A friend and work colleague is having a tough time at the moment. I know he is a massive Dylan fan and I also know he’s not an obsessive in terms of collecting his records etc.
I’d like to send him a Dylan item as a thoughtful gift that he might not necessarily have. I am a bit of a Dylan ignoramus so can only call to mind the LPs that everyone always talks about. I have had a look at what is available and there is a lot of material.
I know there are a lot of Dylan heads here. What would you consider a cracking Bob-related gift? Budget around 50 quid.
How about a print either on canvas or framed, either *of* Dylan or *by* him (he’s quite an accomplished painter). I have a small triptych of his (not original, obvs) and it’s a nice thing to have if you’re a fan. Just Google ‘Dylan art’ or ‘…prints’, or look on sites such as Etsy.
@Black-Type I doubt you will get any of his art for £50 – I have 4 of his signed limited edition prints all costing over £2000 each and now sold out and worth circa £8000 each.
@SteveT – I did say not the originals and/or anything signed. I’ve just seen a couple of prints on Etsy for £13.99.
Blackuntry Boy’s just braggin’, I’ve told him those ‘signed’ prints aren’t signed by His Bobness they are copied.
On the gift suggestion: If your mate is as fanatical as you say Black Celeb I doubt he’s lacking anything on the album front. There’s a 3x200ml ‘Heaven Door’ Double Barrel Whiskey set at various on-line sellers (or should it be callers!) for around £60.
I hope your mate gets over his troubles soon Celeb.
I always loved his Theme Time Radio Hour.
The cds can be bought, but it’s only the music that’s on them…..Bob isn’t….that’s a shame.
Bob’s intros and general craick was what I liked most, though the music was great too.
I suppose eel market folks could point you to the real stuff.
I’ll just Google “Bob’s crack” and see what I find…
99% of gargoyles…
You can always subscribe to the Theme Time Radio Hour podcast archive and record them to CDs for your pal. There are 101 of them, mind, and some are too long to fit on a single CD.
Of course Bob didn’t write that stuff, was reading from a script
Well you had to be pretty daft to think otherwise – the title of the show was »…with (!) your host (!!), Bob Dylan«, not »Bob invites you to his record den and chats about his vinlys«. The writer credits at the end of each show went on for over a minute sometimes…
Some were (are) unaware
Bob Dylan using someone else’s words? That’s an outrageous suggestion
I have nothing to offer other than to say that’s a lovely gesture, young Celebration.
Thank you – mostly for calling me young.
If your friend likes vinyl, you can get the five LP Bootleg Series vol 1 to 3 from Amazon for around that
That may well be the best in the Bootleg Series. But, it’s probably also the best known and most likely to be owned by a Dylan enthusiast. I reckon Another Self Portrait is the one with the most surprises. It covers a time when his work was, let’s say patchy, but is full of quality outtakes.
Vol 8 Tell Tale Signs prob my pick of the bunch.
Bottle of whiskey?
https://www.heavensdoor.com/
I have a couple of these on the wall (scroll through their catalogue and you’ll find Stephen Duffy and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, added at my request) and they look fab.
https://tolhurstvinylart.com/search?q=Bob+Dylan
First off that’s a lovely thing to do.
Secondly my Dad got me The Bob Dylan scrapbook 1956-1966 years ago and it’s a beautiful book and would go down brilliantly with any Dylan obsessive
Yep, it’s brill.
Seconded!
How about this? I have it, and it’s really interesting and diverting. And you’d be helping a charidee too. Win-win!
https://onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/the-bob-dylan-scrapbook-1956-1966/product/HD_300868726
Edit: Serendipity!
I’ve also got it and it’s great
One thing he may not have is Tarantula, the novel that Dylan published in the 60s. I reckon you could pick up the original hardback within your budget.
Caveat Emptor: it’s rubbish, but it is part of his works, and is probably the only thing he did in the 60s that was rubbish, so it has rarity value in that respect.
@Hawkfall
Rubbish?
Surely you mean “a masterpiece of stream-of-consciousness”:that was years ahead of its time
I’ve seen it described as “experimental”, Jay. I think the hypothesis being tested was “Bob Dylan cannot write a novel”.
“Caveat Emptor: it’s rubbish”… Oh I do love this. New AW strapline?
Reminds me of a mate moaning about his car a few years back: “It’s main drawback is…that it’s completely worthless”
*clears throat*.
