(no subject)
My recommendation of the moment:
Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind
This is a later Bob Dylan album, released in 1997, and I can already hear you grumbling about how new Dylan sucks...but you might be surprised by this album, albeit after a few listens. I don't want to call the music 'minimalist,' but it's the best word that comes to mind. The album mostly showcases Dylan's lonesome old half-sung vocals as they ramble through bar after bar of simple guitar riffs backed with haunting strings and, in some cases, keyboards - but don't worry, there aren't too many corny riffs to speak of, and it's all mixed really well. There are some songs that just miss - it certainly doesn't open well with the 1-2 combination of "Love Sick" and "Dirt Road Blues," both of which seem to look for a more standard blues form that sounds too much like Dylan looking for (and failing to find) the magic of his old blues classics like "Tombstone Blues" or "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." The tone of the album really isn't found until the third track, "Standing in the Doorway," a long forlorn rambling song of an old unrequited love. His voice, haggard and beat and lonely, carries the song. When he finds that niche, it's unlike any Dylan you've heard before...a portrait of the artist as an old man. Worth a listen.
Best track: "Not Dark Yet"
Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind
This is a later Bob Dylan album, released in 1997, and I can already hear you grumbling about how new Dylan sucks...but you might be surprised by this album, albeit after a few listens. I don't want to call the music 'minimalist,' but it's the best word that comes to mind. The album mostly showcases Dylan's lonesome old half-sung vocals as they ramble through bar after bar of simple guitar riffs backed with haunting strings and, in some cases, keyboards - but don't worry, there aren't too many corny riffs to speak of, and it's all mixed really well. There are some songs that just miss - it certainly doesn't open well with the 1-2 combination of "Love Sick" and "Dirt Road Blues," both of which seem to look for a more standard blues form that sounds too much like Dylan looking for (and failing to find) the magic of his old blues classics like "Tombstone Blues" or "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues." The tone of the album really isn't found until the third track, "Standing in the Doorway," a long forlorn rambling song of an old unrequited love. His voice, haggard and beat and lonely, carries the song. When he finds that niche, it's unlike any Dylan you've heard before...a portrait of the artist as an old man. Worth a listen.
Best track: "Not Dark Yet"