HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 133o - DYLAN IN THE EIGHTIES

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Many people have the impression that Bob Dylan eventually abandoned his Christian ‘phase’, but evidence contradicts this presumption. In point of fact, Dylan really never disavowed his faith, or the music he made while in the throes of born-again Christianity. That music, like all of Dylan’s work, stands or falls on the listener’s ability to absorb and accept his perspective without overt judgment. If you listened closely enough, you would recognize that Dylan’s faith has always informed his lyrics, and as his perspective changed, so did his lyrical content. The post-Born Again albums of the mid-eighties reflect this, as they capture Dylan incorporating his perspective of faith and applying it to secular matters. He didn’t ‘move on’. He simply broadened his palette by re-incorporating secular subject matter to his writing.
Another misconception is that Dylan’s music from the eighties is somehow inferior to the balance of his work. While his output may have been inconsistent, this show should prove that point to be patently untrue. Here is a list of songs featured in today’s program;
1) Jokerman
2) Neighborhood Bully
3) Sweetheart Like You
4) License to Kill
5) Man of Peace
6) Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight
7) Union Sundown
8) Blind Willie McTell
9) I and I (live version)
10) Tight Connection to My Heart
11) Dark Eyes

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 133n - BOB DYLAN'S 'BORN-AGAIN' PERIOD

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Whatever the reasons may have been for Bob Dylan’s conversion to Christianity, they confounded many who knew him, and virtually everyone else who only knew him through his art. Some people say that a vision of Jesus Christ appeared to him one night in his hotel room. Other explanations are somewhat more plebian. Regardless of how it happened, or why, Dylan’s conversion was a deeply personal matter, and not something to be taken lightly. Like many born-again Christians, his conversion was absolute, and was not open to discussion or debate.
For the first time in his career (except perhaps during the politicized folk era for which he was branded the ‘voice of a generation’), Dylan’s lyrics were dogmatic and unyielding. It may have mystified his fans, but the passion of his words brought inherent strength to these compositions, even if you didn’t abide his convictions. At the time, much of Dylan’s audience was critical or inappropriately condescending, but a retrospective glance at this material discerns songs of great beauty, told from the perspective of someone who had found an inner strength that provided true meaning to his existence. How in the world could anyone argue with that?
So, in an attempt at revisionist history, today’s show attempts to recast Dylan’s born-again stage as one of the most creative and melodic periods in his remarkably varied career. Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s program;
1) Gotta Serve Somebody
2) Slow Train
3) Solid Rock
4) Shot of Love
5) Property of Jesus
6) Heart of Mine (live)
7) Every Grain of Sand
8) Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 133m - BOB DYLAN'S 'DESIRE'

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In 1976, Bob Dylan once again found himself in the center of a flurry of activity. Perhaps he was motivated to keep himself busy as a means of distracting himself from the emotional difficulties of his impending divorce, or maybe events just started to steamroll on their own, but for the first time in ten years, Dylan was releasing albums at a steady pace, touring, and, in a manner similar to his mid-sixties tours, filming the process. This time, though, he added a surreal slant to the proceedings. The tour, known as ‘The Rolling Thunder Revue’, had the trappings of a traveling circus, with Dylan performing in the center ring with famous bandmembers such as Joan Baez and Rambling Jack Elliott putting on a sideshow of sorts. The film crew captured the spontaneous energy of these performances, and then bent the proceedings through a prismatic lens (so to speak) that eventually resulted in a meandering, Fellini-esque 3-hour mock docudrama entitled “Renaldo and Clara.”
After the Rolling Thunder tour, Dylan continued working at a steady pace. He put together yet another band, recorded another album’s worth of tunes, and toured again, this time documenting the results on a double album recorded in Japan. It would be Dylan’s third live album in five years, and from an artistic perspective, easily the most suspect. In a show that came to symbolize the end of an era, Dylan appeared as the final ‘special guest’ at the Band’s farewell concert, documented in film by Martin Scorsese and on a triple album, both entitled “The Last Waltz.”
Here is a list of songs featured in today’s program;
1) Romance in Durango
2) Isis (live)
3) Hurricane (live)
4) Black Diamond Bay
5) Changing of the Guard
6) Going, Going, Gone (live at Budokan)
7) Baby, Let Me Follow You Down (live)
8) I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met) (live)

