Artists who are predominantly political get unfairly pegged by
\napathetic couch potatoes and activists as well. The couch potato
\njust wants the artist to shut their piehole(s) and stick to rocking
\nout. And activists get all bent out of shape when their favorite
\nartist looks inward instead of outward.<\/p>\n
U2 are prime examples of this. And I’m sure Rage Against The
\nMachine fans are going to get plenty pissed when the band writes a
\nsong addressing domestic relationships. Bob Dylan caught flack for
\ngoing electric and he also caught flack for looking inward in some
\nof his late ’60s and early ’70s material.<\/p>\n
Dylan had plenty to vent by the time
\nBlood On The Tracks<\/i> was ready to be recorded. Years after
\nhis motorcycle accident, Dylan released a couple of albums that
\ndidn’t register with critics or fans. In 1975, his best years were
\nlooking to be far behind him.<\/p>\n
That lack of confidence turned into what is arguably his
\nstrongest, most listenable album,
\nBlood On The Tracks<\/i>. The album opens up with one of the most
\ntouching songs Dylan ever wrote: “Tangled Up In Blue.” With Dylan’s
\nlyrics, there cannot be one true analysis of any song, but at the
\nsame time, everyone’s entitled to their opinion. The story, to me,
\nsounds like three characters who were full into the hippie
\nmovements of the ’60s facing some harsh realities of the ’70s.<\/p>\n
The main character in the song is a loveable drifter, still
\nhoping to recapture what made him feel alive some time ago. “All
\nthe people I used to know, they’re an illusion to me now,” Dylan
\nsings. The other two characters are a couple. The female is
\nsomewhat torn between her former life and what’s in the now. Her
\nguy realized that in order to pay the bills and have some shelter,
\nsomeone would have to sell out and “deal with slaves.”<\/p>\n
Dylan isn’t morose all of the time. “Lily, Rosemary And The Jack
\nOf Hearts” is a playful song that sounds way shorter than the
\neight-minute plus register on your CD player implies. And the
\nentire album has a very listenable quality to it. Dylan has usually
\nbeen a “lyrics first” kind of musician, but particular care was
\nmade on memorable choruses and ear-friendly guitar work.<\/p>\n
“Meet Me In The Morning” is a great example of Dylan’s attention
\nto the sound of a song as well as the lyrics. Both the percussion
\nand the guitar work follow a simple, folksy pattern. But they do
\nnot distract you from hearing Dylan’s lyrics.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most recognized track on
\nBlood On The Tracks<\/i> is the pensive “Shelter From The Storm.”
\nIn an age where arena rock, punk and disco were about to fight
\ntheir epic battle for chart supremacy, Dylan’s stubbornly prickly
\ntrack showed that Dylan would probably still be standing once those
\nthree fads faded away.<\/p>\n
Not many artists today would have been able to make
\nBlood On The Tracks<\/i>. After three so-so efforts, may artists
\nwould have been shopping around for a new label and booking
\nreservations for state fair performances. Fortunately, Dylan was
\nable to hold out until his creative muse returned. The world looked
\na lot different for Dylan in 1975, but fortunately,
\nBlood On The Tracks<\/i> is a timeless response to any rebel who
\nis not content with becoming a cultural relic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5866],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-36401","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bob-dylan","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36401"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}