Of course I exaggerate, but this does have that the feel of a decent LP that's been produced to within an inch of its life. We have the horns, we have the organ and, most importantly, we have the ubiquitous backing singers, shrieking their way through every track. It seems Dylan can't sing a line without it being echoed by the chorus line. One fears that, during the sessions, if he'd said "let's take five I need a bathroom break" it'd be greeted by a shrill blast of "BATH-ROOM BREAK". The whole thing has the sound of one of those evangelical musical extravaganzas you'd catch on TV on a Sunday morning - perhaps fittingly given what was about come in Dylan's life.
I'm not sure who is to blame for this. It was Dylan who wanted the full band - horns, backing singers and all - supplied by his touring band. By some accounts he had fixed his idea of how he wanted the new material to sound and there is a suggestion that, following the death of Elvis Presley, he was going for a Elvis in Vegas kind of feel. However, producer Don DeVito has to take his share of credit and blame for the final product. Though, he might be somewhat forgiven - apparently, even before he came on board, the sessions were speedy and chaotic, leading to far from perfect recordings which DeVito needed to do a job on before they could be released. This would go a long way in explaining the layers of sound he plastered all over them.
The over-the-top production aside, this is not a bad album at all and certainly an interesting one. Written during the throes of his messy divorce from Sara and subsequent custody battles over their children, Dylan is clearly in a bad place. The song titles alone show this as a very personal album - No Time To Think, Baby Stop Crying, We Better Talk This Over, True Love Tends To Forget - in fact every one of the songs, bar Senor, hardly needs Sigmund Freud to work out where Dylan was coming from.
Within the songs he is often, lyrically, direct. In We Better Talk This Over he sings
This situation can only get rougher
Why should we needlessly suffer?
Let’s call it a day, go our own different ways
Before we decay
In No Time To Think,
Judges will haunt you, the country priestess will want you
Her worst is better than best
I’ve seen all these decoys through a set of deep turquoise eyes
And I feel so depressed
My one concern is with New Pony which, unless he is actually singing about a horse (which is unlikely) is simply unpleasant and verging on the misogynistic:
I had a pony, her name was Lucifer
She broke her leg and she needed shooting
Come over here pony, I, I wanna climb up one time on you
Well, you’re so bad and nasty
But I love you, yes I do
Musically, there is some really nice material here. Changing Of The Guard is a good lively opening, followed by New Pony which, beneath the bellowing backing vocals and wittering about horses, is based on a solid, funky, blues riff. All good stuff. No Time To Think is ok - no great shakes - and drags after eight minutes or so but then comes Baby Stop Crying. I adore the verse of this track with its beautiful understated vocal. Gorgeous. Unfortunately the spell is broken by being bludgeoned to death by the shrieking backing vocals on the chorus. A real shame, this could have been a great song, rather than half of one. Street Legal in a nutshell, really.
Elsewhere the songs are fine but no more than that. Is Your Love In Vain? is OK but dominated by the revivalist meeting style production. True Love Tends To Forget, We Better Talk This Over, and Where Are You Tonight? are all pleasant enough but don't provide a particularly strong finish to the LP.
But, of course, I've yet to mention Senor (Tales of Yankee Power). Clearly the outstanding track of the album in many ways. It is a great tune - knocking everything else on the LP into a cocked hat - lyrically more cryptic than the other tracks and, for once here, well produced. The production is not unmissable; every effort has been made to give a dusty South American or maybe spaghetti western feel, but it has been done with a deft touch, something that can't be said for the rest of the LP. It's as if all involved knew this was the track and gave it the attention it deserved. It is a beautiful song.
So, an LP with merit and some good material but nothing of the caliber of the previous two releases. I'm sure there must be a bootleg of the session tapes out there. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I'd love to hear this LP before it was polished for release. Thank you.
Out of five?
Three and a half
Favourite track?
Senor
Next Up?
Slow Train Coming
[
A word of explanation - there is a case to be made that The Basement Tapes should come next. I've debated this since starting this blog and in the end decided that they really count as more of a 'bootleg tapes' type release - mainly because, as I understand it, that these weren't recorded with the intention of commercial release. It was a close run thing but there you have it.]