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 133l - BOB DYLAN

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In 1975, the confessional singer-songwriter syndrome was in full swing. Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Neil Young and a small California county of others were all singing tales about their most personal thoughts, so Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks” album was not a sign of him reinventing the wheel. What made Dylan’s album so artistically significant was the manner in which he presented information. While the majority of material can be heard as heartfelt tales from a failing marriage, they are coated in imagery that nearly renders them opaque. Dylan crosses centuries while telling his tales, and moves freely from third person to first person, a disarming tactic that drags you smack into the middle of these events. In addition, his attention to detail is so precise that almost every song paints vivid portraits of the characters involved. Whichever way you choose to listen, “Blood on the Tracks” offers something to every listener, and its status as one of the greatest singer-songwriter albums of all time is undeniable.
We covered a bit of this album in our previous program. Today, we go a bit deeper. Here’s a list of songs from today’s show;
1) You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome
2) Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts
3) If You See Her, Say Hello
4) Shelter from the Storm
5) Buckets of Rain
6) Idiot Wind (live version)
7) Sara
8) Abandoned Love

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 133k - BOB DYLAN

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Dylan ended his extended semi-hiatus with a bang, From his own perspective, that ‘bang’ could have been the sound of shooting himself in the foot. His last full-blown tour took place way back n 1966. Exhaustion, confusion, a motorcycle accident and family life all conspired to keep him out of the limelight once that tour ended. He recorded only sporadically and rarely appeared live, but by 1973, his creative energy returned. He signed on for a soundtrack, and even found himself on the film set, with an actor’s role that kept him away from home for an extended period of time. He then reunited with the Band (previously known as the Hawks) and rehearsed new material that he could take on the road, planning his first tour in nearly eight years. Hitting the road with the Band, this became the single most successful rock and roll tour of its time, with tickets selling out almost immediately at every venue. The public missed Bob Dylan and all was forgiven, but there was a price to pay for this return to glory. The whirlwind might have indicated an artistic and energetic return to form, but it also wreaked havoc on his personal life.
By the time that the tour ended, Dylan found his marriage in a shambles. He valued the stability that family life provided above all else, but “A Simple Twist of Fate’ had caused his world to turn upside down. Naturally, the circumstances crept into his songwriting, and he wrote with a furious passion unlike anything he attempted since 1966. He combined fever dreams and historical tales with autobiographical candor, and the results were stunning. Lyrics weaved their way through ever-shifting timelines, making them difficult to follow in a linear fashion, but the imagery was rich, and the emotive content was intense. The resultant album was entitled “Blood on the Tracks,” and sympathetic audiences found it easy to identify with these tales of love and loss. It was a painful, difficult time for Bob Dylan, but his artistry served as an outlet that remains timeless and deeply moving.
Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s show;
1) Bunkhouse Theme
2) Knockin' On Heaven's Door
3) On a Night Like This
4) Forever Young
5) Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine (live)
6) Up to Me
7) Tangled Up in Blue
8) Simple Twist of Fate
9) You're a Big Girl Now

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 133j - BOB DYLAN'S "SELF PORTRAIT" ERA

