Ashes to Ashes: A reintroduction to my personal music library

Son of JayJamJah · 05-13-2009, 02:42 PM

Album #17: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
Bob Dylan
Genre: Folk
Dedicated to MB Member: Mirrorball95

Side one
1. "Blowin' in the Wind"
2. "Girl from the North Country"
3. "Masters of War"
4. "Down the Highway"
5. "Bob Dylan's Blues"
6. "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"

Side two
1. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
2. "Bob Dylan's Dream"
3. "Oxford Town"
4. "Talkin' World War III Blues"
5. "Corrina, Corrina"
6. "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance"
7. "I Shall Be Free"

One of the defining albums of a generation and it’s greatest spokesman’s career. Featuring two traditional folk songs and 11 of his first sensational originals all done with the timeless combination of thoughtfulness, sense of humour and effortlessness that is the signature of Bobby D. His second of now seemingly countless albums and for my money still his best. The Poignant plucking notes of “Girl from the North Country”, the poised presentation of “Bob Dylan’s Dream”, the profound prophecy of …Hard Rain…” and the consistency of the record as a whole. The foreboding snarl and circular musical dissension of “Masters of War”, the sprightly charm of “Oxford Town”, the musical and lyrical carnival that is “Talkin WWIII Blues” and the timing of this titanic release. “Don’t Think Twice” with it’s beautiful relaxing honesty is from the heart, “Down the Highway” is from the soul of a poet who speaks in riddles and metaphors, and “Corrina Corrina” is from the debut album’s spirit, a mostly cover song record. Is it “Bob Dylan’s Blues” the ironically joyful and hilarious song, “Honey Just allow me…” the possibly sincere and certainly sporadic plea for absolution or “I shall be free” and it’s self effacing charm matched with cutting wit, that tells the messengers message best? …discuss…
At times intense, at times pleasant at times poignant. Even his most ardent detractors who argue his yeoman-like but certainly not spectacular guitar and harmonica skills and less then rangy singing voice preclude him from being an all-time great must be softened in their stance by the diabolical sincerity that reigns from ever note. The people of the mid-1960s needed folk music, because they wanted to feel that someone heard them and wondered, cared, worried and wanted to change the same things they did. Their was no music banter, there wasn’t even Ipods, MTV didn’t exist yet, but if it did they’d have been playing music videos not win a venereal disease contests. Bob Dylan understood what they were going through because he and many of his less heralded counterparts of the era were going through it too.
Chances are most everyone here has heard the album a number of times and first heard it quite a longtime ago, those who haven’t probably don’t care to and probably aren’t reading this. That in mind, an editorial: What blows my mind about Dylan is how he has crossed the generations so seamlessly. Let’s face it there are a lot of folk singers and otherwise rockers of the era who’s stuff is a lot more accessible and instantly palatable when presented in a single song form. My first reaction, any maybe yours, is too suggest the saturation of his name and music on all the “best of” lists and “100 greatest…” etc et al. But that doesn’t explain my one-time student and Dylan admirer Andrew Festian, who loved the “New Morning” album more then anything else; Andrew had developed this adoration at the age of 15 in 2002. I conclude it’s something specific to the human condition, that we without knowing it, can connect with like minded, like principled and if you’ll excuse my departure from the pragmatic, similar spirited people of any generation or time.

“I catch dinosaurs, make love to Elizabeth Taylor, catch hell from Richard Burton.”