It's true, one arrives at this album at the end. There's little reason to delve into the Great American Songwriter's early experience with a covers album. It worked for The Rolling Stones but for Dylan? No way. That's until of course you see beyond the surface and look into his history. That's what probably made me really appreciate (understand? No, How could I dare) him a lot more and enjoy stuff like John Wesley Harding. I was stuck on Highway 61 forever.
Without this album you cannot grasp where Dylan comes from, his fascinating self-made-up legend with improbable origins and adventures. Every pop star created a bit apocryphal biographies at first, but Dylan was especially adamant at this, and made it part of his aura, more than a professional strategy, a personal trait, to preserve the mystery and a bit of his privacy. And that's all right here in these songs. I might not listen to it frequently but yeah, I'm glad it exists.
Maybe it was Hammond who was refusing to learn from Dylan’s mistakes? :) Atypically, I began on this one when I started in on his acoustic stylings. The spirit of it — feral, as noted in a prior comment — appealed to me, and still does, often more than with his originals.
Just one thing: if I'm not wrong, 36 minutes is within the usual playing time for popular music albums back then, not to mention many great albums that last less than 30 minutes...
For popular music albums - yes, but not for folk artists in general (Folkways LPs, for instance, typically lasted 40-50 minutes) and certainly not for Dylan himself beginning with The Freewheelin'.
Wow, quite a take on his first album, the one most disregard in the face of all his other 60s joints. I admit, I myself have only listened to a few tracks... Song to Woody, of course, and Freight Train Blues (I think the latter due to your vouching for it in your 15-point-era review decades ago). Both I kept, as strong performances. A friend once also played Bob's House of the Risin' Sun for me, and indeed I felt similar to what you describe here—by turns taken by the unconstrained performance, but at the same time by turns not accepting its...coherence, I guess you could say.
I'd be curious what you would think of his live performances around this time. I have listened to his 1961 Carnegie Chapter Hall performance in full, and it sounded pretty much like what you describe this album as. Him trying to prove himself, in a way he never would again (I noticed much guitar tricks unlike his more formulaic set of tricks he soon settled into). Ebbs and flows of confidence.
Speaking of which, I wonder how much his lack of reverence you point to is an intentional decision versus... he just might not be able to learn (or thinks he can't learn) how to do these songs "right." Which is no disallowed ingredient for innovation—whole generations of musical styles have been shaped by inability to play like the idols one was trying to imitate (possible examples: all the blues-influenced white rockers, the Ramones, Lou Reed). But when I listen to, like, Dylan's inability to convincingly pull off a Black blues raspy yell in Gospel Plow from the Chapter Hall performance (though it is amusing how he goes for it), my impression is that he just looked for any way he could express himself that an audience would take to... which gradually led him to his more-successfully executed unique approaches we all know him for.
An interesting live performance from, really the Freewheelin' era, but relates here, that I'd be curious of your take on would be his 1962 Gaslight performance. He's recording Freewheelin', but it's long from its release the next year. His set is still mostly covers, but he's trickling original classics into it. I am foggy on my memory of it, but I wonder if his trademark "60s confidence" has emerged already in it. A couple samples suggest so. Makes me wonder how much Bob's songwriting explosion coincided with a performing-ability refinement, which would have been impressive in its own right without the songwriting.
Well, hope I haven't distracted the conversation too much to my own thoughts, but these were what your post brought to mind. I'm thinking I'll review your post more closely for specific recommended songs; perhaps more than the two I already grabbed will end up in my library. Thanks as always!
I kind of think that "House Of The Rising Sun" is precisely the one track on the 1962 album that he is trying to do in somebody else's concurrent style (Van Ronk's?) but can't quite pull off. Everything else is mostly thought-out reinventions, I mean, he didn't really put in the 'Wake Up Little Susie' riff into 'Highway 51' because that's the way it accidentally came out or anything. But probably it all did start out as copy-catting, well, I'd imagine that's how it always starts out for young people picking up the guitar for the first time.
I haven't heard the 1961 Carnegie Chapter Hall performance, but I know the Gaslight one and it's already mostly quite confident, even when it comes to covers like 'Barbara Allen' - quiet, but self-assured. He'd written a ton of his own stuff by then, anyway.
It's true, dropping a riff from a different song in a traditional song indicates intentional "irreverence." Interesting if indeed he was unusual in doing that.
Also, thanks for the Gaslight response (I know, this sounds like I'm saying something totally different than I'm saying). Guess the response to his burgeoning self-penned songs boosted what he was capable of with the remaining traditional material too (which to this day he has never really left behind).
Gee whilikers, this was one heck of an immersive reading of an album I took for granted. Thanks so much!
Great commentary. You tap into what Ian MacDonald called the "feral energy" of Dylan's debut album.
