Bob Dylan & The Band
The Basement Tapes

I am in a house in Palermo (I am a traveling university student) and like every week, for which I come here from my small town to continue my studies, I bring with me some records to cheer myself up or rather to spend some moments with my greatest passion, music. This time I brought: Pogues, Velvet Underground, Nirvana (well), then I bought Sonic Youth and Jefferson Airplane. Oh, I also have “The Basement Tapes” by Bob Dylan & The Band. Bought just over a month ago, it gradually convinces me more and more.

Initially, it was difficult. For the first time, a Bob album didn't appeal to me on the first listen. Yet the premises and expectations were good, thanks to the fascinating history and legends linked to the creation of this work by the minstrel. After a dangerous motorcycle accident, Bob withdrew into himself, leaving the public and the media extremely doubtful and scared about the consequences of the mishap. Apart from some vertebrae, the artist of Duluth's ego was most affected, who, exploring deeply, made a wise decision: moving to a house in Woodstock with the family, leaving excesses behind, at least for the moment, to devote himself to his dear ones. However, he didn't stop playing, nor did he stop indulging, perhaps for the last time. The summer of 1967, the epitome of “Peace and Love,” was spent in a basement, along with the group The Band, who had been accompanying him in well-known concerts (for the audience protests against the allegedly new musical genre tackled by Bob): the Big Pink near West Saugerties. More precisely, they spent the period from June to October of that year dedicated to fun, music, and friendship. Everything was recorded using a decent cash register recorder, and the tracks that came out were released in their original version only in 1975, due to various issues with the record companies. Meanwhile, many bootlegs were on the market, and many artists were unlawfully using fragments of these moments.

As for the album, actually double, we have 24 songs, some by Bob, others written by Robertson and associates, and others still are old traditionals. It is an amalgamation of rock & roll, blues, country, and folk, especially influenced by the Band's sounds. Perhaps this is what didn’t convince me initially, because I had bought a Bob album and not a Band album, a thought that dissolved after a few days... "Odds And Ends" is the opening track, which takes us into the burlesque world of the Big Pink, as depicted in the even more burlesque and phenomenal cover, where Bob and his companions exchanged instruments. There are the divertissements like the beautiful “Apple Sucking Free,” with a flamboyant Bob on piano and vocals, “Please, Mrs. Henry” and “Don’t Ya Tell Henry,” classy tracks like “Orange Juice Blues,” “Katie’s Been Gone,” and “Ruben Remus” sung by Robertson, Manuel, Danko, and Helm, or even true masterpieces like “Going To Acapulco,” “Too Much Of Nothing,” “This Wheel's On Fire” and especially the masterpiece within the masterpiece: “Tears Of Rage,” the last track of the first album, signed Dylan-Manuel, melancholic and ethereal. The lyrics are often laden with nonsense and extravagant images. The band’s interpretations are truly remarkable throughout the album both in terms of the voices (mentioned above) and the instruments played (guitars, piano, harmonica, bass, mandolin, organ, clarinet, tenor sax, and drums) which perhaps diminish Bob's (on acoustic guitar but also on piano), at times tired and unconvincing. The quirks are here and there without overdoing it, with kindness and much cleanliness, especially in the sounds, (strange, given that it’s a decent cash register recorder) perhaps too chaste and clean for such an exciting experience and full freedom. Perhaps it is a brief fragment of a truly productive period (as many say) of good music and in good company. It is an album of great interest and value. Perhaps many exaggerate speaking of this album, captivated by the charm of the legends of freedom. Long live creative freedom!