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| Track list: 1. Seven Curses 2. Eternal Circle 3. Suze 4. Mama, You Been On My Mind 5. Farewell, Angelina 6. Subterranean Homesick Blues 7. If You Gotta Go, Go Now 8. Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence 9. Like a Rolling Stone 10. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry 11. I'll Keep It With Mine 12. She's Your Lover Now 13. I Shall Be Released 14. Santa-Fe 15. If Not for You 16. Wallflower 17. Nobody 'Cept You 18. Tangled Up in Blue 19. Call Letter Blues 20. Idiot Wind Running time: 76 minutes Released: 1991 |
Time for some Dylan. I am pretty sure this was a gift at some point and not something I went out to buy myself, which may explain why I only have volume 2. Whilst I have a sprinkling of Dylan, and recognise his importance and stature, his influence on a lot of the musicians I love, I don't share any real love of his work. I wonder what sitting through 76 minutes of just him will do for me.
Seven Curses starts us off with a pleasant little picked acoustic melody, a bright sound but a melancholic air to the little loop that suits the lyrics well. Weirdly it feels as though this tune would be a good fit for the soundtrack of Life is Strange - the guitar loops very at home with the feel of that game. It is a strong start from my perspective, but I am less taken with Eternal Circle which sees Dylan's voice have a more prominent impact on the tone of the song. I have never really got on with his delivery and when it is strong relative to the accompaniment as it is here then it begins to grate. That and the backing was pretty bland.
We hit a more interesting melody next - a bit more going on in Suze - and an extra layer courtesy of a mouth organ, though the timbre is a little shrill for my taste. This is a 2 minute instrumental which is fine... until a weird end when Dylan coughs, which gives the tune its subtitle of "The Cough Song" and leaves a poor impression. Listening to 4 in a row now, it strikes me that tune-wise there is a reliance on little repeated sections. They sound relatively simple, too - though not being a guitar player I wouldn't like to say they actually are. I guess this is one reason why people think Dylan's songs are best when covered by others - a little more invention in the performance. Speculation on my part, I guess, though his rather hard-to-love voice is probably another factor.
My problem is that here where, for the most part, it is just him and his guitar, the repetitive nature of the playing is so darn obvious and rather detracts from the songs. I suspect each song individually would not invoke this problem, as a single tune based on an oft-repeated loop with very little elaboration is one thing. Many in a row is another matter, at least to my ear; when the only other thing to hook onto is Dylan's voice I feel between a rock and a hard place... I don't really dislike any of the tracks, just experiencing them back-to-back.
At least Subterranean Homesick Blues breaks things up a bit. It manages this by shifting tone and tempo more than changing the basic formula. The faster pace, and warmer sound on the strings help, and the tune is gone before I know it. It seems to have marked a turning point on this record as the next track is also faster and warmer - and this time with extra depth provided by a band and harmonies on the chorus. There's a nice drive to it, the keys in the background adding a rounded tone. The keyboard remains through Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence too - though on this track they loop in a less interesting way, with a harsher trill to it, which starts to irk me after 2 minutes. The song has a nice bluesy feel to it, but my enjoyment of that feel is tempered a lot by the staid repetition and I find myself very glad when it starts to fade out.
Seven Curses starts us off with a pleasant little picked acoustic melody, a bright sound but a melancholic air to the little loop that suits the lyrics well. Weirdly it feels as though this tune would be a good fit for the soundtrack of Life is Strange - the guitar loops very at home with the feel of that game. It is a strong start from my perspective, but I am less taken with Eternal Circle which sees Dylan's voice have a more prominent impact on the tone of the song. I have never really got on with his delivery and when it is strong relative to the accompaniment as it is here then it begins to grate. That and the backing was pretty bland.
We hit a more interesting melody next - a bit more going on in Suze - and an extra layer courtesy of a mouth organ, though the timbre is a little shrill for my taste. This is a 2 minute instrumental which is fine... until a weird end when Dylan coughs, which gives the tune its subtitle of "The Cough Song" and leaves a poor impression. Listening to 4 in a row now, it strikes me that tune-wise there is a reliance on little repeated sections. They sound relatively simple, too - though not being a guitar player I wouldn't like to say they actually are. I guess this is one reason why people think Dylan's songs are best when covered by others - a little more invention in the performance. Speculation on my part, I guess, though his rather hard-to-love voice is probably another factor.
My problem is that here where, for the most part, it is just him and his guitar, the repetitive nature of the playing is so darn obvious and rather detracts from the songs. I suspect each song individually would not invoke this problem, as a single tune based on an oft-repeated loop with very little elaboration is one thing. Many in a row is another matter, at least to my ear; when the only other thing to hook onto is Dylan's voice I feel between a rock and a hard place... I don't really dislike any of the tracks, just experiencing them back-to-back.
