John Wesley Harding<\/i> was the first album audiences heard from Bob Dylan after the iconic singer\/songwriter was in a motorcycle accident that gave the artist a major brush with mortality. In 1967 \u2013 less than a year before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, at the height of the Vietnam War and in a year where releases like The Velvet Underground And Nico<\/i> and The Beatles\u2019 Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band <\/i>were revolutionizing rock music, Bob Dylan took a huge step inward with John Wesley Harding<\/i>. <\/p>\n
The album was the follow-up to Blonde On Blonde<\/i>, an album known for its bombastic, anything-goes aesthetic. In contrast, John Wesley Harding<\/i> was subtle and low-key. It also signaled Bob Dylan\u2019s foray into country music. Politically, the album is rooted in the past, but themes of corruption and deceit could have easily been applied to the political climate of that year. <\/p>\n
It could be Dylan\u2019s state of mind after his accident, but John Wesley Harding<\/i> has an air of resignation like no other Dylan album before it. Even its biggest hit \u201cAll Along The Watchtower\u201d was almost immediately claimed by Jimi Hendrix with his blistering electric cover. <\/p>\n
It may have been the accident. It may have been the weariness of being burdened with the weight of being \u201cthe spokesman of a generation,\u201d but John Wesley Harding<\/i> is definitely an album that is more concerned with trying to find its place in the current environment rather than trying to pave a new path a la Highway 61 Revisited<\/i> or Blonde On Blonde<\/i>. The heavy acoustic elements of the album don\u2019t sound like an appeasement to his folk base who thought Dylan alienated when he went electric. It\u2019s more of a comfort album, foreshadowing his more laid-back late \u201860s and \u201870s albums such as Nashville Skyline<\/i> and New Morning<\/i>. <\/p>\n
However, just because the music isn\u2019t as revolutionary as Bob Dylan\u2019s mid-60s tear doesn\u2019t mean the lyrics are lacking. Much of John Wesley Harding<\/i> is storytelling at its finest. \u201cDear Landlord,\u201d \u201cI am a Lonesome Hobo\u201d and \u201cWicked Messenger\u201d are as sharp as anything Dylan has written before his accident. The only minor complaint against John Wesley Harding<\/i> is the lead-off track, which is probably one of the weakest tracks on the album. <\/p>\n
For its time, John Wesley Harding<\/i> may have sounded like a major disappointment for Dylan scholars. It came out at a time when Dylan\u2019s voice was needed more than ever. But instead of dropping a revolutionary manifesto, he dropped a rather quiet, introspective album that was more suited as comfort music in chaotic times. Already an artist who was beginning to be known for wearing a multitude of disguises, with John Wesley Harding<\/i> Bob Dylan was simply trying to find comfort in his own skin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5866],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40690","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bob-dylan","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40690","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=40690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40690"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}