Everybody Must Get Stoned (Bob Dylan in general)

Member Name: markhobbs

Product:	Bob Dylan in general
Date:	01/08/01 (145 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Best songwriter ever

Disadvantages: Had one or two bad periods

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to see Bob Dylan play live. I liked him a lot before the gig, but after it I worshipped him. For songs that were written thirty years ago to be relevant is amazing, for them to be still as fresh and exciting as they were when they were first played is something only the greatest of artists can achieve.

From the earlier songs, such as Blowin’ In the Wind, The Times They Are A Changin’ and Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, to It’s Not Dark Yet and Political World, it’s all meaningful and beautifully penned stuff. Sure, there’s been a lot of self indulgence, and the critics at times seem to be too much in awe to say anything bad about him, but it’s impossible to stay on the straight and narrow for forty years.

His first truly great album was Bringing It All Back Home, his first serious branching out to the electric guitar. This enraged some of the more diehard fans of his acoustic folk era; some went as far as issuing death threats to him. The fools. It kicks off with Subterranean Homesick Blues, a song which was just about the loudest thing around at the time, a far cry from the subtle acoustic work of his earlier work. The lyrics were even more thought provoking though, he really did mature in every respect on the album. The last four songs were acoustic though, and better songs you will not find: Mr. Tambourine Man, The Gates of Eden, It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) and It’s All Over Now Baby Blue. Breathtaking stuff.

Later in the same year he produced another masterpiece, Highway 61 Revisited. Among its nine songs was one of his most famous songs, Like A Rolling Stone. It’s mostly a piano led album, and is considered as one of the best albums ever lyrically.

But even these couldn’t prepare the world for what is perhaps the most critically album of all time. Blonde on Blonde is nothing short of an epic m
asterpiece. From the hilarious Rainy Day Women No’s 12 & 35 to the beautiful Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, every minute of this double record is a reminder of how important a medium music is. He possesses the ability to write a song that few have ever come near to, and perhaps will never be equalled again in our lifetime.

I’ve focused on these albums as these are the ones that changed music, the more important of his enviable back catalogue. I could of course mention Blood On the Tracks, Street Legal, Desire, Oh Mercy or Time Out of Mind, but hey, I don’t want to intimidate you, such amounts of good music can rarely be comprehended by us mere mortals. And he has a new album out on the eleventh of September. Oh I’m scared.

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