blind-blake

Way to go, Lon, you sly dog. Using that beautiful quote was a pretty crafty move. Best of luck to you both.

Nice work MBL!

Dylan seems to have written a lot of his lyrics to fit his own voice and phrasing, and so what looks on the page like a rhyme that doesn't work, ends up sounding perfectly fine when he performs it. One thing I love about his lyrics is the chance-taking and humor he uses in his rhymes, like pairing Honalul-lah with Ashtabula in "You're gonna make me lonesome when you go." Dylan also read a lot of free verse poetry, and of course he listened to a lot of blues and country, where perfectly formed rhymes were less important than the overall presentation and emotional content. Dylan obviously didn't emulate conservative lyricists, like Gilbert and Sullivan, whose rhyming schemes had to be perfectly in sync, but that's part of Dylan's coolness, in my opinion. In part, that's why I posted "Foot of pride" above, which, for me, really demonstrates the rugged appeal of his words. And it's hard to resist (for me, anyway) the sarcasm, barely concealed anger, and gospel fervor of this song. The two I posted from "Blood on the "Tracks" get across Dylan's enormously powerful but unsappy way with love songs. I also REALLY like the "On the Road," Beat Generation imagery of "Tangled Up in Blue." Dylan's "impossible-to-understand" lyrics probably came out of his deep appreciation for Rimbaud, whose New Vision approach, which was taken up by the Beats and other modern poets, was in large part about uninhibited self-expression. Got more to say here, but need to take my kid to the movies. not sure any of us know what "diddy wah diddy" means blake but i'll grant you're a Dylan enthusiast. i used to make similarly impassioned pleas for, oh i dunno... "Just Like Tom T. Hall Blues"? "New Danville Girl"? (the original recording, not the retitled "Knocked Out Loaded" abortion.) maybe even some demo version of "Caribbean Wind"? this last, from a period of misdirection, true. Both Allen Ginsberg/Dylan "Vomit Express" and Danko/Grogan "Java Blues" are far more sustaining. at his best, Dylan has come up with some novel combinations of prosody, image etc... he's also come up with A LOT banal dogshit-- some of which is redeemed by inspired musical performances (again, return to Paul Williams, not some slumming English professor, for details), much of which is not. This is why Dylan's albums since the vigorous "Love And Theft" suck-- cornball readymades straight up & down, on the page & in the air. Cultists may find glimmers but please... In a vast world of now easily accessible musical & literary achievement, why bother? And in a world of brilliantly layered English/Scots ballads & world folktales and literature (try the "Baghavad Gita" or Cao Xueqin "Dream of the Red Chamber" for starters) why did anyone ever bother with garbage like "Lily, Rosemary and Jack of Hearts"? "Roll On, John" is of course deathless, yuk yuk yuk, Leos Janacek only wishes he'd been so aged & vital. Dylan's "Titanic" is so fucking awful, on every possible level, it's almost enough to make one wish they had gone down with the great ship etc. Even at Dylan's peak btw, one was then and is now vastly better off reading any random dozen Grove Press/Evergreen books than thinking too hard about Dylan's meaning, which is almost invariably trite or commonplace. At certain times, with certain bands, the music-- and singing-- is engaging: 1963-1966; 1967 ("John Wesley Harding," mostly NOT "The Basement Tapes"-- a handful of good songs & lotsa dross-- & definitely not garbage like "Nashville Skyline")... then the great Elvis-influenced gospel bands (the words were mostly silly/doctrine but the live, with the sermons & backup singers etc, the songs cooked). white people LOVE the song Blind Willie McTell... puts such gauzey sepia tint on the remarkable life of a sophisticated black artist/entertainer one needn't even consider it real, oops. Far less a "tribute," it's insecure yet arrogant Dylan pining for approbation, worth by association he in no way deserves. Matty Merle Dylan seems to have written a lot of his lyrics to fit his own voice and phrasing, and so what looks on the page like a rhyme that doesn't work, ends up sounding perfectly fine when he performs it. One thing I love about his lyrics is the chance-taking and humor he uses in his rhymes, like pairing Honalul-lah with Ashtabula in "You're gonna make me lonesome when you go." Dylan also read a lot of free verse poetry, and of course he listened to a lot of blues and country, where perfectly formed rhymes were less important than the overall presentation and emotional content. Dylan obviously didn't emulate conservative lyricists, like Gilbert and Sullivan, whose rhyming schemes had to be perfectly in sync, but that's part of Dylan's coolness, in my opinion. In part, that's why I posted "Foot of pride" above, which, for me, really demonstrates the rugged appeal of his words. And it's hard to resist (for me, anyway) the sarcasm, barely concealed anger, and gospel fervor of this song. The two I posted from "Blood on the "Tracks" get across Dylan's enormously powerful but unsappy way with love songs. I also REALLY like the "On the Road," Beat Generation imagery of "Tangled Up in Blue." Dylan's "impossible-to-understand" lyrics probably came out of his deep appreciation for Rimbaud, whose New Vision approach, which was taken up by the Beats and other modern poets, was in large part about uninhibited self-expression. Got more to say here, but need to take my kid to the movies. not sure any of us know what "diddy wah diddy" means blake but i'll grant you're a Dylan enthusiast. i used to make similarly impassioned