Bob Dylan and Me Part 3: Finishing the 1960’s

Part 3 of my exploration of Bob Dylan’s catalog. This time I look at his last two studio albums of the 1960's and several Bootleg Series releases I’ve gotten in the last 3 months.

[mpmternst]

Thank you for the Dylan videos. Please keep them coming.

[gdmyers]

Tried to make a long replay to your comment, Matthew; but lost it somehow. Thanks for the quick reply.

[gdmyers]

Ok, Matthew, I'll try again. It's hard for me to understand how anyone would not find "Blonde on Blonde" to be the best Dylan album: I've probably listened to it at least 500 times, mainly from Mar '67 to Nov '70, when I was stationed in Frankfurt Germany in the Air Force and then later when my children were growing up; each person is different, of course. If you haven't already seen "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Just Like a Woman [in Paris] (during which he tries to tune his acoustic guitar for what seems to be an eternity)" from his 1965-1966 world tour (in YouTube), you might be interested in doing so. Also, in case, you didn't notice "Bringing It All Back Home, " "Highway 61 Revisited, " and "Blonde on Blonde" were produced in the span of about a year and a half, the three often referred to as "the trilogy." The production of the trilogy and the world tour caused one observer to remark that Dylan didn't just burn the candle at both ends, but that he also took a blow torch to the middle. Drugs were apparently heavily involved during this hectic time, and his motorcycle accident probably saved him. Since you mentioned your love of The Beatles, an anecdote mentioned in Robbie Robertson's book was that The Beatles attended one of the last stops on the tour, chastised the booing crowd, and wanted to visit with me after the show but were unable to; as Dylan was in cold water in a bathtub trying to recover (apparently from the effects of the drugs he was on during the show); when Robbie came into the bathroom, he had to pull Dylan's head out of the water. Robbie Robertson was the guitar player on the tour (along with two other members of The Hawks.) Well I've rambled on enough. Take care.

[gdmyers]

You need to comment on "Blonde on Blonde, " far and away my favorite Bob Dylan album, and considered by most to be his best: you said that you were going to listen to it more during the last post.

[Americanasam]

Hey Matthew, if you're interested, the 2 vinyl set of the newest Bootleg is only 18 bucks on Amazon right now! It covers his 80s material in depth. My favorite Bootleg is the Another Self Portrait set, fantastic material. Glad to see you pick this series back up!

[sharonevans]

Really enjoy your Dylan reviews Matthew. The only Dylan I owned was his greatest hits and Nashville Skyline back in the sixties. I never cared for his music after that and it wasn't until the pandemic that I bought all his CDs and bootleg series to dive into his career. I tend to get off track in my listening progression but your reviews help remind me what is so good about each one. You might want to pick up some of the dvds that are out there as well, like the No Way Home one. Looking forward to the 70s! Take care.

[ivarvregard]

Once again a very enjoyable video! I'm looking forward to the continuation! My favorite of all Dylan's albums is Blood On the Tracks. I think it deserves an in depth review. Another favorite from the 70s is Slow Train Coming. Many strong songs, but some of them a little too preachy. Gotta Serve Somebody got John Lennon so riled up, that he wrote Serve Yourself as a response. Some years ago I visited a monastery in Lima, Peru, on a Sunday morning. When we arrived, there was a service going on and to my surprise, they sang Blowin`In the Wind in Spanish. It came as quite a surprise that the monks were so into Dylan and sang a song of his during service. Afterwards I found out that the melody to Blowin`In the Wind was written by Canadian slaves in the 1860s. It was a protest song against slave auctions and the title was "No More Auction Block". Regards from Ivar in Oslo.

[MrSailorsam]

Those are all great Bootleg Series albums you showed.Not part of that series but The Witmark Demos is a great 2 CD set covering 1962 through 1964.

[matthewzuckerman]

Posted a comment twice and twice it's been removed. I wonder why?