His Bobness...

Martin Abend · From: Berlin, Germany

...gets 60 today and you can't open a newspaper or turn on the radio over here without being reminded of this fact.
In one magazine there was a nice shot of a Sho-Bud next to Dylan and the pope.

I never really got into Bob Dylan. The thing I like most about him is the ambivalence of his person. I think he's one of the most intelligent musicians of our time.

What do you think about him?

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Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Great writer. Lousy singer. Flame away.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

(Well, I guess I should at least say that anybody who can manage to score a photo of the Pope with a pedal steel guitar has got to be okay in my book. Where can I get that photo?)

Ray Jenkins · From: Gold Canyon Az. U.S.A.

[quote]
Great writer. Lousy singer. Flame away.
[quote]
Why Flame ya?

Ray

Andy Alford · Posted 24 May 2001 7:01 am

Bob sure has his on style unlike the Nashville Clones of today.I hear he even has a dobro player in his band.His music is his own.I guess its folk or ???

Craig A Davidson · From: Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin USA

Let's see, Great writer, lousy singer, sounds like about 50% of today's music. Maybe Bob should do a Nashville Skyline II. He would never get a hit at 60 though. He's got three things against him: His age, No Wranglers, and No cowboy hat. Plus he can put on a show without smoke and lights and jumping and running all over the stage. I still like him. To me he is one of the greats in the music business.

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Bob Shilling · From: Berkeley, CA, USA

He's one of the all time greats. Great writing, and IMHO not such a bad singer. Just a very unique style.

"Bringing It All Back Home", and "Highway 61" are two of the greatest albums of any kind ever recorded.

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Bob Shilling, Berkeley, CA--MSA S10

Michael Holland · From: Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Pure genius. Dylan is one of the greatest writers of our time. I heard Lay Lady Lay on the radio the other day and it still gives me chill bumps.

David Pennybaker · From: Conroe, TX USA

As Alan Jackson summed it up:

"Well the folk scene's dead, but he's holding out in the village
He's been writing songs, speaking out against wealth and privilege
He says I don't believe in money, but a man could make him a killin'
Cause some of that stuff don't sound much different than Dylan
I hear down there it's changed you see
They're not as backwards as they used to be"

Uh, Dylan sings?

I'll take James Taylor any day over him on the singing part.

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Antolina · From: Dunkirk NY

BoB Dylan.....poet laureate of our time should be. Kristofferson introduced him in his early years as "the greatest poet of our time" and he's stood the test of time. Dylan like others of his era including but not limited to Kristofferson, Prine, Goodman etc, gave us all permission to sing. No longer did Joe Average with a six string box have to remain silent. His voice became legitimate.
nuff said

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Jeff A. Smith · From: Angola,Ind. U.S.A.

I'm just slightly younger than would allow me to have had much conscious experience of his early career. There was, however, a documentary on him that I recently saw, and I was extremely impressed with a character trait of his that I consider to be of the highest order.

Many times in his life he broke with the secure and familiar, to follow his own way. More than once he angered and alienated those around him, that looked at him as their spokesman or vehicle. That was always secondary to what his inner conviction was.

I'm pretty sure, looking at the sacrifices that these changes of his caused for him, that he didn't do this in a calculated way in order to appear "the inscrutable genius".

Antolina · From: Dunkirk NY

When the great Woody Guthrie was dying and all his friends had gathered 'round. He took the moment to say...he's(Bob)the only folk singer in here.

Jody Carver · From: KNIGHT OF FENDER TWEED

Craig,,,,check your e mail Jody

Fred Martin · From: Phoenix, Az

Being a great singer isnt about being in key or having the proper vibrato. Its about connecting with the audience and projecting your soul.

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Fred, I hate it when you're right.

David Weaver · From: Aurora, CO USA

I loved Dylan's stuff. Just when 'folk' had about run it's course Dylan jumped into a whole bunch of unoccupied space.

When it comes to that general area of music though, Tom Waits has had all my attention for the past 20 years or so.

With certain arts, musicians and other 'creators' there should be a point at which you expect no more from them. They have accomplished a lifetime's justification and anything else is just playtime.

For example, once Tony Bennett recorded San Francisco, he should have nothing more to prove...in my opinion. Certain things justify it all...a point at which you just say "good enough for me!" Dylan reached that point with me about half way through "Blowin' in the Wind".

Smiley Roberts · From: Hendersonville,Tn. 37075

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

One of the greatest songs ever written is 'Bear Mountain Picnic' where Bob lets his comedy side loose, it's a lot of fun and I saw Bob in 1991 on tour, he was a cranky old fart who could barely sing and I loved every second of it.
There's not a lot of artists who have recorded better albums than the ohn Wesley Harding' and the 'Blonde On Blonde' albums, where Woody Guthrie meets American gothic and the myths of modern Americana and disseminated in a post modern R&B workout.
Folk-rock, nah... rock-folk.

Don't even get me startedon the John Wesley Harding album, 'Dear Landlord,'I Am A Lonesome Hobo,'John Wesley Harding' and other great songs.
Majestic and devastating in it's simplicity. In my humble opinion of course.

Bob Shilling · From: Berkeley, CA, USA

Right Jason, those two are also great albums. Two of Bob's greatest songs are "All along the Watchtower" -- as recorded by him, and by Jimi. One of the few times I've prefered a cover of a Dylan song over Dylan's version -- but not by much.

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Bob Shilling, Berkeley, CA--MSA S10

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

I must admit, I love the Hendrix version, it's so good.

The thing about Dylan is that a lot of people seem to forget how important he was in the whole country-rock scheme of things.

Through 1967 he woodshedded with the Hawks (aka the Crackers, aka the Band) in Woodstock and the combined material that they wrote in that house (Big Pink), and around that time is truly staggering.
The Basement Tapes double LP hardly even touches on the material, but from that whole creative output came the Band's debut and material for their second album in 1969, as well as Dylan's 'John Wesley Harding' set.

The thing is, there was a host of material that was unreleased, but recorded by others, this includes Band/Dylan covers in 1967-1969 by the Byrds (on their Sweetheart of the Rodeo LP no less), Flatt & Scruggs, Country Fever (a little group with a fellow named Albert Lee in London), and a lot of pop artists were covering the material like Manfred Mann, Brian Auger & the Trinity, Joe Cocker, etc.
Some ground breaking late 1960s country-rock bands in Australia actually covered some of these same style songs, plus Ian & Sylvia's first Nashville efforts also had them covering material from the Basement Tapes sessions.

When you combine that with Dylan hanging out with Johnny Cash on his TV show in 1969, it turned a lot of people on to country.

Herb Steiner · From: Briarcliff TX 78669, pop. 2,064

The "Slow Train Coming" album is one of the greatest of the non-traditional testaments to Christianity of our generation, IMO.

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[This message was edited by Herb Steiner on 31 May 2001 at 04:43 PM.]

Bobbe Seymour · From: Hendersonville TN USA, R.I.P.

Singing is just like "tone", there is no good or bad,just diffrent,"acceptable singing?" -------- Naw,don't think so!
Jimbeaux is correct once more!
Bobbe (what am I saying here anyway?)

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Can't sing?

People used to say that about Woody Guthrie and Jimmie Rogers, it's just a matter of taste.