I have about 40 books on Bob but this one might be best. It goes into detail on each song off each album. A lot of stuff I knew but some I didnt. Your friend can hone in on those albums they are most interested in.
27 quid hardback on Amazon uk.
Better then Clinton Heylin’s similar books? Don’t let Clinton hear you say that!
I rate other books above Heylin’s but they are also different to this sort of book.
Clinton Heylin is a charlatan, I say that having come across him and his books are Shyte.
The book Junior suggests is very, very good.
Perhaps overstating it but those of peerage are entitled to strong views.
Though at Thompson’s 70th at the RAH Heylin kindly gave his aftershow passes to myself and a friend as he couldn’t use them.
Heylin is a tabloid hack journalist who happens to write about rock stars because it pays some of his bills.
See also (unpopular opinion alert) Craig Brown.
A really good read was Ratso Sloman’s account of the Rolling Thunder Revue, a good historical record, insightful and funny.
I attended a talk with Heylin a few years ago and had a brief chat with him afterwards, and in person he comes across far better than his opinionated writing makes him appear.
Actually meant best for this occasion Paul.
My tops are Howard Sounes
The Ian Bell books,
Sean Wilentz
Then the Heylin stuff.
I recently read [listened to!] the two Ian Bell books, and quite frequently I got the impression that Bell doesn’t really like Dylan or think he’s much good. He seems to praise far less than 10% of Dylan’s work.
Yeah he is a tough marker but beter that than the fawning hagiography of some. I like how he places the work in the poltical cultural context of the time.
A leopard skin pillbox hat?
(Someone had to)
An umbrella- it will give shelter from the storm
A handle, in case you need to use a pump.
How about a flesh coloured Christ that glows in the dark ?
A parking metaw?
Boots of Spanish leather ?
Surprised no one here has yet misread the thread titles and suggested a present FOR Bobby Z himself…
Singing lessons? 🤭
A ticket to one of his own gigs? Oh, daft of me – that’s way over the OP budget.
@BC – When you say your friend’s a massive Dylan fan, is he ‘Yes, I did buy Christmas In The Heart’ massive? If not, well…there you go! He’ll love you for it!
I’m serious – I think it’s ace.
Me too.
And remember – it’s for cheridee, mate
Maybe not in July
It’s OK – we’re upside down here and “mid-winter Christmas” (I know…I know…) is a bit of a thing.
Christmas is in July down there? Didn’t know that
It’s the bleak midwinter, mate.
Sorry, “it’s the bleakie midwinterie. matie”
No, Christmas in July is in July. Christmas is in December. Do keep up.
Well I don’t know do I, I live in Canada where snow is on the ground 12 months a year …
July in Australia is considered cold enough to risk the full turkey and trimmings extravaganza.
Spoiler alert: it really isn’t, but when you’re invited…
12 degrees C or something 🙂
@black-type It’s a tricky one. He has talked to me mainly about how deeply he connects with the lyrics from what sound to me like the more well known songs and albums.
My judgement is that he hasn’t heard Christmas in the Heart and I might just go for that based on the fact that it’s available for shipping to his home within 2 or 3 days.
Christmas in the heart?
I thought you liked the guy??
But the others said it was great!
I had a listen of some of the tracks and this is my fave:
It’s not great. Best described as your drunken uncle singing at a Christmas party. In its favour it’s a good one to play when you want people to leave at the end of the night. Bob sounds in breathing/wheezing difficulties throughout, Hark the Herald Angels Sing has to be heard to be believed
* It Must Be Santa is great though
It Must be Santa borrows the Brave Combo arrangement.
At least, unlike most Dylan albums of the last 40 years, it’s actually got good songs on it. And it continues to amuse from beyond the grave by smoking out the incredible humourlessness of Dylanologists, who seem to think that a crack-one-off charity Christmas record should be judged against the same standard as Blood on the Tracks. (Present company excepted of course.)
Well there’s also 5 volumes of “Sinatra covers”, he has released a reasonable amount of great self penned stuff in the last 25 years,Love and Theft is one of his greatest
My work here is done.
Agreed. Love and Theft is one of my favourite Dylan albums.
I’m extremely grateful to all who have suggested items – I wouldn’t have had a clue.
As I mention above, much or my decision is based on delivery times. Would be nice if he gets it in the next couple of days.
So the answer (my friend) seems to be Christmas in the Heart . I am guessing he doesn’t have it.
Are you as funny at work as you are here? I’m guessing so. In which case, he’ll love it.
