portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Friday, July 17, 2020

BOB DYLAN

UNPLUGGED REHEARSALS 1994


Big O posted a nice set of Dylan's MTV Unplugged rehearsals if you can bear the terrifyingly racist and offensive comments section which continues to plumb new depths! 

Bob Dylan - MTV Unplugged Rehearsals 1994 - Big O





Track 01. I Want You 3:33
Track 02. Tombstone Blues 4:52
Track 03. Tune Up (Tombstone Blues) 0:50
Track 04. Tune Up (I Want You &Tombstone Blues) 2:16
Track 05. I Want You 5:59
Track 06. Don’t Think Twice 6:06
Track 07. Desolation Row 7:37
Track 08. Hazel 3:50
Track 09. Everything Is Broken 4:37
Track 10. Times They Are A-Changin’ 5:06
Track 11. Love Minus Zero 4:51
Track 12. Dignity 7:57
Track 13. With God On Our Side 10:27


Rough And Rowdy Ways, a review - Counterpunch 



It's mostly enjoyable which is more than can be said for the review of the new album article published the other day there by John Kendall Hawkins at the normally excellent Counterpunch. Starting citing with a Lennon quote about god " the dream is over, what can I say?" going on to state that only Lennon suffered more than fellow "pop icon" Dylan from "blatherscheissen" a portmanteau of such staggering banality if ever there was one that it only suffices in illustrating my point as the article consists of little else than eine kleine schone scheissen
- John Lennon, “God” (1970)



But Dylan keeps coming back, like Bill Haley’s comet, a shooting star that just won’t burn out. A recurring eternalist. A not-so-leitmotif. A needle in my haystack I stopped looking for ages ago.


It's a bizarre review and lacks much if any critical thinking but relies on semi-surrealist metaphor and hyperbole that is largely uninformative and pointless. It seems to be a default position now when writing about Dylan and anything he does that rather than rely upon straightforward useful analysis uses the fall back position of nonsequitors and personal comparisons odious at the best of times. It is illustrated with a video of 'Like A Rolling Stone' lyrics only . . . . why? A link to a track from the new album would work so well but hey as the quotes hopefully illustrate the almost nonsensical theories and thesis of this review . . . . . . . . "Socrates and Dylan?" Really? I don't think so!



Dylan’s moving through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, down Blake’s road of excess toward wisdom, and he’s crossed the Rubicon into the Inferno, and “abandoned all hope.” What more does a girl want? Get in the car.


Still have at it and read it and make your own mind up . . . . . . . 



Enemy of the unlived meaningless life, Socrates and Dylan in a nutshell, but the latter sans hemlock. Maybe Socrates should have taken up the lyre.

Big O - Featured Review - Dylan's Rough & Rowdy Ways






Buy the double CD in the UK here . . . . .

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