Bob Dylan "World Gone Wrong" 1993***

Sometimes I wonder whether winning a Nobel Prize for literature is a sign that you're finished as an artist. It'd be good to go back and see if any Nobel laureate has ever published a major work after receiving the prestigious award. Bob Dylan became the first singer/songwriter to win a Nobel for literature in 2016 and, while he's been releasing records as often as ever, these are mostly archival recordings. Of the 4 new albums released in the last decade, 3 are collections of covers (from 2009's Christmas in the Heart to 2017's Triplicate) - a curious choice for someone who is (much more) celebrated for his songwriting rather than his singing abilities. 

That said, there is a precedent: Dylan followed one of the lowpoints of his career (Under the Red Sky, 1990) with a couple of back-to-back cover albums: Good as I Been to You (1992) and World Gone Wrong (1993). Both, especially the latter, were well received - much better than his latest attempts at covering the classics. But then, they weren't Christmas songs or Sinatra covers like his latest work, they were the kind of traditional material that young Dylan had originally made his name with playing at The Village cafes. Both the material choice here and the instrumentation (just voice, acoustic guitar and harmonica) are a throwback to his eponymous first album, recorded at the age of 20. It starts with a gentle acoustic blues "World Gone Wrong", followed by "Love Henry" (an Appalachian variant of Child ballad no.68) which sounded immediately familiar to me - but that''s probably because it provided the inspiration for "Henry Lee", a Nick Cave/P.J. Harvey duet from Murder Ballads (1996). The rest of (the vinyl's) side 1 are acoustic 30's blues: Blind Willie McTell's "Broke Down Engine" is somewhat upbeat, followed by slower ballads "Ragged & Dirty" and "Blood in My Eyes". The latter is one of two songs (next to "World Gone Wrong") originally done by guitar/fiddle duo The Mississippi Sheiks - both are among the record's highlights. Side 2 opens with a couple of traditional murder ballads inspired by true stories. "Delia", also often attributed to Blind Willie McTell, is the story of a 14-year old girl shot dead by her teenage boyfriend in 1901. She was buried in an unmarked grave, so the song is all that's left to remind of her. "Stack a Lee", sometimes also known as "Stagger Lee", takes us even further in time to 1895, when infamous St. Louis pimp "Stag" Lee Shelton shot one Billy Lyons in a bar brawl for taking his Stetson hat. Depending on who you listen to, the fight was originally about a woman, or gambling, or political in nature. Coincidentally (or not) this is the second song from this album that later found its way to Nick Cave's Murder Ballads, even if Cave's version is very loosely based on the traditional song. Exactly why these specific crimes were immortalized in song out of thousands of similar stories is something that escapes me, but there are a lot of similarities between them: both happened on Christmas day, and in both cases victim and murderer were black but the song makes no mention of their race, which is quite rare for its time. "Two Soldiers" is a Civil War ballad while "Jack-A-Roe" (a.k.a. "Jack Monroe") is an English or Scottish 19th Century mid-tempo song about a young girl and her sailor lover who goes to war. The closing "Lone Pilgrim" is a hymn about dying and joining God in Heaven - lest we had forgotten that Dylan is now a Christian. Which makes 5 out of 10 songs where one of the heroes dies, while in another 4 out of 10 a lover is spurned and mistreated. Miraculously, the girl who sails to her embattled lover finds him on death's doorstep but manages to save him and marry him. But even with a happy ending like that, a song that features flying cannonballs and piles of corpses isn't exactly cheerful. The choice of lesser-known and darker songs, combined with Dylan's affinity for traditional material and his, often underrated, mastery of the acoustic guitar has made this one a cult favorite. Recommended if you like traditional folk and blues, not necessarily recommended for fans of Dylan the Nobel-laureate wordsmith.

**** for World Gone Wrong, Love Henry, Blood in My Eyes, Delia, Jack-A-Roe

*** for Ragged & Dirty, Broke Down Engine, Stack a Lee, Two Soldiers, Lone Pilgrim

Dream Theater "Images And Words" 1992****

By rights Dream Theater should be among my favorite bands, as I love all progressive rock - except maybe the most experimental kind. Knowing that, friends suggested Dream Theater to me early on: their music was supposedly intricate yet accessible, and the musicians were all top-notch. My first approach was, as usual, through a compilation. This one was called GreateSt Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs). I'll present it in detail in another post, but the gist of it is that it was good and yet not particularly interesting. The playing was as good as advertised but, although one can find no fault with the compositions, my impression was that they were too commercial, too safe - certainly not what one thinks of as progressive. But that actually seems to be the general conclusion i.e. that the compilation is not indicative of the band's true style, so I tried again - this time with the band's original album series box set, containing 5 of their classic albums. I will present them one at a time, starting with Images And Words, the oldest album here and widely considered to be among their best.