pleas for, oh i dunno... "Just Like Tom T. Hall Blues"? "New Danville Girl"? (the original recording, not the retitled "Knocked Out Loaded" abortion.) maybe even some demo version of "Caribbean Wind"? this last, from a period of misdirection, true. Both Allen Ginsberg/Dylan "Vomit Express" and Danko/Grogan "Java Blues" are far more sustaining. at his best, Dylan has come up with some novel combinations of prosody, image etc... he's also come up with A LOT banal dogshit-- some of which is redeemed by inspired musical performances (again, return to Paul Williams, not some slumming English professor, for details), much of which is not. This is why Dylan's albums since the vigorous "Love And Theft" suck-- cornball readymades straight up & down, on the page & in the air. Cultists may find glimmers but please... In a vast world of now easily accessible musical & literary achievement, why bother? And in a world of brilliantly layered English/Scots ballads & world folktales and literature (try the "Baghavad Gita" or Cao Xueqin "Dream of the Red Chamber" for starters) why did anyone ever bother with garbage like "Lily, Rosemary and Jack of Hearts"? "Roll On, John" is of course deathless, yuk yuk yuk, Leos Janacek only wishes he'd been so aged & vital. Dylan's "Titanic" is so fucking awful, on every possible level, it's almost enough to make one wish they had gone down with the great ship etc. Even at Dylan's peak btw, one was then and is now vastly better off reading any random dozen Grove Press/Evergreen books than thinking too hard about Dylan's meaning, which is almost invariably trite or commonplace. At certain times, with certain bands, the music-- and singing-- is engaging: 1963-1966; 1967 ("John Wesley Harding," mostly NOT "The Basement Tapes"-- a handful of good songs & lotsa dross-- & definitely not garbage like "Nashville Skyline")... then the great Elvis-influenced gospel bands (the words were mostly silly/doctrine but the live, with the sermons & backup singers etc, the songs cooked). white people LOVE the song Blind Willie McTell... puts such gauzey sepia tint on the remarkable life of a sophisticated black artist/entertainer one needn't even consider it real, oops. Far less a "tribute," it's insecure yet arrogant Dylan pining for approbation, worth by association he in no way deserves. Matty Merle For someone who doesn't like Dylan's music very much, you sure seem to listen to a lot of it. I'll try and respond later.OK. I'm guessing you're just yanking our chains, but I'll play along. First off: No Dylan, then no Fairport Convention, no fully formed Beatles or Rolling Stones, no Jimi Hendrix, no folk rock, no country rock, no Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and similar singer-songwriters, no shit loads of good music. Dylan infused a new poetry and artistry into songwriting that simply had not existed before. He brought the language of Rimbaud, Verlaine, Baudelaire, the Beats, and the Black Mountain poets to popular song, resulting in a radical change in music-making that was felt around the world. Was there ever a more important figure in American popular songwriting than Dylan? To say that he simply came up with some "novel prosody, imagery, etc." is just ridiculous (and my guess is you probably know that). Secondly, Dylan IS inconsistent. (While I love the lyrics to Girl from the North Country, the version with Johnny Cash may be the single worst vocal performance of all time.) Dylan readily acknowledges this inconsistency himself. But there are few artists that don't produce at least some clunkers. As much as I love Coltane, Bud, Armstrong, and Miles, I cannot in all honestly say that everything they recorded is prime stuff. And as many chances as he took and as many times as he reinvented himself (from the Greenwich Village folkie Dylan to the rock and roll iconoclast Dylan to the Nashville Skyline Dylan and the fire-and-brimstone gospel preacher Dylan), it's no wonder there are some artistic failures. However, when he did succeed (which was more often than not, in my opinion), he could be truly amazing. Freewheelin', John Wesley Harding, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, Another Side Of, the Royal Albert Hall Bootleg, the Basement Tapes -- the list of acknowledged album classics that Dylan created is staggering. I personally consider some his recent work of similar quality. Not all Dylan is to everyone's taste, and that's cool. There were fans and reviewers who hated Dylan at virtually every phase of his career. But many eventually came to appreciate some of the music they had missed the first time around. My guess is they'll do the same for his later work and the work yet to come. I think Love and Theft, Time Out of Mind, Oh Mercy, and Modern Times contain some of his best ever stuff. Finally, I have to take exception to your judgement of "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts." The whole Wild West saloon thing, the guys drilling into the bank: It's the Marx brothers meets Gunsmoke. It's a great song, IMHO. Love Fairport's Matty Groves, by the way! Just noticed this: "...every song on "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" and "Pour Down Like Silver" are greater, in every possible way except callow verbosity, than any on "Blood On The Tracks"." While I really like and admire Richard Thompson and think "I Want to See the Bright Lights" is a great album, this is just a silly statement. I think even Richard Thompson would admit that. Man, you're funny. I've got to admit, I kinda like the in-your-face criticisms you post. They certainly generate conversation (and gnashing of teeth). You're definitely the reigning Dark Lord of the Organissimo forum.

