OTHER WRITINGS

Since I like to talk about music in general, I have written a few posts on the blog that I would like to 'reprint' here. These are writings that discuss an artist or possibly the music business as a whole.

Some Thoughts On The Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey LPs.

Being a big Beatle fan, there are a lot of things I've done that the average person would never even think of doing. For example, I've sat through Magical Mystery Tour more than once...I've listened to George Harrison's Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound and I sat through the unimaginable horror of albums like Ringo's Bad Boy and the entirety of John & Yoko's Some Time In New York City (which honestly isn't that bad). However, there is one thing I will never do: listen to all of the Double Fantasy and Milk And Honey albums. With the advent of the CD, you can skip through Yoko's songs on both albums (but it makes you feel bad, considering how those who bought the LPs and cassettes didn't have this technology) so, there's no reason to torture yourself.
If you buy these albums, though, you might feel cheated. After all, Double Fantasy has seven John songs and Milk And Honey has only six. Also, collections like The John Lennon Collection, Lennon Legend and Working Class Hero have quite a few of John's tracks. [The John Lennon Collection has all but "Cleanup Time" from Double Fantasy; Lennon Legend has four DF tracks and two M&H tracks; Working Class Hero has five DF tracks and four M&H tracks]
Still, these are a must for every collection. As noted above, collections miss the great "Cleanup Time" and those still in print also miss "Dear Yoko", a nice sequel to Imagine's "Oh Yoko!", from Double Fantasy. The 2000 re-issue of DF also includes a great piano demo, "Help Me To Help Myself", which appears nowhere else. There are more Milk And Honey tracks you miss, mostly because there were only two singles ("Nobody told Me" and "Borrowed Time", both on Lennon Legend and Working Class Hero) and neither were big sellers. However nice tracks like "I Don't Wanna Face It" and "(Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess" are missing on all collections. Bonus tracks on the 2001 re-issue include the sublime single "Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him", a demo of "I'm Stepping Out" and a fantastic twenty-two minute interview that turned out to be John's last.
So, the verdict is both are a must for everyone.
Compared to the last album by George, though, there really is no contest. Brainwashed is pure George all over the place, from the guitar work to the humor in the lyrics. However, you know these songs aren't pure John. The John who sings these songs is not the same one who screamed "Weeeelllllllllll!!!!!!!!!" or wrote the scathing lyrics to "Steel And Glass". This is a John that somehow allowed himself to move into the pop music stream. The closest you get to the familiar John of the past is "I'm Losing You".
John clearly never wanted this to be his last set of recordings, but maybe he was saying something. Maybe he was saying that he was ready to change, that he knew different people were listening (after all, a whole generation had practically past since the Beatles broke up).
One thing that I've never liked about what critics say about Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey is that it's "McCartney-esque". It's not...it's "Lennon-esque" and only "Lennon-esque".
If I do ever decide to listen to the Yoko tracks, I'll get back to you...that won't be for awhile!

Click here to go to the John Lennon page

Why I Hate Greatest Hits Compilations

1. They Make People Not Want To Look At An Entire Piece Of Work
I’ve always had a strong belief that an album is piece of artwork. You don’t take a look at Washington Crossing The Delaware and only look at the visage of our first president. You need to look at the whole thing to get the idea of these men working through the rough winter to cross the river. It gives you a sense of what the American colonists had to go through to gain independence. If you only look at Washington, it’s like only listening to “Band on the Run” and “Jet” from Wings’ Band On The Run and thinking you got the whole thing, just because those were the hit singles. You didn’t. You missed the beauty of “Bluebird”, the interwoven pieces of “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me)” and the great piano-driven rocker “Nineteen-Hundred And Eighty-Five”. You missed the fact that those two singles were only a PART of the BotR album.

2. They Almost Are Never Really An Artist’s Greatest Songs
You are stupid if you think for a second that The Beatles 1 is all you need. Stupid. I’m completely serious. 1 is a great example of a ‘hits’ compilation that misses nearly all of the artist’s best songs. Now, 1 does not claim to be a greatest hits set, but a compilation of The Beatles’ #1 singles. Still, there are people who walk this earth and think they can buy 1 and say the hell with it. “I’ve got 1, so now I know all of the Beatles’ best work.” Are you nuts? Insane? Look at what is missing! “Please Please Me” (which was a #1, but we won’t get into that argument now), “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Michelle”, “Here Comes The Sun”… just to name a few, are nowhere to be found. Then, there’s the fact that NOT A SINGLE SONG from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Rubber Soul, and The Beatles are on 1. Think about that for a second before believing that 1 is really all you need.

