The Bob Dylan Thread

I'm afraid I just had to do this as I have long believed Bob Dylan to be the songwriter who has had the most influence on me in my thoughts & actions. His early songs have always filled me with thoughts & emotions which most music or poetry fails to come close to matching.

However many people I know claim that Dylan is either a poor musician or just plain dull & I wondered whether this was the resounding opinion of the Total War Centre community. I just thought I would start this thread to hear both peoples opinions of Dylan as well as any favorite songs, albums etc.

Personally I have always liked Percy's Song it really says alot about the insanity of justice & I can remember its message often fueling debates I have had in the past. Oh & one before I post this, I also think Dylan is useful for learning of many historical events in particularly when judging public opinion, a good example of this would be Hurricane which is one of the finest accounts of the imprisonment of Rubin Carter I have ever heard.

In case you haven't guessed I'm a bit of a fan.

First record I bought of Bob Dylan was ''The otherside of Bob Dylan'' and I was hooked, I simply enjoyed listening to it and that is what the essence of a good singer/songwriter is all albout; If you can entertain me with just your instruments and lyrics than you have my upmost respect.

Some say that his voice sounds bad, they could imply the same for Neil Young but that would not stop me liking their music as music for me atleast, is very personal en and my notion of what great music is supercedes the opinions of others (well mostly).

Anyhow, yeah you could say that I am lover of his contraptions especially the older pieces of work - Like a rolling stone, Blowing in the wind, masters of war .

Great songwriter, great lyricist. In fact, he's one of the best songwriters when it comes to telling stories and writing about society.

But his voice is terrible. It spoils the music. His voice just isn't a music voice. I have Highway 61 Revisited and John Wesley Harding, they're both fine albums, but the vocals sometimes just bring you down. If he got somebody else to do it for him, I'd totally love it.

You know, I've never really been able to get into Bob Dylan. I don't know why, I just can't



Though I do love "All Along the Watchtower", Jimi style (but then again, who doesn't?)

Well for anyone who finds his voice a barrier there are songs around which he's recorded but yet sound little like him. A good example of this is Blind Willie McTell. Dylan refused to release this on the grounds that he though it sounded nothing like him but in reccent years it was released as part of the bootleg series & in my opinion is probably the best song he recorded in his later career. If you want to hear it I'm sure you'll know various ways to get hold of such things or you can just PM me & I'll sort it out for you.