i enjoyed the 'how does it feel' piece, joe. again, thank you for posting it.
the author incorrectly kept referring to dylan's 1997 album as the "1999 time out of mind".
and he called 'oh mercy', 'no mercy', though i am instantly reminded of the line... "i don't call it anything," said frankie lee with a smile"... <smile>
the author also, imo, missed several wonderful opportunities to differentiate between bob dylan and robert zimmerman, like in the paragraph below...
"Bob Dylan, as he has told us over and over again, in one way or another, does not fit. Bob Dylan belongs somewhere else: outside of pop, outside of fame, outside, even, of time as it is now measured in pop terms. And yet, Bob Dylan lives on in pop, and pop legend: inviolate, iconic and enduringly mysterious, despite himself."
dylan fits. zimmerman does not.
and this part sort of gave me pause....
"It has been that way for the past 10 years or more: a series of ever-changing performances - Dylan never plays the same song the same way twice - in a series of depressingly similar, soul-destroying mid-size arenas across the globe"
"never plays the same song the same way twice"? sure he does. he just mixes things up a whole lot more than anyone else does. but the assertion that each performance of his songs is akin to some sort of musical snowflake, in which the same pattern never technically appears twice, is a stretch, imo.
and "a series of depressingly similar, soul-destroying mid-size arenas" is all wrong. i mean, the 'depressingly' adjective belongs exclusively to the author. 'soul-destroying' is equally harsh and, imo, a bit corny. 'mid-size arenas' is way off.... in that 'arena', to me, denotes 50+ thousand seat venues, and then 'mid-size' would be somewhere around a 20-25k seat venue. bob doesn't play to those sort of houses. heck, it would have been more accurate if the author would have said he plays to auditoriums and clubs.
i totally loved dylan's one word response to the playboy interviewer guy who asked, "what made you decide to go the rock and roll route?"
"carelessness", bob said. whew. leaves so much on the table, and at the same time, takes so much off.
one other statement caught my eye....
"...actively dismantling it in the Eighties with certain records that were so ugly and unlistenable, so perfunctory and perverse, even the most obsessive Dylanologist - and, believe me, there is no bore like a Dylan bore - had to shake their head and cover their ears in dismay."
well, i'm not an 'obsessive dylanologist' (though i'm bound to share some of those traits with my bob-obsessed brethren <g>), and i can't for the life of me understand which 80's records he is speaking of?
Oh Mercy - 1989
Down in the Groove - 1988
Dylan & the Dead - 1988
Knocked Out Loaded - 1986
Biograph - 1985
Empire Burlesque - 1985
Real Live - 1984
Infidels - 1983
Shot of Love - 1981
Saved - 1980
"so ugly and unlistenable"? "perfunctory and perverse"? very bad descriptions. i won't even say unfair, because i personally don't think fairness enters into all this. just off the mark, and not even good enough to be classified as carelessness on his behalf.
i guess that while i am remarking on the author's article on bob that i should get it all out.... <g> .... and call attention to his lifetime achievement award acceptance speech depiction.
"When Dylan, looking not so much uncomfortable as demoralised, reluctantly received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1991 Grammys, he held it at arm's length like a diseased rag and made the most cryptic yet chillingly apposite short acceptance speech ever: "My daddy once said to me, he said, 'Son, it is possible for you to become so defiled in this world that your own Mother and Father will abandon you. If that happens, God will believe in your own ability to mend your own ways'."
what this author left out, and in doing do, failed to fully capture bob's essence, is bob's interjection of humor into the "cryptic yet chillingly apposite short acceptance speech". yep. here is a more accurate quote of what bob said that night...
"You know my daddy didn't leave me too much... He was a very simple man. But he did tell me one thing, he said, 'Son...'" (Long pause while he stared at the plaque and the audience tittered nervously) "...He said so many things you know..." (Pause) "...but he did say, 'you know it's possible to become so defiled in this world that even your own mother and father will abandon you. But if that happens, God will always believe in your own ability to mend your own ways.' Thank you."
and that injection of humor put a bit of a different spin on the short speech, and drew quite a laugh-filled response from the audience.
the author goes on to conclude, erroneously, i believe, "his response speaks of a profound distaste for the trappings of contemporary music culture, and a healthy disregard for the protocol of pop's industry-led celebration of itself". that's just too neat and too clean, and fits too nicely into the "cryptic yet chilling" corner that the author is trying to paint dylan into.
why not hear and see bob's words that night as a profoundly positive extension of hope and salvation awaiting anyone, no matter how vile and depraved? why does this author feel so secure in tying dylan down to the inconsequential moment? to the award? to the music industry? in the liner notes of a recent tribute album to jimmie rodgers ( slopbucket.com ), bob spoke of giving "hope to the vanquished and humility to the mighty". that is what bob was speaking of in his acceptance speech.... not, as the author would have you believe, dylan's "healthy disregard for the protocol of pop's industry".
:)
mark |
