Every writer is allowed the odd tired line, I’m sure this review will be full of them, and indeed it will have no shortage of irate Dylan fans pointing out its manifold shortcomings. However if "Beyond Here Lies Nothing" is disappointment, then the next track is so bereft of melodic or lyrical interest that incredulity it was thought fit for public consumption is the only emotion that it is capable of arousing. The dreariest blues plod possible, just frankly torturous to endure. Things improve little for "My Wife’s Home Town," guess where that it is, yes it is hell and we have a Bob Dylan song based around some ancient misogynistic joke.
Part of the vocabulary of the blues you say, well possibly, but not based around a ‘bad–wife’ joke so lame Rodney Dangerfield wouldn’t have bothered to use it. The pace remains remorselessly moribund and even the much-heralded accordion can do little to ward off the growing feeling that one is suddenly suffering from chronic narcolepsy.
Things improve slightly for "If You Ever Go To Houston," though to call the vamp that backs the lyric simplistic would be to over-complicate it, inoffensive but ultimately pointless, and moreover a track that should have no place on a Bob Dylan album. By the time we get to "Jolene" for the first time in my life I’m really hoping it’s ‘Bob does Dolly’ time, and I am not surprised to be disappointed this time around. There is just nothing here to praise; it is arguably the most depressing album I have ever heard.
The lyrical highlight to most reviewers is the couplet from "I Feel A change Coming On," ‘I’m a listening to Billy Joe Shaver and I’m reading James Joyce’. However, this actually highlights exactly what is wrong with the entire record, once upon a time Bob Dylan had T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound fighting in the captain’s tower, he juxtaposed the prosaic and the profound. James Joyce should be on a trapeze with Prometheus under a hunters moon; Billy Joe Shaver should be shooting craps with Hunter S. Thompson while Dante keeps the score. What they should not be doing is what is obvious: being listened to, and being read, anybody can have them do that. The whole point of Bob Dylan is he never took the easy road, not every record was great, but they are (almost) all the kind of interesting that used to demand a bottle of single malt and a dark night of the soul, so as you could get acquainted with the wonders of a new Bob Dylan record. Bob knew it, just as we did to: ‘No one else could play that tune, you know it was up to me’
Article comments
1 - Duane Barlow
Great review, thank you!
2 - michael
Bad Dylan records have a habit of sounding a whole lot better years later in the context of what else was around at the time.... I think your comments whilst valid maybe say more about you than Dylan
3 - Bill
You're right. "Together through life" is a disaster. It really stinks. And I,too, am a lifer when it comes to my appreciation for Mr. Dylan and his contributions to pop music. He's #1.
4 - Thad Williamson
maybe just a little harsh, an over-reaction to what I agree have been inexplicably positive reviews. Unlike Down in the Groove, however, this is listenable. (And "Dylan" I don't think was so bad at all if you understood it for what it was, a bunch of outtakes thrown together by the record company to fulfill a contract. I think "Knocked Out Loaded" is a better choice for the worst 3 Dylan records.)
I do take issue with the put-down of "It's All Good." No it's not a great song but it's not bad and is fairly entertaining.
Given that the lyrics are generally uninspiring and uninteresting (Robert Hunter being the thread connecting this with DITG), what's more disappointing is that the music--not just the melody, but the arrangement--is just so dull. The accordion on "if you ever go to houston" plays the same thing over and over the whole song, no variation, plus it's mixed to loud and drowns out the vocal.
I have hope that some of these songs will sound okay in concert. It has happened before with Dylan. Plus, the Theme Time Radio Hour and the video interview on the deluxe package are both pretty sweet.
Overall though, a disappointment.
5 - Nigel Simons
An unbalanced love of Brownsville Girl saved it from that top 3, but a good point, and I nearly put Knocked Out in there in spite of BG.
All the comments to this piece have been fair and measured, which is not what you would expect for a negative Dylan review. I just found it interesting that non of the many rabid Dylan fans I know thought it as good as promised by the reviews, and were mostly disappointed.
I just hope no new Dylan fans buy this number one album with the awesome reviews and wonder what all the fuss is bout, and miss out on the greatest body of work in popular music.
I'd also argue that any artist has highs and lows in their work, and one gives a perspective on the other. Even the bard wrote a few plays that are not that well thought of, which leads to Timeon adds to the genius of Lear type arguments.
Its when the lows are celebrated more than the highs that I start to get a bit worried that all perspective is lost.
Now, how long to wait for the next one?
6 - jay
The man has seriously lost his mojo. Perhaps he should treat his wife better.
7 - jonnyra
I find the album quite good. You can trash it all you want...your choice. I have been a lifelong Dylan fan and while I would not rank with his greats (you know the list) to trash TTL like this is just childish. I listen, I groove and I listen again. And will keep doing that for a while me thinks.
8 - michael
Look , it's not Highway 61 but it's not that bad,in fact I don't agree at all that it's in his worst three (if there ever was a worst three) ....the guy's 68 years old and he's just scored a No 1 ....we're not going to see the likes of him again and when everything's tallied up 50 years from now everyone who made these derogatory comments are going to be doing their best to deny it...by the way my fav Dylan albums are jwh ,Street Legal and infidels...I know they're not his best albums but theyre the ones I'd crawl across cut glass for
9 - Garry
I thought it must have been just my wife and I being out of synchronicity with the rest of the world, listening perhaps through "knowing" Dylan super-fan superior ears. I too am worried that Bob might believe the reviews and he will have no direction home for his next album