angelsighs wrote:it's a sign of good taste when an artist can leave an extremely strong song off an album when they know it just doesn't fit. some songs might be too overpowering on an album or ruin the flow...
Like 'Going Down Slow' being left off
Let it Come Down at the 11th hour?
Although I think that song could have been on there just before 'The Twelve Steps'... in place of 'Out of Sight' or not.
Anyway, back to Dylan:
Firstly, I don't believe the opinion that the NY sessions of
Blood on the Tracks were better than the finished pieces -
Dylan's brother was right!!! - I prefer the intricately layered version of 'Tangled Up In Blue' by far. However, as far as that album goes I also really love 'Meet Me In The Morning' - for me Dylan's often best when he's just cribbing the blues. The heavy blues in this case.
My thing with Dylan is that the generally accepted wisdom of his output rarely agrees with me - see any of his multiple 'Best Of' albums which are to me an exercise of "why did they leave X out?"
Even the aforementioned album - I can't stand 'Idiot Wind'. Yet it's often hailed as THE song from
Blood On The Tracks.
Same with
Highway 61 - for me the best songs on there are 'It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry', 'From A Buick 6' and 'Tombstone Blues' - these seem to be considered the 'filler' of this record (if such as thing is possibly with Bob) - no way.
'Tombstone Blues' - seen some mention here already (nice wan Ben) - I wish he'd done a whole album like that. Probably the garage rock album to end them all.
I agree that
Blonde on Blonde is a grower - it took me years to appreciate it as a whole and I now love it. I do think 'Just Like A Woman' sucks though. I will however state that in Dylan's case I am always happy and willing to be proved wrong...
Favourite albums?
Desire (maybe just for 'Isis'!)
Blonde On Blonde
Nashville Skyline
Modern Times
Highway 61
Planet Waves (first one I heard...)
I also really like the
Pat Garret OST and as far as live albums go I'll settle for
Hard Rain or the
"Royal Albert Hall" Bootleg Series album. Forgetting about
John Wesley Harding, which is brilliantly minimal (except for the words) and contains the immortal 'Drifters Escape' - did you know infamous Glasgow nightclub Nice N' Sleazys often plays that song in the midst of mad funk and dance tunes late on a Saturday - I've seen lots of people boogieing on down to that one, including me...!
Songs - ach, not enough time, but I remain convinced the BEST EVER Bob song is the unmastered, bootleg version of
'I'm Not There (1956)'
That song
is Dylan. Absolutely perfect...
Dylan for me took some time to really get into, but once you're there...
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