Bob Dylan "Dylan & The Dead" 1989**

I took the advantage of my recent visit to Utrecht's Mega Record and CD Fair to buy some of Dylan's worst albums on CD. Why the worst? you ask. Why do you think? Because I already have his masterpieces, his critically acclaimed and his plain good ones. Time to buy the rest to have the complete discography and an overview of the artist's trajectory. Why on CD? you ask. Duh! because it's cheap! This vinyl LP for example is quite pricey since, in the crazy times we're living, the display of a Dylan vinyl in your living room -preferably casually left lying around- is a sign of sophistication, Nobel prize and all! Who cares what "Dylan and the Dead" sounds like when it has such a cool cover? It's not like you're going to listen to it! Incidentally, I read in a study that 40% of vinyl buyers never listen to the albums they buy (I forget where the sample was taken from, it must have been a real hipster place). Sounds unbelievable - yet often people who aren't surprised to see me carrying vinyl LP's ask me after a short conversation whether I actually own a record player. Duh! what did you think? that I just sit and look at them? Well, maybe I do sometimes, but that's none of your business! It's just that, just by looking at records, the music comes alive in my head. But of course I play them regularly too.

Back to the subject of Dylan's less loved albums - specifically the live ones. For some reason, his official live releases gain only fair-to-bad reviews while every new installment of the Bootleg Series is hailed like a lost treasure. I always wondered what is the reason. Was Dylan so daft that he released the sub-par recordings and kept the good ones on his shelf? Or were the expectations at the time of their release too high, resulting to bad or mediocre reviews? Can't trust reviewers, I have to listen for myself. For example, I happen to love one of Dylan's most maligned live recordings "Live At Budokan". The way he reinvented his songs in that set was a source of amazement, even if the new versions were not as good as the originals. So I had high expectations of his cooperation with The Grateful Dead. How would it affect the songs? And how can the pairing of America's greatest songwriter and a band that has consistently proved capable of onstage magic possibly produce a bad result? Well, first of all, together with Dylan the songwriter you get Dylan the singer. Never a great vocalist, his performance here is particularly weak. I saw him live around the same period (with his regular band) and he also sounded bored and disinterested in his own songs. The Dead take a back seat, following Dylan's lead instead of feeding off each other's energy like they usually do in their own concerts. As a result, on tracks like "Queen Jane Approximately" and "Joey" they sound asleep and playing on autopilot. Nobody's favorite Dylan songs, their inclusion would be justified only if the performance was especially strong. Unfortunately that's not the case. Jerry Garcia's fluid guitarwork is probably the record's only redeeming feature - save of course for the songs. Even so, a classic love song like "I Want You" is sung by Dylan as if he wants to punish his older self by butchering his songs. The band plays it a bit too fast, but that's the least of its problems. On the bright side the two songs from his "Christian" period "Slow Train" and "Gotta Serve Somebody" roll along with a relaxed country funk rhythm, almost J.J. Cale-like, while "All Along the Watchtower" is given an energetic hard rock twist that suits it well. The record closes with crowd pleaser "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" which, while not actually bad, is inferior to other versions - even Guns 'n' Roses did a better job with it. And that's all - just 7 songs of which only 3 or 4 are any good. I know they played more than 20 songs in that tour, some  multiple times and some only once or twice. So the compilers had a lot of material to choose from, I just can't believe this is the best they could do. I mean there's stuff off that tour on youtube that would sound way better than what's in here, if properly cleaned and processed - so yes, maybe Dylan is so daft (or such a sadist) to keep the good stuff on the shelf and release anything he fancies for whatever reason. I mean, if there's one musician whose mind is impossible to fathom, that's Dylan. Maybe it's time for another installment of the Bootleg Series to restore the reputation of this line-up. Until then, this is a tour souvenir that will not satisfy the fans of either Dylan or The Grateful Dead. Even if, like me, you're prepared to acknowledge some virtues, it is at best an unnecessary record.

