I love “Desolation Row,” and I’m always happy when Bob passes the ten minute mark. we got:
“Key West (Philosopher Pirate)” — a dreamy meditation on life and finding meaning in the margins on the world
“Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands”— the world’s prettiest haunted love song
“Brownsville Girl” — in running for funniest song ever. a guy describing a movie he can’t quite remember, and a road trip with a lost love, while the stories bleed together like repeating dreams. made complete by Kanye-style blasts of gospel choir.
“Highlands” — a guy wanders around and flirts/argues with a diner waitress? ok idk this one is for the heads.
And of course “Murder Most Foul” —
17 minutes of Fiona Apple piano and Bob narrating the moment of JFK’s demise, a nation betrayed and sentenced to pay, its cultural history collapsing in on itself at the start of a new age.
Oct 8, 2024
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ive listened to this album one hundred times over and it never gets old. beautifully joan baez joined in a couple songs at the end for some of the best duets ive ever heard. this album is also very fun to play on the guitar and that is good news for me. the lonesome death of hattie carroll and who killed davey moore rattle around perpetually in my skull.
i hope you are well, friend.
Feb 20, 2025
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really into BOB DYLAN right now
Nov 10, 2024
A little overlooked and a little maligned as being part of that period in Bob’s career (starting after the motorcycle incident) where he ended his streak of revolutionary albums (that had his contemporaries in a constant chokehold from ‘63-‘66), and instead began turning inwards; a little more pastoral, a little more run-down and homey. Whatever, he could’ve stopped after Visions of Johanna, anything after is a blessing. It pains me when people treat this as pedestrian or unessential music. Close to John Wesley Harding in sound and aesthetic but more honest and not as interested in folk-mythmaking. This is like his McCartney, total domestic bliss and joie de vivre. Sign On The Window is my favourite.
Hopefully gets some reappraisal after Timmy covered Three Angels on SNL.
Feb 10, 2025
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