Bob Dylan's Blog, page 12
March 9, 2012
Bob Dylan en conversación con John Elderfield
<br /> <br />
Con motivo de la liberación de Bob Dylan "La Serie de Asia," hemos publicado la entrevista target="_blank"> <a href="/bobdylan101/john-elderfield-interview-bob-dylan-spring-2011" </ a> se llevó a cabo con el eminente historiador del arte John Elderfield.
Con motivo de la liberación de Bob Dylan "La Serie de Asia," hemos publicado la entrevista </ a> se llevó a cabo con el eminente historiador del arte John Elderfield.
January 23, 2012
Chimes of Freedom Released in Support of Amnesty International
Two iconic forces that have impacted the past half century - Amnesty International and Bob Dylan – are being saluted by 80 musicians in Chimes of Freedom.
Order "Chimes of Freedom", a four-CD collection of Bob Dylan songs, recorded by 80 artists in support of Amnesty International.
In January 1961, on a cold snowy evening in Greenwich Village, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan, fresh out of Minnesota, began his professional career in earnest playing at a hole-in-the-wall coffee house. A few months later, the British lawyer Peter Benenson and some friends in London launched the campaign that became Amnesty International.
It was a coincidence. Yet from the start, Dylan's artistic work and Amnesty's political work drew on a common sensibility that ultimately changed the world.
For half a century, Amnesty has pressed to secure the fundamental human rights of the persecuted and imprisoned across the globe. Over that same half century, Dylan's art has explored and expressed the anguish and hope of the modern human condition.
Read the complete liner notes by Sean Wilentz
Chimes of Freedom is dedicated to people worldwide who are unjustly imprisoned or threatened for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
Amnesty International encourages all those who are inspired by Dylan's music to take action on behalf of people like:
Jabbar Savalan – Youth activist in Azerbaijan who was detained after using Facebook. Savalan was released on December 26th, 2011 after Amnesty International members took action on his case
Women of Zimbabwe Arise – Human rights defenders who have been repeatedly harassed, intimidated, beaten and jailed by authorities
Liu Xiaobo – Nobel Peace Prize laureate imprisoned in China for seeking political reforms
Chimes of Freedom To Be Released in Support of Amnesty International
Two iconic forces that have impacted the past half century - Amnesty International and Bob Dylan – are being saluted by 80 musicians in Chimes of Freedom.
Order "Chimes of Freedom", a four-CD collection of Bob Dylan songs, recorded by 80 artists in support of Amnesty International.
In January 1961, on a cold snowy evening in Greenwich Village, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan, fresh out of Minnesota, began his professional career in earnest playing at a hole-in-the-wall coffee house. A few months later, the British lawyer Peter Benenson and some friends in London launched the campaign that became Amnesty International.
It was a coincidence. Yet from the start, Dylan's artistic work and Amnesty's political work drew on a common sensibility that ultimately changed the world.
For half a century, Amnesty has pressed to secure the fundamental human rights of the persecuted and imprisoned across the globe. Over that same half century, Dylan's art has explored and expressed the anguish and hope of the modern human condition.
Read the complete liner notes by Sean Wilentz
Chimes of Freedom is dedicated to people worldwide who are unjustly imprisoned or threatened for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
Amnesty International encourages all those who are inspired by Dylan's music to take action on behalf of people like:
Jabbar Savalan – Youth activist in Azerbaijan who was detained after using Facebook. Savalan was released on December 26th, 2011 after Amnesty International members took action on his case
Women of Zimbabwe Arise – Human rights defenders who have been repeatedly harassed, intimidated, beaten and jailed by authorities
Liu Xiaobo – Nobel Peace Prize laureate imprisoned in China for seeking political reforms
“Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan” Released in Support of Amnesty International
<a href="http://amzn.to/bobdylanchimes" target="_blank"><b>Order "Chimes of Freedom"</b></a>, a four-CD collection of Bob Dylan songs, recorded by 80 artists in support of Amnesty International.
Two iconic forces that have impacted the past half century - Amnesty International and Bob Dylan – are being saluted by 80 musicians in Chimes of Freedom.
In January 1961, on a cold snowy evening in Greenwich Village, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan, fresh out of Minnesota, began his professional career in earnest playing at a hole-in-the-wall coffee house. A few months later, the British lawyer Peter Benenson and some friends in London launched the campaign that became Amnesty International.
Order "Chimes of Freedom", a four-CD collection of Bob Dylan songs, recorded by 80 artists in support of Amnesty International.