*** for Slow Train, Gotta Serve Somebody, All Along The Watchtower, Knockin' On Heaven's Door

** for I Want You, Queen Jane Approximately, Joey

Utrecht Mega Record and CD Fair (Platenbeurs)

Serious record collectors among you probably know all about it: the biannual Record Planet record-and-CD fair in Utrecht is advertised  as "the world's biggest record shop" and features 550+ music retailers from around the world - well, the majority came from Germany and The Netherlands, but there were stalls from, among others, UK, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Brazil and the U.S.A. The last edition took place on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 April from 9:00 to 17:00 and, believe me, 8 hours are not enough to see the whole thing - though they're certainly enough to drain your wallet. Some peripheral activities are also taking place, including live music, book presentations, and auctions for the most collectible items, but it's mostly an endless browse-athon. The offer ranged from the super eclectic (rare psychedelic original LP's, Japan-only 7' singles, a stall with hundreds of Afro-pop records etc) to cheap second hand vinyl and CDs, which is my bread-and-butter. After 30 years of collecting (and 60+ years of rock'n'roll history) and despite my best efforts, my record collection still has endless gaps - and not all of them are expensive to fill. In general, prices here are the similar to, or lower than, those on discogs/ebay. Factor in the lack of postage and customs taxes, and you'll find that a visit to the jaarbeurs makes financial sense. And the rarities? Even if you can't afford them, you can still hold those sought-after albums in your hands - even take a selfie with them, if you're not afraid of looking ridiculous. I left the record fair loaded like a mule - you can see some of my catch sprawled on the floor in the photo below. It'll take me a couple of months to listen to everything, let alone present them in my blog. The way it's going I'll need two lifetimes to present what I already have -that's provided I stop buying records today. It's a losing game, but I'll do my best anyway...

Cherry Vanilla "Bad Girl" 1978***

This is probably a rare case of a singer whose autobiography is more interesting than her records. Cherry never had a great voice but she certainly had an interesting persona, and was one of those scenesters who are always at the right place at the right time. Having no theatrical training or background she found herself performing nude onstage in Andy Warhol's controversial play "pork" and becoming a permanent fixture of the New York art/music  scene, befriending and sleeping with rock stars including Bowie for whom she also worked as a publicist/PR person. It wasn't long before she started her own band as a vehicle for her sexy persona and bold lyrics, becoming a regular performer at legendary club Max's Kansas City. In '76 she relocated to London where her backing band at some point included Sting and other members of Police. In late '77 she released the single "The Punk" and soon afterwards her first LP aptly titled "Bad Girl". On retrospect her arty New York brand of "punk" was a step too far from the thuggish mentality of British punks who, despite her U.S. scene credentials, probably regarded the 34-year old as a late bandwagon jumper. Sultry burlesque opener "I Know How To Hook" would certainly have been enough to put off any spiky-haired hooligans. "So 1950's" may have appealed to some Lou Reed fans while "Not So Bad" is 50's pastiche. The rest of Side 1 paid tribute to her New York punk peers Blondie ("The Punk") and Ramones ("No More Canaries"). Side 2 continued mixing up styles from the theatrical rock of "Hard As A Rock" to the teenybopper glam of "Liverpool", New York Dolls-style glam punk of "Foxy Bitch", and country "Bad Girl". The closing "Little Red Rooster" isn't a cover of the Howling Wolf classic but a Mott-style glam rocker with clanging piano and a silly but catchy chorus. The band, especially Cherry's boyfriend Louis Lepore on lead guitar, are more proficient than your average punk rockers but, despite Cherry's charm, Bowie endorsement and ample promotion, the record flopped. After a second LP ("Venus D'Vinyl",1979) she finally gave up her attempt at rock stardom. She appeared on a Roger Waters album and wrote a well-received autobiography but mostly spent the next years as PR/publicist for Greek synth wizard Vangelis. Her albums were finally reissued in the 2000's combined on a single CD which was met with the same indifference as the original LP's, yet she is still fondly remembered by many music lovers, and has earned her place in musical history if only as a footnote. If you're a fan of the Andy Warhol art scene or early New York punk, you'd probably want to own this LP. Shouldn't be too difficult, enough people have unceremoniously unloaded their Cherry Vanilla LP's at thrift stores all around Europe not long after they bought them...

**** for The Punk, Foxy Bitch

*** for I Know How To Hook, So 1950's, Not So Bad, No More Canaries, Liverpool, Bad Girl, Little Red Rooster

** for Hard As A Rock