Bob Dylan - "Down In The Groove" Song-By-Song Discussion Thread

In the spirit of the highly successful "Self Portrait" song-by-song thread, I'd like to try to take another look (with 26 years of added perspective) at another of Dylan's oft-maligned works, "Down in the Groove".

The idea here is to go through the album SONG-BY-SONG, rather than offer general opinions about the whole album (we can save that for the end).

A variety of opinions are certainly welcome, but dropping by just to tell us "Down in the Groove sucks" won't add much (if anything) to the conversation. Please try to limit your comments to the song at hand, and to support both negative and positive impressions.

The album kicks off with a cover of Wilbert Harrison's 1962 non-hit "Let's Stick Together". While Bryan Ferry's cover version met with wider acclaim, it seems that Harrison's original is Dylan's source of inspiration. Wikipedia tells us that Harrison re-recorded the song with different lyrics in 1970 as "Let's Work Together" (covered shortly thereafter by Canned Heat), but neither of these versions appear to have any bearing on Dylan's version.

While there was an overall disappointment in the lack of fresh Dylan lyrics on "Down in the Groove" (there are literally none - the two Dylan songs are retreaded from earlier projects, and Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics for the two Dylan-Hunter songs), "Let's Stick Together", in my opinion, stands up quite solidly. It's an enjoyable performance with a solid vocal from Dylan, and his heart certainly seems to be in it. I prefer his cover to Harrison's original (but I'm biased).

 

The more Dylan threads going at once, the more time I spend in the forums here...Thanks a lot, RayS.

The first version that I ever heard of Let's Stick/Work Together was the one you mentioned by Canned Heat -- I didn't hear the original Harrison take until many years later. I always assumed it was just another groovy/hippie '70s anthem, like Power to The People, or Together We Stand, Divided We Fall.

I dig Bob's version a lot, and I wish he would have recorded and released more R&B type numbers like this. I say released, because he also recorded versions of Slim Harpo's Got Love If You Want It and Gene Vincent's Important Words in this era, which I believe were mistakenly released in South America(?)

I saw Dylan live twice in the summer of 1988, with his stripped-down rockin' band (guitarist G. E. Smith was a wild man) and one of the show openers was a memorable Subterranean Homesick Blues -- I wish Bob had pursued more of a rockabilly/roots sound on one of his LPs in this period, even if it was only made up of covers like Let's Stick Together.

 

A fan of Down In The Groove and also the opening track. Love Bob's vocals and how the band rock out with a somewhat slinky groove. Bob is one of if not the greatest writer of the last 50 years but also great at interpreting others songs.

 

Glad to be of service

When I saw my first "Interstate '88" (it wasn't called "The Never-Ending Tour" yet) show on June 23, 1988, I naively believed that "Let's Stick Together" was likely to be the set opener. (Quite the long shot in hindsight, considering the fact that he has never done it live.) I of course got "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (it opened all 71 of the "Interstate '88" shows).

A whole album of R+B covers of the quality of "Let's Stick Together", again in hindsight, would probably have been preferable to the "Self Portrait"-esque hodgepodge that "Down in the Groove" turned out to be.

We can definitely visit "Important Words" and "Got Love If You Want It" at the end of the album. Here's hoping someone's tucked them away on YouTube in a place where the Dylan Police couldn't find them - it will aid the discussion for those who may have never heard them.

 

"Slinky" is good word for it! And it's a groove you really don't hear on Harrison's original, IMO.

 

Ray

Ray loved reading your Self Portrait thread. I have all things Dylan but am not up to snuff on the historical aspect of many of the songs that you and a few others went into great detail on. A master class that I enjoyed unfolding immensely.

 

Seems to me that "groove" was also present in Gotta Serve Somebody and Trust Yourself, as well.

 

Here's a good page of info on the LP:
http://johannasvisions.com/today-bob-dylan-released-down-in-the-groove-25-years-ago/

 

Are you going to discuss the album cover and inner sleeve, too? I have few questions regarding these but I don't want to derail the thread.

 

I myself won't be of much help, as I've never owned the vinyl, but sure, go for it, ask away.

 

We finally ran out of albums to discuss

 

I like "Down In The Groove" more than most.....pretty solid 2nd (or 3rd tier) Dylan record.

His cover of "Let's Stick Together" is very good.

 

YMMV, but we seemed to find in the "Self Portrait" thread that the more nebulous the "concept" behind the album and the tracks therein, the more fertile the discussion.

 

Only you, Ray. Gonna love to see where this goes.

 

You've got me listening to the album for the first time in ages.

 

Although this thought will probably be best served to wait until the song-by-song portion is over, I am wondering if this album could withstand (indeed, benefit from) the ASP treatment. Is the mid 80's an untapped Dylan treasure? Eager to learn.

 

3rd tier at best, for me.
I do like "Let's Stick Together" — though Bob's no Wilbert Harrison.

 

Hard to argue it's a top tier album, but the point of this thread is to look at it from a track-by-track basis. Maybe that will reveal heretofore unknown depths?

 

The back cover:
http://www.searchingforagem.com/1980s/1980s_Pictures/DITGUSLPBack.jpg
What is happening here? Is the person plugging their ears? Is this a soundcheck? Where's the rest of the band? Was there a massive burst of feedback or is Mr. Dylan haranguing the woman? There are no photo or design credits for this album.

The back cover is an interesting picture but it's the inner sleeve that has puzzled me the most over the years.
http://www.searchingforagem.com/1980s/1980s_Pictures/DITGUSLPInnerBack.jpg
I've had this album since it was released and I've always wondered what was up with this design? It looks like it might be an extreme close up of some picture but I can't tell what it is. What are those two vertical slashes? Why not just have a straight pattern or the same grey as the other side or just blank?

 

While I think there's a pretty solid belief that there's plenty of 1981-1986 material worthy of a treatment similar to "Another Self Portrait" (Imagine "Caribbean Wind" getting the "Mississippi" treatment on a future Bootleg Series!, or "Empire Burlesque" stripped!), I don't know if that extends to the "Down in the Groove" sessions. The tape that slipped out (following "Important Words" and "Got Love if You Want It", which had already slipped out) is forgettable rather than revelatory. So I don't know that there's a bunch of "Pretty Saro"s waiting to be discovered from those sessions.

An overview of the sessions, courtesy (of course) of Olof: http://www.bjorner.com/87-1.htm#Groove

 

I am more than a bit shocked that I have never heard or seen this LP
how could I not know about a Dylan LP? was it released in the UK?

 

Agreed. It's not like the 1980-1983 period where there were so many bafflingly unreleased Dylan-penned gems and, perhaps, wisely unreleased Dylan-penned non-gems (although he did yank "Death Is Not The End" from the '83 "Infidels" sessions for "DITG"). From what I've seen/heard, it really was a pretty creatively shallow time for Dylan and I get the sense his heart wasn't in the recording of the covers quite like they were back in 1969/1970 during "SP." Bjorner mentions certain unknown originals and songs that would be interesting to hear, though, as Dylan certainly is known for not being able to tell what's really valuable or not in his work at any given point in time. Maybe there really are revelations that show he wasn't as bad off creatively as it appears.

 

Let's Stick Together: "...a good, raucous rocker with stuttering tremolo guitars and an aggressive Dylan vocal..."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/down-in-the-groove-19880714#ixzz37l3Ca7zl

FWIW: RS gave the LP 2 1/2 stars out of 5

 

Yes sir, released worldwide and panned (almost) universally.

 

silvio for the win