Customer Reviews
Bob Dylan Unplugged 
2008-06-19
In reviewing Bob Dylan's 1965 classic album Bringing All Back Home (you know, the one where he went electric) I noted that it seemed hard to believe now that both as to the performer as well as to what was being attempted that anyone would take umbrage at a performer using an electric guitar to tell a folk story (or any story for that matter). I further pointed out that it is not necessary to go into all the details of what or what did not happen with Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 to know that one should be glad, glad as hell, that Bob Dylan continued to listen to his own drummer and carry on a career based on electronic music.
Others have, endlessly, gone on about Bob Dylan's role as the voice of his generation (and mine), his lyrics and what they do or do not mean and his place in the rock or folk pantheons, or both. Here we are going back to the early days when there was no dispute that he had earned a place in the folk pantheon. The only real difference between the early stuff and the later electric stuff though is- the electricity. Dylan's extraordinary sense of words, language and word play has been a constant throughout his career. If much later (in the 1990's) he gets a bit repetitious and a little gimmicky in order to stay "relevant" that is only much later after he had done more than his share to add to the language of music.
In this selection we have some outright folk classics that will endure for the ages like those of his early hero Woody Guthrie's have endured. The Times They are A-Changing still sounds good today although the generational tensions and the alienation from authorities highlighted there is markedly less now than than in those days-not a good thing, by the way. The Ballad of Hollis Brown is a powerful tale out of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath about the plight of an up against the wall family farmer out on the then hard hit praries (and it has only gotten worst since and Dylan made one of his periodic 'comebacks' doing this song at a FarmAid concert in the 1980's).
With God On Our Side like Masters of War is a powerful anti-war song although some of the tensions of the Cold War period in which it was written have gone (only to replaced today by the fears generated by the `war on terrorism'). Only A Pawn In Their Game was a powerful expression of rage after the murder of civil rights worker Medgar Evers. The Hattie Carroll song shows Dylan's range by dealing with injustice from a different perspective (and a different class) than Only A Pawn In Their Game. But with no let up in racial discrimination in either case. Finally, in reviewing these early Dylan albums (and some of the later ones, as well) I have noticed that they are not complete without at least one song about lost love, longing for love or betrayal of that emotion. Here, there is no exception to that rule with the haunting, pleading voice of Boots of Spanish Leather.
These are what Dylan once called "finger-pointin' songs" 2008-06-01
(Actually ****1/2, but Amazon doesn't allow half stars.)
This album stars Robert Zimmerman as one Bob Dylan, a homegrown American protest folksinger coming out of the backcountry with a keen eye for injustice and a keener ear for memorable, plainspoken lines to expose and excoriate that injustice. Of course on his very next album that same Dylan turned his back on the civil rights movement at the height of its prominence, influence and power to change the country, which to me does cast just the tiniest bit of doubt and suspicion on the sincerity or at least the fervor of these songs. But with that said, at this point in his career Bob Dylan happened to have a still unequaled ability to say big things with small words, and these songs are the best of their genre.
The title track is Dylan's second epochal, anthemic album opener in a row, and it's just as irrevocably tied to and representative of the early '60s as is "Blowin' in the Wind" from the last album. "When the Ship Comes In" is a raspy little ditty all full of lovely imagery all built around a ship's arrival as a metaphor for victory, presumably a victory of the civil rights movement. The moving and rightly classic "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" captures Dylan the protest singer at the absolute height of his powers to tell a story, paint a picture and a stir up outrage.
"Only a Pawn in Their Game" should be a terrible song. In it, Bob uses the recent assassination of Medgar Evers as a jumping-off point to argue that the white Southern elite inculcates and exploits racism among poor white Southerners in order to keep them hateful toward and divided from the poor black Southerners who should be their class allies against that elite. Now that's a theme that sounds like its natural venue is an essay, a political speech or perhaps a scholarly book. So I would expect the thing to turn out as one of those really awkward, unenjoyable folk songs with too many syllables that make me want to throw a typewriter at the singer. But Bob Dylan in 1964 had the lyrical chops to make it work, and it ends up being one of the best songs on a nearly perfect album.
I say nearly perfect because "Restless Farewell" is a subdued, unimpressive good-bye that just sort of drags along without ever grabbing or rewarding my attention. But apart from that, my gods, if he would've kept on like this maybe we could have had a revolution.
Song by song:
A1 The Times They Are A-Changin' ****
A2 Ballad of Hollis Brown ***
A3 With God on Our Side ***
A4 One Too Many Mornings ***
A5 North Country Blues ***
B1 Only a Pawn in Their Game ****
B2 Boots of Spanish Leather ***
B3 When the Ship Comes In ****
B4 The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll ***
B5 Restless Farewell **
Savage with a Promise of Hope 2008-04-10
I was a senior at Lakewood High School in Southern California when this record came out, I was waiting for it and I wasn't disappointed. From the opening song you knew, just knew the times were a-changin'. You wanted them to be, at least. Only two and a half months earlier JFK had been gunned down in Dallas and for a lot of us the times really sucked. LBJ was in the White House, the war in Vietnam was hotting up, black people were being clubbed to death in the south, oftentimes by the police, the Russians had big bombs pointed our way and we theirs.
