The other day I bought some Bob Dylan.
I've a hunch about buying the greats. Unless you're going to buy Bob's entire back-catalogue, you have to decide whether to buy a couple of albums, or a compilation. Some say that the compilations never have the best tracks. I think that's rubbish in the case of Dylan, at least. His compilations don't lack his best songs, they just don't include all of them. A tall order for a single compilation, I'd suggest. I think rather, the choice between compilation and album is the difference between (primarily) knowing about his place in music, and knowing the man.
If you buy a compilation, of course you'll be better positioned to 'get' the overall contribution of the artist to their time and have a sense of how they matured and changed over the years (if you pay attention to release dates and history, that is). A worthy enterprise.
But if you buy a couple of albums, I think you get to know the person, more personally. You sit with them for a time. You'll never get all Bob's best songs this way; he has too many. And you won't get the sense of the whole. But there's something nice about sitting with the man for the year 1965, or whenever.
I bought albums.
On Con's recommendation, I also bought James Muller's Kaboom.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Dedicated to keeping you somewhat up to date on life in our new town, Newtown. Corny... I know.
7 comments:
Great post, Bernie.
I much prefer buying albums. A great artist will often have hitns at where they're going in the earlier work... or echoes of where they've been in their later work.
Which albums did you buy of Bob's?
Totally agree.
Highway 61 Revisited, 1965.
Blonde on Blonde, 1966.
It's ESSENTIAL that you complete the Holy Trinity of Dylan and also buy Bringing it all back home. Essential. No arguments.
And you must also get Blood On The Tracks.
And, Slow Train Coming, and The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan?
Thanks guys. I s'pose I buy myself CDs almost never, so this is something like a three-year quota in a week! I'll pick 'em up in 2012ish :)
And The Times, they are a-Changing.
Albums, unless the albums are a few singles and filler, or if my relationship to the band is based around singles.
Mmmm, thanks Benny, good thoughts. I've always wondered just what Bob was looking at in the cover-art of that album.
Post a Comment