3. The Fact That One-Hit Wonders Think They Can Release A ‘Greatest Hits’.
That’s obvious…and silly.

4. ‘Greatest Hits’ That Lean On One Album.
By 1984, Meat Loaf had released three albums on Columbia/Cleveland/Epic/whatever. Of those three, the only one that had any success was, of course, the first one: Bat Out Of Hell. Still, the company figured they could put out a ‘Best Of…’ set (charmingly titled Hits Out Of Hell) with ten tracks on it. FIVE of those ten tracks came from Bat Out Of Hell. Obviously, this compilation leaned on five tracks from a SEVEN track album! That’s stupid. Another example of this (and there are many, but these are the ones off the top of my head) practice is The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Smash Hits. Considering that very little of Jimi’s songs could be considered hits (in the US, only “All Along The Watchtower” had any true success), his record companies at the time still felt the need for a compilation on both sides of the Atlantic. The UK album leans almost entirely on Are You Experienced and the US album, released after Electric Ladyland in 1969 leaned on both albums, completely glossing over the excellent (and brutally mind-blowing) Axis: Bold As Love. (Other Examples: Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits Vol. 1 &2 [leans strictly on The Stranger, with 6 of the 9 songs, despite only 2 being singles] and any Led Zeppelin compilation [the latest, Mothership, has 4 from I, IV, and Houses of the Holy and some contain as much as five from the 8-song LP IV.])

5. They Sell Better Than Albums
I hate this fact about the music business, but it’s true. People would rather buy a record chock full of songs they know by heart than an album with one song they might know and a bunch of others they have no clue about. This is a shame, but it’s human nature. We like familiarity and don’t like to leave a comfort zone. As I said in point #1, it means people don’t like to look at a whole piece, but rather what everyone else says is the best part. Half the time, the single isn’t even the best part of a record. “Desolation Row” is certainly the best part of Highway 61 Revisited, but was that the single? No. Look at the previously mentioned Sgt. Pepper's… None of those songs were single or hits. Does that mean it’s a bad record? No way! It’s one of the most influential pieces of music in the world.

6. People Buy Greatest Hits And Read The Essay And Think They Know AllNo, you don’t. You don’t know anything about anyone until you LISTEN to the artist’s body of work as a WHOLE.

7. Artists Make Fans Buy Them
The record companies work with the artists to make a compilation that includes rarities so die-hard fans will gobble them up. I’ve fallen in the trap and boy, has it pissed me off many a time. Please, just put out a rarities set…we hate to buy the same song twice.

I could go on forever, but that’s what I’ve got now. So, just think of my points the next time you want to get a ‘hits’ compilation.

Bob Dylan November 21, 2008

This is written like a news article simply because it was. It was printed in Hofstra's school newspaper, The Chronicle. Granted, a lot of it was cut (I don't think the editors appreciated that I actually described song-by-song what Dylan did), but here's the whole thing.

