The folk music world had fallen in love with this kid Dylan, who was seen as the heir to Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. He had become very famous, both for his own records and other artists covering his songs. In doing so modern folk music became much more famous. So what does Dylan do with when all these well meaning sentiments are coming his way? He throws away the love of the folk music world and heads towards a blues-rock sound. At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival he and his friends from The Paul Butterfield Blues Band ripped through "Maggie's Farm" and "Like a Rolling Stone." Many were incensed that Dylan did not continue the path groomed for him, that of the next great troubadour. That was just the first time the world learned you can't predict Dylan's next move. Folk music's loss was the rest of the world's gain as the next three albums feature some of the most passionate and compelling music he has ever made. I'll be covering those albums, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde as well the live album The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (actually recorded at the Manchester Free Trade Hall). Many consider them the high point of Dylan's whole career. I know I do. It can be said that over forty years from then Dylan is still living in the shadow of this work. In fact, the works are so complex I'm actually going to devote one post to each album lest I write one giant blog post that's impossible to read (if doesn't kill me that is).
Bringing It All Back Home opens with a song that represents why it was so important Dylan made the leap to rock 'n' roll. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" filters Dylan's satirical point-of-view through the sound of Chuck Berry, specifically the song "Too Much Monkey Business" which features a similar rapid-fire lyrical attack. There's a certain mania in the song that's transferred from Dylan and his band to the listener as the song rollicks along. The sound corresponds to words of hectic modern urban life. There actual is a version of the song that's just Dylan and acoustic guitar that's available on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare and Unreleased). The message isn't felt when it's just one person churning out a "rag" type number. Those lyrics need a backbeat behind them. The electric guitar licks don't hurt, either. If Dylan was going to reflect the times he lived in he need that rock 'n' roll energy behind him.
Listen to the acoustic "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
All that being said I must admit I prefer the acoustic side of Brining It All Back Home to the electric one. I'm madly in love with "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "Maggie's Farm" but Dylan and his cohorts don't sound comfortable here. The collaboration with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band at Newport didn't continue to this record. Instead of having one of the best blues-rock combos in the country to back him up Dylan uses a random assortment of friends that had to work under Dylan's rather spontaneous recording style. For that reason or maybe others the band never gets into the right groove with each other. There isn't a lot of creativity or great musicianship on display here. As much as I love the two aforementioned songs they pretty much sound like the same thing with different lyrics over them. The only other great song on the electric side is "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" which showcases the romantic side of Dylan's abstract beat poet persona.
The acoustic songs of side two may not be too different from Dylan's earlier work in terms of instrumentation but they also serve as an evolution in his approach to music. "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Gates of Eden," "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" unleashes a Dylan with far greater vision than what we've heard in the past. When the first three of those songs listed were played a year earlier at the Philharmonic Hall (on the live album I touched on in the last installment) they stood part from the rest of the material in their depth and attitude. Dylan could get angry, listen to "Masters of War," but now that accusatory language was combined with a sense of contemplation that never existed before. Sometimes the lyrics are so surreal they seem impenetrable but the imagery is so strong it doesn't feel like just a parade of oddities. They grab you as tight as anything from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan but now leave you with an uneasy feeling that's hard to shake. "Gates of Eden" is bewildering but it ends this way: "At times I think there are no words/But these to tell what's true/And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden." Dylan is asking how can the folk singer's job of telling it like it is, something Guthrie and Seeger always strove to do, be applicable in a world where that's becoming increasingly fractured and manipulated. By the time of the mid-'60s Dylan feels that it is the one who sounds the craziest that's the most sane in this world. This is the reason that these songs ring true for me far more than any of Dylan's earlier work even though they are dense and strange.
The greatest indictment of society Dylan ever released is found in "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)." It strikes a perfect balance employing poetic language and being clear about what the target is here. The target is everything. According to Dylan commerce, the arts, religion, education and a million other factors are draining the human soul. Early in the song he tells us "There is no sense in trying" and "That he not busy being born is busy dying." Misanthropy drips from every stanza. The choruses are meant to provide some kid of relief, the narrator telling his Ma that it's alright. But they seem to be both sarcastic and posses a forsaken feeling, that the narrator has resigned to the fate of existence. The only way Dylan could top it is if he made it his last song. Not on the album but in life.
Thankfully it wasn't. Instead Dylan provided us what I think is his best album Highway 61 Revisited. I'll write more about this in the next Dylan Days post but I've been toying with the idea that the music made during this phase of Dylan's career is "punk rock." I'm uncomfortable when critics retroactively assign music as punk, be it '60s garage band music or '50s rockabilly. But, since I just found out how to embed files onto my blog, listen to this recording of "Maggie's Farm" from that infamous day at Newport and tell me if you think it would have a chance at CBGB's in 1977. I think it would.
