Most of the little I understand of the female psyche I’ve learned from Joni Mitchell.
Continue reading...Bob Dylan
176: Chuck Berry, ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ (Bob Dylan, ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’)
Who da daddy of rap?
Who da grandaddy?
087: Bob Dylan, ‘Black Diamond Bay’
Here’s a less-known Dylan masterpiece, ‘Black Diamond Bay’ from the last of his great albums, ‘Desire’ (1976).
It’s a cinematic tour de force, a dreamed narrative from a movie that you’ve never quite seen, hovering just beyond the horizon of your consciousness. You know every cliché, even the ones you’re aware Dylan is inventing as you watch.
111: The Byrds (David Crosby), ‘Everybody’s Been Burned’
David Crosby’s best songs with The Byrds employed a psychedelic sensibility – floating, meandering, precious, delicate, shimmering, as unfettered and fragile as a soap bubble wafting in a marijuana cloud above a Tribal Gathering. ‘Everybody’s Been Burned’ is one of his finest. It has the weight of melody and lyric content and meaning and emotion and passion, and yet it still floats.
Continue reading...265: Dion DiMucci, ‘Abraham, Martin and John’
Dion, from doo Wop to Dylanizer.
More swagger than Jagger.
262: Bob Dylan, ‘Went to See the Gypsy’ (“Another Self-Portrait”)
In 1970, Dylan was so set on releasing a terrible album that he left out all the good stuff.
Here’s the good stuff.
Welcome to Dylanland.
259: Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau: ‘Marcie’ (Joni Mitchell), ‘Don’t Think Twice’ (Dylan)
You don’t need Thile and Mehldau to justify the standing of Dylan or Mitchell. But their fresh new readings may still amplify and even enhance the originals.
Continue reading...249: Bobby Vee, ‘The Night Has a Thousand Eyes’
Bobby Vee died in 2016 from Alzheimer’s. That’s pretty surprising, considering that he’s still an 18-year old pop star and I’m still a pimply 13-year old with my ear glued to a Top 40 transistor radio.
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