So far, so orthodox - he likes Freewhelin' and Blood On The Tracks, doesn't like Self Portrait, has mixed feelings about Planet Waves. Well, here's the kicker: Desire has the ability to seriously irritate me.
Of course there are caveats - huge ones - about the quality of the songwriting, the musicianship and the fact that there are, at least, two or three real no-argument-necessary Dylan classics here. But, despite all that, it has to be said that listening to this LP as a whole, time and time again, and I start to want to kill someone or something.
Actually, that's not quite true. What I really want to do is take that frigging fiddle and shove it up its owner's Black Diamond Bay. It's everywhere, ALL THE TIME. Sawing away on Isis, grinding its way through Joey, beating Oh Sister over the head until the song can't take it any more. Honestly. Go get your copy of Desire and put it on - go on, I don't like to be bossy but, go on - put the needle down on, for instance, track 4, One More Cup Of Coffee. Good song, yeah? Gentle acoustic guitar intro, lovely little bass riff. Good, yeah? Then, here it comes, HONK, HONK, it's the fiddle. Good God. I WANT TO KILL SOMEONE. I know there's meant to be a gypsy travelling band type thing going on but, please. It's got the point that it's ruining any enjoyment I've had; the track starts and rather than thinking 'oh good, Sara', I'm just waiting for the moment when that damn fiddle starts sawing away in the background. Stop it. Now.
And relax.
It's a shame that this LP has grown away from me so. When I first bought this album in my teens it got played till the cassette would play no more and was close to being my favourite Dylan release. And, apart from that bloody fiddle, this is an LP full of goodness. It's got Isis and Sara and One More Cup Of Coffee and that should be enough for any album. These are magnificent examples of song writing. Sara is particularly moving - Dylan's heartfelt attempt at reconciliation with his soon-to-be ex-wife - apparently recorded with Sara present in the studio - it pushes every emotional button possible and with a great tune to boot. Quality.
Isis is a special song; up there with some of the best of his career. Lyrically it works by telling a story yet maintaining an air of mystery as to what the hell he's actually on about and muscially it is superb, driven by a simple piano and high-in-the-mix pounding bass. (I'm also particularly taken by the live version on the 1975 bootleg issue). The simple arrangements that add to the laid back pace of many of the tracks here - particularly Oh Sister, One More Cup of Coffee and Sara - suggest a song writer at the top of game and brimming with confidence in his craft. These are top notch tunes.
Lyrically, this is an interesting album. All but two of the tracks are co-written with Jacques Levy and the effect of having a songwriting partner is felt. There is a definite feel to the lyrics here of being addicted to the rhyme. That might be an odd thing to say; Dylan himself has always been a songwriter who likes to rhyme but here, for some reason, it becomes obvious. Maybe it's because three of the tracks - Isis, Mozambique and Romance in Durango - conform to the unfamiliar (for Dylan songs) double rhyming structure of ABAB within a four line verse, which is a whole lot of rhyming in one song. Maybe it's because some of the rhymes are somewhat tortured:
We got you for the motel job and we’re talkin’ to your friend Bello
Now you don’t wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
Or maybe it's because of the contrast between the songs written with Levy and those that were Dylan's alone - One More Cup Of Coffee and Sara - which have a more relaxed, natural, even organic feel to them. That's not to do Levy down - there are some great lines here - but there is a feel of Dylan being restrained by the demands of partnership.
A mention must be made of Hurricane as here we see the brief return of Dylan the protest singer. An appeal to the innocence of the then incarcerated Rubin Carter, he tells a story of injustice in a direct narrative of the sort last heard in The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll. It will be the last time (I think, strike me down if I'm wrong. Actually, don't) that he will protest a cause so directly.
In terms of songwriting this is right up there. My personal bee in the bonnet about the fiddle aside, this is an extremely good LP. It's just that I can't take in anything more than little bursts any more. I just can't stand that goddamn fiddle.
Out of five?
Four and a half
Favourite track?
Isis
Next Up?
Street Legal.
