‘Love’s Enough’ a lovely song - nice melody and words - simplicity is the best sometimes

‘Blues For Billy Whitecloud’ has a upbeat Jazz feel

Others just felt a bit of a mish mash and cabaret as others have mentioned

It was ok and always good to have a different pick and learn about a new artist

5/10

 

[BlueHammer85]

What’s next ?

 

[threespires]

What’s next ?

All we know so far is no drums (bar one track) until @Denis Law's Backheel tells us more..

 

[RobMCFC]

No votes from @Coatigan or @mancity2012_eamo yet.

I'll give them and anybody else until 3.00PM and then call the scores.

 

[RobMCFC]

All we know so far is no drums (bar one track) until @Denis Law's Backheel tells us more..

I think you've got the wrong man there! - That user only has 55 messages since 2008.

 

[denislawsbackheel]

Certainly has.
I’m primed and ready to go.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

No votes from @Coatigan or @mancity2012_eamo yet.

I'll give them and anybody else until 3.00PM and then call the scores.

Pretty sure I gave it a 4 at one stage.
Maybe I left it for confirmation.

4 it is.

 

[threespires]

I think you've got the wrong man there! - That user only has 55 messages since 2008.

Doh! But is still active on forum so that'll confuse him :-)

 

[mancity1]

I don’t want to disparage this because the lyrics make me feel sorry for the guy, like Steinbeck’s stories made me feel for his characters. So maybe these songs aren’t self-referential. Regardless, that’s pretty much what I was left with. The combination of music hall, Tin Pan Alley, swelling orchestra, off-Broadway, big band — sometimes all in the same song — and ever-present hookless, beat-less piano was a muddle. Schizophrenic is far too mean a way to describe this — certainly it’s unified thematically. But unfocused musically is probably the right way. I don’t hear any change in tempos here, and not much tempo at all. Nearly all the songs float in a canoe down a river, slowly, generally the same direction, but wandering somewhat aimlessly and un-ruddered. The imagery is literal which I always find a bit hard to identify with (I wish I’d had the opportunity to sleep with a woman whose name I didn’t know but no such luck). The spoken word effect and vocals so forward in the mix don’t help me much either.

Reading about some A&R guys saying, “We just don’t have any artists who we think can do justice to your work” seems suspiciously like they were just letting him down easy. I think it’s closer to “We feel really bad for this guy — he’s got a good heart and can turn a phrase — but his songs just aren’t very good.”

That said, I did enjoy the strange shifts in lyrics, and instrumentation in “Montana Song”, and “Waiting For The Moving Van” has some quite moving lyrics (pun unintended) where I did feel something. And as others have said, “Love’s Enough” is the stunner here — a beautiful, fully-formed song. But IMO it’s the only one here. Definitely not my cup of coffee. 3/10.

I think you hit the nail on the head with tempo on this album , if the chord changes are inappropriate or lacking or too infrequent then tempo becomes more important IMO and like you I just couldn't find it or rarely found it in many of the songs.

The best I can say about the album is the single Loves Enough is a song that I think Gordon Lightfoot (pre 2002 of course) would have liked to have written and performed in his own style with more "deeper" lyrics however.