Pete Hamill's original liner notes, removed at some point:
http://www.bobsboots.com/CDs/cd-b28_Hamilltext.html
Haven't read them--supposedly wildly pretentious.
― clemenza, Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:05 (eleven years ago) link
"Neighborhood Bully" and "Is Your Love in Vain," to name two, are far more hateful and unpleasant and hysterical than "Idiot Wind."
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 12:15 (eleven years ago) link
also ballad in plain d
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:01 (eleven years ago) link
Shelter from the Storm is nearly as ascerbic as Idiot Wind, but I'm going for You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome as the bitterest and most lyrically deft: dragon clouds so high above / I've only known careless love is imprinted on my adolescent soul.
― POSTOBON Naranja (soda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:23 (eleven years ago) link
wow great thread - and pretty much everybody OTM (except Mr. I don't like BOTT).Apart from Lonesome, Rosemary or Meet me in the Morning - I could vote for any of these songs.
For the longest time my favorite was Say Hello - which, if you're lovelorn like I was when I was obsessed with this album, perfectly captures that specific type of narcistic melancholy: back-patting your heartbroken self with bogus lines like "whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way"
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:41 (eleven years ago) link
This album is such a big long slog Jesus. Voted Simple Twist of Fate cos it's got a nice chord sequence but fuck was Dylan getting good at out-staying his welcome at this time in his career. Same as Desire (albeit my favourite of his that I've heard) - 9 or 10 good songs that go on about 6x too long.
― pssstttt, Hey you (dog latin), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:54 (eleven years ago) link
you go on about 6x too long
― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 18 April 2013 13:59 (eleven years ago) link
How is Desire a better album despite being 6 time too long
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:00 (eleven years ago) link
they both suffer from songs that go on too long is what i'm saying. i don't dislike any of these songs, but fuck listening to the whole of Hurricane again.
I think I get the same vibe from this album as Neil Young's On The Beach, which also has that long-song rainy day feeling but doesn't seem as boring.
― pssstttt, Hey you (dog latin), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:02 (eleven years ago) link
you're boring and go on too long
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:04 (eleven years ago) link
i get the same vibe from you as i do from a lamppost
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:05 (eleven years ago) link
Nothing rainy about Tangled up in Blue - I always put it on a sunny day
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:05 (eleven years ago) link
also, how is Shelter from the Storm acerbic? WTF???
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:06 (eleven years ago) link
I like Desire better, personally, because I like fun stupid rambling story songs like "Isis," "Romance In Durango," and "Black Diamond Bay." There's some dreary filler on that record but it's way better for singalong fun times while you're doing the dishes, while this album really only has "Tangled Up In Blue," "Idiot Wind" and "Jack Of Hearts" for that.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:09 (eleven years ago) link
like somebody thread, I pretty often have the "'some are mathematicians, some are carpenter's wives" line stuck in my head. Actually if this is an album about being in your 30's, that last verse of Tangled is a pretty good summary of it.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:09 (eleven years ago) link
you go on about 6x too long― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:59 (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― zero dark (s1ocki), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:59 (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
you're boring and go on too long― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:04 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:04 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
LOL
― pssstttt, Hey you (dog latin), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:09 (eleven years ago) link
also, how is Shelter from the Storm acerbic? WTF???― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, April 18, 2013 10:06 AM (21 minutes ago)
― beef richards (Mr. Que), Thursday, April 18, 2013 10:06 AM (21 minutes ago)
I guess that depends on your reading of the title phrase? I don't trust it as genuine or hopeful – which would, to my mind, be out of sync with the album's general gist – but instead as sarcastic, regretful, self-pitying.
Also, the penultimate line If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born seems to me to shunt the woman/relationship back into a once-pleasant, now-embittered past, as the architect of the narrator's misery.
― POSTOBON Naranja (soda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:37 (eleven years ago) link
This album is such a big long slog Jesus
Hence the carpenter's wives and the woman bending down to tie the laces of his shoes
― He has a lot of baggage (handlers' perks) (Michael White), Thursday, 18 April 2013 14:44 (eleven years ago) link
I think this album has some of his best-ever singing. It takes a lot to sell a line like "nothing really matters much/it's doom alone that counts" as something other than undergrad poesy. But he makes it sparkle, almost funny.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
TRY IMAGINING A PLACE WHERE IT'S ALWAYS SAFE AND WARM
― not feeling those lighters (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:33 (eleven years ago) link
"she might think i've forgotten her/ don't tell her, it isn't so."
