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Rating:
Reviewing an album like this, within Dylan's vast production, can be like walking on a slippery floor, because the fact is that comparing it with his earlier works (the 60s and 70s) is unfeasible, as is the comparison with that masterpiece, published a year after this work, titled Oh Mercy.
It's 1988, Dylan is coming from two albums, Empire Burlesque (1985) and Knocked out loaded (1986), which not for the songs themselves (some very good) were flawed for how the tracks were recorded, with a very non-rock sound that stripped the rock-blues soul from the tracks that were fed by that sound: as if the author had given carte blanche to his technicians to ruin what he had produced (I'm waiting for some Bootleg series to maybe recover demo versions of those tracks).
Here's the first beauty of this "little disc": the tracks, some (quite a few) not by the author, are played with a "raw" attitude and this is a significant step forward from his predecessors and compared to much of the "plastic" rock production of the 80s (Dylan not intended alone).
Let's Stick Together is a good reinterpretation of a 1962 rhythm n' blues piece by a lesser-known American artist, Wilbert Harrison; Dylan adds a very acidic touch to the piece, accompanying the guitars with a strong Stones attitude, with his typical blues harmonica.
When did you leave haeven ? is a 1936 jazz piece by Walter Bullock and Richard Whiting; Dylan reinvents it, dressing it with few instruments, keyboard, rhythm guitar, and drums, giving it a "gospel" value.
Death is not the end, is an unreleased track by Dylan, and it shows; in my opinion, it's one of his most beautiful songs, a lullaby, played, also in this case, with essential instruments, including very well-done backing vocals, that give this masterpiece a strong gospel touch. The cherry on the musical cake, the harmonica played softly by Dylan. The track contains the "atmospheres" of Hallelujah by the great Cohen, even though they are two completely different things, yet equally beautiful. Dylan has practically never played it live, but many artists have "appropriated" this jewel (a bit like Cohen's Hallelujah): among these, I recall the wonderful version proposed in 1996 by Nick Cave.
Another strong piece of the album is Silvio, music by Dylan and lyrics by his old friend Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead: the song is a delightful boogie-woogie, which doesn't seem recorded in 1989, but in 1970 or so. Worth noting in the backing vocals, also in this case done as they should be, is the other Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia.
Ninety miles an hour (down a dead end street) by Don Robertson, a pioneer of rock n' roll music, a great pianist (he played with Elvis). Also, in this instance, Dylan reinvents the track, which from the original classic rock n roll, becomes a gospel piece, sparse, all voice, organ, and choruses (in the choruses, the great Bobby King who is always a pleasure to hear).
The album closes with Ranck strangers to me by Albert E. Brumley, a pioneer of Christian gospel music, reiterating, in my opinion, the strong rock-gospel inspiration of this Dylan work.
Anyone approaching Dylan for the first time should stay away from this work, there are much better places to start.
However, those who already know him, but maybe want to delve deeper, will find in this album many cues to understand the musical reasons that led this great artist to jump from the very first folk phase, from late 60s-early 70s rock, to the gospel phase of the late 70s.
Tracklist and Lyrics
07 Silvio (03:05)
Stake my future on a hell of a past
Looks like tomorrow is a coming on fast
Ain't complaining about what I got
Seen better times but who has not.
Silvio silver and gold
Won't buy back the beat of a heart grown cold
Silvio I gotta go
Find out something only dead men know.
Honest as the next jade rolling that stone
When I come and knockin' don't throw me no bone
I'm an old boll weevil looking for a home
If you don't like it you can leave me alone.
I can snap my fingers and require the rain
From a clear blue sky and turn it off again
I can stroke your body and relieve your pain
And charm the whistle off an evening train.
Silvio silver and gold
Won't buy back the beat of a heart grown cold
Silvio I gotta go
Find out something only dead men know
Give what I got until I got no more
I take what I get until I even the score
You know I love you and further more
When it is time to go you got an open door.
I can tell your fancy I can tell your plain
You give something up for ev'rything you gain
Since ev'ry pleasure's got an edge of pain
Pay for your ticket and don't complain.
One of these days and it won't be long
Going down the valley and sing my song
I will sing it loud and sing it strong
Let the echo decide if I was right or wrong.
Silvio silver and gold
Won't buy back the beat of a heart grown cold
Silvio I gotta go
Find out something only dead men know.
09 Shenandoah (03:38)
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Look away, you rollin' river
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Look away. We're bound away
Across the wide Missouri
Now the Missouri is a mighty river
Look away, you rollin' river.
Indians camp along her border
Look away. We're bound away
Across the wide Missouri
Well a white man loved an Indian maiden
Look away, you rollin' river
With notions his canoe was laden
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Look away, you rollin' river
It was for her I'd cross the water.
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri
For seven long years I courted Sally
Look away, you rollin' river
Seven more years I longed to have her
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri
Well, it's fare-thee-well, my dear,
I'm bound to leave you
Look away you rollin' river
Shenandoah, I will not deceive you
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri
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By De-cano
It’s a weak album, the usual two chords, the usual hoarse voice, practically an aging rocker, and not aging well!
I just wanted to warn you not to buy this album because it’s rehashed stuff from a person who exhausted his creative vein a while ago.