It was a coincidence. Yet from the start, Dylan’s artistic work and Amnesty’s political work drew on a common sensibility that ultimately changed the world.
For half a century, Amnesty has pressed to secure the fundamental human rights of the persecuted and imprisoned across the globe. Over that same half century, Dylan’s art has explored and expressed the anguish and hope of the modern human condition.
Read the complete liner notes by Sean Wilentz
Chimes of Freedom is dedicated to people worldwide who are unjustly imprisoned or threatened for the peaceful expression of their beliefs.
Amnesty International encourages all those who are inspired by Dylan’s music to take action on behalf of people like:
Jabbar Savalan – Youth activist in Azerbaijan who was detained after using Facebook. Savalan was released on December 26th, 2011 after Amnesty International members took action on his case
Women of Zimbabwe Arise – Human rights defenders who have been repeatedly harassed, intimidated, beaten and jailed by authorities
Liu Xiaobo – Nobel Peace Prize laureate imprisoned in China for seeking political reforms
"Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan" Released in Support of Amnesty International
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006..." target="_blank"><b>Order "Chimes of Freedom"</b></a>, a four-CD collection of Bob Dylan songs, recorded by 80 artists in support of Amnesty International.
Two iconic forces that have impacted the past half century - Amnesty International and Bob Dylan – are being saluted by 80 musicians in Chimes of Freedom.
In January 1961, on a cold snowy evening in Greenwich Village, a twenty-year-old Bob Dylan, fresh out of Minnesota, began his professional career in earnest playing at a hole-in-the-wall coffee house. A few months later, the British lawyer Peter Benenson and some friends in London launched the campaign that became Amnesty International.
September 28, 2011
Bob Dylan in Conversation with John Elderfield
On the occasion of the release of Bob Dylan's "The Asia Series," we have published the interview he conducted with eminent art historian John Elderfield.
August 23, 2011
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Bob Dylan
from Phawker
BY MIKE WALSH
Let me make this clear up front: I'm not a Dylan-head, Dylan-ite, Dylan-phile, Dylan-ologist, or any other kind of extreme Dylan fan. In fact, I never bought a Dylan record or CD until just a few years ago and I am well into my 40s. I never saw the need. Growing up in the 60's, Dylan was on the radio all the time --"Blowing in the Wind," "Don't Think Twice It's All Right," "The Times They Are a Changin'," "All I Really Want to Do," "It Ain't Me Babe, "Mr. Tambourine Man," etc., etc. Plus, many other bands had hits with his songs, like Peter Paul and Mary, Hendrix, and The Byrds. There was no escaping Dylan back then. You listened to him whether you wanted to or not.
In college, it seemed like everybody in the dorm except me owned Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volumes 1 and 2. So I had to listen to the same songs all over again at just about every dorm party. One kid down the hall even had a guitar, a neck stand with a harmonica, and a music book of Dylan's greatest hits. So I got to hear the same songs played and sung live -- quite amateurishly, to put it kindly. By the mid-70's I'd had quite enough of Dylan -- so much so that I did a nasally, slurred vocal rendition of "Like a Rolling Stone" just to torture the Zimmermanites, even though they never seemed to mind. In fact, they joined in no matter how obnoxiously I wheezed, "How does it feeeeeeeel?", so the joke was always on me.
What I wanted to hear was something different, something that wasn't on the radio. Soon punk and new wave surfaced, and I've been a slave to indie rock and the underground sounds ever since, as my record collection can attest. My opinion of Dylan stayed the same during all that time, even though I didn't sing "Like a Rolling Stone" quite so often (although I did work up an even more annoying version of "The Needle and the Damage Done" but that's another story).
Then about five years ago I met this kid at work. About 25 years my junior and with 80 gigs of remastered 60's classics by The Who, Beatles, Kinks, Stones, Hendrix, and Dylan on his iPod. We worked together and made quite a pair: a young kid who listened to nothing but 60's rock heroes and a middle-aged guy still looking for the latest underground thing. It didn't compute. We had arguments about Roget Daltrey, who I cannot abide, and The Replacements, who the kid just refused to enjoy. It was The Odd Couple Revisited.