So when I put on this record, heard the first song in that gut wrenching voice, I wanted to believe, as did many, but sadly not all. "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" rang oh so true, it was an indictment of us all. The very long "With God on Our Side" -- a song I thought very strong back then, but doesn't seem to hold up, I don't know why -- really got me in the chest, especially since I was already in the Marine Corps, signed up, but not having to go till the day after graduation. Boy what a dumb thing that was I did, but kids are dumb and I was dumber than most. After listening to that real long track, I really wasn't looking forward to boot camp. I really didn't want to go.
I can't say enough how much I love "One too Many Mornings". I play it all the time. In fact I play this whole record a lot, can't help it, it's just so good. If you close your eyes, sit back and really listen to this record, "Hollis Brown", "Hattie Carroll" and "Pawn" will make you cry and "When the Ship Comes In" will make you wonder. But for me the best track is still the title track, because it'll make you hope, it still does me.
Bob Dylan 2008-01-23
I think that this is a wonderful cd. It shows you how very socially relevant Bob Dylan was in his day, with songs that can still have relevance today. God on Our Side, is my personal favorite song, shining light on the fact that every war, every massacre, if done by the right people, can be said to have God on their side. Overall the whole album is very good, something I would definitly recommend.
Vastly underated....heavy,..great! 2008-01-13
The header says it all I think; this album is seriously heavy, moving, and easily one of the best efforts Dylan ever put to tape. Not an album to groove around, but Dylan song writing at it's best and with a great delivery too....if you only buy one Bob Dylan album, buy this one!
Great album, young Dylan 2007-11-28
This album reflects the roots of the 'dylan sound'. And the lyrics are amazing.
Good product, quick shipping, I am happy!
Good Things 2007-11-05
Arrived in good time, the CD itself is in excellent condition and Bob Dylan's music is brilliant.
One of Dylan's most depressed and emotionally draining works 
2007-10-10
Dylan's third studio album, THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' continues in the protest vein of its predecessor, FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN, but with a much more narrow focus. With FREEWHEELIN', Dylan did record protest music, but there was much more to that record than just straight protest, and what protest there was operated on a much more universal level than the run-of-the-mill protest songs of the day.
Not so with this record. When Dylan recorded THE TIMES in 1964, he decided to focus solely on the protest music genre of the 1960s. While much of the music is memorable, because of the narrow constraints Dylan imposed upon himself, THE TIMES has become more dated than any other reason in Dylan's career. And because it is so protest heavy, the album gets monotonous and just depressing to listen to in large quantities (just like the New York version of BLOOD ON THE TRACKS). Listening to the album straight through is very emotionally draining Taken in small doses, though, it's doable.
In the early days of the rock industry, the focus was much more on singles and EPs than full length albums. Bands like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and their contemporaries are largely credited from moving the musical industry of the early and mid 1960s move away from singles to albums as the dominant art form. They helped make the albums indivisible and consolidated, with a natural ebb and flow, instead of sounding like a collection of singles with filler thrown in between.
While Zeppelin and The Beatles are the most renowned for this movement toward albums in general, along with jazz musicians, Dylan beat both bands several years to the punch. All of Dylan's albums have a distinct atmosphere and sound that he is creating, even his critically panned albums.
With TIMES, he is going for a stark, world-gone-wrong feel that dominates the entire record. Because of its heavy content, TIMES stands as Dylan's most depressing and emotionally draining album by far. While his other acoustic records certainly have a world-weariness and a focus on protest sentiment, they are also very humour at times, and filled with a vibrancy and life that TIMES is simply lacking. Now, only the deep morose of a world gone wrong stands out.
TMES is also unique because it appears that Dylan enrolled in the Phil Ochs school of songwriting, pulling his material directly from newspaper articles. Songs like "Pawn in Their Game," "With God On Our Side," "Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol," and "North Country Blues" all sound very much like relics of their time. While I always personally enjoyed "Pawn in their Game" due to Dylan's intricate word play, the song had become dated. While "With God on Our Side" has a universal message, Dylan focuses a large portion of the song on the early 1960s Cold War conflict between Russia and the United States, thus making the song dated in ways the FREEWHEELIN' song "Masters of War" will never be.
The title cut, justly one of Dylan's most famous songs, sounds simply like a made to order protest song. In 1963, before the song was recorded, Dylan's friend Tony Glover saw the early manuscript of the song, and read the lines "come senators, congressmen, please heed the call". Glover reportedly asked Dylan: "What is this s---, man?" Dylan's answer: "Well, you know, it seems to be what the people like to hear". The song sounds like a rather self-conscious attempt at a grand statement, and the spiritual sequel or successor to "Blowin' In the Wind". "Things Have Changed," Dylan's Oscar winning song from the Wonderboys soundtrack of 2000 is in many ways an answer to this song. Even though the song sounds forced, Dylan was at the height of his powers during the 1960s, and the title cut is one of his strongest songs. Just goes to show that when an artist of Dylan's calibre writes made-to-order music, he can still come up with fantastic material. Just look at Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel.
