World Gone Wrong (1993)

Or Good As I Been To You part 2. The similarity between this LP and his last is so obvious that you might as well treat them as two halves of a whole. For that reason, there is not a great deal to add to my last post.

Damn.

Having said that, while the two LPs share a style of song choice, the only-covers content, solo Dylan recordings, I think there is a slight difference in that this album is not quite as good as the last.

It's good - no mistake about that - just not as good. Part of that could be because we've now heard this before and that if World Gone Wrong had come first I'd have been jumping up and down about this in the same way I did about Good As I Been To You. But, then again, perhaps not as, while this is a thoroughly enjoyable journey through some old tunes bashed out in the way that only Dylan can, I'm not convinced that the choice of song is as consistently top-notch as on the previous LP.

There are some great choices on here - World Gone Wrong, Blood In My Eyes and Delia in particular - and the rest are fine songs but if you were to combine these two all-acoustic LPs in one and then cut it down to a single record, I'd bet you'd have more songs from the first one than this. But that's not to knock this as a stand alone LP. Dylan's voice is still holding up and fitting these, mostly downbeat, ballads perfectly in a timeless, beautifully anachronistic way. Plus you get to hear him have a crack at the Blind Willie McTell tune, Broke Down Engine, which is a blast.

I think what is probably bugging me is that while this folk/blues standards diversion has been great, I'm starting to itch for some Dylan originals. As always with Dylan, what the truth is surrounding this absence of any original releases between 1990 and 1997 is unclear. Muse left town again? Perhaps. Whatever the reason, we should be a touch grateful as it did at least allow him to revisit some grand old tunes of the past and give us a couple of gems of LPs and maybe the last time we'll get to hear just Bob alone with his guitar and harp. But, then again, Dylan being Dylan, who knows?

Out of five?

Three and seven eighths

Favourite track?

World Gone Wrong

Up next?

Time Out Of Mind.

Good As I Been To You (1992)

It is not good for someone who is writing a blog to be lost for words but I am struggling to come up with much to say about this 1992 offering. 

I like it, that's for sure. In fact, it is a lovely record. It is so good to hear Dylan alone with his guitar and harp for the first time since... gosh... Another Side?  Bringing It All Back Home? For an age, anyway.

It is a refreshing sound, reminiscent of his very first LP. The comparison to Bob Dylan is an easy one to make; not only is it a solo performance but it has the rough and ready quality that made the 1962 recording so endearing. Again here the guitar isn't always perfect, nor the harp, nor his voice but these imperfections enhance rather than detract giving the sound a timeless quality. Tracks like the beautiful blues number Sitting On Top Of The World or the mournful Hard Times sound like recordings plucked from an archive preserving tales from the time of the Dust Bowl. 

Some of this is the choice of song but much is now in the voice. While in 1962 Dylan was trying to sound beyond his years, thirty years on time has done the work for him. On the last LP, Under The Red Sky, there were sounds of the voice cracking; set against a slickly produced album they were awkward, here the cracks add to the atmosphere. It is almost Dylan sounding like he had wanted to thirty years before.

The issue, of course, is that this is an LP of traditional songs. Not a Dylan composition in sight. That's no problem - the choice of songs and delivery are sublime - but other than how lovely this can be, there's not a great deal more to say.

The performance aside, his pick of tunes to cover is exemplary. The first two tracks - Frankie & Albert and Jim Jones - are fine but the least touching of the whole record. The LP starts to take off with Blackjack Davey and Canadee-I-O before really hitting its straps with the sublime Sitting On Top Of The World. After that it is difficult to find a word of criticism for either the songs or Dylan's performance. There are some splendid tunes here: Little Maggie, Hard Times, Step It Up And Go, Tomorrow Night particularly noteworthy; but then again so are Arthur McBride, You're Gonna Quit Me and Diamond Joe. Even Froggie Went A-Courtin', which could have been a disaster, is delivered with a endearing sincerity that makes it work despite the silliness of it all.

If this had been an LP of original Dylan compositions I'd be declaring it a work of genius, five out of five and some. The fact it is not means that judgement has to be tempered but, taken for what it is, this is still a little gem of an LP.

Out of five?

Four and a quarter

Favourite Track?

Tomorrow Night

Up Next?

World Gone Wrong.