{"id":8177,"date":"2011-07-13T10:56:42","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T14:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=8177"},"modified":"2011-07-13T10:56:42","modified_gmt":"2011-07-13T14:56:42","slug":"critical-acclaim-over-blood-on-the-tracks-makes-me-feel-ashamed-for-dylan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/critical-acclaim-over-blood-on-the-tracks-makes-me-feel-ashamed-for-dylan\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Acclaim Over Blood on the Tracks<\/em> Makes Me Feel Ashamed for Dylan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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People seem to love Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks<\/em>. I bet you do! I like it. It’s a very good album, but I never feel the love<\/em> for it that seemingly all Dylan fans and critics do. In part, perhaps, this may be because the album seems a little slick by Dylan standards. The drum parts on “Tangled Up in Blue,” for instance, include uncharacteristic hi-hat flourishes that wouldn’t sound out of place on an album one of those LA Soft-Rock Mafia members, involving Russ Kunkel<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0or a painstaking overdub on a Fleetwood Mac album. The acoustic guitars sound really tight<\/em>, too,\u00a0maybe a little too tight<\/em>. Not Ovation Roundback<\/a> tight<\/em>, but close. I shouldn’t hold a little professionalism against Dylan at this point in his career, at this point in recording history, but I do.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason it bugs me is because so many people love this album, they talk about how great it sounds on their hi-fi, how great it sounds through their super-duper noise-canceling headphones. I don’t deny that Blood on the Tracks<\/em> goes down easy, and that’s also part of my problem. This is one Dylan album where even non-fans resist saying stuff like, “I like some of his songs, but I don’t like the way he sings!” Dylan pulls off a true powerhouse performance on songs like “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Idiot Wind.” I get chills just thinking about some of his vocal performances on that album, but I can’t help but feeling ashamed for Dylan whenever I consider the critical acclaim and public adoration of this album.<\/p>\n

Blood on the Tracks<\/em> is the reference point of any one of Dylan’s “best since…” albums, his Exile on Main Street<\/em>, the demarcation line between “great” Dylan, whose 6- or 7-year run of questionable albums leading up to Blood<\/em> is conveniently overlooked in many definitions of his peak years,\u00a0and the Dylan over whose subsequent worth rock lovers will forever quarrel. Perhaps all long-running artists are doomed to live the last two thirds of their lives shooting for nothing more than their “best since…” album, but I find it especially sad in Dylan’s case.\u00a0He was above the “best since…” construction, the way Marlon Brando<\/strong> was above accepting an Academy Award directly.<\/p>\n

I really dislike “Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts,” not necessarily because it’s a horrible, tuneless song but because it reminds me of Don McLean’s “American Pie.” I hate “American Pie,” and not necessarily because that<\/em> song is a horrible, tuneless song but rather because it reeks of ass kissing. “American Pie” is a remarkable achievement in many ways, it’s like McLean’s Rocky<\/em> moment, his one chance to grab the championship belt. He gives the song everything he’s got to give, summarizing a cultural history of America in the rock ‘n roll age over the course of 48 stanzas and one of the greatest sing-along choruses in the history of rock. I give the man credit, but that song annoys me. This is a contributing factor toward why I don’t love Blood on the Tracks<\/em> and it gets closer to why I feel ashamed for Dylan whenever I hear people talk about how much they love the album.<\/p>