Saturday Spins
John Cusack in High Fidelity
In order to put my ~600 LPs and EPs to good use, and to continue my war against streaming music and other low-quality ways to digest music, I have conceived the idea of reviewing records from my collection here on Ordinary Times. To keep a modicum of honesty and integrity in this process, I will be using the “shake for a random record” function from the Discogs mobile app in order to select what I will be reviewing/talking about. 1 Also, new releases I receive will be done that week. May we all learn a lot from this process.2
The current equipment3 (which will change, but not often):
- Turntable-Technics SL-1200MK2 with an Audio Technica AT-VM95e cartridge in an Ortofon SH-4 headshell.
- Receiver-Technics SA-300
- Preamp-Cambridge Audio 640P
- Speakers-Pioneer Andrew Jones Designed SP-BS22-LR
A couple of rules and comments on the format I will be following:
- If the randomizer gizmo spits out a 45, then I will do my best to discuss or provide filler as necessary. If it selects a box set of 45s, then you are all in for a real treat.
- Speaking of box sets, I have lots. In the event it spits out one of the more hefty ones, it might get into TL;DR territory. I will do my best to hit the highlights.
- Format will be as follows:4
- Title, artist(s), year released.
- Brief commentary on the record, artwork, outer sleeve, inner sleeve, booklets, and any other special doodads that came with the record.
- Which tracks I think are great and why (45s will feature a review of each track).
- Which tracks I think are not that great and why.
- Fun facts, oddities, comments on well-known personnel that performed on the record.
My collection can be found here.
The Inaugural record is…
Love & Theft
Bob Dylan
2001
Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
Commentary
In an interesting twist of fate, a Dylan record leads off. One thing y’all should know about me and my collection, assuming you haven’t already glanced at my collection, is that I am a huge Dylan fan. I’m also a bit of a completist, so I have the vast majority of major and obscure releases on wax.
Depending on who you talk to, (may or may not include me) this album was his best since Blonde on Blonde and marked the return of Dylan to prominence. The album itself is a sonic journey through multiple genres, rock, folk, jazz. I am of the opinion that many of these arrangements foreshadow his current foray into the “Great American Songbook” on his last three albums.
There are several albums in between that I consider really good, but nothing as good as Blonde on Blonde. Like most Dylan albums, the artwork features various shots of the man himself looking cool as hell. Since it is a double LP, the inner sleeves also have head shots of the man looking cool as hell.
Cool
As
Hell
Tracks I Think Are Great
My favorite track is by far “Honest With Me” followed pretty closely by the ode to the worst state in the union, “Mississippi.” Both of these songs include Dylan’s trademark wry humor and concise storytelling. A lyric of particular note from “Honest With Me” is an excellent example of the humor, I’m stark naked, but I don’t care/I’m going off into the woods, I’m huntin’ bare. In “Mississippi”, he evokes regret for staying in the state “a day too long,” much like the guys from My Cousin Vinny; or was that Alabama?
“Summer Days,” “Lonesome Day Blues,” and “High Water (For Charlie Patton)” are all timeless songs that never get old. Just like Bob Dylan.
Tracks I Think Are Not That Great
None. For real, this is a record that I play every side of. The last two songs, “Cry Awhile” and “Sugar Baby” aren’t real high on my list of great Bob Dylan songs, but I still don’t think this album has any throwaway songs. In fact, “Sugar Baby” is hauntingly good.
Fun Facts!
This marked the first time Jack Frost produced a record by Bob Dylan. Coincidentally, Jack Frost is Bob Dylan’s nom de guerre. While not technically the first producer credit, Dyl—er Frost first produced 1994’s compilation, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. 3. Dylan caught a little bit of flack when somehow it was discovered that he “borrowed” some lines from an obscure Japanese biography, “Confessions of a Yakuza” about one of the last Yakuza bosses in Japan. In 2006 it was pointed out that he “borrowed” some lines from Civil War poet, Henry Timrod for a different album. Hear it from the man himself:
“As far as Henry Timrod is concerned, have you even heard of him?” he asked. “Who’s been reading him lately? … Ask his descendants what they think of the hoopla. And if you think it’s so easy to quote him and it can help your work, do it yourself and see how far you can get. Wussies and p****** complain about that stuff.”