I grudgingly agreed to listen to his 60s music, and behold -- I became enraptured with Dylan, especially early Dylan. I pored through documentaries and books. I studied the deep LP cuts. I endured I'm Not There, and I tried my best to understand The Basement Tapes. Eventually even Dylan's harmonica playing no longer made me cover my ears and hide. Part of Dylan's appeal for me is the history and the myth, of course: Al Kooper, The Hawks, 'Judas!', Baez, Newport, Suze, Ginsburg, the whole crazy scene. I mean, aside from Brian Wilson who else from the 60s can claim to have influenced the Beatles? In fact, the Beatles were still singing about holding hands when Freewheelin' came out.
So when I heard that Dylan was appearing at the Mann, I figured it was my last chance to see him. I mean, the dude is 70, and it's a miracle he's still alive and touring. Plus, I wanted that one memory of Dylan, something to remember whenever I listened to another Dylan song. Wednesday night did not start off well. A traffic jam and parking confusion meant that we got to our seats just as the Leon Russell's set was ending. But it did give me an opportunity to gaze in wonder at Russell's astonishing appearance -- a glowing white pyramid of hair, like some cross between Gandalf and ZZ Top. However, the covers of rock standards with which he ended his set, like "Roll Over Beethoven," were eminently forgettable.
Soon I was in a food line and got into a conversation with a veteran of many Dylan concerts. I mentioned this was my first Dylan show. "It won't sound like the Bob Dylan of the 60s or 70s," he warned. "The performance is totally unsentimental. They play sixteen songs. The last two will be hits, like 'Mr. Tambourine Man' or something like that, just to make everybody happy. Then they walk off stage. That's it. The arrangements for his classic songs are completely different than his records, so it may take a minute or two to recognize them. Don't be disappointed. So just sit back and enjoy a great rock band."
August 8, 2011
At 70, Dylan remains full of surprises
from Toledo Blade
At 70, Dylan remains full of surprises
Music legend brought favorites, new versions of oldies to Toledo
By Rod Lockwood
Bob Dylan represents one of the most fascinating artistic dichotomies possible in the 21st century. His music sounds like it comes straight out of the earth -- a fertile, dirty mix of the blues and soul and rock and country that blends into a swirling kaleidoscope of sound. He plays with the best Americana musicians on the planet and his take-it-or-leave-it voice (I'll take it) has evolved into a craggy, expressive instrument that is part carnival barker/part folk poet preacher.
The man is old by rock and roll standards -- 70 -- and so you kind of expect him to act old.
That's where the dichotomy comes in, as Dylan demonstrated Wednesday night at the Toledo Zoo. These days we all hear about someone reinventing herself. It's a buzz word that suggests the path to success in our careers and relationships, to fixing what's broke in our lives and surviving these sometimes dark times lies in reinvention.
And no one is as good at that process as Dylan, even when he's playing music that's 50 years old and steeped in traditions that date back nearly a century.
That restless desire to move forward from folk icon to uber singer/songwriter, snotty rocker, born again Christian and all the other archetypes he's adopted informs everything he does.
So you go to a Dylan show like the one in front of about 3,600 people in the Zoo Amphitheatre and have no idea what to expect. The pay-off was a brilliant, galvanizing 90 minutes of music that featured some freakishly good rearrangements of songs in his canon that forced his audience to rethink "Ballad of A Thin Man" or "Tangled Up in Blue" or even newer works like "Mississippi" and "Things Have Changed" because Dylan makes them better than the originals.
On Wednesday "Tangled Up In Blue" was chill-inducing as Dylan and his band found an undiscovered funk groove in what was once an acoustic-driven anthem. He rapped the lyrics, re-emphasized certain words and changed the rhythm dramatically to give the song a completely different vibe while keeping the signature, instantly identifiable acoustic riff that makes the song so familiar.
Bob Dylan , right, performs with his band, including guitarist Charlie Sexton, left, at a concert in Vietnam this past April. "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" from his most recent album, "Together Through Life," featured Dylan stretching out on guitar and along with Charlie Sexton and Stu Kimble turning a fairly straight-forward blues song into a noisy, extended three-guitar jam. "Mississippi" evolved from the ruminative recorded version to a galloping, poppy song that transformed the original's serious bent into something randy and seductive. "Like a Rolling Stone" lost much of its bombastic sneer and became a Stax soul song and "Ballad of a Thin Man" utilized eerie echo on many of the lyrics as Dylan spit them out.
This took place all night long and it turned into an exceptionally entertaining 15-song romp through the Dylan songbook. His organ playing has become a much bolder part of the band's sound since he last played in Toledo in 2007 and his harmonica work was predictably fantastic.