😉
Very kind of you, Tiggs. I hope so. By that I mean the present, but also the being funny at work thing. Can be a thin line though. David Brent is only slightly more extreme than real managers I have worked for who think they’re actively hilarious.
Some/many people snicker and pooh-pooh the album, but I genuinely think it’s a joyous thing – so totally unexpected when it came out, and thus so totally Bob.
No snickers or pooh-poohing from me. Not that I want to see those things in the same sentence.
BC and BT, it is better than the mocking it got. Even now I have the earworm hear comes Santa Claus , right down Santa Claus lane. But, there are some shockers on it too where I winced.
I bought a Dylan lyric book with translations of the English into German. I can’t read German.
“Why would you buy a book with German lyrics?” I was asked.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
The pumpernickel nicht arbeit cos the vandals took the Handels
I struggle to read English. Doesn’t stop me buying books.
There was a very good Dylan-in-German lyrics book in the 70s (published by Zweitausendeins) with the lyrics in the correct meter, with adapted rhymes, and all the puns and jokes replaced by respective German ones. You can shout along quite merrily to »Highway 61« or »Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands« and do goose-steps in your front room.
For the new »Complete Lyrics« edition the German publishers were under contract to do a word-for-word translation; no interpretation, artistic freedom or changes were allowed. The result is for the most part unreadable (and sounds more like Google than Dylan). The only German Dylan book that is even worse is by east German poet Wolf Biermann, who »translated« the poems from the »Another Side Of Bob Dylan« sleeve. When asked where he learned English (as a GDR citizen his only foreign language was Russian…) he replied, »I don’t speak English, but as a poet I know what Bob is saying!«
Lyrics in the correct meter- please explain.
As I said – so you can sing along in German, and the words fit the original music.
The new translation from 2016 is just that: a word-for-word translation. So a line in English with 5 words is a nine word sentence in German. Without any double meanings or allusions left. (The translator BTW is Gisbert Haefs, member of the Kipling Society, who also translated and edited books by Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Kinky Friedman and, err, Bob Shelton. He’s one of the best in this field, and he apologised for the Dylan book later: »We certainly aimed for a different outcome…«)
Aaaah sorry. I was thinking of print layout.
I blame the fog.
I’ll check which version it is when I get home, but it’s probably the 2016 one.
Scrrrreeech! That’s the sound of me doing a complete U-turn in what I said I was going to buy.
I was looking for a vendor who could send it in a day or two and saw this – Bob dressed as general and on a cushion. I loved it instantly and I know me mate will completely feel the same.
https://realgroovy.co.nz/product/507742/bob-dylan-as-a-general-45cm-oil-painting-couch-cushion-cover-linen
Well within my budget too – although the postage doubles the price.
Christmas in the Heart will be there in our house this year, though, replacing the Phil Spector one we play. My adult son thinks there’s something a bit wrong about playing Phil Spector so hopefully Bob behaves himself.
That is ace. My birthday is in Feb BC if they are doing 2 for 1 deals.
Re Christmas in the heart – put on hark the herald angels sing, crank it up!
If you’re in the UK there’s one on eBay (seller says new) for a tenner. I Googled ‘Bob Dylan cushion cover’ the clicked the ‘shopping’ tab and was overwhelmed with choice – what a time to be alive!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/374002576605?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A10f0Tgo-mQuG8ilEMHeXCwQ67&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=374002576605&targetid=1647205088280&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006621&poi=&campaignid=17819795917&mkgroupid=137883623263&rlsatarget=pla-1647205088280&abcId=9301024&merchantid=6995734&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0JiXBhCFARIsAOSAKqDu4QzZ31wIaJD6_noEXRj5bXMV4J7tU6bAI1dHb3lv-CdA5qqPYskaAt7lEALw_wcB
“Something a bit wrong about playing Phil Spector”….? Oy vey….
If you get the cushion you can relax on it and eat these.
Dylan crisps
I’m going back to ready salted, I do believe I’ve had enough
The (more or less) original painting is here: https://replaceface.tumblr.com/page/4
(I have a print of the Zappa one, of course: https://replaceface.tumblr.com/page/8)
I approve of Highway 61 Revisited as Salt & Vinegar, but Under the Red Sky as Sweet Chilli is madness.
Oh I don’t know
“Hot chili peppers in the blistering sun”
If the Times They Are A-Changin’ flavour was “Essence of Dog-Shite” I’d be more likely to start munching on them rather than the Under the Red Sky option.