Bob Dylan Revisited

Every couple of weeks I bring a short stack of CDs from home into work, rip them into MP3 format and cull the best tracks from the haul. This is my method for bringing my CD collection into the 21st century. It would be excruciating to try to do it all at once and ridiculous to pay for these tracks all over again. Besides, this way I get to do some focused listening to a single artist. Right now, for example, I have five Luna albums on my desk awaiting the treatment.

Last week I listened to four classic Bob Dylan records:
Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Bringing it all Back Home
and Highway 61 Revisited

These were my observations:
I like A LOT of the tracks on these discs... I'm keeping more files than I expected. I don't think Dylan added much "filler" to his records.

I tend to like Bob's longer songs (6-8 minute ramblers) more than the short tunes (with the single exception of Jack of Hearts which I find irritating.)

Many people dislike Dylan's voice. People always talk about his grating nasal twang, but it really never bothers me.

I don't really like Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat all that much, but I can't bring myself to delete it... maybe because of fond memories of Matt Woodin putting that tune on a mix tape in Bombay.
Idiot Wind is a great tune... in fact the whole first half (the A side to you LP owners) of Blood on the Tracks is perfection.

When I was a child, I loved the tune Maggie's Farm. It's still a great song. In fact, Bringing It All Back Home probably scores the most nostalgia points with me. I find myself liking marginal tracks like Outlaw Blues or On the Road Again (not the Willy Nelson song) because the melody takes me back to when I was 7 years old. Subterranean Homesick Blues and It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) push this album into brilliance regardless of how I felt about it 27 years ago.

It's Alright Ma (I'm only Bleeding) conditioned me to appreciate lyrical dexterity... the kind later demonstrated by MCs like The Gift of Gab of Blackalicious.

Dylan had more fun with his poetry/lyrics than Paul Simon did.

Highway 61 is the least impressive of these discs, although Ballad of a Thin Man is still great. I guess this is a later release (after the pivotal motorcycle crash that many people feel ruined Dylan's career.) (Fact checking reveals that Highway 61 was released as part of the classic Dylan trilogy, including Blonde on Blonde and Bringing it All Back Home. These all came out between 64 and 66 before Dylan's accident in the late summer of 1966. I guess I assumed that it was after because it sounds so different to my ears. Also, Blood on the Tracks, called by many a "return to form", was released in 1974, after Dylan went through a post-accident spiritual phase when he alienated many fans.)

There are a few overplayed songs (e.g. Like a Rolling Stone, Hey Mister Tambourine Man) that are still worth listening to even if you've heard them thousands of times.

And lastly...
Adam Sandler is sure trying hard to look just like Bob Dylan in his recent film Reign Over Me.