Best of all, the amphitheatre's acoustics worked in his favor as a singer, and his voice sounded strong whether you were camped in front of the stage or up in the cheap seats. Dylan was fully engaged throughout, bobbing around behind his keyboard, gesturing with his hands and swaying when he stepped out in front of the microphone, and leading the band.
I've seen him four previous times, including at the concert at the former University of Toledo Savage hall four years ago and this was easily the best show I've seen. The sound was impeccable and Dylan and his band were playing their 43rd show of the year so they were in top form.
August 4, 2011
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams now Available!
EGYPTIAN RECORDS/CMF RECORDS/COLUMBIA RECORDS RELEASING THE LOST NOTEBOOKS OF HANK WILLIAMS, AN ALBUM OF PREVIOUSLY UNRECORDED HANK WILLIAMS LYRICS SET TO MUSIC & PERFORMED FOR THE FIRST TIME BY BOB DYLAN, JACK WHITE, NORAH JONES, ALAN JACKSON & OTHER TOP ARTISTS
NOW AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE! Order at Amazon.
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams to be released in October
EGYPTIAN RECORDS/CMF RECORDS/COLUMBIA RECORDS RELEASING THE LOST NOTEBOOKS OF HANK WILLIAMS, AN ALBUM OF PREVIOUSLY UNRECORDED HANK WILLIAMS LYRICS SET TO MUSIC & PERFORMED FOR THE FIRST TIME BY BOB DYLAN, JACK WHITE, NORAH JONES, ALAN JACKSON & OTHER TOP ARTISTS
AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2011
* * * * *
Egyptian Records, Bob Dylan's label imprint, in partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's CMF Records and Columbia Records, will release The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams on Tuesday, October 4, 2011.
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams is available for pre-order at Amazon.
The second title ever to be released on Egyptian (the first was 1997's The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers - A Tribute Album), The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams is a long-awaited collection of previously unrecorded Hank Williams lyrics newly set to music and performed for the first time as completed songs by a roster of artists with a musical and spiritual kinship to the archetypal American country music singer-songwriter.
The release of The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams provides an audio companion to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy, a 5,000-square-foot exhibition presenting an intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of a great American musical dynasty. Family Tradition, which opened in March 2008, is the largest and most popular temporary exhibition in the institution's history. The exhibit, which includes Hank Williams' notebooks and other memorabilia, will close on December 31, 2011.
Created from writings left behind by country music's "lovesick blues boy," The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams premieres the first-ever performances of 12 previously unheard Hank Williams lyric compositions newly set to music by 13 artists whose own sensibilities have been profoundly shaped by Williams.
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams project began with the idea of finding a well-known artist, one who felt Hank's inspiration and influence, to record an album's worth of the unheard songs. After veteran music industry manager/A&R executive Mary Martin approached Bob Dylan, a natural first choice for the endeavor, the project evolved into a multi-artist tribute providing a variety of sympathetic approaches to this rich mysterious material.
* * * * *
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams - tracklisting
1. You've Been Lonesome, Too - Alan Jackson
2. The Love That Faded - Bob Dylan
3. How Many Times Have You Broken My Heart? - Norah Jones
4. You Know That I Know – Jack White
5. I'm So Happy I Found You - Lucinda Williams
6. I Hope You Shed a Million Tears – Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell
7. You're Through Fooling Me – Patty Loveless
8. You'll Never Again Be Mine – Levon Helm
9. Blue Is My Heart – Holly Williams
10. Oh, Mama, Come Home – Jakob Dylan
11. Angel Mine – Sheryl Crow
12. The Sermon on the Mount – Merle Haggard
* * * * *
From heartbreak to honky-tonking, from Jesus to gin mills, Hank Williams wrote about life's deepest truths and sang with an ethereal authority on such unforgettable songs as "Your Cheatin' Heart," "I Saw the Light," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Cold, Cold Heart" and many more.
When Hank Williams died, at the age of 29, in the back of his Cadillac sometime early morning on New Year's Day 1953, he left behind a scuffed, embroidered brown leather briefcase, which he used to carry bound notebooks, among other items, darkening their pages with lyrics and song ideas. Some were fully finished, some just started.
The odyssey of Hank Williams' notebooks is recounted in the album's liner notes, penned by Michael McCall from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, who observes, "The history of Hank's notebooks is as complex as the legend himself. Yet, in the end, what matters most are the songs, and these new works rise from the ether with ghostly relevance. As with his many standards, these new recordings tap straight into the soul of man. This is songwriting at its most artful and most powerful."
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