LIVE: Bob Dylan w/Mark Knopfler @ The Verizon Center - 11/21/12

Photo courtesy of John Buckley
There was massive outcry from Bob Dylan’s fans when during the 1965 Newport Folk Festival he enlisted Mike Bloomfield of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band to play electric guitar. Dylan himself “plugged in” not long after, and even though it led to two of the greatest records of all time (Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde) fans decried Dylan’s switch from acoustic to electric, even though the writing had been on the wall for some time.

Causing less of an uproar, apparently, is Dylan’s fairly recent decision to abandon guitar altogether. Not once during his 90 minute set at Verizon Center on Tuesday did he strum a guitar, sticking primarily to piano and occasionally blowing his harmonica. His formidable harmonica playing was the closest he got to sounding like “old” Dylan, as his voice, which was the focus of so many reviews of his most recent album, Tempest, often seemed to fail him in concert as much as it does on the album.

Which isn’t to say his performance was bad – even after 50 years of performing, Dylan still seems to enjoy himself, even though he rarely acknowledges he’s performing in front of an actual audience. His band was stellar, old songs are reworked in both good and bad ways, his vocal flourishes – such as adding the occasional “how ‘bout that” and “I’ll tell ya” to lyrics everyone knows – bring a smile, and the riverboat gambler appearance he’s cultivated since the late 90s (wide-brimmed hat, bolo tie, pants with a flaming red stripe down the side) make him look like the legend he is.

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Episode 15: No Pantses Required

In which the gang takes a trip to late night radio, pants become an optional accessory and the winner of the Bob Dylan growl-alike contest is finally announced. PLUS!!! Discussion of new music from David Byrne and St. Vincent, The XX, David Wax Museum and some guy that goes by the name of Zimmerman. 

Episode 15: No Pantses Required"

REVIEWED

Bob Dylan
Tempest

Spotify

Kevin:

Andre:

Carrie:

Justin:

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The XX
Coexist

Rdio | Spotify

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Andre:

Carrie:

Justin:

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David Byrne & St. Vincent
Love This Giant

Rdio | Spotify

Kevin:

Andre:

Carrie:

Justin:

PASS

STREAM IT

PASS

STREAM IT

David Wax Museum
Knock Knock Get Up

Spotify

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Andre:

Carrie:

Justin:

BUY IT

BUY IT

BUY IT

BUY IT

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REVIEW: Bob Dylan - Tempest

These days, new Bob Dylan records are often compared to his material from 1997 or later. The album he released that year, Time Out of Mind, was hailed as yet another Dylan comeback and another in a long line of his chosen identities, this one the journeyman musician who could still write and record a spectacular song, and who was well aware of his fame but also his own mortality (“it’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there”). The Dylan of the 60’s was in there somewhere, but after telling us that he “used to care, but things have changed,” it was time to for a new scale on which to judge his music.

Since then, it’s been a 15-year streak that has been remarkably consistent. Listen to any of his four previous albums (not including his highly tongue-in-cheek 2009 Christmas album) and you’ll hear songs that have remarkably simple construction – verse/chorus/verse/repeat 4-30 times – mixed with his increasingly simple yet still playful lyrics and a voice that gets more gravelly every year. Any one song on these post-1997 records would fit perfectly on the others. That’s not to say there aren’t standouts; “Mississippi” on Love and Theft and “Workingman’s Blues #2” on Modern Times rank among the best Dylan has ever recorded.

All of this is to say the bar is set high for Dylan’s 35^th studio album, Tempest, and sadly, it falls short. It’s certainly an ambitious project – five of the 10 songs are over seven minutes, and one is nearly 14 – but there is no cohesion between the songs, nor is there a standout track.

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