Bob Dylan

[johncorrigan]

There's a TV Channel on Freeview that plays what it calls 'hits of the sixties'. I was flicking through the channels last night looking for something to watch and I stopped to see what they were showing - the caption said 'Like a Rolling Stone' - Bob Dylan 1965. That it most certainly is not, but it is Bob in magnificent vocal form with a ace band, sometime in the 90s doing one as brilliant a version as I've heard of the epic song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6CsYvJZ0vo

[johncorrigan]

I found this video quite funny; I hadn't seen it before but I think I was just finding it a delight to see Sir Bobbles cracking a smile or two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUk6jVl5Z-s

[johncorrigan]

Here's his Bobness with Mick and the boys on 'Like a Rolling Stone' in Buenos Aires twenty-five years ago. Great to see Sir Mick on moothie - I always thought he was great at wrapping his chops around the harp. Anyway looks like the crowd are really having a ball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF1g28KN9wY

[johncorrigan]

Following Harry Belafonte's death I was interested to find out this past weekend that one of Bob's first public recordings was on a Harry Belafonte song. Bob was brought in to play moothie on 'Midnight Special'.

Harry talks about this in his book, 'My Song'. Sonny Terry was lined up but was sick in bed in Mississippi, so Dylan did it. He turned up with a bag of harmonicas, heard the track, got the right one out, dipped it in a glass of water, did the recording and then chucked the harp in the bin and left. It turns out he liked the sound of cheap harps but after putting it in water and blowing the hell out of it, they were useless. Harry didn't know what to make of him and thought he might not like him, until he read Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1, where Dylan spends a page talking of his great admiration of his talent and tireless work for civil rights.

All I will say is that Bob does a mighty fine Sonny Terry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YibIueuzTNM

[gurnemanz]

Following Harry Belafonte's death I was interested to find out this past weekend that one of Bob's first public recordings was on a Harry Belafonte song. Bob was brought in to play moothie on 'Midnight Special'.

Harry talks about this in his book, 'My Song'. Sonny Terry was lined up but was sick in bed in Mississippi, so Dylan did it. He turned up with a bag of harmonicas, heard the track, got the right one out, dipped it in a glass of water, did the recording and then chucked the harp in the bin and left. It turns out he liked the sound of cheap harps but after putting it in water and blowing the hell out of it, they were useless. Harry didn't know what to make of him and thought he might not like him, until he read Dylan's Chronicles Vol. 1, where Dylan spends a page talking of his great admiration of his talent and tireless work for civil rights.

All I will say is that Bob does a mighty fine Sonny Terry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YibIueuzTNM

Thanks for the above. In his Dylan Encyclopaedia Michael Gray has a comprehensive entry on Harry Belafonte, in which he includes relevant extracts from Dylan's Chronicles. Eg:

'The folk purists had a problem with him, but Harry—who could have kicked the shit out of all of them—couldn’t be bothered, said that all folksingers were interpreters, said it in a public way as if someone had summoned him to set the record straight. . . . I could identify with Harry in all kinds of ways. Sometime in the past, he had been barred from the door of the world-famous nightclub the Copacabana be- cause of his color, and then later he’d be head-lining the joint. You’ve got to wonder how that would make somebody feel emotionally. Astoundingly . . . I’d be making my professional recording début with Harry, playing harmonica on one of his albums. . . . With Belafonte I felt like I’d become anointed in some kind of way. . . . '

Gray reminds us that Belafonte and Dylan both appeared on Live Aid 20 years later and sang on the funder ‘We Are the World’ in 1985.