The first 3 songs here were already familiar from the GreateSt Hit comp. "Pull Me Under" is the band's hit, as referred to in that title. It opens with an atmospheric intro followed by a barrage of metallic riffs, and evolves into an epic rocker which is often reminiscent of Rainbow. James LaBrie is an operatically trained vocalist with a typically "metal" high pitched voice - as opposed to most "rock" singers. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but at least it fits the song perfectly. Combined with the heavy riffing, virtuosic solos and catchy chorus, the song has all the elements needed to endear it to all hard rock fans. "Another Day" is your typical Reo Speedwagon-style power ballad. Some fans are appalled by the mellow saxophone, but I liked it as it reminded me of the saxes on Supertramp and Pink Floyd albums. "Take the Time" is introduced with metallic riffing followed by some funkier lines and by LaBrie displaying his vocal range hitting some high notes. After the 4-minute mark it becomes more diverse with proggy keyboards and fast guitar solos of the Steve Vai/ Joe Satriani school. "Surrounded" is a softer, melodic, tune that's pure 80's AOR. Which brings us to fan favorite "Metropolis—Part I". It's evident that the band intended this as their showcase: an epic song derailed by long instrumental passages of ridiculously difficult solos accompanied by very busy and complex drumming. "Under a Glass Moon" has all the hallmarks of generic metal: Metallica (riffs) Iron Maiden (vocals) and Van Halen (solos) come to mind. Maybe for that reason, it's the most indifferent to me, as well as likely to win pure metalheads over. It's followed by my favorite tune here: "Wait for Sleep" is a short beautiful piano piece with genuinely emotive, histrionic-free, vocals. It serves as intro to the most progressive composition, the 11:30 minute "Learning to Live" - basically a patchwork of mini-songs, charming melodies, and guitar/keyboard solos that lacks cohesiveness but takes you on a musical journey akin to sitting on the window seat of a train enjoying the constantly changing scenery. Images and Words remains the band's best selling album to date. It defined their sound and served as a blueprint for prog metal in general. It displays considerable complexity and versatility for a Metal album - which is of course akin to describing an animal as considerably graceful for a rhinoceros. On the other hand, if you like 70's prog and have no metal background you may find it unnecessarily bombastic and lacking in finesse. Sure, the extended solos and unexpected time changes bring it into prog territory but the compositions are rather pedestrian compared to the classics of the genre. It nevertheless warrants 4* just on the basis of the excellent musicianship involved: Petrucci and Portnoy are obviously masters of their respective instruments, Moore's keyboards add that classical element, and Myung's bass solo on "Metropolis Part 1" is among the most impressive I've ever heard. LaBrie on the other hand is a technically capable singer whose style fits well with the band but he's difficult for me to warm up to - at least in this record. Anyway the latest careful listen of Images and Words still didn't convince me to let Dream Theater in among my favorite bands, but it made me appreciate them a bit better than I originally did. Time to give the other 4 CD's in this box set a good listen, and maybe even give Octavarium another chance if I still have it - I remember putting it aside after a couple of listens many years ago, unimpressed. It didn't turn up when I cataloged my collection, and it isn't in the right genre/alphabetical position, so I may or may not have sold it or given it away at some point. In any case we'll return to Dream Theater later.

**** for Pull Me Under, Another Day, Take the Time, Metropolis Part I 'The Miracle and the Sleeper', Wait for Sleep, Learning to Live

