Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Great music, dodgy package, 16 Sep 2006
The music is excellent, and I suspect we'll see a lot of these in live performance in the future. His live habit of jumping the octave at the end of the phrase makes an occasional appearance here (although it is used more sparingly than on stage). But many of these are songs made for performing.
Four stars, because the tight package the CD/DVD combo comes in has already scratched my CD to the point where it skips. Probably many of the reviewers here haven't put it away yet so they haven't noticed! But this for me means returning the package and getting hold of the CD only version, which comes with a much more protective standard case.
As others note, the DVD is nice, but short, more an advertisement for some of his other 90s albums than anything else. No doubt YouTube would serve equally well. And it's scratched too.
|
|
|
144 of 155 people found the following review helpful:
THE RETURN OF THE KING, 24 Aug 2006
Bob Dylan may be 65 but if only a lot of the songwriters we have these in these modern times could write songs as powerful as these. Bob completes the trilogy started with Time out of mind and Love and Theft with an album that creeps up on you. On first listen you think that a lot of these songs sound unremarkable but they worm their way into your head.That's honestly how I felt at first!
The album starts of very lively theres a crescendo of guitars and then we head off into "Thunder On the Mountain" which reminded me of an updated kind of "Subteranean Homesick Blues" which like the latter has slight echoes of Chuck Berry its a stormer of a track which grabs your ears and your attention.
At first listen the next track "Spirit On the Water" passes you by play it a few times and you realise it has a beautiful melody and when Bob kicks in with a lovely harmonica solo at the end the song leaves you spellbound as do many of dylan's songs in the end.One regret I have towards Bob's later work is that he doesn't really use the harmonica in his new songs amd it adds something to the songs or it used to.
"Rumblin' and Tumblin'" takes its title and the main riff from a Muddy Waters song but isn't a cover in the true sense of the word just a true example of love and theft. Bob and the band have a good time with this song.
We then slow down with the delightful "When the deal goes down" which has some lovely lyrics and suits Bob's worn vocals which adds to the emotion of it, its lovely.
Someday Baby" is my least favourite song so far but it's Bob and so still worth a listen "Workingman blues no 2" is another heartbreaker "My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf ,come sit down on my knee ,You are dearer to me than myself ,As you yourself can see, I'm listening to the steel rails hum
Got both eyes tight shut ,Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from Creeping it's way into my gut" no one writes lyrics like Bob and no one ever will it's why despite some low points in his career hes gone the distance.
I think the next song " Beyond the horizon" is the most instant recalling "Moonlight" from Love and Theft I like this song but it may end up being the forgotten classic on this album.
"Nettie Moore" is my favourite song at the moment it has a great chorus and again Bob's voice adds to the mood of the song. "The Levee's gonna Break" is a blues shuffle which is growing on me .
Modern Times closes with "Ain't Talkin'" its a dark epic song a "Gates Of Eden" or "desolation row" of its time its a GREAT song there isnt much between this and "nettie moore" for the best song on the album but with Bob's music I tend to find my favourite songs change all the time so when I say I've got a favourite on this album just ignore me. Musically it recalls one of Bob's greatest songs for me "Blind Willie McTell" but has its own identity too.
This album is more consistent than Love and Theft I think and it's a grower it will knock you out but very slowly which is what a great album should do and makes it a very rewarding listening expierience for it.
It will be debated upon but I think Dylan has come up with another classic record very different from his time in the 60's but still as powerful. I also think Bob's current voice adds a charm and expressiveness to these songs that you could miss. While Bob may have a voice you either love or hate (I love it) if you are willing to listen nobody puts a song across like him he is a great singer and always has been just not in the contempory sense maybe.
|
|
|
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Worth paying the extra 2 quid for the special edition, 6 Sep 2006
I've already written a swift review of this album after listening to a friends copy. Since then I've bought the dvd special edition, I did this thinking the extra money paid might be wasted (I bought from a high street retailer and it was actually an extra fiver!) but upon watching the dvd I am glad I shelled out the extra spondulicks. It doesn't actually say what is on the extra dvd in the amazon listing so I'm going to give you a quick rundown and review of the extra video tracks.
Track 1- Blood in my eyes- This is the promotional video for the single release from "World Gone Wrong" it's a sparse arrangement (just bob on guitar) of an old blues song but it's a great song and great performance. It's the video itself that's a revelation (until I bought modern times I didn't even know it existed), it features Bob in a top hat wandering around Camden, signing autographs and generally looking ecentric. The direction and cinematography (it's one of those arty, sepia affairs) are both great and the whole thing manages to look very natural and uncontrived.
Track 2- Love Sick. This is a live version from the Grammy's. "Love Sick" has always been my favourite track on "Time Out of Mind" and this is a superb version of it. Bob looks amazing wearing that white southern suit he always seemed to be wearing around this time, and he even plays some pretty cool lead guitar. Just out of interest there is a video of the White Stripes cover version of this song on the web that's pretty interesting.
Track 3- Things Have Changed- Another great promo video, this time from Curtis Hanson's "Wonder Boy's" film. Again a great song that if you are anything like me you don't listen to very often due to it not being on an album. Hanson himself directs and it seems to have been filmed on the original sets, it is filmed and cut in such a way that Dylan is inserted into the film. For example it appears that Katie Holmes is asking him rather than Toby Maguire to dance. He has really good screen presence throughout, the boy's got star quality.
Track 4- "Cold Irons Bounds"- a radically different (and in my opinion better) rendition of another "Time Out of Mind" track. Segments of this feature in the "Masked and Anymous" film which was written by none other than Jack Frost. However hear you have the full uninterrupted track filmed from one camera angle. And what a great camera angle it is, Dylan in the foreground with a guitarist over each shoulder and the drummer in the background. It's cool to see a whole performance without lots of flashy cutaways especially if it is done in a thoughtfully composed way.
All in all I would say it was definately worth getting the "limited" edition, especially as at amazon it is only a couple of extra | |
(11)
£25.00
(1)
£6.97
![Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back (65 Tour Deluxe Edition) [1965]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dQQmg8%2BrL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
(1)
