John Wesley Harding (1967)

I'm not sure how to approach this LP. Up to now, listening to each studio album in turn has been a journey, each building on the next, watching his writing skills grow, moving from Woody Guthrie wannabe to the voice of protest, rejecting that role, going electric and reaching a peak of song-writing and recording with Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. Then he moves to Woodstock, falls off his bike and we get this. Country-rock? Country-folk? Who knows. Whatever it is, it's like nothing he's done before. And to be frank, it's not quite as good as either of the preceding three LPs. Good but not great.


But that's probably the wrong way to look at this. It's not Highway 61 and it wasn't meant to be. What it is, looking at it purely on its own merits, is a very good album. Not a duff song on there. It never reaches the levels of bona fide genius of Visions of Johanna, Desolation Row, Like a Rolling Stone, Subterranean Homesick Blues or It's Alright Ma but you do get a bunch of solid tunes with a pretty good groove - if I'm allowed to say 'groove' - a few tracks of real originality and intrigue, and a couple - All Along the Watchtower and I'll Be Your Baby Tonight - that have gone on to become genuine Dylan classics.

The most remarkable thing about this LP is just how different it is. Different from any of his previous releases and from most of what was going on elsewhere. His voice has changed - even more nasal than before. Lyrically there's been a shift, subtle but definite; the poetic flights of fancy have been toned down but without losing the oddball character driven narrative, and a lot more biblical than before. Musically it is pared down to the bone; an odd, earthy feel, driven by a bass guitar that sounds like it's recorded halfway under water.

The greatest contrast lies elsewhere. This is 1967 for goodness sake. The Beatles are recording Sergeant Pepper, The Stones are making Satanic Majesty, The Byrds are singing So You Want to Be A Rock and Roll Star and Dylan goes and comes up with the distinctly unpsychedelic John Wesley Harding. He couldn't swim harder against the tide of popular culture if he tried.

What he has produced is an LP of consistently quality songs. The opening, title, track sets a gentle swinging mood with a feel that is replicated throughout the album. [Indeed, if there is a criticism, it is that, by the time you get to The Wicked Messenger, the uniformity of the sound can start to wear after a while. But only on the odd occasion.] While the pace slows on songs such as Dear Landlord and I Pity The Poor Immigrant the only track that stands out as having a noticeably different sound is the final track I'll Be Baby Tonight which is backed by a more traditional country swing.

Lyrically the emphasis is on storytelling with religious overtones, particularly on the All Along the Watch Tower, I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine and The Ballad Of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. This makes it just as much an intelligent and interesting album as it is simply musically enjoyable. And, musically, it is very enjoyable. 

Ultimately this is a curious but quality release. A long exhale after the frantic rush of 1965-6. It'd be a few years until he reaches the absolute heights of the Highway 61 period again but, if there is any regret about that time coming to an end, it is more than tempered by the fact that this new phase in Dylan's career started, at least, with a solid album that still stands up today.

Out of five?
Four and a bit

Favourite track?
The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest

Next up?
Nashville Skyline