Dylan seems to have written a lot of his lyrics to fit his own voice and phrasing, and so what looks on the page like a rhyme that doesn't work, ends up sounding perfectly fine when he performs it. One thing I love about his lyrics is the chance-taking and humor he uses in his rhymes, like pairing Honalul-lah with Ashtabula in "You're gonna make me lonesome when you go." Dylan also read a lot of free verse poetry, and of course he listened to a lot of blues and country, where perfectly formed rhymes were less important than the overall presentation and emotional content. Dylan obviously didn't emulate conservative lyricists, like Gilbert and Sullivan, whose rhyming schemes had to be perfectly in sync, but that's part of Dylan's coolness, in my opinion. In part, that's why I posted "Foot of pride" above, which, for me, really demonstrates the rugged appeal of his words. And it's hard to resist (for me, anyway) the sarcasm, barely concealed anger, and gospel fervor of this song. The two I posted from "Blood on the "Tracks" get across Dylan's enormously powerful but unsappy way with love songs. I also REALLY like the "On the Road," Beat Generation imagery of "Tangled Up in Blue." Dylan's "impossible-to-understand" lyrics probably came out of his deep appreciation for Rimbaud, whose New Vision approach, which was taken up by the Beats and other modern poets, was in large part about uninhibited self-expression. Got more to say here, but need to take my kid to the movies. not sure any of us know what "diddy wah diddy" means blake but i'll grant you're a Dylan enthusiast. i used to make similarly impassioned pleas for, oh i dunno... "Just Like Tom T. Hall Blues"? "New Danville Girl"? (the original recording, not the retitled "Knocked Out Loaded" abortion.) maybe even some demo version of "Caribbean Wind"? this last, from a period of misdirection, true. Both Allen Ginsberg/Dylan "Vomit Express" and Danko/Grogan "Java Blues" are far more sustaining. at his best, Dylan has come up with some novel combinations of prosody, image etc... he's also come up with A LOT banal dogshit-- some of which is redeemed by inspired musical performances (again, return to Paul Williams, not some slumming English professor, for details), much of which is not. This is why Dylan's albums since the vigorous "Love And Theft" suck-- cornball readymades straight up & down, on the page & in the air. Cultists may find glimmers but please... In a vast world of now easily accessible musical & literary achievement, why bother? And in a world of brilliantly layered English/Scots ballads & world folktales and literature (try the "Baghavad Gita" or Cao Xueqin "Dream of the Red Chamber" for starters) why did anyone ever bother with garbage like "Lily, Rosemary and Jack of Hearts"? "Roll On, John" is of course deathless, yuk yuk yuk, Leos Janacek only wishes he'd been so aged & vital. Dylan's "Titanic" is so fucking awful, on every possible level, it's almost enough to make one wish they had gone down with the great ship etc. Even at Dylan's peak btw, one was then and is now vastly better off reading any random dozen Grove Press/Evergreen books than thinking too hard about Dylan's meaning, which is almost invariably trite or commonplace. At certain times, with certain bands, the music-- and singing-- is engaging: 1963-1966; 1967 ("John Wesley Harding," mostly NOT "The Basement Tapes"-- a handful of good songs & lotsa dross-- & definitely not garbage like "Nashville Skyline")... then the great Elvis-influenced gospel bands (the words were mostly silly/doctrine but the live, with the sermons & backup singers etc, the songs cooked). white people LOVE the song Blind Willie McTell... puts such gauzey sepia tint on the remarkable life of a sophisticated black artist/entertainer one needn't even consider it real, oops. Far less a "tribute," it's insecure yet arrogant Dylan pining for approbation, worth by association he in no way deserves. Matty Merle Dylan seems to have written a lot of his lyrics to fit his own voice and phrasing, and so what looks on the page like a rhyme that doesn't work, ends up sounding perfectly fine when he performs it. One thing I love about his lyrics is the chance-taking and humor he uses in his rhymes, like pairing Honalul-lah with Ashtabula in "You're gonna make me lonesome when you go." Dylan also read a lot of free verse poetry, and of course he listened to a lot of blues and country, where perfectly formed rhymes were less important than the overall presentation and emotional content. Dylan obviously didn't emulate conservative lyricists, like Gilbert and Sullivan, whose rhyming schemes had to be perfectly in sync, but that's part of Dylan's coolness, in my opinion. In part, that's why I posted "Foot of pride" above, which, for me, really demonstrates the rugged appeal of his words. And it's hard to resist (for me, anyway) the sarcasm, barely concealed anger, and gospel fervor of this song. The two I posted from "Blood on the "Tracks" get across Dylan's enormously powerful but unsappy way with love songs. I also REALLY like the "On the Road," Beat Generation imagery of "Tangled Up in Blue." Dylan's "impossible-to-understand" lyrics probably came out of his deep appreciation for Rimbaud, whose New Vision approach, which was taken up by the Beats and other modern poets, was in large part about uninhibited self-expression. Got more to say here, but need to take my kid to the movies. not sure any of us know what "diddy wah diddy" means blake but i'll grant you're a Dylan enthusiast. i used to make similarly impassioned pleas for, oh i dunno... "Just Like Tom T. Hall Blues"? "New Danville Girl"? (the original recording, not the retitled "Knocked Out Loaded" abortion.) maybe even some demo version of "Caribbean Wind"? this last, from a period of misdirection, true. Both Allen Ginsberg/Dylan "Vomit Express" and Danko/Grogan "Java Blues" are far more sustaining. at his best, Dylan has come up with some novel combinations of prosody, image etc... he's also come up with A LOT banal dogshit-- some of which is redeemed by inspired musical performances (again, return to Paul Williams, not some slumming English professor, for details), much of which is not. This is why Dylan's albums since the vigorous "Love And Theft" suck-- cornball readymades straight up & down, on the page & in the air. Cultists may find glimmers but please... In a vast world of now easily accessible musical & literary achievement, why bother? And in a world of brilliantly layered English/Scots ballads & world folktales and literature (try the "Baghavad Gita" or Cao Xueqin "Dream of the Red Chamber" for starters) why did anyone ever bother with garbage like "Lily, Rosemary and Jack of Hearts"? "Roll On, John" is of course deathless, yuk yuk yuk, Leos Janacek only wishes he'd been so aged & vital. Dylan's "Titanic" is so fucking awful, on every possible level, it's almost enough to make one wish they had gone down with the great ship etc. Even at Dylan's peak btw, one was then and is now vastly better off reading any random dozen Grove Press/Evergreen books than thinking too hard about Dylan's meaning, which is almost invariably trite or commonplace. At certain times, with certain bands, the music-- and singing-- is engaging: 1963-1966; 1967 ("John Wesley Harding," mostly NOT "The Basement Tapes"-- a handful of good songs & lotsa dross-- & definitely not garbage like "Nashville Skyline")... then the great Elvis-influenced gospel bands (the words were mostly silly/doctrine but the live, with the sermons & backup singers etc, the songs cooked). white people LOVE the song Blind Willie McTell... puts such gauzey sepia tint on the remarkable life of a sophisticated black artist/entertainer one needn't even consider it real, oops. Far less a "tribute," it's insecure yet arrogant Dylan pining for approbation, worth by association he in no way deserves. Matty Merle For some who doesn't like Dylan's music very much, you sure seem to listen to a lot of it. I'll try and respond later.

