Tag Archives: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan Concerts, Bob Dylan tours, Bob Dylan video

Bob Dylan – Farm Aid 1985 – True Confession Tour part1 (Videos)

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bob dylan tome petty farm aid 1985

“Still, Live Aid and Farm Aid are fantastic things, but then musicians have always done things like that. When people want a benefit, you don’t see them calling dancers or architects or lawyers or even politicians – the power of music is that it has always drawn people together”
~Bob Dylan (to Mikal Gilmore – Sept 1985)

To kick-off this series of posts about the “True Confessions Tour”, I need to start the year before.. in 1985.

Dylan (together with Keith Richards & Ronnie Wood) did one of his worst live performances ever at the “Live Aid” concert @ the JFK stadium in Philadelphia on 13 July 1985. All three were drunk & they couldn’t hear themselves because the stage monitors had been switched off.

The Ballad of Hollis Brown – Live Aid 1985:

We were sabotaged, in some kind of way. There was no way we could really perform there. It’s difficult to play if you can’t hear.
~Bob Dylan (to Bob Brown – about the performance)

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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylans's best songs, List, Sound

Today: Bob Dylan is 72 years old – top 25 Bob Dylan songs by Hallgeir

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Dylan 72

Happy birthday, Bob Dylan!

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan’s early songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'”, became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his first base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan’s six-minute single “Like a Rolling Stone” radically altered the parameters of popular music in 1965. His recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.

bob-dylan 72

Dylan’s lyrics have incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the performance style of Little Richard, and the songwriting of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning fifty years, has explored many of the traditions in American song—from folk, blues, and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing. Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting. (wikipedia)

dylan double

Since it is his birthday and all, I have forced myself to pick 25 songs to celebrate Bob Dylan. It was extremely hard to leave so many good songs out of the list…

These are my top 25 Bob Dylan songs:

1. Blind Willie McTell
2. Like a Rolling Stone
3. Tangled Up In Blue
4. Ballad Of A Thin Man
5. Every Grain Of Sand
6. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
7. It’s All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
8. Visions Of Johanna
9. Brownsville Girl
10. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
11. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
12. I Shall Be Released
13. Simple Twist Of Fate
14. Knocking On Heaven’s Door
15. Just Like A Woman
16. Masters Of War
17. Mississippi
18. Idiot Wind
19. Isis
20. Cross The Green Mountain
21. High Water (for Charley Patton) (the live 2003 version on bootleg s. vol. 8)
22. Highway 51 Blues
23. Oh, Sister (Hard Rain version)
24. Shelter From The Storm (Hard Rain version)
25. You’re A Big Girl Now

bob silhouette

Check out Egil’s list of his favorite Bob Dylan songs (an ongoing top 200 list)

– Hallgeir

Bob Dylan cover versions @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan albums @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan videos @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan concerts @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan recording sessions @ Johannasvisions

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Bob Dylan, Music Calendar

Today Bob Dylan gave us the Great Music Experience in 1994 – 19 years ago

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Bob Dylan Todai-ji temple

Bob Dylan performed at The Great Music Experience third day in a row.  Todai-ji Temple, Nara, Japan – 1994.

In cooperation with  UNESCO, the festival,  The Great Music Experience was held over three days in Nara, Japan. It was trying to bring Japanese culture out to the world, and Japanese musicians shared the stage with artists from around the globe.

The concert took place in front of the world’s largest wooden building, the Buddhist temple of Todai-Ji, housing the largest Buddha statue in the world.

Dylan stole the show and he said as soon as he came off-stage that he had not sung so well for 15 years. Bob Dylan opened with A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall on which Q magazine said:   This is no ordinary version… he really opens his lungs and heart and sings, like he’s not done for many a year…The only word for it majestic!

Here it is the whole Bob Dylan set, enjoy!

TODAI-JI TEMPLE
TARA, JAPAN
MAY 22,1994
The Great Music Experience. Produced by Tony Hollingsworth

1. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
2. I Shall Be Released
3. Ring Them Bells
4. I Shall Be Released

1–3 Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal) backed by Phil Palmer (guitar), ”Wix” Vickens (keyboards), Pino Palladino (bass), Jim Keltner (drums) and The Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen

4 Bob Dylan (guitar & shared lead vocal) in the grand finale with all participating artists, among them Joni Mitchell, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Ry Cooder, Roger Taylor and the members of INXS and X Japan.

