Bob Dylan - Triplicate

[kevin]

I'm looking forward to this. I was mightily impressed with Shadows In The Night. The only time I've had a whole album as an earworm.

http://bobdylan.com/news/bob-dylans-first-three-disc-album-triplicate-set-for-march-31-release/

http://bobdylan.com/news/qa-with-bill-flanagan/

I Could Have Told You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJdKQ92-H_c

[NormanD]

I'm still undecided on these American songbook albums. He's certainly on a roll with them - his voice is better than you might expect, and the band is classy and simpatico, and the selections are unexpected and well performed. But, but, but........

I'm probably still stuck with where he was fifty years ago, and wish he'd completed more songs like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWCdBNgBaR0

[john poole]

Not sure that I would choose Bob's versions if I want to hear these songs, but he should do whatever he wants to while I try to keep up with the Bootleg Series etc. And he can still give a good interview when the mood takes him.

[alister prince]

Fine, if Dylan wants to record this stuff, no problem. I've given it a listen (I coululdn't stand two), but I just don't get it, or like it. His voice is not too bad, but it's not good. Yup a slight country feel to Stardust, but...
Aly

[Adam Blake]

I must admit I think that Bob is having a bit of a giggle with this stuff. I mean, he CAN'T really think he has the voice for this, does he? For my money, he hasn't had much of a voice left for the last twenty years at least.

Anyway, even in his 60s heyday he put out "Self Portrait" as a deliberate attempt to alienate his fans. It didn't work. Maybe he's still trying!

(FWIW, the last Dylan album I can listen to all the way through without wanting to take it off is "Desire" - which is now over 40 years old...)

[john poole]

I must admit I think that Bob is having a bit of a giggle with this stuff. I mean, he CAN'T really think he has the voice for this, does he? For my money, he hasn't had much of a voice left for the last twenty years at least.

Anyway, even in his 60s heyday he put out "Self Portrait" as a deliberate attempt to alienate his fans. It didn't work. Maybe he's still trying!

No, I think he is perfectly serious - paying tribute to songs that he loves and doesn't understand why his voice is always criticised and not for example Tom Waits .....

With Self Portrait I believe he just wanted to get away from being "the spokesman of his generation", and it could have been a really good record if he had wanted as was later shown by the outtakes and undubbed versions on "Another Self Portrait" in the Bootleg Series. Also the "Tell Tale Signs" compilation of outtakes and soundtrack recordings from 1989-2006 is (particularly the first disc) I think a better listen than any of the original albums he released during that period.

[Adam Blake]

I daresay you're right, John. I must admit that his Christmas record "It Must Be Santa" was played repeatedly at Christmas parties I was playing with Errol over Christmas and it got stuck in my head - and I kind of liked it there!

[NormanD]

It's a three-album set, thirty songs. Who last put out a triple set - Yes? Is he really so enamoured with all the pre-rock n roll stuff that he expects his fan base (if he thinks of having one still) to rush out and buy it? Or is it all part of his non-stop mystique, trying to be enigmatic to the last? All self-produced, too, as most of his recent ones have been - the ultimate in self-indulgence, or at least lack of editorial intervention.

Maybe he just couldn't care less anymore and just wants to please himself.

[Adam Blake]

Maybe he just couldn't care less anymore and just wants to please himself.

Uh, um, well, yes...

I remember when he did an advert for Victoria's Secret and all these people were saying, "Why? Why is he doing this? He doesn't need the money!" Um, hanging around all day with pretty young ladies in sexy lingerie and getting paid silly money for doing so probably seemed quite an inducement...

[john poole]

It's a three-album set, thirty songs. Who last put out a triple set - Yes?

No! One I'm aware of - The Magnetic Fields - "69 Love Songs" (3 CDs - later issued as six LPs) and now this month "50 Song Memoir" (5 discs)
https://www.mergerecords.com/69-love-so ... yl-box-set

The impression I get is that plenty of folks will be buying Bob's latest.

[NormanD]

No! One I'm aware of - The Magnetic Fields - "69 Love Songs"

Thanks for the reminder. I do have this one, though it seems to have gone down to a 2XCD, as one's gone walkies.

[alister prince]

Some interesting points. Thanks guys. I don't know why, but I think BD did this because he wanted to. Personal indulgence if you like. Fair enough. I've never felt he worried whether his fans would like his current project. I've never been a 'fan' as such, just dipped into the stuff I liked. Regarding his voice, he was never Carrusso, let's be frank. It was his lyrics and to a lesser extent the tunes that grabbed the zeitgeist. The problem with his voice now for me is that it's too shot for the content of the songbook. Tom Waites voice isn't shot (yet). I liked some of the stuff on Tempest for example, and he didn't warble wonderfully on that either. Some of the radio reaction has been pschophantic, coz it's Bob, it's great. No problem if you like it though,that's individual choice. Nobody waxed quite so lyrical when Robbie Williams or Rod Stewart donned a tux and tried to be Frank. Oh yes John, one of my favourite BD albums is 'New York Sessions' the acoustic (bootleg) version of 'Blood On The Tracks', and better I think.
Aly

[NormanD]

Quite a long interview here, with Dylan talking at length about the new set (each cd being exactly 32 mins long, something for Dylanumerlogists to ponder). The interviewer, Bill Flanagan, does not exactly pose challenging questions, and the fact that it was first posted on Dylan's own site points to it as PR. A good read, though. And, assuming the answers are spontaneous (excuse my cynicism), it shows the depth of Dylan's music knowledge.

http://bobdylan.com/news/qa-with-bill-f ... +Interview