Bob Dylan, 67, has been touring the world since 1963, but for the first time, on November 21st, he gave a concert strictly for fans only.
On October 27th, it was announced that Mr. Dylan would give an exclusive concert at the United Palace Theater in New York City to www.bobdylan.com readers. Tickets went on sale on October 30th, quickly selling out the next day. Fans were required to type in a special password in order to get tickets. Those who got tickets in the first ten rows of the orchestra were required to pick them up personally at the ticket window.
As for the show itself, it certainly was special, although it mostly followed the format of his other recent concerts. That is, performing five songs from his last album, 2006’s “Modern Times” and performing songs from the 1960’s in such a way that it makes them almost impossible to figure out. Still, he performed enough different material to make me happy.
Mr. Dylan came out with “Gotta Serve Somebody”, the song that gave him his first Grammy award in 1979 from his “Slow Train Coming” LP. Tonight was the first time Dylan performed the song since 2003. From there, there the concert just snowballed into something incredible. He ran through an electrified “The Times They Are A-Changin’” before going into “The Levee’s Gonna Break”, from “Modern Times”. The other four songs from his 2006 LP that he performed were “Beyond The Horizon”, “Spirit On The Water”, “Ain’t Talkin’” and “Thunder On The Mountain”. All the songs were given incredible performances and probably the only songs that remotely felt like their in-studio cousins.
After “The Levee’s Gonna Break”, Dylan broke from the confines of his keyboard to get on guitar and perform “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”, a song not played since 2005. Following that, he ran back to his keyboard to do an incredible version of “Things Have Changed”, his Oscar-winning song from 2000. The performance was amazing, proving how even recent songs are not invincible from Dylan’s re-arranging habit. Next, he went to two of his most well-known compositions from 1965, the breathtaking “Desolation Row” (from “Highway 61 Revisited”) and the amazing “It’s All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” (from “Bringing It All Back Home”). Both were recorded as acoustic tracks 43 years ago, so it is really cool to see how Dylan changes them for his electric band. Next was “Beyond The Horizon” before he ran through two tracks from 1997’s “Time Out Of Mind”, “’Til I Fell In Love With You” and “Make You Feel My Love”. The latter was a rather pedestrian reading, but “’Til I Fell In Love With You” was amazing. He stood in the center stage, playing harmonica only the entire time. It was just incredible, especially when he went on a tear for a solo! Next was “Honest With Me”, a rocker from 2001’s “Love And Theft”, the slow, almost grueling “Spirit On The Water” and then he threw “Highway 61 Revisited” on. It was a great version of the song, although the police car noises were greatly missed. After that, he ran through his apocalyptic “Ain’t Talkin’” and the fun, rocking “Thunder On The Mountain” before disappearing from the stage for a good five minutes.
Of course, Dylan came back for an encore, which was just as special as the rest of the show. He ran through great versions of “Like A Rolling Stone” and “All Along The Watchtower”. Usually, Dylan only does two songs for an encore, but here, he actually did a third. He ran to his guitar to do “Blowin’ In The Wind” to close the absolutely amazing concert.
As for everything else, the United Palace Theater, a converted church, was a great place for Dylan to play, as it was small, but had this amazing sound system where you could hear every nuance from the stage. His band, made of Tony Garnier (bass), George Recile (drums), Stu Kimball (rhythm guitar), Denny Freeman (lead guitar) and Donnie Herron (violin, viola, banjo, electric mandolin, pedal steel, lap steel), was on fire, spouting solos left and right whenever Dylan allowed for it. Freeman on lead guitar was just incredible, especially during “All Along The Watchtower” and “Honest With Me”.
Honestly, my only complaint is that the audience that goes to these concerts, even some ‘fans’, doesn’t seem to care what Dylan is doing, as long as he is on stage. The audience, at least in the balcony where I was, could have cared less that he was actually doing “The Times They Are A-Changin’” or “Things Have Changed”. I think the problem though, might actually lie in Dylan’s hands. He never addresses the audience, although if anyone is familiar with his history, they wouldn’t expect him to. Anyway, as a self-appointed Dylan nerd, I had fun and the concert is not one I shall soon forget.
This year marked a special anniversary for Mr. Dylan. He has been touring non-stop since June 7, 1988, when he began a tour promoting the recent release of his “Down In The Groove” LP, making 2008 the twentieth anniversary of “The Never Ending Tour”. Although this concert has been announced as the last for this year, Mr. Dylan is only taking the winter off. He will start a tour of continental Europe in March, and, if the past is any indication, he will be back in the U.S. for a summer or fall tour.

Watching The River Flow - My Hypothetical 1972 Bob Dylan Album

It's hard to believe it, but in 1971 to 1972, Bob Dylan's career was in serious danger. 1971 was the first year without an album release by Bob since 1963. After New Morning things dried up and Dylan put an odd amount of devotion into Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. II by recording several of his famous compositions that he hadn't recorded himself. He also recorded one new song, "Watching The River Flow" with Leon Russell. Leon also produced a recording of the Basement Tapes song "When I Paint My Masterpiece". At the sessions with Leon he also recorded "Wallflower", which wouldn't be released until The Bootleg Series Vol. 1-3, and the infamous "George Jackson" single, which has yet to make a widespread CD appearance. (It has been released on several international compilations, although none in North America; it is currently available in the iTunes Collection, though you have to re-buy his whole catalog.)
However, I think it is right to contemplate: What if, instead of spreading these tracks out on singles and on a compilation, he released an album in 1972? Here's my hypothetical idea:

Side One:
1.       Watching The River Flow (3:39)
2.       George Jackson (Big Band Version) (5:35)
3.       Wallflower (2:49)
4.       When I Paint My Masterpiece (3:25)

Side Two:
1.       George Jackson (Acoustic Version) (3:33)
2.       Spanish Is The Loving Tongue (3:38)
3.       I Shall Be Released (3:06)
4.       You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (2:49)
5.       Down In The Flood (Crash On The Levee) (2:48)

Now, the run time would be about 31 minutes, which is short. For an album in 1972, though, it wouldn't be such a stretch. Side one would include all four electric Leon Russel songs. Side two would have the acoustic "George Jackson" as the lead off, since it is such a strong track. "Spanish Is The Loving Tongue", recorded during New Morning, featuring just Dylan and a piano, so it fits as a perfect lead-in to the three Basement tapes songs from GH, V. II, recorded with Happy Traum. "Crash On The Levee" is such a strong song, that I think it would make for an ideal closer, since it performs that job relatively well on GH, V. II.
Whether this album would have been a hit or not, no one could know. Dylan himself obviously did not feel the songs would have worked together as an album, if he even ever considered it.