Bob Dylan Studio Album: "Rough and Rowdy Ways" - June 19, 2020*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by timnor, Dec 5, 2019.

  1. C6H12O6

    C6H12O6 Senior Member

    Location:
    My lab
    Yes, he should absolutely get Love and Theft. One of his best albums, and easily my favorite since the late '80s, when by Dylan's own description he felt renewed again.
     
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  2. gazzaa2

    gazzaa2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    It's a good album but it's not in the same stratosphere as BOTT or Time Out of Mind for that matter.

    It's more in keeping with Modern Times and Love and Theft.

    Personally, i'm not a big fan of bluesy Dylan, but that's just personal taste.
     
  3. Brian Doherty

    Brian Doherty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    Right now I am quite sure I like it better than TIMES and THEFT. I can see how they seem of a piece in some ways, but lyrically feels both better-woven and more interestingly sprawling, and musically just more compellingly otherworldly (tho from those earlier ones your Nettie Moore and Sugar Babes would fit in very aptly here I think.)
     
  4. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    Because of my great and arthritic age my immediate thought was, really, how can anyone prefer this record to "The Times They Are A-Changin'" ?... :)
     
  5. JudasPriest

    JudasPriest Forum Resident

    Ha! Altho now that you mention it, I might just give RARW an edge over that particular sacred cow.
     
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  6. Gdgray

    Gdgray Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Tampa
    A bit of Freudian slip, of course I meant Rough and Rowdy ways. I do believe A Hard Rain has been a falling.
     
  7. JudasPriest

    JudasPriest Forum Resident

    So easy to lose oneself in this beautiful work full of mystery, magic and mischief.
     
  8. Bloodbuzz459

    Bloodbuzz459 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Finally got chance to play my 'Olive' coloured copy today.

    Lots of noise throughout the first track or two, maybe a slight warp? Can't say I was blown away throughout like I hoped I would be after listening to the stream for the last week or so.

    Try again in the week
     
  9. MilesTrane

    MilesTrane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Moon PA USA
    I always thought that the title Love and Theft was a sly admission of guilt in a sense. He was acknowledging his use of words and melodies from older songs and books that he loves. The song title My Own Version of You makes me think along the same lines: he takes riffs of old tunes and makes them into his own Frankenstein creation.
     
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  10. Waymore Lonesome

    Waymore Lonesome Forum Resident

    I think these blues tunes are his best since TOOM.
     
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  11. supermd

    supermd Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I already have the MOFI mastering, but haven't played it, until earlier today. I played the first few songs. I can see this being similar to Rough and Rowdy Ways. I dig it.

    Do his standards albums also have a similar sound?
     
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  12. C6H12O6

    C6H12O6 Senior Member

    Location:
    My lab
    If you love the track "Moonlight," they're kind of like that. FYI, the standards albums get dumped on a lot - I don't think they're great albums, but I don't think they're bad either. (FWIW, I say this as not only a Sinatra fan but someone who listens to a lot of vocal records from that era.) When I saw them in NYC several years ago, I thought the handful of standards left in the setlist actually sounded exquisite live, especially Sexton's solos.
     
  13. supermd

    supermd Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I'm generally about feel in the music I listen to. If they have a great feeling, I'll like them. I'm not a hardcore Dylan guy, so I can probably listen to these and actually enjoy them.
     
  14. street legal

    street legal Senior Member

    Location:
    west milford, nj
    Well, my mileage certainly DOES vary.
    Saw him in 2012. Never, ever again.
    And Dylan is probably in my top 5 bands/ artists of all time. So, definitely NOT anyone.
     
  15. Spencer R

    Spencer R Forum Resident

    Location:
    Oxford, MS
    The musicianship and arrangements on the standards albums are incredible. Probably down to Bob’s band as much as down to Bob - I get the impression the band had at least as much hand in the arrangements as Bob did, but those records are very different than the usual drenched in strings approach to that material.
     
  16. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    What went wrong in 2012? Do explicate.
     
  17. street legal

    street legal Senior Member

    Location:
    west milford, nj
    Well, I hadn’t seen Dylan for a handful of years before that show. I probably should have been aware of this, but I wasn’t expecting him to be at the piano all night. He picked up the guitar for one, maybe two songs, which was very disappointing to me. I guess I like my Bob to have a guitar in his hands!

    The band was just fine, no complaints.

    My biggest beef however, was Dylan’s voice that night. It was bad. *Really* bad.

    So, I think my days of going to a Dylan show are over. Which is ok. I have seen him several times before that, and they were all great shows.
     
  18. Jellis77

    Jellis77 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brighton, UK
    I have just got round to playing this LP. I waited until it was released on vinyl before hearing any of it - so my first listen truly was a first listen.

    Firstly I have a great pressing with no defects. Secondly I was very impressed - its a great sounding record and the music and musicianship is first rate. If you exclude the Sinatra LPs (which I generally like) that is 6 great studio LPs since and including Time Out of Mind. No-one else Dylan's age is producing anything like that many great LPs.
     
  19. street legal

    street legal Senior Member

    Location:
    west milford, nj
    The new Dylan CD does not come in a Digipak. Maybe it will when it comes out on *vinyl* though . . . :laugh:
     
  20. supermd

    supermd Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    This albums is like a fine wine - it gets better with age, and it hasn't even been two months since release.
     
  21. I certainly can't claim any inside baseball knowledge but I have come to the opinion that a lot of what goes on with Dylan's singing is put on. I downloaded about 20 versions of Forgetful Heart played live. Many of the performances have him growling like some raspy, rascally old wolf. You think well that's it for him. His voice is shot. Then you hear versions a couple of years later with a much smoother voice. Maybe it's like Joni Mitchell said. Maybe he creates characters to sing these songs for him. There was something very tragic listening to the old rascal having his heart broke just like there was to some wounded chanteuse singing more softly with regret.

    Don't mind me though. I'm one of those who thinks that the out of tune guitars on Queen Jane Approximately are on purpose because it is a song about being out of tune.
     
  22. NewWarden

    NewWarden Forum Resident

    For what it's worth, 2013 is generally considered a significant, positive turning point in live Dylan, with the switch to a standard setlist, a (temporary) new guitarist, and the refinement in his singing that only got better when he started making the Sinatra records.
     
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  23. DougB217

    DougB217 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Urbana IL
    Glad you got a good copy. Mine was virtually unplayable - just got my replacement copy today.
     
  24. The Bard

    The Bard Highway 61 Revisited. That is all.

    Location:
    Singapore
    I feel ya!
    I was so excited he was coming to Singapore in 2011 .. and while I had the same old thrill, even I had to admit it was a tough listen.
    After that, I stopped traveling to see his shows until 2015, when I caught some European dates ... they were excellent and I was on the road again ...
     
  25. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    It disappointed me as well when he gave up the guitar.
    He lost his stage presence when he gave up the guitar.
    You have to be sitting in the front rows to really see him hiding behind that keyboard.
    I couldn't care less about Dylan's keyboard / piano playing, to be honest.
    I'm sure he does it out of necessity but it's still a disappointment, and I know most
    of the concert-attending public feels the same way.
     
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