You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, “Who is that man?”
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you’ll say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
—-
Yeah, That’s a fantastic shot isn’t it? You know, that was a home-made lens, I made that lens. There was no lens like that then, it made marvelous distortions. I love it, the light would flare out.
~D.A. Pennebaker (from “Who threw the glass Magazine”)
You took a part of me that I really miss
I keep asking myself how long it can go on like this
You told yourself a lie, that’s all right mama I told myself one too
I’m trying to get closer but I’m still a million miles from you
Thanks for the request Mike.
Manchester Arena Manchester, England 16 November 2005
May 17: Bob Dylan & The Hawks: Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England 1966
The most enthralling, truthful, priceless concert performance ever issued by a great artist.
~Michael Gray (BD Encyclopedia)
The most famous bootleg in rock history, with the possible exception of Dylan’s own Basement Tapes, finally makes its official appearance 32 years after the event, and nearly 30 years after it started circulating in the underground.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)
May 16: Bob Dylan released Blonde On Blonde in 1966
The closest I ever got to the sound I hear in my mind was on individual bands in the Blonde on Blonde album. It’s that thin, that wild mercury sound. It’s metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up. That’s my particular sound.
~Bob Dylan (to Ron Rosenbaum – Nov 1977)
Blonde on Blonde is all resonance. The songs and their stories and evocative lines and seductive melodies inhabit a realm of sound unique to this album, different from anything created before or since by Dylan or anyone else. Dylan called it “that thin, that wild mercury sound-metallic and bright gold, with whatever that conjures up.”
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)
To have followed up one masterpiece with another was Dylan’s history making achievement here…Where Highway 61 Revisited has Dylan exposing and confronting like a laser beam in surgery, descending from outside the sickness, Blonde on Blonde offers a persona awash inside the chaos…We’re tossed from song to song…The feel and the music are on a grand scale, and the language and delivery are a rich mixture of the visionary and the colloquial.
~Michael Gray (Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan)
…The Sheffield show is perhaps the best of the tour. The quality is incredible, and the performance can move you to tears. The Gaumont adds a warmth and depth to the overall sound that is lacking at many venues, and Bob pours his heart into every syllable. This set represents some of the finest of the tour…
~bobsboots.com