Now, all the complainers are wussies and p****** without a Nobel Prize in Literature too. For what it is worth, according to Dylanologist and biographer Sean Wilentz, the Japanese author, Junichi Saga, was honored to find out that Dylan was influenced by his work.
Saturday’s Spin, “Love and Theft
- The random function might select records related to current events and/or holidays and is subject to the whims of the author, me.
- While my entire collection is on Discogs, I have not yet filled in several of the condition and grading categories. This process sets out to improve that as well.
- This current set up is a mixture of my “A” team and “B” team, if you’re interested in a discussion on equipment, hit me up on twitter or in the comments.
- Subject to additions or subtractions.
The musicianship on BoB is outstanding, but I think the songs on Blood on the Tracks are stringer overall.Report
he evokes regret for staying in the state “a day too long,” much like the guys from My Cousin Vinny; or was that Alabama?
I think more like when one goes down to Highway 61, one never knows where one might end up, perhaps stuck in Mobile, wanting to get back to Memphis, or headed to New Orleans, but tangled up in a fishing boat right outside of Delacroix. The character is a drifter whose been “in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down.”
I’m pretty sure Dylan was living in New Orleans at this point, riding his Harley into the country and cherishing encounters with the characters he meets. Whether or not he is the drifter or not, probably doesn’t matter. But could be.Report
Also, a few of the lines from “Mississippi” were borrowed from prison chain gang songs recorded by John Lomax and his son during the Great Depression. John Lomax sang the song “Rosie” when he returned to Greenville, MS at the age of 80 for a city commemoration, and by some accounts he collapsed and later died after singing the lyric “stayed in Mississippi one day too long.” Sounds a bit too on the nose to me, but he apparently he sang a “Rosie” song, but which one?
Lomax thought Rosie must have been a prison prostitute or follower as the prison allowed conjugal visits from time time, and “Rosie” is a lament about the prison guard making life tough, perhaps limiting access to Rosie or the money to keep her, giving rise to thoughts of suicide, cascading into threats of violence to kill or otherwise fix the snitch. Dylan also borrows from a second Rosie song, “Long Gone,” in which the singer thinks back to what Rosie had said and if he’d listened to her, he would still be in her bed, but instead he got to “running around” until he was jailhouse bound. These seem to be different Rosies, one Saint and the other Whore. One the prisoner is looking back to with regret, and the other he is looking forward to, but may be impeded.Report
I think the Lomaxs’ (John, Alan, John Jr.) odyssey to catalog uniquely “American” music in danger of being lost to history is a big reason why Bob’s last three records have been rearrangements of songs from the so-called “Great American Songbook.” I wonder if Bob’s “borrowing” could be in some way his intention of preserving a lot of unique and obscure art and literature?Report
I think Dylan was covering or borrowing from old blues men from early on, though that may not stand out because a lot of musicians were doing that in the 60s. I’m not as familiar with his most recent records. But the one time I saw him live was at the 1993 New Orleans Jazz Festival, and he opened with a cover of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More.” Seems like he was branching out to some obscure over-century old classics.Report
Great piece. I look forward to reading more about your collection.Report
So, where do you stand on the CD-vs-vinyl debate?Report
I think that can be a topic for another time, but in short, when I was a teenager I bought a lot of CDs before the advent of the $0.99 MP3. I cant confirm or deny use of Napster, Limewire, BitTorrent at that time. I started collecting vinyl around 2007-2008. Now, I only purchase CDs if they are a box set release from an artist that wont be available on wax. As far as sound quality, vinyl is superior sounding, and it isn’t even close. Even with seemingly mediocre equipment, there is no substitute to listening to music on vinyl. Am I an effete snob, yes. Do I sully my ears with low-quality digital music, also yes.Report