Dylan seems to have written a lot of his lyrics to fit his own voice and phrasing, and so what looks on the page like a rhyme that doesn't work, ends up sounding perfectly fine when he performs it. One thing I love about his lyrics is the chance-taking and humor he uses in his rhymes, like pairing Honalul-lah with Ashtabula in "You're gonna make me lonesome when you go." Dylan also read a lot of free verse poetry, and of course he listened to a lot of blues and country, where perfectly formed rhymes were less important than the overall presentation and emotional content. Dylan obviously didn't emulate conservative lyricists, like Gilbert and Sullivan, whose rhyming schemes had to be perfectly in sync, but that's part of Dylan's coolness, in my opinion. In part, that's why I posted "Foot of pride" above, which, for me, really demonstrates the rugged appeal of his words. And it's hard to resist (for me, anyway) the sarcasm, barely concealed anger, and gospel fervor of this song. The two I posted from "Blood on the "Tracks" get across Dylan's enormously powerful but unsappy way with love songs. I also REALLY like the "On the Road," Beat Generation imagery of "Tangled Up in Blue." Dylan's "impossible-to-understand" lyrics probably came out of his deep appreciation for Rimbaud, whose New Vision approach, which was taken up by the Beats and other modern poets, was in large part about uninhibited self-expression. Got more to say here, but need to take my kid to the movies.

