Regarding Bob Dylan

[jajdude]

He is my favorite. If I had to say a favorite song ever it would be from him, it may be Mr Tambourine Man, just because, well, why go longer.

Do we have many Dylan fans here? And what do you know?

[Desolation]

I try to avoid saying things like this about people that I don't actually know, but...Life got a lot different after the first time I heard Bob Dylan.

[jajdude]

Well, this is old for me, first knowing his music decades ago. So, I know most of what he has done, even know a bit about his life, and an impressive one it is. How much longer he may be around is a question. It will sadden me if he leaves soon.

[Gregory Samsa]

Yes, Bob Dylan is God.
When I am sad I always listening to Blood on the Tracks and Tome Out Of Mind.

[Helga]

His music is a part of what I grew up listening too, I have a few vinyl albums of his but beyond that I know little, Blonde on Blonde is fantastic though

[Desolation]

Well, this is old for me, first knowing his music decades ago. So, I know most of what he has done, even know a bit about his life, and an impressive one it is. How much longer he may be around is a question. It will sadden me if he leaves soon.

Just one more album is all I can hope for. His more recent recordings, Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft, and Modern Times, are some of the best he's ever done. Together Through Life and Christmas in the Heart weren't all that good, but I don't really consider either a proper Dylan album.

Word's been released that he has a new album coming out this year...I can't wait.

[Jack of Hearts]

Bob who?






J

[jajdude]

Oh Jack, you've slipped out through the side door, looking like a king without his crown.

[jajdude]

By the way, for big fans such as myself, or really for just a good read, earlier this year I picked up "Down the Highway - The Life of Bob Dylan" by Howard Sounes. The detail is incredible. There are some really interesting things in this book that it would be impossible to know otherwise. It was said that it was during a Dylan concert and a performance of "It's alright ma I'm only bleeding" that people lit lighters, and that is how that thing got started. Not sure about the accuracy there.

An absolute mind blower for me though was the description of where the song "Sara" from the album "Desire" came from. It was about his wife. As described in the book, they had been on the rocks for a few months and she had been away. Mexico I believe. This was 1974 or 1975, after the great Blood on the Tracks. So, they were recording in his house I think, and she returned, then he just played this song for her, which simply astounded her, and that take is the one on the album. Awesome. Kept em together a while even, but it fell apart later. He was quite the womanizer.

Another, about "Rainy Day Women" and everybody must get stoned. Apparently Dylan decided with the guys making the song that indeed they must all get wrecked in order to make it. So on that song they are all stoned and high as kites. Also done in one take I believe and was quite a hit.

Quite an artist.

[malayang-diwa]

A Dylan fan right here.

As a musician, he influenced me on a couple of things.

the first would have to be songwriting. Back in high school, most of my material evolved from stupid high-school-poetry. My style was also pretty basic; the typical "verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus" type. The melodies were also very dependent on the rhythm. Dylan was one of the first musicians that I heard to have that "talk-singing" style. But his biggest influence on me was probably his words. Of course being young, I still had to learn a lot in life. So his socially aware lyrics gave me a bigger picture and having more content in music.

The second would have to be the love for the harmonica and an appreciation for the acoustic guitar. One of my favorite songs from Dylan was "The Times they are a-changin." The unplugged sound plus the preachy lyrics captivated me. This also got me into playing the harmonica. I got addicted to it for quite some time (I was playing it everywhere, whether i was just walking along the side walks or commuting to school, I'd be wailing and bending notes). Rock music is a big thing here in the Philippines so not a lot of people appreciate Folk Rock (except for "the baby boomers"). Folk Rock kind of died years ago here in my country. So to know more about Dylan, I had to expose myself with his music on my own. His music gave me an interest in the "unplugged sound." And coming from a guy whose bands were all Hard rock and Grunge, I learned to do simpler things with my music because of this man.

[jajdude]

That's pretty cool malayang. Indeed his influence is vast, no one knows for sure, but so many people, from other great musicians and writers to us average nobodies, have been affected by his work, a solid 50 years of it now too. I don't know if any singer has had songs covered or work bootlegged more often either.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Levon Helm passed away yesterday. Helm was drummer and vocalist for the the group known as "The Band" who also served as Dylan's backup band during the "electric years" and again touring with Dylan in 1974.

Bob Dylan and The Band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZQ69w8NmxI&feature=related

.

[Desolation]

It's a very sad loss...Levon always struck me as a really kind, genuine person.

He'll be sorely missed. :frown5:

[Anton Hermes]

His albums from '63 to '66 were some of the greatest rock 'n' roll ever recorded. I mentioned on another thread that my favorite album is Highway 61 Revisited.

But when Dylan wasn't interested, the results could be disastrous. Any Dylan fan who can listen to his 1970 double-LP set Self-Portrait without embarrassment is a great deal more forgiving than I.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I think as a lyricist, he was one of the best, if not the best. As a musician, though, I've always found him quite overrated. His playing is sloppy and his voice is just grating. I can never listen to more than a few songs before it drives me insane, and not in a good way.

[Calidore]

I think as a lyricist, he was one of the best, if not the best. As a musician, though, I've always found him quite overrated. His playing is sloppy and his voice is just grating. I can never listen to more than a few songs before it drives me insane, and not in a good way.

Second this, except I can't manage a few songs, or even more than a few seconds of one.

I do have to make an exception for Traveling Wilburys, though. I don't know if it was the production/sound, atmosphere, or the exceptional musicianship of the other guys, but Dylan was a fine fit here.

[Shalot]

There are musicians and bands that are called legendary, and Bob Dylan might be one of them. There also a lot of legendary bands and musicians that I can't listen to or even begin to understand the appeal. Bob Dylan might be one of those types of musicians to some.

I went through a Bob Dylan phase, but it was kind of a forced phase which means that I listened to his music the way someone might read a boring book for the purpose of passing a class. It was more of a study than it was anything else, though I did grow to love a couple of songs. I also saw him in concert. I do like Hurricane. Back in the day, I went into a music store in the mall and it was on, and I was secretly jamming out to it, and I saw to my amusement that a guy was doing this weird dance thing while it was on and he was obviously enjoying the song.