Man of Constant Leisure

"Cultivated leisure is the aim of man." ---Oscar Wilde

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Dylan You Been On My Mind


OK, I still haven't come around to Modern Times, although I plan to give it a few more listens before filing it permanently in the "never listen to again" pile. However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention all the good work Dylan has done this year; namely, his DJing of Theme Time Radio Hour, which I just recently discovered. I've been downloading and listening to these things and I have to say they're fantastic; each one is like a mixed tape from your geekiest music-geek friend. Zimmy's got great taste in tunes, that's for sure. Also, his radio demeanor reminds me of the late, great Mitch Hedberg. That's nice too.

Listening to and assimilating Dylan's modern-day croak reminds me of just how many different voices the guy has employed throughout his career. Below, my ranking of Dylan's voices, from best to worst:

1. Woodstock Dylan (Basement Tapes, JWH, New Morning, sessions with Leon Russell, Blood on the Tracks)
2. Finding My Folkie Voice Dylan (Times, Another Side)
3. Hortatory Dylan (Before the Flood and Rolling Thunder Tours)
4. Amphetamine Dylan a/k/a Rollercoaster Dylan (Bringing It All Back Home - Blonde on Blonde)
5. Producer Made Me Blow My Nose Dylan (1989's Oh Mercy) [see list item #9]
6. Dudley Do-Right Dylan (Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait)
7. Woody Guthrie Wannabe Dylan (first few albums)
8. Dirty Old Man Dylan (Time Out of Mind to present)
9. Adenoidal Dylan (Budokan through early 1990s)

Voices 1 through 7 are all pretty good. Number 8 is tough going, mostly because it's hard to figure out what he's singing but also because it limits him to about a four-step range, rendering melody unlikely. Voice 9 is unlistenable.

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posted by Tom Meltzer @ 2:45 PM  

13 Comments:

  • At 5:17 PM , Blogger Wendy said...

    #1. I vote for #1.

     

  • At 9:03 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Ha, ha. Very good descriptions.

    Don't forget the "I don't have any interest singing these songs on Planet Waves, because Robbie Roberston isn't trying very hard" voice.

    It's funny how voice #7 (Woody Guthrie voice) makes him sound the oldest.

    And isn't interesting how Thunder On The Mountain has him trying out his voice #4 (Amphetamine/roller coaster/Bob Dylan falling down a well, riding a shark, etc.) again?

    Listen when he sings the last word of "stand beside my kiiiiing" and "northwind's picking up speeeed" and "trombone and blooooooow".

    It's voice #4 revisited or a reasonable facsimile if you ask me.

    Brains The Clown

     

  • At 7:13 AM , Blogger Tom Meltzer said...

    Wendy--me too!

    Brains--astute, he really does sound old on those records he cut when he was 21. And he does occasionally return to the rollercoaster voice throughout his career--"Idiot Wind" is full of it, especially in the Rolling Thunder performances. I like "falling down a well" and "riding a shark"--they all get the job done.

     

  • At 5:38 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Note To Bob: Tom is a fair and decent man. Consider "thinkin' about Alicia Keys" in your Dudley Do-Right voice and your current label as the "dirty-old-man" voice will be dismissed.

    Brains The Clown

     

  • At 10:23 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I'm gonna have to cast a cantankarous, #8 style vote for voice #8. It's actually the one that got me listening to Bob again after many centuries. It blends in better with the music than a lot of his other personae. It makes him seem more like a character than an affectation (like say, Nashville Skyline) to me.

    If you can guess who I am, I'll treat you to Chinese food next time you're in NYC.

    Hint: Blue Rose; Wollman; Postcrypt; SG

     

  • At 10:37 AM , Blogger Tom Meltzer said...

    someone who once knew me, are ye John Albin? I kind of cheated--guess how and I'll treat you to barbecue next time you're in NC. Hell, I'll treat you to barbecue regardless, just come on down.

     

  • At 11:25 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Yup you guessed it. I suspect you must have used the internet somehow to crack my disguise, but knowing that I'm invited withhout knowing exactly how sure takes the pressure off.

    I actually almost made it to NC recently to visit a certain professor we both know, but didn't quite get it together.

     

  • At 11:34 AM , Blogger Tom Meltzer said...

    The internets, yes. I've got a hit counter that logs domain of arrival. I believe you show up as nyc.gov or some such thing.

    That professor, would it be Dave Ambarras? He's practially a neighbor, lives the next town over.

     

  • At 12:09 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    So you didn't use the internets to figure it out, after all -- you used "hits", whatever those are. Sounds like something even more secret and modern, but I don't think I'm prepared to go that deeply into those sorts of black arts. Besides, I don't believe it anyway. I think SG tipped you off.

    It would indeed be Dave. He was up in New York this summer, and we reconnected in the flesh after a long while. We made tentative plans for reciprocation, but couldn't quite get it together.

    So, to bring this back on topic, I often think of you in connection with Dylan, because I remember you taking him much more seriously than he seemed to merit in the '80s. Now I often find myself inserting Dylan snippets that I didn't even know I knew into conversations and such, then muttering "hmm, maybe Meltzer was on to something after all"

     

  • At 1:57 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Thanks for the link to Dylan's XM program. I've been wanting to listen to it, but don't have XM. I owe you a "Renaldo and Clara", or have we already done that bit? If so, then perhaps an "Anthology of American Music", where Dylan's "old voice" was originally lifted from.

     

  • At 3:55 PM , Blogger Tom Meltzer said...

    Gentile--you sent me Renaldo and Eat the Document, both fantastic! I own a copy of the Anthology--it's an essential text, I've owned it in one form or another for 25 years. Your generosity is the stuff of legend, or should be.

    John--"Hits" are what we were all chasing in our youth. Now we are old and don't enjoy being hit anymore. So, is Greenfield going to be the next senator from NY? We don't get much international news down here in NC. Finally, funny thing is, these days I plumb old blues and country records with the same fanaticism, but Dylan, not as much. I still love his stuff, but some artists can't help but suffer from their hype and Dylan's one of them to me--too many overpraised pieces of crap in his repertoire, makes you start to doubt the whole shooting match.

    Hope I get to see you some time. Wish I could say we're planning a trip to NYC soon but we're not. Lisa's in school and we're both buried in work, so travel isn't in the cards for a while.

     

  • At 7:41 PM , Blogger John Albin said...

    Tom -- I know what you mean about being overloaded. I've got a kid now -- he's approaching his first birthday, and it's been quite a roller coaster. I can barely think about music these days.

    I know what you mean about hype and Dylan, and lots of others. I can't say that I'm a "fan" of anybody anymore. I look for the diamonds where I can and try to ignore dross.

    Nice to be back in touch -- Travel is kind of tough for me too these days, but these internets deals are pretty convenient. I'm putting up a blog myself, but don't have much to say there yet.

     

  • At 7:00 AM , Blogger Tom Meltzer said...

    John--Kudos on the kid, daddy-o! You can link my email address from the blog page--drop me a line sometime, let's not lose touch.

     

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