― lemoncholia, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
chilling line. i think this is my favorite dylan album by light years but i'm not sure if i think it's his "best"
― lemoncholia, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
aw go on say it anyway.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
idiot wind idiot wind idiot wind
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:43 (eleven years ago) link
if you don't like mean dylan why are you even listening to dylan
good point.
― lemoncholia, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
i am going to listen to this album right now
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:44 (eleven years ago) link
i help her out of a jam i guess but i use a little too much force
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:46 (eleven years ago) link
i did always like the way he delivered "but I used a little too much force"
― charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:51 (eleven years ago) link
and "happy to just be ehM-PLOYED"
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 15:52 (eleven years ago) link
haha all these fantastic intonations on this album!
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:01 (eleven years ago) link
okay the "idiot wind" chorus still makes me catch my breath all these years after the first time i heard it.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:01 (eleven years ago) link
and the organ makes you hurl
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
the way he sings "you're going to make me lonesome" is the dreamiest imo
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:08 (eleven years ago) link
Some of the tunes on this I tend to like the bootleg series versions better. I really think there's just something very cramped-feeling about the record that makes it hard for me to stick with.
― charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:12 (eleven years ago) link
Could be any of the songs on side 1 for me, but I'm going with "Girl," for this part quoted above:
WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWITHAPAINTHATSTOPSANDSTARTS
― New Authentic Everybootsy Collins (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:20 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah wonderful weirdo diction / intonation throughout. Always loved the wide gulf between Sessions "Idiot Wind" and the final version. Sessions version sung very properly / singer-songwritery; final version, dude can't keep from shouting all over the place, which sounds funny on those "arrrrrrrrrrr" rhymes.
― ヽ(´ー`)┌ (CompuPost), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
the bootleg series version of Idiot Wind might be better, definitely casts the song in a less strident, more conflicted light:
http://www.myvideo.de/watch/7253080/Bob_Dylan_Idiot_Wind_Bootleg_Series_Vol_2
― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:24 (eleven years ago) link
Idiot Wind w/o a second thought, though. All-time sneer moments at the ends of the verses ("can't heeeelp it if I'm lucky" / "sweeeeeeeet lady" / "blooooooood on your saddle" / "YOU'RE ON THE BOTTOM") + the slow bleed from unbridled hate parade -> sad vulnerability/complicity is perfect.
Love Tony Brown's work all over the album, too.
― ヽ(´ー`)┌ (CompuPost), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:32 (eleven years ago) link
yes i love "sweeeeeeeet lady"
― horseshoe, Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
I haven't listened to this album in years. Thanks, thread.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
this is difficult tbqh
Dylan at the peak of his powers imo. miracles of vocal phrasing abound.
"tangled" is the obvious frontrunner and 100% worthy but "shelter" and "idiot wind" are close and "jack" deserves votes for the melodic turn on "lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair" alone.
― inste grammophon (rogermexico.), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
the "I'm complicit" stuff in Idiot Wind feels very unconvincing and cover-my-ass imo. I guess you could argue that that's just who the character of the speaker of the song is though, and that it's effective in that regard.
― charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:39 (eleven years ago) link
I’ll look for you in old Honolulu, San Francisco, Ashtabula
― POSTOBON Naranja (soda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:42 (eleven years ago) link
HONAHLULAH
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:42 (eleven years ago) link
this is a great record, i think Shelter from the Storm is my fave, but they're all great (even the lesser tracks like lily and meet me in the morning).
― tylerw, Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:43 (eleven years ago) link
Ashtabula
every time I hear this I think "that's not a real place, is it?"
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:46 (eleven years ago) link
or is he just saying ras tabula
I used to think it was wordplay on tabula rasa, still not sure it isn't.
― POSTOBON Naranja (soda), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:47 (eleven years ago) link
Wiki facts I never knew:
Prior to recording, and while details regarding his return to Columbia Records were being fleshed out, Dylan previewed the songs that would make up Blood on the Tracks to a number of friends and peers in the music world. According to biographer Jimmy McDonough, Dylan visited Neil Young in his home in Florida to showcase the songs on the album and seek out Young's opinion, and even run through some of the songs with Young's group Crazy Horse.[14] Dylan also previewed the songs to David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Tim Drummond, and Peter Rowan.[15] Notably, Graham Nash recalled that Stephen Stills disliked Dylan's private performance of his new songs: immediately after Dylan left the room, Stills remarked to Nash, "He's a good songwriter...but he's no musician."
Would LOVE to hear these songs with Crazy Horse
― New Authentic Everybootsy Collins (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 18 April 2013 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
^^^
― Bee OK, Thursday, 6 October 2022 04:40 (one year ago) link