[Jazzrook]

There's a TV Channel on Freeview that plays what it calls 'hits of the sixties'. I was flicking through the channels last night looking for something to watch and I stopped to see what they were showing - the caption said 'Like a Rolling Stone' - Bob Dylan 1965. That it most certainly is not, but it is Bob in magnificent vocal form with a ace band, sometime in the 90s doing one as brilliant a version as I've heard of the epic song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6CsYvJZ0vo

I think that comes from the Bob Dylan DVD 'MTV Unplugged'(2004) recorded on November 17/18, 1994 at Sony Music Studios, NYC and still available.
'With God On Our Side' is also on the DVD and here's the rehearsal version of it:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=hqlnxD0uCwE

JR

[johncorrigan]

Bob's been rolling out this Van classic during his 'never-ending, except for the pandemic, tour'. And a fine job he's done of it. https://youtu.be/t6558BSsgCw

[johncorrigan]

I'm thoroughly enjoying Bob's latest release, 'Shadow Kingdom' - terrific band and great re-imaginings of old classics; and Bob's in very fine voice. The vinyl is a double album, though there are only three sides...the fourth side is very stylishly designed, though, speaking personally, I would have preferred another few tracks, of course. Anyhow, here's the opening track, 'When I Paint My Masterpiece'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2H_RlYdukQ

[cloughie]

I'm thoroughly enjoying Bob's latest release, 'Shadow Kingdom' - terrific band and great re-imaginings of old classics; and Bob's in very fine voice. The vinyl is a double album, though there are only three sides...the fourth side is very stylishly designed, though, speaking personally, I would have preferred another few tracks, of course. Anyhow, here's the opening track, 'When I Paint My Masterpiece'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2H_RlYdukQ

Interesting that 50 plus years on Bob re-does some of his classic tracks and sounds very relaxed whereas Joni’s renewals add gravitas. Comparing ‘Both Sides Now’ and “A case of you” on the 2000 ‘Both Sides Now’ album illustrates the point. I just wonder why the new Dylan vinyl needs 3 sides for 55 minutes!

Just checked - I see Side 3 repeats 6 songs - are these different takes?

[johncorrigan]

Interesting that 50 plus years on Bob re-does some of his classic tracks and sounds very relaxed whereas Joni’s renewals add gravitas. Comparing ‘Both Sides Now’ and “A case of you” on the 2000 ‘Both Sides Now’ album illustrates the point. I just wonder why the new Dylan vinyl needs 3 sides for 55 minutes!

Just checked - I see Side 3 repeats 6 songs - are these different takes?

Fourteen songs in total, cloughie...no repeats. Side three: he's injected life into 'Forever Young', a song I often found a well-meaning dirge; followed by 'Pledging My Time', 'The Wicked Messenger', the brilliant 'Watching the River Flow', 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue' finishing with the instrumental, 'Sierra's Theme'.
On the running time issue, it reminded me of buying 'Friends' by the Beach Boys when I was a teen, and feeling a bit short-changed at it running to a mere 28minutes...55 minutes seems a touch meagre...no doubt Bob'll release a legal bootleg of it with plenty outtakes, given time. I should add that a pal gave me it as a pressie, so I'm not complaining.
You can listen here, I believe...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2H_...bP4zRi7eIXw0gS

[cloughie]

I see that Bob’s former Band mate has had his Last Waltz!
RIP Robbie Robertson

[johncorrigan]

I see that Bob’s former Band mate has had his Last Waltz!
RIP Robbie Robertson

Sad news, cloughie...great guitarist, great Band. 'Rag Mama Rag' remains a fantastic piece of rock and roll - Robbie gets the credit, but in true Band tradition, Levon Helm took issue with it later after all the fall-outs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHy_XeBMagU

[johncorrigan]

Bob reacts to Robbie's death.

https://pitchfork.com/news/bob-dylan-pays-tribute-to-former-bandmate-robbie-robertson/

[gurnemanz]

Played Planet Waves, which I don't play that often, (Robbie plays acoustic on the sparse "Dirge") and Joni's Court and Spark (which I do play often) with Robbie contributing to "Raised on Robbery".

[johncorrigan]

Played Planet Waves, which I don't play that often, (Robbie plays acoustic on the sparse "Dirge") and Joni's Court and Spark (which I do play often) with Robbie contributing to "Raised on Robbery".

I didn't know he played on 'Raised on Robbery ' gurney. Love that album.