Customer Reviews

Coll 4: Nashville Skyline / New Morning / Harding

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What an awesome selection of Dylan tunes. There are 3 CD's here; put them on "random" on your CD player and you won't regret your purchase. I bought this because my CD of Nashville Skyline went missing; saw this great collection and can't say enough about what a great trio of CD's this is.

There is a great shot of Dylan circa 1970 or so on the cover of this box set. He's leaning on the back of an old black car, Guitar in hand wearing that same hat he had in that photo on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. In fact this photo looks like it came from the same session. Only in the Post shot the backgroud trees are green, somebody used Photoshop on the cover of this box and made 'em red. A great, eerie looking affect. Or maybe the shot was later in the day and the sun was going down. I don't know, but the cover of this box alone is worth the price as far as I'm concerned.

John Wesley Harding - Gritty, Course, Driving and Stark, with a Bit of Country

When this record came out a lot of Dylan's fans were upset, because that singer of songs so complex with images that stayed with you long after the song had end, seemed to have gone country. But it didn't long before they realized that the complexity was still here, even thought the backing musicians had changed. The stories, those incredible stories were still here. Just give a listen to "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" and you'll see what I mean. And the word weaver is still doing his magic here as well, again listen to "Frankie & Judas."

Yes, gone are the rock musicians, replaced by country guys, Charlie McCoy on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums and they help Dylan deliver a kind of haunting sound that has lasted through the years, making this record sort timeless, holding up as well now as it did way back then.

My personal favorite on this masterpiece of music is "As I Went Out One Morning." To me it seems like Dylan is singing about America and how Tom Paine would be so disappointed if he were alive today. And what would Rock have been like had Jimi not been able to cover the excellent "All Along the Watchtower." Then there is that landlord, that wicked messenger, that lonesome hobo and that escaping drifter. Mr. Dylan conjures images with words the way Van Gogh did with a brush. This album, though a change, is one of the best.

Nashville Skyline - Country Bob, but Still Incredible

This record opens with a haunting version of "Girl from the North Country," which Dylan sings with Johnny Cash. Haunting to be sure, because any song sung by Mr. Cash was haunting, but this one, with Dylan using his new countrified voice was even more so, spooky. This song alone is worth buying the album for. "Girl" is followed by the instrumental "Nashville Skyline Rag," which I've heard said is a reworking of the instrumental "The Cough Song," which first appeared on the "Stealin'" bootleg. I don't know if that's true, but it's a doggone good guitar piece.

And, of course, everybody knows "Lay Lady Lay" which was kind of a top forty hit and is still played on classic rock stations all over the world. It's a good song, but I like "I Threw it All Away" and "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You," better. This is a country album. "John Wesley Harding" with its country musicians leaned that way, but "Nashville Skyline" got all the way there and Dylan would stay country for two more records (some would say three), then he'd burst back on the rock scene with a vengeance. Still, country or not, this is a five star piece of work. Yes, Dylan did country, but he did it very, very well.

New Morning - Like Dylan Himself, This Record is so Hard to Define

After JWH and Nashville Skyline (which I like a lot), Dylan came out with Self Portrait. There are a few gems on SP but a lot of it was considered pretty lackluster when it came out. However three decades later and I have to admit, I play it all the way through on occasion and I enjoy it, even that corny version of S & G's "The Boxer". Anyway it appears that Colombia was in a hurry to get something out after SP to buck up what they must have thought was Dylan's sagging career, so they came out with this excellent album.

For me New Morning works in every way possible. I love the music. I love Dylan's voice here. I really like the lyrics and the background singers just seem to add to the whole mix. Yeah, a few records down the road they might seem to get a little Motownish, but here they just add to the overall haunting, spooky, bluesy and maybe even a little jazzy feeling of this record. And you know what, there is even a little C & W here. Like Dylan himself, this record is so hard to define.

