A few months ago, when I reviewed Bob Dylan’s
\nTime Out Of Mind<\/i>, I got some wonderful letters from Dylan
\nfans who made some suggestions as to which album I should review
\nnext. Since I’ve freely admitted that I don’t know a lot about
\nDylan, I welcomed the suggestions, and had some great dialogues
\nabout albums like
\nBlood On The Tracks<\/i> and
\nThe Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan<\/i>.<\/p>\n
But something kept gnawing at me, saying that I really wouldn’t
\nunderstand the progression of Dylan’s career until I went back to
\nthe first album, 1962’s
\nBob Dylan<\/i>, and worked my way up. One reader warned me that
\nit was a bit of a rough listen, but one that was well worth it.<\/p>\n
I’ll respectfully disagree with tha listener on the album’s
\nbeing rough; what this album captures is a 20-year-old folksinger
\nwho is finding his own voice by working through some time-honored
\nclassics. Although there are only two songs written by Dylan on
\nthis album, he adds enough of his own persona in the
\ninterpretations to make it sound like these all came from his pen.
\nIn short, it’s a surprisingly good album.<\/p>\n
The first thing that hits you about the songs on
\nBob Dylan<\/i> is that they’re almost always done with a fast
\ntempo. Yes, there are a few songs with a slower beat, but if I had
\none complaint, I would have liked a little more variety in the mood
\nof the songs. This, of course, would come with time and experience
\n– and I have to keep reminding myself that this was the work of a
\n20-year-old who was making his debut. So I’m willing to cut quite a
\nbit of slack.<\/p>\n
Besides, it’s not that the album disappoints. Tracks like “She’s
\nNo Good,” “Man Of Constant Sorrow,” “In My Time Of Dyin'” (a nice
\nsurprise to hear, seeing I grew up with Led Zeppelin’s version of
\nthis track) and “Pretty Peggy-O” (the first time I’ve ever heard a
\nversion of this that I could stand) all are wonderful portraits of
\nthe artist as a young man. Dylan’s vocals, while a little shaky at
\ntimes, do ring out clear as a bell, delivering the messages that
\nare in the songs as powerful as a cannon. Then again, there aren’t
\na lot of protest songs on
\nBob Dylan<\/i>; those would be forthcoming soon enough.<\/p>\n
I would have a hard time specifying which of the originals was
\nmy favorite. I admit I’m partial to “Talkin’ New York,” which
\nincludes even a bit of self-deprecating humor (one club owner
\nsupposedly tells Dylan he sounds “like a hillbilly” – which he kind
\nof does). The other, “Song To Woody,” is pleasant enough, though I
\nwouldn’t have gone out on a limb and said this marked the start of
\na superb artist. I would have just called it a good song and left
\nit at that.<\/p>\n
In true folksinger fashion, the only instruments you’ll hear on
\nBob Dylan<\/i> are acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals. It’s
\ninteresting to note that before I bought this album, I bought
\nThe Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan<\/i>, and had a hard time getting
\nthrough it because of the sparseness of the music. However, once I
\nhad listened to this tape a few times, it made
\nThe Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan<\/i> easier to accept – proof positive
\nthat starting at the beginning was a good idea. (Three guesses what
\nthe next Dylan album we’re going to review will be.)<\/p>\n
Granted,
\nBob Dylan<\/i> is the kind of album that the diehard fans will
\nwant to search out; I don’t think the casual fan or anyone who
\nknows Dylan’s work from the radio will be interested in this one
\nimmediately. But it is a powerful album that signaled, if not the
\nbirth of one of America’s most cherished songwriters, at least the
\ndebut of an incredible folksinger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5866],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39308","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bob-dylan","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39308","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39308"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}