Yeah. I know it's against the law to have any negative views about The Zim even if you've pretty much got everything he recorded, dozens of books, a stack of b******* and seen him live a dozen times. I'm truly sorry.
No nothing against the law or anything at all, not even wrong. It's just unfortunate that you don't find more pleasure in the music around you. And if you don't find pleasure in something, look for something else that does give you pleasure.
With Dylan we have all the albums and bootlegs, books seen him live a million times. There are the people who have all the afore mentioned and tire of Dylan, still wanting a new album of new material. yet there are people who want more from the Bobster. Yes I myself prefer a new album of new material. Dylan makes money on almost anything that he sings, records or writes. I myself was not happy with the standards albums but over the past few years and with this years Triplicate release I kind of understand these standard releases and enjoy them all the same. At this point at age 76 we at least myself are lucky getting anything at all from the Bobster.
Well, I listen to lots of other music that gives me huge pleasure. It's just that I really really want to like whatever Bob does because he's probably my favourite artist ever and his musical and cultural achievements are so huge and his current output really disappoints me. I think his voice is terrible and the band are just dull. I hate being negative and I wish I could enjoy it. So, I'm sorry I won't moan anymore I'll go off and listen to some of that music that I do enjoy. Cheerio!
Being a Dylan fanatic is one of the great joys of my life, but the NET leaves me cold overall. Bits and pieces here and there I've enjoyed tremendously, but late 2000 was the last time it really moved me, and I feel 88 was his last great tour. I like the idea of Bob being in constant motion more than the actual results. It's a pretty big tent.
For what it's worth I'm with you. I don't like all eras of Bob's music - I can't reconcile the lyrical content of the Evangelist era with my own (lack of) beliefs, for example, but I can at least see the appeal in some of the performances. I'm also less enthused with the late 60s phase (even including Another Self Portrait) but, again, I can find things I like about it. The current "crooner" phase holds zero appeal to me - and I have 20+ Sinatra cds at home! I mean no disrespect to those that enjoy the material (which is why I haven't really posted here), but I feel like it's an Emperor's New Clothes situation. I love so much of Bob's material, even some of his covers, but I think this stuff is just awful. A song like "Lone Pilgrim" has an absolutely beautiful vocal to me, full of emotion/feeling, even though Bob's range is, shall we say, "limited" in comparison with other singers. But he seems to do everything "right" with that vocal. I don't think I can get through a single one of these 50+ songs without thinking the homeless guy on the corner could sing it better. The music's not the problem for me, it's Bob's vocals. I was curious what other fans thought of this material, in general, which is why I started a poll to evaluate it. So far, of the self-proclaimed "Big Dylan fans": 6 think it's EXCELLENT 15 think it's GOOD 19 think it's OK 16 think it's UNDERWHELMING 20 think it's POORIt's just a hunch, but I would go so far as to say that I think it's the least appreciated era of his music amongst his fanbase (with the possible exception of the mid 80s "wilderness years"). So I don't think you're alone!
Then go vote! It was largely your continuing passion (along with a couple others here) that made me curious about the general feeling towards this era. Similarly, it was largely your opinion over McCartney's "New" that got me curious about that album's reception and led to me running all those polls, too. You make me WORK here, Mazzy!
Personally I don t care at all about others preferences. If I enjoy something I do it regardless of what other people think. I truly enjoy Triplicate thats enough for me. Of course I respect those who feel otherwise .
Ok I just voted. Is this the one you created? Problem with this poll imho, is there are way too many choices and sub options. POLL: What do you think of Bob Dylan’s “Sinatra/Standards”-era output, 2015-2017?
Why not also vote on whether Louis Armstrong should have ever performed "covers" or restricted himself to his own compositions? Why not vote on whether polls of musical quality have any meaning?
I voted for the girl that I liked best as Most Beautiful in the high school. But I also counted the votes, so I wasted my vote.
I think everyone feels that way. You'd have to be a bit sad not to feel like that. Some Dylan fans do seem to think that whatever he does is genius. It isn't - for me anyway.
I haven't met many Dylan fans who are like that. However, I have found that I have grown to love albums and periods of his career that I used to find rather dull.I know this is rather off topic but Forgetful Heart was one such song until I recently stumbled across this :
I’m a huge Dylan fan and certainly don’t think everything he does is genuine even though I have purchased everything he’s released the week of the release since 1965. I loved Sliw Train right away and hated the next two. Still bought them but hardly played them since. These new live versions are amazing though. I also loved Self Portrait when it came out and these recent covers albums. The enjoy the first two but Triplicate appealed to me more. I think he stumblest a bit now and then but somehow even the failures include some gems.
I'd be the last person to give you a hard time about your not liking the recent covers records, but I do think it's worth pointing out that the second half of this statement is incompatible with the first half. L.
Agreed. I think it's "Excellent" but in the overall scheme of things I don't consider it "Essential", at least not the way I parse it. And I'm a BIG Dylan fan!
I think this is over the top. Dylan is a great expressive singer with his masterful phrasing and the way he can inhabit a character or persona to make a song come alive, as you explain. However I still hold with conventional wisdom which is that his very greatest talent is as a songwriter, with performance of his own material a close second. Sinatra's great talent was as a singer and interpreter of other composers' songs, and Bob would agree (he has said as much) that he couldn't compare with the Chairman of the Board in that regard.
If his greatest talent was as a songwriter, we wouldn't know too much about him, outside of an early Peter Paul and Mary hit record. Though Dylan was a major force in moving popular music to performing your own songs, that cultural trend very likely would have occurred without him. The rock and singer songwriter movements would have gone on without recording his songs. He could have gone to Nashville where people in cowboy hats and rhinestones needed to have someone else write their songs. It was Dylan's sound, his voice, his persona that drew people to his songs. Without his performance of them, the songs would have been ignored. Fame comes from the performance in our modern culture. It's not like the days of Ira Gershwin and Lorenz Hart anymore
