Tag Archives: Bob Dylan

Today: Bob Dylan released “Good As I Been To You” in 1992 – 20 years ago – updated

My voice was never really that glamorous. But a big vocal range really isn’t necessary for the type of songs I sing. For what I sing, my voice does pretty well.
(Bob Dylan to Greg Kot in August 1993)

“My songs come out of folk music…..I love that whole pantheon. To me there’s no difference between Muddy Waters and Bill Monroe.”
(Bob Dylan)

Here is a brilliant live version of “Blackjack Davie” from 1993.09.12 – Great Woods – Mansfield, Massachusetts:

Wikipedia:

Released November 3, 1992
Recorded Mid-1992
Genre Folk, blues
Length 55:31
Label Columbia
Producer Debbie Gold

Good as I Been to You is the twenty-eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in November 1992 by Columbia Records.

It is composed entirely of traditional folk songs and covers, and is Dylan’s first entirely solo, acoustic album since Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964. It is also his first collection not to feature any original compositions since Dylan in 1973.

On the charts, Good as I Been to You reached #51 in the US and #18 in the UK.

Since launching the Never Ending Tour in June 1988, traditional covers became a feature at virtually every concert, often as part of an acoustic set. After recording Under the Red Sky in 1990, Dylan would not release an original song until 1997, and during that time, he would increasingly rely on his stockpile of covers for ‘fresh’ material. Dylan called these covers “the music that’s true for me.”

Aftermath:

The response to Good as I Been to You was surprisingly positive, particularly for an album with very modest ambitions. It drew comparisons with the acoustic sets featured in Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour” shows, drawing much praise for his interpretive skills. A number of critics pointed out that Dylan’s voice was now physically ravaged, but the focus was often on the phrasing. “Dylan sounds now, in comparison to his younger self, like one of those ghosts,” wrote David Sexton of The Sunday Telegraph, “but a powerful ghost. The effect is not so much nostalgia…as deeply inward.”

Michael Gray:
….Yet this album, imprecise, errant, at times blurred and furry, is a singular creation that gains as well as loses by Dylan’s loss of the effortless certainty
of youth. Dark, complex, surreal and fractured, it is like an inspired, lost work from some opiumthralled folk archivist throwing his own torrid genius into celebrating the myriad strengths of anonymously created song: song from before there was a music industry to kill off its mystery and its purpose. Stand-out tracks: ‘Hard Times’, ‘Arthur McBride’, ‘You’re Gonna Quit Me’, ‘Diamond Joe’ and ‘Froggie Went a-Courtin’’. The fine outtake ‘You Belong to Me’ was used on the soundtrack of Oliver Stone’s film Natural Born Killers.

Here is “Jim Jones” from the second Supper Club Show Nov 17 1993:

David Wild (Rollingstone.com):
…..In its stripped-down intensity, Good As I Been to You recalls the midshow acoustic segments that in recent years have been a consistent highlight of Dylan’s Neverending Tour. Even more than that, the album’s intimate, almost offhand approach suggests what it would be like to sit backstage with his Bobness while he runs through a set of some of his favorite old songs. This is a passionate, at times almost ragged piece of work that seems to have been recorded rather than produced in any conventional sense.

Only a quarter of a century late, this is the sort of album the people who booed Dylan’s decision to go electric wanted from him. And for the most part, the songs on Good As I Been to You are the same sort of material that might have appealed to the younger, freewheelin’ Dylan back in the days when he was being influenced — by Woody Guthrie, for example — rather than exerting profound influence in his own right. Still, at least one selection — the unlikely but oddly delightful “Froggie Went A Courtin'” — evinces some of the fascinating perversity that fans have come to expect from Dylan in his middle age.

………… This fascinating exploration of musical roots is more than a diversion for musicologists. Good As I Been to You shows that sometimes one can look back and find something that’s both timeless and relevant. It also proves once again that Dylan can still be every bit as good as he’s been to us in the past. Which is, of course, as good as it gets.
Read more @ rollingstone.com

 

My fav song from the album is “Hard Times“.

 An extremely sincere rendition of this song was recorded in the summer of 92 and released on Dylan’s “Good As I Been To You”. Dylan premiered the song in concert on April 12, 1993 in Louisville, Kentucky. The song which was always employed as a show opener, was an almost constant feature throughout Dylan’s 93 summer tours, until it was suddenly dropped, mid tour, on August 21, 1993, never (as of yet) to return.
~Derek Barker (The Songs He didn’t write)

Here it is:

Here is Dylan & “Hard Times” @ Willie Nelsons’ 60th Birthday TV Special (KRLU-TV Studios – Austin, Texas, 27 April 1993):

Tracks:

All songs are traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan, except where noted.

  1. “Frankie & Albert” (arranged by Mississippi John Hurt) – 3:50
  2. “Jim Jones” (arranged by Mick Slocum) – 3:52
  3. “Blackjack Davey” – 5:47
  4. “Canadee-i-o” – 4:20
  5. “Sittin’ on Top of the World” – 4:27
  6. “Little Maggie” – 2:52
  7. “Hard Times” (Stephen Foster, arranged by De Dannan) – 4:31
  8. “Step It Up and Go” – 2:54
  9. “Tomorrow Night” (Sam Coslow and Will Grosz) – 3:42
  10. “Arthur McBride” (arranged by Paul Brady) – 6:20
  11. “You’re Gonna Quit Me” – 2:46
  12. “Diamond Joe” – 3:14
  13. “Froggie Went A-Courtin'” – 6:26

Personnel:

  • Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, harmonica
  • Stephen Marcussen – mastering
  • Micajah Ryan – mixing
  • Jimmy Wachtel – front cover photography

Spotify:

Other November 03:

Continue reading Today: Bob Dylan released “Good As I Been To You” in 1992 – 20 years ago – updated

Great Song: Friend of the Devil by Grateful Dead

This album, American Beauty, was released 42 years ago today. It is one of the two best Grateful Dead albums, the other is of course, Workingman’s Dead.

