Bob Dylan signed with the Asylum label in 1973 after a decade with Columbia. The re-action by Columbia was to assemble a number of outtakes and release them in late 1973 as the new Bob Dylan album. Dylan would prove to be the weakest studio album of Dylan’s career.
His Asylum label debut, Planet Waves, was released Jan. 17, 1974 and became his first number one album in the United States. Take that Columbia.
It is mostly a mellow rock album of personal lyrics and love songs. The album has a good, calm feel to it and has grown on me over the years. Sometimes this release is overlooked as it precedes the brilliant Blood On The Tracks. While it may not be its equal, it does remain a very good release.
Dylan would use The Band in the studio for backing on these tracks and the results are superb. They would tour in support of this release. It would be his first major tour in over six years and would gross over 90 million dollars.
“Forever Young” remains one of my favorite Dylan songs. It is far removed from his obscure lyrics of the 1960’s. This ballad was supposedly written for his children and if that is true then it was a gift. The brilliance of the words is in the wish that they will stay “Forever Young” yet there is a poignancy knowing that cannot be. Joan Baez would provide a superb cover of this song on her Diamonds and Rust album.
Dylan released two versions of this song on Planet Waves. The CD versions of this album place the two tracks back to back and they lose something of the original intent. The 1974 vinyl album release places one version as the last song on side one and the other leads off side two. This spacing increases the impact of both tracks.
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Article comments
1 - dylanologist
since when did "reaction" get a hyphen?
2 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Good review for what was indeed an often overlooked album. Highlights for me have always been "Tough Mama" and “Going, Going, Gone.”
3 - tim
Baez did not include Forever Young on her Diamonds & Rust album. It was only released as a single and on her live "From All Stages" album.
Simple Twist of Fate was included on the D&R package though, complete with her first recorded Dylan impersonation.
4 - kevin cramsey
There are definitely some hidden treasures on this album. "Something There is About You" and "Never say Goodbye" are beautiful, mid-tempo nostalgia-tinged pieces. You almost never hear about these songs. The familiar-style of the Band back in their old role of Dylan backing band has a lot to do with the success of this album. It runs out of steam near the end with "Dirge" and "Wedding Song," I feel, mainly because they are more or less solo tunes without band accompaniment.