I highly recommend last year's Blu-ray release of the concert; great visuals and sound: Will check it out. Thanks man.

Here's a great lesser known one.

Never easy to say because the guy expresses himself metaphorically, not factually. But I would guess his meanings include something like "blues sounds simple, but is complex with a high degree of musicality, also mixes many disparate elements that could only come together in the time and place it did, our ears have got accustomed to this stuff, but it is passing strange, stranger than you think, and carries an unimpeachable truth" Or to put it another way - Well, God is in His heaven And we all want what’s His But power and greed and corruptible seed Seem to be all that there is I’m gazing out the window Of the St. James Hotel And I know no one can sing the blues Like Blind Willie McTell Love that lyric

A great song...

One of my favorites Love this one, too.

Could very well be both

The Bud Powell Geneva date is very good.

I read something about that possibility, as well. I'll be all over that one.

Can the box set craze get any crazier? What's next? Gold-plated steamer trunks? I guess if there's a market for this kind of thing... But It seems REALLY excessive to me. And I'm a huge fan of these old Paramount recordings. It would be kinda cool if eventually we could have real miniature musicians in refrigerator size boxes. Sheesh!

I wholeheartedly agree.

Chill dude. You're gonna bust a blood vessel.

Mozart horn concertos - Dennis Brain Schubert 8 & 9 - Furtwangler BPO 1951-52 Bach Double Concerto - Heifetz Chopin Preludes - Cortot Beethoven 4 - Furtwangler BPO

No problem. Just wish I had the bucks

Thanks man

The big box is a little out of my price range, but thanks anyway. Probably wasn't very smart to put my question in the Complete Album Collection thread.

Thanks Bigshot. Man, I wish I could afford to get it all. Will probably settle on the Icon since it seems pretty cheap on Amszon at the moment.

Anyone have any thoughts about the Rubinstein Icon box featuring his early Chopin recordings. The bits and pieces I've heard are great, but I've read reviewers who say that his later RCA recordings are a better bet. Thanks in advance. https://www.google.com/#q=arthur+rubinstein+icon&facrc=_&imgrc=ic5ooWnU3WhU0M%253A%3Bundefined%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fecx.images-amazon.com%252Fimages%252FI%252F61hD9anAHvL._SY300_.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.amazon.com%252FIcon-Chopin-Recordings-Artur-Rubinstein%252Fdp%252FB0032700TY%3B300%3B300

She's right about the Ralph Gleason obit. A very interesting read. That she took the time to research this and listen carefully is to her credit. It's hilarious how worked up some people get about this woman.