  • 1–3 was broadcast in the radio and TV program THE GREAT MUSIC EXPERIENCE COUNTDOWN, 22 May 1994 in over 50 countries all over the world.
  • 4 broadcast in the radio and TV program THE GREAT MUSIC EXPERIENCE COUNTDOWN, 29 May 1994 on BBC in the UK.
  • 1 released in Scandinavia on CD single Columbia COL 660942 2, 15 December 1994.
  • 1 released on CD single Dignity (MTV Unplugged), Columbia COL 661 400 2, 11 April 1995.

Musicians said the collaborations, however rewarding, were difficult given the differences in musical backgrounds. “The only thing holding us together this evening is the shining Buddha,” said Michael Kamen, a composer of movie soundtracks who is serving as the musical director here and who composed an overture that encompassed all the musicians and instruments. The mixing of the music is being done by George Martin, who was the Beatles’ producer. (New York Times)

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Jazz, Music Calendar

Today: The late Sidney Bechet was born in 1897 – 116 years ago

sidney bechet

But drinking and reefers and all that stuff, most times they just mess up all the feeling you got inside yourself and all the feeling the music’s got inside itself. When a man goes at the music that way, it’s just a sign that there’s a lot inside himself he don’t know how to answer. He’s not knowing which way he needs to go. He’s not going anywhere at all.
~Sidney Bechet (Treat It Gentle: The Autobiography of Sidney Bechet)

Petite Fleur ( the Olympia Concert Paris, December 8, 1954):

A brilliant soprano saxophonist and clarinetist with a wide vibrato that listeners either loved or hated, Bechet’s style did not evolve much through the years but he never lost his enthusiasm or creativity. A master at both individual and collective improvisation within the genre of New Orleans jazz, Bechet was such a dominant player that trumpeters found it very difficult to play with him. Bechet wanted to play lead and it was up to the other horns to stay out of his way.
~Scott Yanow (allmusic.com)

Wikipedia:

Born May 14, 1897
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died May 14, 1959 (aged 62)
Garches, France
Genres Jazz
Dixieland
Occupations Clarinetist
Saxophonist
Composer
Instruments Clarinet
Soprano saxophone
Years active 1908–1957
Associated acts Louis Armstrong
Tommy Ladnier

Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.

He was one of the first important soloists in jazz (beating cornetist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months and later playing duets with Armstrong), and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist. Forceful delivery, well-constructed improvisations, and a distinctive, wide vibrato characterized Bechet’s playing.

Bechet’s erratic temperament hampered his career, however, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim.

Sidney+Bechet

Blue Horizon:

.. by combining the ‘cry’ of the blues players and the finesse of the Creoles into his ‘own way,’ Sidney Bechet created a style which moved the emotions even as it dazzled the mind.
~Robert Palmer

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Music Calendar

Today: Bono is 53

bono

Music can change the world because it can change people.
~Bono

My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.
~Bono

Singer, poet, activist, believer: few icons in the history of rock & roll have created art with the consciousness and passion of Bono, and only a handful have done it as successfully. Whether preaching about “three chords and the truth” or donning ironic personas, the first and only frontman for seminal Irish rock band U2 has always stood unequivocally for hope, faith, and love — and in so doing has touched millions of fans, as well as sold millions of records.
~Jonathan Miller (allmusic.com)

New Years Day:

Wikipedia:

Birth name Paul David Hewson
Also known as Bono, Bono Vox
Born 10 May 1960 (age 53)
Dublin, Ireland
Origin Finglas, County Dublin, Ireland
Genres Rock, post-punk, alternative rock
Occupations Musician, singer-songwriter, activist, philanthropist
Instruments Vocals, guitar, harmonica
Years active 1976–present
Associated acts U2, Passengers
Website u2.com

Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer, musician, venture capitalist and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Alison Stewart, and the future members of U2. Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, frequently using religious and social, and occasional political themes. During their early years, Bono’s lyrics contributed to U2’s rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.

bono

One – Live Vertigo Tour (2005/6):

Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, is managing director and a managing partner of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organised and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticised for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and, with Bill and Melinda Gates, was named Time Person of the Year in 2005, among other awards and nominations.

–

I like U2 a lot, but, well, U2 are actually pretty original. But they’re Irish; they’re Celtic – they’ve got that thing goin’. You’ve gotta get away from America in order to make anything stick. America will just bombard you with too much shit. You have to make a conscious attempt to stay away from all the garbage.
~Bob Dylan (to Kurt Loder – October 1987)

bob & Bono

Love rescue me (feat. Ziggy Marley & Keith Richards):

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