"Lonesome Death of Hattie Caroll," much like DESIRE's "Hurricane", has Dylan protesting social injustice with a memorable melody, strong lyrics, but unfortunately not that historically accurate. The song is about a young Maryland man with high political and social connections randomly killing a woman who was working at a hotel he was at for a ball named Hattie Caroll by hitting her with his cane. While William Devereux "Billy" Zantzinger (Dylan mispells his name as "Zanzinger") did get charged for manslaughter, it is generally agreed she did not die due to physical abuse. Hattie Caroll had a medical condition of hypertension, harden arteries, high blood pressure, and an elarged heart, and though an autopsy was not performed, she probably died of a brain haemorrage caused by stress from the situation, rather than the physical assault itself. The cane left no marks on her. The song is a fan favorite, and Dylan has performed it in concert in recent years.
The rest of the songs are rather well done. Dylan recycles the melody of FREEWHEELIN's "Girl from the North Country Fair" for "Boots of Spanish Leather". Dylan, being Dylan, had stolen that melody from Martin Carthy's arrangement of the English folk song "Scarborough Fair" lifts the melody to D. Dylan wrote "When the Ship Comes In" when a hotel denied him lodging while he was with Joan Baez do to his scruffy, hobo look. "Ballad of Hollis Brown," which Dylan rerecorded in the 1990s, is a fantastic, morbid song originally auditioned for FREEWHEELIN' but sequenced as the second track to great effectiveness, a stark contrast to the rather anthemic qualities of the title cut "Times They Are".
Like his debut, BOB DYLAN, THE TIMES ultimately is a rather limited snapshot of where Dylan was at artistically at the time. Bruce Springsteen is famous for recording numerous songs during his sessions that don't make the final cut, because the material doesn't fall in line with the overall tone he is striving for. Just like Springsteen's records, Dylan limits himself strictly to a specific type of music, in this instance protest music, but at this point in his career he was writing much more than protest music. Had Dylan included some of TIMES' outtakes as supplemental songs or substituted the outtakes for songs that made the album, TIME's emotional and artistic core would be changed radically. Had songs like "Lay Down Your Weary Tune," "Percy's Song," "Bob Dylan's New Orlean's Rage," "Farewell," "Hero Blues," and "Eternal Circle" been included, the TIMES would be a much more versatile album instead of the straight protest record that it is.
In retrospect, TIMES remains an important album, as much for what it is not as for what it is. Dylan would never make another album so protest oriented. Dylan would famously move away from this direction, lyrically with his next album, and then musically as well on the his electric period. The song that always stands out to me is "One Too Many Mornings", with this very memorable lyric of "Everything I'm a sayin', you can say just as good, you're right for your side and I'm right from mine"). Dylan famously recast that song in his "Royal Albert Hall" concert. With this song, he is already hinting at his break from the folk scene, like his subconscious now he can't stay in the protest folk scene for long.
The last song, just like most last songs on Dylan albums, is very significant. "Restless Farewell" stands as Dylan's own farewell to the movement that catapulted him to fame, and just like "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a devastating kiss off to people trying to pin Dylan down to their definition of what they want him to be. The protest movement only got Dylan for full straight album.
Ultimately, for what it is, TIMES is a great album, but not really an accurate snapshot of Dylan's art at the time. TIMES feels like a diversion into hard-core protest music, and not really natural extension or progression of what Dylan was doing at the time. My own thoughts are he had to go through the folk-protest movement and then go on to rock'n'roll, to go through just one more persona and then cut it away.
Sometimes simple is better, a powerful album 2007-04-06
I must admit that I'm one of those people that just didn't get Dylan. I liked many of his songs but actually prefered the cover versions to the originals and being more into the music rather than the lyrics, really didn't see what the fuss was about. Well I've gone back and revisited Bob and now I get it, both his folk flavored material and his band oriented works.
On The Times They Are A-Changeing Dylan manages with just acoustic guitar, occasional harmonica and Bob's ragged voice, to make one of his most powerfully emotional albums. Perhaps the darkest of his career, certainly the starkest and it's just beautiful. Beautiful in it's simplicity and beautiful in the directness of the oftimes sad and timeless stories he tells.This is Dylan's most overt protest album, quietly yet powerfully raging against social injustice. Now while I very much like Dylan's band oriented material such as Highway 61 Revisited or Desire or Blonde On Blonde this album, Dylan's third, is a distilled essence of pure Dylan. There arn't any frills or fat, no drums or overdubs. It's just Bob and has become my favorite album by him.
With God on our side 2007-04-05
This album was originally released in 1964 and the messages are as true today as they were then. The third title in this album, "With God on our side", was never included on any of the Greatest Hits releases, and its only other release was in a 1995 live album. It is sad to note that the civil rights activism and anti war passions of the 60's do not exist today. Everyone needs to listen to this song especially the political leaders of the world. The last verse of the song is the most memorable:
"So now as I'm Leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war"