At least Subterranean Homesick Blues breaks things up a bit. It manages this by shifting tone and tempo more than changing the basic formula. The faster pace, and warmer sound on the strings help, and the tune is gone before I know it. It seems to have marked a turning point on this record as the next track is also faster and warmer - and this time with extra depth provided by a band and harmonies on the chorus. There's a nice drive to it, the keys in the background adding a rounded tone. The keyboard remains through Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence too - though on this track they loop in a less interesting way, with a harsher trill to it, which starts to irk me after 2 minutes. The song has a nice bluesy feel to it, but my enjoyment of that feel is tempered a lot by the staid repetition and I find myself very glad when it starts to fade out.
Like a Rolling Stone is piano-driven here, pretty dull melody, the embellishments of an organ trill and harmonica don't help, and the track then ends abruptly; a live recording where Dylan says his voice has gone, and if he thinks it is bad... We approach the half way point with a tune that from its core structure sounds like it wants to be Everybody Needs Somebody but doesn't have the heart or soul to manage it. It then veers off into a series of spikier sounds, none of which I think quite gel with the vocal and leave me actively disliking the track, so much so that when I'll Keep it with Mine returns to a more subdued sound I welcome the switch. This track feels like a recording experiment; it may be my ears but it sounds like volume levels are subtly shifting throughout this piece - which despite that aural illusion is probably the most enjoyable song since track 1. Muted keys, a slower pace and a more relaxed vocal - it has a more comfortable sound, warm and easy, supportive. And if you get what I mean there you must be some kind of savant!
She's Your Lover Now is a 6 minute track which I worry about, but it starts at a high clip, with a nice blend of instruments and with Dylan not dominating with his vocal. I like the cadence, the roll of keyboards and the rumble of the drums, the longer syllables even rather than a clipped end of line. Everything about the track holds together well through the first half at least, and even an interruption to receive a parcel doesn't break the mood. Far from being something to worry about, this is the high point to date. The tempo is maintained, the tune feels more varied (even though it probably is not) but really it is the synergy between the keys and drums that carry it. The only issue is the very abrupt end which, for a track of that length is a surprise.
I Shall Be Released slows everything down, I rather like the sentiment and the structure but the execution here leaves something to be desired in ways I cannot quite put my finger on. Whilst I try to find a good explanation we roll on to Santa-Fe. Should that be hyphenated, really? This sounds like a jumble of everything and nothing. No substance, but an awful lot of sound. I am not keen. Track 15 and there is still another half hour to go, with two more long ones in the last quarter. This take on If Not For You I rather like - warmer and fuller of sound, and slower than other versions (I have 2 more in my collection it seems) it has the heart to connect music and lyrics more strongly than the stripped back recordings.
I think that recording might spoil Wallflower, which follows. It is just so inferior in every sense as to be anonymous, like the titular figure. An apt piece of songwriting and album ordering perhaps, but a nothingness of a track for me, and Nobody 'Cept You hardly improves on it either. Country stylings don't help, nor does the constant swell of sound or the uninspired vocal. I am not being very charitable here, but I simply felt nothing for these tracks at all.
Two big ones in the last three. Tangled Up In Blue is 7 minutes, Idiot Wind nine. The former returns us to guitar and voice territory but it is miles away from the acoustic pickings that we heard early on, there is a depth to it - a couple of supporting players can really help with that! - that gives the tune a real rounded quality. The bright strings are never too strong, and likewise Dylan's voice is never too harsh here. I don't really think the track needs to be as long as it is - the story of the song might be cut short by reducing the length but my patience for it starts fraying sometime around 5 minutes. I can't help but feel that an edited version of the song without a verse or two would be a superior experience - not that this one is unpleasant. It draws down just before I finally lose goodwill with it, and we get a blues number before our epic closer. I rather like this insert. Tonally its a nice break between the marathon tracks and it has a nice rhythm - at least for the first 2 minutes. After that it starts to grate, the song really needed to be building for a finish under 3 minutes not prolonging for 4 and a half. There is no significant elaboration until just before the 4 minute mark, which is criminal. A really solid base thrown down the pan by extending it past the point of interest before doing anything with it. Idiot Wind is not a very nice song. It leaves a sour taste and I find the style quite dull too. Others are free to love it and call it classic and so on, but I'll be over here disliking it and never listening to it by choice again.
So, where does that leave me? Some gems, some duds, lots of Dylan back-to-back was a bit of an ordeal but a sprinkling here and there is pretty welcome. Back where I started, then.
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