There is a great shot of Dylan circa 1970 or so on the cover of this box set. He's leaning on the back of an old black car, Guitar in hand wearing that same hat he had in that photo on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. In fact this photo looks like it came from the same session. Only in the Post shot the backgroud trees are green, somebody used Photoshop on the cover of this box and made 'em red. A great, eerie looking affect. Or maybe the shot was later in the day and the sun was going down. I don't know, but the cover of this box alone is worth the price as far as I'm concerned.

John Wesley Harding - Gritty, Course, Driving and Stark, with a Bit of Country

When this record came out a lot of Dylan's fans were upset, because that singer of songs so complex with images that stayed with you long after the song had end, seemed to have gone country. But it didn't long before they realized that the complexity was still here, even thought the backing musicians had changed. The stories, those incredible stories were still here. Just give a listen to "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" and you'll see what I mean. And the word weaver is still doing his magic here as well, again listen to "Frankie & Judas."

Yes, gone are the rock musicians, replaced by country guys, Charlie McCoy on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums and they help Dylan deliver a kind of haunting sound that has lasted through the years, making this record sort timeless, holding up as well now as it did way back then.

My personal favorite on this masterpiece of music is "As I Went Out One Morning." To me it seems like Dylan is singing about America and how Tom Paine would be so disappointed if he were alive today. And what would Rock have been like had Jimi not been able to cover the excellent "All Along the Watchtower." Then there is that landlord, that wicked messenger, that lonesome hobo and that escaping drifter. Mr. Dylan conjures images with words the way Van Gogh did with a brush. This album, though a change, is one of the best.

Nashville Skyline - Country Bob, but Still Incredible

This record opens with a haunting version of "Girl from the North Country," which Dylan sings with Johnny Cash. Haunting to be sure, because any song sung by Mr. Cash was haunting, but this one, with Dylan using his new countrified voice was even more so, spooky. This song alone is worth buying the album for. "Girl" is followed by the instrumental "Nashville Skyline Rag," which I've heard said is a reworking of the instrumental "The Cough Song," which first appeared on the "Stealin'" bootleg. I don't know if that's true, but it's a doggone good guitar piece.

And, of course, everybody knows "Lay Lady Lay" which was kind of a top forty hit and is still played on classic rock stations all over the world. It's a good song, but I like "I Threw it All Away" and "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You," better. This is a country album. "John Wesley Harding" with its country musicians leaned that way, but "Nashville Skyline" got all the way there and Dylan would stay country for two more records (some would say three), then he'd burst back on the rock scene with a vengeance. Still, country or not, this is a five star piece of work. Yes, Dylan did country, but he did it very, very well.

New Morning - Like Dylan Himself, This Record is so Hard to Define

After JWH and Nashville Skyline (which I like a lot), Dylan came out with Self Portrait. There are a few gems on SP but a lot of it was considered pretty lackluster when it came out. However three decades later and I have to admit, I play it all the way through on occasion and I enjoy it, even that corny version of S & G's "The Boxer". Anyway it appears that Colombia was in a hurry to get something out after SP to buck up what they must have thought was Dylan's sagging career, so they came out with this excellent album.

For me New Morning works in every way possible. I love the music. I love Dylan's voice here. I really like the lyrics and the background singers just seem to add to the whole mix. Yeah, a few records down the road they might seem to get a little Motownish, but here they just add to the overall haunting, spooky, bluesy and maybe even a little jazzy feeling of this record. And you know what, there is even a little C & W here. Like Dylan himself, this record is so hard to define.

Flame me if you will, but neither John Wesley Harding nor New Morning ever did much for me. The former seemed to me like a dull load of overtly-religous messages with occasional great songs thrown in just for good measure, and the latter a dull attempt to capture the joy of the domestic life. Only Nashville Skyline stands out here, in my mind. Though it isn't Bob's album by several country miles, it's still good fun. So just pick up Nashville Skyline and Greatest Hits Volume II.