During a day trip to Rye at the weekend I found a 1965 mono first pressing of Highway 61 for the princely sum of a fiver.
Then Bloomsbury emailed about a new Dylan book and I thought it might be right up my street, until I clicked on the link and got a migraine.
https://www.bloomsburypopularmusic.com/encyclopedia-chapter?docid=b-9781501328558&tocid=b-9781501328558-intro
Gosh…bollocks of the highest order!
Pretentious nonsense being written about Bob Dylan? Shirley Knott!
Anyone listening to the “Is It Rolling Bob?” Podcasts? A fascinating mixture of pretentious bollox and “Gosh, I never knew that!”
Connected to the “shelving” issue elsewhere, re: Bobster reading material –
A Mojo/Uncut Special and Wikipedia, and … that’s it.
A cursory knowledge of either will immediately place you in the top 0.1% of Dylan scholars.
Who on earth wants to be in the 0.01%?
That’s nutter territory.
I have only ever listened to one Dylan album in its entirety, once, and that was in the last 6 months (Blonde on blonde since you asked). And I own at least two. I’d still put money on being in the pointy end of the top 1% for a pub quiz just by information osmosis, spending at least 100* more time reading about him in Mojo et al than I ever spent listening to him.
I could of course be a complete philistine.
‘I have only ever listened to one Bob Dylan album in its entirety.’
Can’t decide whether this is an outrageous transgression which should get you barred immediately or a brilliant piece of Afterword oneupmanship to which the only response should be an admiring hats off…
I can assure you, it is absolutely true, and I probably should be drummed out of the brownies. Being a 57 year old male would probably make that mandatory anyway.
And I only bought BoB because I thought I should…
A compromise solution:
A hats-off guard of honour as he is handed his coat and shown the exit.
Leopardskin pill-box hats, natch.
And a long black coat. (Never knowingly heard that track either)
Er, not boasting or anything but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to even one complete Dylan album. I certainly don’t own one, not sure any of my mates own any and really can’t recall listening to one anywhere growing up. I’m 54 and really don’t feel I’ve missed out.
Where were you when I needed you?
Corking thread that. Still flummoxed by the ‘he’s nobbut a plagiarist’ contingency….
He is a plagiarist, but he’s plenty else, thankfully.
See also Stones, R., and Zeppelin, L.
I would have participated in that there thread if I had even an ounce of credibility on this (or any other) subject, but it was obvious I wasn’t qualified to opine.
Neither had I a handful of years ago, and then I bought the chuffin’* lot.
*not to mention the whinin’ and croakin’
See, listen to Mini, and above all, read her blog. It’ll change your life I tell ya…
http://bobsbigbox.blogspot.com/
I’m the same as @freddysteady (although I’m 2 years younger). There was an older bloke I worked with once back in the mid-80s who was truly obsessed with him – but other than that, he has passed me by. I know that it’s a big deal that he went electric – (“Judas!” and all that) but other than that heckle, did anybody of sound mind give a monkey’s?
How do you know that you haven’t missed out if you haven’t heard an album? I first heard The Times They Are a Changin’ ca 1978 as a 16 yr old. It changed my life (as much as music can).
@dai
Honestly, the few tracks I heard or was aware of were enough. Not for me, like a lot of other stuff I guess. As I grew older and became aware of his “importance,” nothing changed.
But “importance” dictates how much you should or should not like an artist – you can’t simply decide for yourself, or then where would we be?
It would be anarchy of course Moose.
He’s been a huge influence on me.
I reckon a solid 50% of my record collection can be directly attributed to the influences of Dylan … folk, blues, doo wop, rock ‘n’ roll, c & w etc.
Strangely, although a Bob album will get an airing every couple of months (never one of the ones that get in those Top 100 lists), I’m far more likely to be listening to those influences than the guy himself.
I have three Dylan books (I had more at one time) and I’m not sure if I’ve ever managed to get through any of them. Two are by Clinton Heylin (‘Revolution in the Air’ and ‘Still On The Road’, who seems so far up himself that it’s difficult to look beyond that and the other is a coffee-table sized book called something like ‘All The Songs’.
Quite a lot of bollocks being written here <<<<< and above ^^^^^^
Parts of this thread look like our equivalent of Private Eye’s “Colemanballs”.
Perhaps we ought to have a regular “Dylanbollocks” thread for the more ridiculous things written and said by/about musical artists and their works.
Good to see you back on here Baron, I thought Lodestone had driven you away.
Take no notice of him – he has forgotten his meds.
‘re Bob have all of his official albums up to his crooner crap. He isn’t in my top 10 favourite artists maybe not even in top 20 but he has written songs that would be in my top 10 favourite songs possibly.
His inconsistency is what I struggle with.
Oh and he is dreadful live.