*** for Surrounded, Under a Glass Moon

Bonzo Dog Doo/Dah Band "Gorilla" 1967*****

I have two versions of this LP (the second one was a gift with the express instruction to use for the blog). One is credited to Bonzo Dog Doo/Dah Band and the other to Bonzo Dog Band. This musical collective actually started as The Bonzo Dog Dada Band but they got tired of explaining Dada to people and changed it to the nonsensical "Doo/Dah" before dropping it altogether. In the meantime they had released their debut Gorilla which in subsequent reissues is released under both name variants. The result is a very English mix of comedy, jazz, music hall, pop, and everything else you can think of. It is upbeat, timeless, and good-naturedly funny - it never fails to make me laugh because it's all about the delivery, not just the jokes. It starts off with a short trad jazz hymn to "Cool Britannia", followed by one of the more conventional numbers: "The Equestrian Statue" sounds like that whimsical psychedelic pop of The Kinks and Beatles circa '66-'67. Next we get a cover of a 1929 novelty song called "Jollity Farm" and a parody of crooner classic "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". The band displays their ability in different styles by including a comedic calypso number ("Look Out, There's a Monster Coming"), trad jazz ("Jazz Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold") and rockabilly ("Death-cab for Cutie") - the latter song being one of their most famous, as it was included in the contemporary Beatles film Magical Mystery Tour. The Beatles were friends and fans of the group, they even endorsed a Beatles parody film featuring assorted Bonzos and Monty Pythons (Neil Innes played John Lennon's counterpart, Ron Nasty). So many different styles, and that's just Side 1 of the LP! Side 2 opens with "The Intro and the Outro", presenting the "members of the band" playing increasingly exotic musical instruments - apparently these bandmembers include Adolf Hitler, John Wayne and "Quasimodo, on bells". The multitude of instruments was such the studio didn't have enough channels to fit them all playing at the same time, so each instrument fades out after a few seconds to make way for the next. 30's cartoon tune "Mickey's Son and Daughter" is followed by jazz-noir parody "Big Shot". "Music for the Head Ballet" sounds like classical music played by one of those mechanical street organs still used here in the Netherlands. "Piggy Bank Love" is a Beach Boys-turn-psychedelic pastiche, and "I'm Bored" another manic music hall number. The album closes with "The Sound of Music" disparaging Hollywood musicals. While none of the abovementioned songs brought anything new musically, this particular melange, combined with the band's anarchic humor (The Monty Python connection should be indication enough) made it sound at once quaintly old fashioned and fresh. It sounds just as fresh (or timeless) 50 years later, especially the more joyful upbeat numbers. Perfect remedy for a bad day: if one listen to "Jollity Farm" doesn't improve your mood, nothing will.

**** for Cool Britannia, The Equestrian Statue, Jollity Farm, Look Out, There's a Monster Coming, Jazz (Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold), Death-cab for Cutie, The Intro and the Outro, Mickey's Son and Daughter, Big Shot, Piggy Bank Love, I'm Bored

** for I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Narcissus, Music for the Head Ballet, The Sound of Music

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry "Talk About The Weather" 1985(orig) 2018(reissue)****

Aah, the 80's...What a great time to be a teenager, moping around dressed in black and looking miserable, listening to songs with lyrics like "Here are the young men, the weight on their shoulders" played loud at dark smoky bars while clutching some alcoholic drink. Some will tell you that the 80's were shit, but we had some great music and a cool lifestyle - with no social media and no lifestyle magazines to dictate how to be cool you never worried about your image outside a tiny circle of friends. During our parents' lifetime the country managed to raise itself above poverty, and we got to enjoy the freedom that followed the liberation from the colonels' dictatorship and relative affluence after entering the E.U. Which made our generation the first of Greece's spoiled youths. With such a bright future seemingly ahead, it's no wonder we found refuge in dark and depressing music like that of The Cure, Siouxsie, Bauhaus, and less renowned groups like Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. 

 

Musically, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry are the perfect embodiment of what we think of as Goth: Lyrics every bit as "life-affirming" as Joy Division, deep booming bass, sharp guitar riffs, and dark, menacing vocals reminiscent of early Sisters Of Mercy. The music is faster and punkier than that of most of their peers, made to be played loud. It isn't devoid of melody but neither does it have the hooks to cross over to a wider audience. So, despite initial good sales, their debut album was destined to become something of a cult classic, only getting re-released twice: a limited CD run and a small numbered vinyl edition for Record Store Day 2018 (500 copies, mine is nr.221). This reissue has the added value of including their first two singles, originally released in 1982/1983. The A-sides ("Beating My Head" and "Take It All", also reviewed here) sound more like early Joy Division. Of the B-sides, "I'm Still Waiting" is an anomaly for R.L.Y.L. with its sax solos and occasionally funky bass while "Happy" also incorporates those elements but is generally more aggressive, reminiscent of Killing Joke. The LP version of "Happy" omits the sax and gives an overall bleaker impression. Generally the original LP deviates from Joy Division-like postpunk towards Goth. The augmented reissue is of normal length, but the original album may be considered too short (8 songs, less than 30 minutes). On the other hand every song is a winner, and given the repetitive relentless rhythm one may argue that it is exactly the right duration. Arguably the centerpiece is single "Hollow Eyes" exhibiting what I've previously described in this blog as music for werewolf discos. "This Today" is a similarly rhythmical piece, while "Feel A Piece" is a fast-paced song with half-recited vocals and "Talk About The Weather" is reminiscent of that other Leeds group, Sisters Of Mercy. It's as gloomy as I imagine Leeds weather must be to produce groups like these. "Sometimes" is a mid-tempo piece evocative or Pornography-era Cure, as is "Strange Dream" - at least until dramatically picking up pace halfway through the song. For those who discovered Goth in the 00s: forget all that poser emo shit, here's the real deal!

***** for Talk About The Weather, Hollow Eyes, Beating My Head, This Today

**** for Hand On Heart, Feel A Piece, Sometimes, Happy, Happy(Single Version)

*** for I'm Still Waiting, Strange Dream, Take It All