Category Archives: Bob Dylan albums

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May 30: Bob Dylan released Down In The Groove in 1988

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“Bob’s bad stuff is better than other musicians’ best”

Down in the Groove is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan‘s 25th studio album, released by Columbia Records 30 May 1988. Egil here at Johannasvisions rate it as maybe Dylan’s lowest point. Me? I’m not so sure anymore…

It got pretty terrible reviews upon it’s release. Many reviewers compared it to his previous album, Knocked Out Loaded, and not in a favourable way.

Wikipedia:
“A highly collaborative effort, it was Dylan’s second consecutive album to receive almost unanimous negative reviews. Released during a period when his recording career was experiencing a slump, sales were disappointing, reaching only #61 in the US and #32 in the UK.”

How is it in hindsight? Was it unfairly slated? I think it’s better than reported and as usual Dylan’s standards were expected to be higher than anybody else’s. We cannot expect a masterpiece every time. Can we?

The album was delayed for more than six months and the track listing changed at least three times. The tracks that made the final album come from many different recording sessions spread out over a long time (six years?).

Rick Griffin Down in the Groove
Rick Griffin was asked by Dylan’s management to come up with a cover design for what was to be the ‘Down In The Groove’ album. Rick produced many designs and, apparently, became somewhat exasperated as his ideas were rejected and changed. This seems to have reflected the overall situation surrounding the album at the time (bonhams)

I’ve always thought of it as a strangely confusing album, but it gets less confusing with each listen session. It has some very good cover songs. Let’s Stick together opens the record in an energetic way, I would love to hear it live!

The comes the song I think is not very good at all, the cover When did you leave heaven. Very eighties drum sound, strange production, it just sounds a bit off, I don’t think the song suits Dylan, and it ends kind of funny.

Sally Sue Brown, the third track is another rockn’roll/soul standard that gets a good run through. I prefer Arthur Alexanders classic, but it is not bad at all.

The last three songs on the album are also cover songs (Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a dead end street), Shenandoah and Rank Strangers To Me, and they are all quite good actually.
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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums

May 2: Bob Dylan MTV Unplugged released in 1995

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bob dylan mtv unplugged

 

May 2: Bob Dylan MTV Unplugged released in 1995

I wasn’t quite sure how to do it and what material to use. I would have liked to do old folk songs with acoustic instruments, but there was a lot of input from other sources as to what would be right for the MTV audience. The record company said, “You can’t do that, it’s too obscure.”
~Bob Dylan (to Edna Gundersen May 1995)

Knocking on Heaven’s Door:

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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums

April 23: Bob Dylan at Budokan was released in 1979

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Bob_Dylan-At_Budokan-Frontal

 

April 23: Bob Dylan at Budokan was released in 1979

The Budokan album was only supposed to be for Japan. They twisted my arm to do a live album for Japan. It was the same band I used on Street Legal, and we had just started findin’ our way into things on that tour when they recorded it. I never meant for it to be any type of representation of my stuff or my band or my live show.
~Bob Dylan (to Kurt Loder – March 1984)

I believe this double LP was made available so our hero could boast of being outclassed by Cheap Trick, who had the self-control to release but a single disc from this location.
~Robert Christgau (robertchristgau.com)

Released 37 years ago today (April 23).

The album was slaughtered by many critics.. especially in the US.

“The writers complain the show’s disco or Las Vegas. I don’t know how they came up with those theories. We never heard them when we played Australia or Japan or Europe. It’s like someone made it up in one town and the writer in the next town read it. I don’t know what the reviewers mean half the time. I don’t even care.”
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Hilburn – Nov 1978)

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Listen: Bob Dylan “Melancholy Mood”, 4-song EP (7″ Colored Vinyl)

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dylan melancoly mood

From recordstoreday.com:

Event: RECORD STORE DAY 2016
Release Date: 4/16/2016
Format: 7″ Colored Vinyl
Label: Columbia
Quantity: 7000
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release

This limited edition 7” vinyl EP was originally created for Bob Dylan’s recent Japanese tour. We were able to secure a limited quantity for Record Store Day. The EP includes 4 songs from Bob Dylan’s upcoming album, Fallen Angels, pressed on 7” red vinyl.

–

Track Listing

01 – Melancholy Mood

02 – All Or Nothing At All

03 – Come Rain or Come Shine

04 – That Old Black Magic

recordstoreday

-Egil

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums

(update) What we think we know about Dylan’s new album, Fallen Angels

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fallen angels

Cover art and Tracklist (According to Amazon):

1. Young At Heart
2. Maybe You’ll Be There
3. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
4. All The Way
5. Skylark
6. Nevertheless
7. All or Nothing at All
8. On a Little Street in Singapore
9. It Had to be You
10. Melancholy Mood
11. That Old Black Magic
12. Come Rain or Come Shine

FallenAngelHS_WEB

We think it will be called Fallen Angels. It looks like he is still getting inspiration from Film Noir (se picture above). The director, Otto Preminger also made Frank Sinatra’s best film, The Man With The Golden Arm.

It seems to be a sequel of sorts of his last album and will most probably consist of Frank Sinatra standards (songs Sinatra did).

At least some of the work on the album is done in Studio B at Hollywood’s famed Capitol Studios (According to producer Al Schmitt, Feb 11).

It seems like he is brushing up on already recorded material.

“He came to my house eight or six months ago and spent a few hours, We listened to 21 songs – because he’s made two records of this [Sinatra project].”
– Daniel Lanois (to the Vancouver Sun)

It will be released on May 20th (we think, it’s a bit hard to read the small print here…) EDIT: Found a picture with better resolution, and yes, it is May the 20th:
bob Fallen Angels ad

Bobdylan.com/on-tour says:
For every pair of tickets purchased, you will receive a redemption code to receive a Compact Disk of Bob Dylan’s forthcoming album “Fallen Angels.” (Not available for Indianapolis and Boston.)

Bob Dylan reddit.com reports:
“The new album will be called Fallen Angels and will contain, among others, “Melancholy Mood”, “All or Nothing at All”, “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “That Old Black Magic”. Those four songs are also scheduled for an EP to be released in conjunction with Record Store Day.”

Bob Dylan – Melancholy Mood (2015.10.15 – Volkswagen Halle – Braunschweig, Germany, audio):

Continue reading (update) What we think we know about Dylan’s new album, Fallen Angels →