Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
The genus of this review today was the recent death of Rubin Carter, the man the authorities came to blame (sorry). He was the man who was the subject of Bob Dylan's rambling opus Hurricane, and one time he coulda been the champion of the woooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrlllllllddddddddddd (sorry again).
Anyway, the passing of The Hurricane made my wife decide that her album for this month should be a Bob Dylan release, and let me choose the exact album. With that in mind I went with Dylan's second electric album, Highway 61 Revisited. Having already decided to issue a big 'fuck you' to the folk community with Positively 4th Street, Dylan kept on his electric backing musicians to record this album.
History records it as one of music's finest releases, but nearly fifty years on, does it still stack up? And can one album truly have too many harmonica solos?
The Album
Put simply: this is a fucking masterpiece.
From the opening snare crack of Like A Rolling Stone to the final moments of Desolation Row, Highway 61 Revisited steamrolls its way through blues, folk and even garage rock influences, all with Dylan's everpresent and much-parodied vocal drawl/whine crashing through the sound. His backing musos all shine at various stages, particularly Al Kooper on Hammond organ and Paul Griffin on piano, and as a whole the band are tight enough to keep the songs in check while remaining loose enough to encourage little showy instrumental flourishes.
This is to say nothing of Dylan's remarkable lyricism. It's stunningly brilliant poetry set to superb music, even if the odd song or two contain almost impenetrable metaphor; for the most part though, the tone Dylan wants to convey is conveyed with precision and clarity, leaving the listener in no doubt as to his feelings (anger, sadness, revenge, love).
To the songs themselves, and magnificence abounds here. Like A Rolling Stone is truly worth the hype, tumbling along thanks to Griffin's honky-tonk piano, Al Kooper's stunning Hammond organ improvisation and Dylan's vicious, vengeful attack lyric, spat with all the cynicism and venom he can muster. Guitarist Mike Broomfield also contributes welcome splashes of bluesy guitar throughout. I used to take the piss out of this song and its rambling vocal - may I now say that for doing so I am a complete idiot.
When Dylan turns to the blues, it's with aplomb. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry is a slow, crawling acoustic/electric blues track, elevated to great status by another splendid Griffin piano performance and a howling harmonica solo. Tombstone Blues is rollicking acoustic blues with a raw, unrefined aesthetic; Bloomfield contributes several short, but searing, blues solos and Dylan's lyrics, in true 60s counterculture style, take aim at authority without making it obvious. From a Buick 6 sees Dylan's vocal take the leash off, delivering an unrestrained, powerful effort. It's a decent 12-bar blues with a fantastic harmonica solo, even if the bass and Hammond organ are a little too loud.
However, Dylan is/was a folk musician, first and foremost, and even his trips into electric blues don't dull his folk skills. The album's eleven minute closer Desolation Row is the quintessential folk tune, in my view; Dylan's acoustic melody is simple, supported by session muso Charlie McCoy's glorious Spanish-style acoustic lead guitar, while the lyrics are some of the most cryptic, yet wonderfully poetic, lyrics committed to acetate. My only qualm is that it probably didn't need to be so long, but Dylan had a message to communicate, and communicate it he does (even if that message is hard to fathom). Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues combines folk with blues to good effect, though the 'folk' influence is more in the storytelling nature of the lyrics, which chart one man's descent into a world of drugs, alcohol and sex (on reflection, maybe it's not a 'descent'.) Paul Griffin plays some splendid tack piano and Mike Bloomfield again does his thing. Queen Jane Approximately drives another nail in the 'folk must be acoustic only' coffin, with a rich soundscape, more doggedly vicious lyrics and an earthy vocal - it's every inch an electric folk winner.
The only two songs that don't really fit into the folk or blues categories are close to the best cuts on the record (and that's saying something given how good everything else is). Ballad of a Thin Man stars the famous Dylan character Mr. Jones, who would be referred to in a number of tunes recorded by other artists (e.g. Yer Blues by The Beatles); jerky piano, a shuffling drum beat and an interesting chord progression call to mind some smoky lounge bar of the 50s, the artists in residence playing a jazzy tune of revenge. Lyrically and vocally it's bitter, dismissive and deeply cynical - Dylan again fires the guns at Mr. Jones, hitting all targets with aplomb. Finally, there's the title track, telling five unrelated stories that nonetheless all have a common theme - they are problems that are solved on Highway 61, a road that runs the north-south breadth of America and that ran through Dylan's boyhood town of Duluth, Minnesota. Once again Dylan's vocal is the star of the show - again I can't believe I take the piss out of him - while his supporting cast all seem to have been given carte blanche to experiment, freeform style. It's a gem of an untempo rocker.
The Verdict
Yes, it still stands up. It more than stands up, in fact. It's timeless music because so many of its themes are human ones; we can all substitute in our own Miss Lonely or our own Mr Jones. It mightn't sound as polished as a modern release, but it's got more heart, emotion, power and impact than most of the soulless pointless bullshit modern 'indie-folk' crap that people are force-fed nowadays, and that's why it's timeless.
Yes, you can have too many harmonica solos, but only when they're shit, which not a single one on this album is.
People say Bob Dylan pretty much turned to shit after 1970 (though 1975's Blood On The Tracks has plenty of fans, and he was also a Wilbury, to be fair). Even if that's true, his pre-1970 work is what made him a star, and this is the most shining example of all of that work.
Absolutely essential for any music fan to at least listen to this once.
My rating: 10/10
Standout Tracks
Like A Rolling Stone
Highway 61 Revisited
Ballad of a Thin Man
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
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