July 24, 2004
July 23, 2004
Thirteen Records (revised)
HTML, 375 x 375 pixels each
| Desire, 1976 | Street Legal, 1978 | Slow Train Coming, 1979 | |
| Saved, 1980 | Shot of Love, 1981 | Infidels, 1983 | |
| Empire Burlesque, 1985 | Knocked Out Loaded, 1986 | ||
| Down in the Groove, 1988 | Oh Mercy, 1989 | Under the Red Sky, 1990 | |
| Good as I Been to You, 1992 | World Gone Wrong, 1993 |
After Bob Dylan's 1975 masterpiece Blood on the Tracks he recorded album after album of mixed successes and peculiarities, many full of raucous, not terribly rehearsed live takes, backup singers, and changing lineups. Slow Train Coming was his first record after converting to Christianity, a phase which lasted through Shot of Love. This strange Christian period yielded a lot of very good and under-appreciated music. Knocked Out Loaded brought him back to the hard driving bluesy Americana that incluenced him when starting out, Down in the Groove took this further, which eventually resulted in two cover albums of traditional and folks songs, Good as I Been to You and World Gone Wrong.
These thirteen albums, s uneven as they might seem, are full of surprises, nuggets, and "The Old, Weird America" that Greil Marcus wrote about in his book subtitled, "The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes." These records show a musician constantly returning to and working with his folk and blues roots to take part in the folk continuum, and making music that, despite its hits and misses, is far beyond what almost any other singer/songwriter in the folk/blues/rock vein, with the exception of Neil Young, could even begin to accomplish.
The thirteen drawings represented here, square in format, just like an LP jacket, borrow colors from the original album art. I did not attempt to re-represent the album art or alternately represent the music. This series acknowledges a musician who is certainly recognized and valued, but not as fully or completely as I maintain he ought to be based on the evidence in this strange middle period.
July 18, 2004
Thirteen Records
After Bob Dylan's 1975 masterpiece Blood on the Trackshe recorded album after album of mixed successes and peculiarities, many full of raucous, not terribly rehearsed live takes, backup singers, and changing lineups. Slow Train Coming was his first record after converting to Christianity, a phase which lasted through Shot of Love. This strange Christian period yielded a lot of very good and under-appreciated music. Knocked Out Loaded brought him back to the hard driving bluesy Americana that incluenced him when starting out, Down in the Groove took this further, which eventually resulted in two cover albums of traditional and folks songs, Good as I Been to You and World Gone Wrong.
These thirteen albums, as uneven as they might seem, are full of surprises, nuggets, and "The Old, Weird America" that Greil Marcus wrote about in his book subtitled, "The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes." These records show a musician constantly returning to and working with his folk and blues roots to take part in the folk continuum, and making music that, despite its hits and misses, is far beyond what almost any other singer/songwriter in the folk/blues/rock vein, with the exception of Neil Young, could even begin to accomplish.
The thirteen drawings represented here, square in format, just like an LP jacket, borrow colors from the original album art. I did not attempt to re-represent the album art or alternately represent the music. This series acknowledges a musician who is certainly recognized and valued, but not as fully or completely as I maintain he ought to be based on the evidence in this strange middle period.