There are many good songs on this record, my favourite is Friend of the Devil. It is a refinement of their country rock sound from Workingman’s Dead.

I lit up from Reno
I was trailed by twenty hounds
Didn’t get to sleep that night
Till the morning came around

I set out running but I’ll take my time
A friend of the Devil is a friend of mine
If I get home before daylight
I just might get some sleep tonight

I ran into the Devil, babe
He loaned me twenty bills
I spent that night in Utah
In a cave up in the hills

Friend of the Devil, 1970 Studio version:


Continue reading Great Song: Friend of the Devil by Grateful Dead

Bob Dylan – 10 best songs recorded in 1983 – updated

OLD post … You’re being redirected to a newer version……

Picture by Lynn Goldsmith

The “Infidels” Birthday inspired me to set up a list of Dylan’s best songs recorded in 1983.

I’ve chosen to include 2 versions of “Blind Willie McTell”. This is by far the best song Dylan recorded in 1983… and the both versions are fantastic.

  1. Blind Willie McTell – electric version (not released)*
  2. Blind Willie McTell – acoustic version (The Bootleg Series 3)
  3. Jokerman – Infidels
  4. Foot of Pride – The Bootleg Series 3
  5. Someone’s Got A Hold Of My Heart – alt.version (not released)*
  6. License To Kill – Infidels
  7. I & I – Infidels
  8. Lord Protect My Child – The Bootleg Series 3
  9. Sweetheart Like You – Infidels
  10. Tell Me – The Bootleg Series 3

* My source is the “Rough Cuts” bootleg:

Check out bobsboots.com

Over to the goodies..

1. Blind Willie McTell – electric version:

Seen the arrow on the doorpost
Saying, “This land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans
To Jerusalem”
I traveled through East Texas
Where many martyrs fell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

Well, I heard that hoot owl singing
As they were taking down the tents
The stars above the barren trees
Were his only audience
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

See them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
Hear that undertaker’s bell
Nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

There’s a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He’s dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There’s a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebels yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell

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

Continue reading Bob Dylan – 10 best songs recorded in 1983 – updated

Today: The late Mahalia Jackson was born in 1911 – 101 years ago

Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope.
~Mahalia Jackson

I close my eyes when I sing so I can feel the song better.
~Mahalia Jackson

Amazing Graze:

 

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Mahala Jackson
Also known as Halie Jackson
Born October 26, 1911
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Died January 27, 1972 (aged 60)
Evergreen Park, Illinois, U.S.
Genres Gospel
Occupations Singer
Instruments Voice
Years active 1927–1971
Labels Decca CoralApollo & Columbia
Associated acts Albertina WalkerAretha Franklin
Dorothy NorwoodDella Reese &
Cissy Houston

Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel”. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen “golds”—million-sellers.

From allmusic.com – Jason Ankeny;
General critical consensus holds Mahalia Jackson as the greatest gospel singer ever to live; a major crossover success whose popularity extended across racial divides, she was gospel’s first superstar, and even decades after her death remains, for many listeners, a defining symbol of the music’s transcendent power. With her singularly expressive contralto, Jackson continues to inspire the generations of vocalists who follow in her wake; among the first spiritual performers to introduce elements of blues into her music, she infused gospel with a sensuality and freedom it had never before experienced, and her artistry rewrote the rules forever .. read more @ allmusic.com

How I Got Over:

Album of the day:

Live at Newport 1958 (1958):


Other October 26:

Continue reading Today: The late Mahalia Jackson was born in 1911 – 101 years ago

Bob Dylan – The 5th recording session for “The Times They Are A-Changin’” – 24 October 1963 – update

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
~Bob Dylan (The Times They Are A-Changin’)

“Another thing about Times They Are A-Changin’ – I wanted to say in it that if you have something that you don’t want to lose, and people threaten you, you are not really free.”
~Bob Dylan (to Ray Coleman, May 1965)

49 years ago Dylan did his 5th recording session for “The Time They are A-Changin’” 

Some background info from Wikipedia:

The Times They Are a-Changin’ is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in January 1964 by Columbia Records.

Produced by Tom Wilson, it is the singer-songwriter’s first collection to feature only original compositions. The album consists mostly of stark, sparsely-arranged story songs concerning issues such as racism, poverty, and social change. The title track is one of Dylan’s most famous; many felt that it captured the spirit of social and political upheaval that characterized the 1960s.

……………
Another session was held the following day, October 24. Master takes of “The Times They Are a-Changin'” and “One Too Many Mornings” were recorded and later included in the final album sequence. A master take for “Lay Down Your Weary Tune” was also recorded, but ultimately left out of the final album; it was eventually released on Biograph. Two more outtakes, “Eternal Circle” and “Suze (The Cough Song)”, were later issued on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991.

Albums involved:

ALBUM Release date CODE
The Times They Are A-Changin’ 1964-01-13 TTTAA
Biograph 1985-11-07 BIO
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3
(Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991
1991-03-26 TBS1-3

 

Studio A
Columbia Recording Studio
New York City, New York
October 24, 1963, 10-1 pm

Produced by Tom Wilson.
Engineers: Knuerr and Dauria.

Continue reading Bob Dylan – The 5th recording session for “The Times They Are A-Changin’” – 24 October 1963 – update