Tuesday, February 1, 2011

#285 Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

This is probably the most famous album I've never heard all the way through. I've had it forever, and just never wanted to keep listening to it whenever I put it on. Finally decided enough was enough.

I like Bob Dylan good enough. I mean, his songs are often structureless and insufferably long, his voice is fairly unbearable and utterly limited, and I generally think he speaks for a generation that I don't much associate with. But. But! When he's at his most sun scorched and infinite (Highway 61 Revisited) or his most starkly tortured (Blood on the Tracks) I actually like him a lot. This album never seemed to fit either of those roles though.

Upon making it through, I can see the appeal. The songs are actually pretty inventive, keeping you on your toes, swerving hither and tither, sounding utterly unconcerned with keeping you on board, but following a predictable enough path that you might be able to cut it off at the pass. I actually think its a pretty brilliant album that I just don't much enjoy. I just don't really have the patience for his voice on this album, is what it comes down to. Its just a deal breaker. I don't even know if I have the patience for his albums that I previously liked any more, I'll have to revisit them. This might have to be, at least for now, one of those albums that I respect without liking it, but at least now I've heard it and can regain some degree of respectability as a student of rock and roll 3/5

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