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If you play Bob Dylan’s “Self Portrait” album today, it may be hard to discern what the fuss was all about. Sure, it’s obvious that it isn’t a stellar effort, but it is certainly listenable, in an ordinary way. In 1970, though, the album was met with complete and utter disdain. Attempting to comprehend Dylan’s motivation, Robert Christgau wrote, “I don’t know anyone…who plays more than one side at a time. I don’t listen to it at all.” Greil Marcus - the same guy who wrote an entire book/treatise on Dylan’s Basement Tapes, and also wrote the liner notes when those songs were officially released in 1975 – was much more blunt. He opened his Rolling Stone review for “Self Portrait” with the following sentence; “What is this shit?”
In a palpable sense, “Self Portrait” was a logical and simple extension of those much-lauded “Basement Tapes.” In 1970, though, critics didn’t hear it that way. Marcus might have been the most blunt, but virtually all other reviewers concurred with his sentiment. At the height of rock and roll’s politicization and its popularity as a force for change, Dylan released the most listless album of his entire career. In the ‘70s, such self-slanderous indifference was tantamount to treason, and the critical reaction reflected this. From Dylan’s perspective, he felt absolutely no affiliation with the ‘Woodstock Nation,” and perhaps “Self Portrait” was a deliberate attempt to telegraph this sentiment, or maybe it was simply a natural extension of the stylistic aberration that he called “Nashville Skyline.” That album had a few highlights but it was confounding to hear Dylan singing lazily about “Country Pie” and “Peggy Day.”
I can’t help but wonder if what might have happened if “Self Portrait” was released as a single album. With some judicious editing, I’d bet its reception would have been drastically different. “Alberta,” “I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know,” “Copper Kettle,” “Little Sadie” and “Early Morning Rain” could have sounded brilliant in another context. Delete the ridiculous ‘practice’ take of “Little Sadie” (self-consciously titled “In Search of Little Sadie”), the lackluster reinterpretations of classic songs that sprinkle the album, and a few of the god-awfully ill-informed cover tunes like “Blue Moon” and “The Boxer” and what’s left is a legitimate extension of “Nashville Skyline.” It might have even appeared relevant to the critical naysayers. As it is, though, “Self Portrait” retains its place as Dylan’s most irrelevant album, with the possible exception of “Dylan,” which bears the rather dubious distinction of collecting outtakes from this period of his career.
Today’s show attempts to compile and analyze some of the music released during Bob Dylan’s “Self Portrait” era. It is certainly not his most influential work, but you might be surprised to hear that a certain charm has flourished and outlived the harsh words of critics with thwarted expectations. Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s show;
1) All the Tired Horses
2) She Belongs To Me (live at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1969)
3) Alberta No. 1
4) I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know
5) Early Morning Rain
6) In Search of Little Sadie
7) Little Sadie
8) Copper Kettle
9) Wigwam
10) If Not for You (version with George Harrison)
11) New Morning
12) Big Yellow Taxi
13) Watching the River Flow
14) I Shall Be Released

HOW MUSIC CHANGED, PART 133i – BOB DYLAN, PART 9

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When Dylan emerged from his self-imposed exile in 1967, his return was tentative and restrained. He did not wish to attract more attention to himself, so he requested that his recordings be released with little or no fanfare. Longtime fans each had their own expectations, but Dylan thwarted almost all of them by releasing a set of musically simple songs, consisting mostly of three-piece country-style arrangements. This flew in the face of modern convention. Contemporary pop music had become ornate, full of sound effects, production tricks, and psychedelic imagery. Dylan spurned all of that, and populated his songs with imagery from the American folk music canon and the Bible. Stylistically, “John Wesley Harding” was a significant step away from youth culture, while simultaneously displaying Dylan’s usual penchant for independence. The “Sgt. Pepper’s” crowd didn’t get it, but a large number of fans accepted it instantly, both as an alternative to the norm, and also because it was long awaited.
Dylan took almost two years to follow this album with an even more country flavored offering entitled “Nashville Skyline.” This time, the reaction grew to be mixed. By aligning himself with the ‘new’ country of Nashville, Dylan was moving dangerously far away from the contemporary scene. By 1969, rock music had developed an incredibly strong and indelible character of its own. The Beatles, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix (whose re-arrangement of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” displayed how Dylan’s material would sound with a contemporary arrangement) owned the charts, along with Crosby, Stills & Nash and numerous other acts that challenged convention. Bob Dylan’s new ‘crooning’ voice did not fit into that equation at all, and the country songs seemed somewhat out of step with rock music’s trend toward a ‘musical revolution’. Despite all of this, “Lay Lady Lay” sounded great on the radio. Once again, Dylan found himself immersed in controversy, as critics disagreed vehemently on Dylan’s contemporary relevance and the album’s net worth. Soon, though, the squabbling would end, and critical opinion would become virtually unanimous following his next release…
Here’s a list of songs featured in today’s program;
1) John Wesley Harding
2) As I Went Out One Morning
3) I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
4) All Along the Watchtower
5) The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
6) Dear Landlord
7) I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
8) Lay Lady Lay
9) I Threw It All Away
10) Peggy Day
11) Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You