It's true, one arrives at this album at the end. There's little reason to delve into the Great American Songwriter's early experience with a covers album. It worked for The Rolling Stones but for Dylan? No way. That's until of course you see beyond the surface and look into his history. That's what probably made me really appreciate (understand? No, How could I dare) him a lot more and enjoy stuff like John Wesley Harding. I was stuck on Highway 61 forever.
Without this album you cannot grasp where Dylan comes from, his fascinating self-made-up legend with improbable origins and adventures. Every pop star created a bit apocryphal biographies at first, but Dylan was especially adamant at this, and made it part of his aura, more than a professional strategy, a personal trait, to preserve the mystery and a bit of his privacy. And that's all right here in these songs. I might not listen to it frequently but yeah, I'm glad it exists.
"True Dylan begins with The Freewheelin’"
And when does it end?
I saw him last week and I can safely say it hasn’t ended yet.
Maybe it was Hammond who was refusing to learn from Dylan’s mistakes? :) Atypically, I began on this one when I started in on his acoustic stylings. The spirit of it — feral, as noted in a prior comment — appealed to me, and still does, often more than with his originals.
Great review and great insight.
Just one thing: if I'm not wrong, 36 minutes is within the usual playing time for popular music albums back then, not to mention many great albums that last less than 30 minutes...
For popular music albums - yes, but not for folk artists in general (Folkways LPs, for instance, typically lasted 40-50 minutes) and certainly not for Dylan himself beginning with The Freewheelin'.
Wow, quite a take on his first album, the one most disregard in the face of all his other 60s joints. I admit, I myself have only listened to a few tracks... Song to Woody, of course, and Freight Train Blues (I think the latter due to your vouching for it in your 15-point-era review decades ago). Both I kept, as strong performances. A friend once also played Bob's House of the Risin' Sun for me, and indeed I felt similar to what you describe here—by turns taken by the unconstrained performance, but at the same time by turns not accepting its...coherence, I guess you could say.
I'd be curious what you would think of his live performances around this time. I have listened to his 1961 Carnegie Chapter Hall performance in full, and it sounded pretty much like what you describe this album as. Him trying to prove himself, in a way he never would again (I noticed much guitar tricks unlike his more formulaic set of tricks he soon settled into). Ebbs and flows of confidence.
Speaking of which, I wonder how much his lack of reverence you point to is an intentional decision versus... he just might not be able to learn (or thinks he can't learn) how to do these songs "right." Which is no disallowed ingredient for innovation—whole generations of musical styles have been shaped by inability to play like the idols one was trying to imitate (possible examples: all the blues-influenced white rockers, the Ramones, Lou Reed). But when I listen to, like, Dylan's inability to convincingly pull off a Black blues raspy yell in Gospel Plow from the Chapter Hall performance (though it is amusing how he goes for it), my impression is that he just looked for any way he could express himself that an audience would take to... which gradually led him to his more-successfully executed unique approaches we all know him for.
An interesting live performance from, really the Freewheelin' era, but relates here, that I'd be curious of your take on would be his 1962 Gaslight performance. He's recording Freewheelin', but it's long from its release the next year. His set is still mostly covers, but he's trickling original classics into it. I am foggy on my memory of it, but I wonder if his trademark "60s confidence" has emerged already in it. A couple samples suggest so. Makes me wonder how much Bob's songwriting explosion coincided with a performing-ability refinement, which would have been impressive in its own right without the songwriting.
Well, hope I haven't distracted the conversation too much to my own thoughts, but these were what your post brought to mind. I'm thinking I'll review your post more closely for specific recommended songs; perhaps more than the two I already grabbed will end up in my library. Thanks as always!
I kind of think that "House Of The Rising Sun" is precisely the one track on the 1962 album that he is trying to do in somebody else's concurrent style (Van Ronk's?) but can't quite pull off. Everything else is mostly thought-out reinventions, I mean, he didn't really put in the 'Wake Up Little Susie' riff into 'Highway 51' because that's the way it accidentally came out or anything. But probably it all did start out as copy-catting, well, I'd imagine that's how it always starts out for young people picking up the guitar for the first time.
I haven't heard the 1961 Carnegie Chapter Hall performance, but I know the Gaslight one and it's already mostly quite confident, even when it comes to covers like 'Barbara Allen' - quiet, but self-assured. He'd written a ton of his own stuff by then, anyway.
It's true, dropping a riff from a different song in a traditional song indicates intentional "irreverence." Interesting if indeed he was unusual in doing that.
Also, thanks for the Gaslight response (I know, this sounds like I'm saying something totally different than I'm saying). Guess the response to his burgeoning self-penned songs boosted what he was capable of with the remaining traditional material too (which to this day he has never really left behind).