Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Bob Dylan 20: Desire

Having regained both self-confidence and critical approval, Bob spent the summer of 1975 trying to assemble a band that would best deliver the sounds he heard in his head. In another departure, he actively collaborated with another writer (New York theater fixture Jacques Levy) on his lyrics for the first time. By the time Desire was released, he had been playing the songs on a caravan-style tour dubbed the Rolling Thunder Revue. (Fueled by ego and cocaine, the tour’s participants included old friends like Joan Baez and Roger McGuinn and new friends like T Bone Burnett and Scarlet Rivera, whose violin is all over Desire.)

The surprising radio hit “Hurricane” opens the proceedings with a tentative acoustic guitar right out of “All Along The Watchtower”. Much of the “facts” presented about imprisoned boxer Rubin Carter have been disputed, but we can’t assume the clunkier lines are Levy’s work. Bob’s piano comes back for “Isis”, and it’s easy to get lost in whatever story he’s telling. “Mozambique” doesn’t do much, but “One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)” and “Oh Sister” both get a boost from the golden throat of Emmylou Harris.

Apparently one questionable biography wasn’t enough, because “Joey” is eleven minutes of your life you’ll never get back. (Amazingly, Bob still plays this one onstage.) “Romance In Durango” and “Black Diamond Bay” are both enigmatic stories that fail to ignite, while “Sara”, a pretty overt song to his estranged wife, is a tad embarrassing. (One point: we really don’t think the lines about the Chelsea Hotel and writing “Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” are meant to be connected.)

It may be considered sacrilege for some ears to hear, but Desire is one of Dylan’s most overrated albums. It starts out strong, then turns to mud. But critics loved it, people bought it, and Bob felt emboldened enough by the experience to stay on the road and even take another shot at making a film.

Bob Dylan Desire (1976)—

22 comments:

  1. What a load of crap. Why bother putting this sort of thing online?

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  2. Fuck this guy...Your reviews are great...Keep up the good work....

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  3. 'Reviews'? I see no 'reviews'. Fuck you too, John Mulligan. Black Diamon Bay fails to ignite? Aye, right. Desire overrated? Eh? By who? On what terms? This is bullshit. Bust so what? My real question is, I repeat, why bother posting this sort of thing?

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  4. There's a certain amount of wishful thinking that goes into the critical evaluation of Dylan albums when they are released-- at least after "Blond on Blond". When you go back over the reviews what you frequently see is that the critics will almost always refer to the new release as "his best since...."

    "Desire" is a bit of an exception, because it came during a hot streak. "Planet Waves", "Blood on the Tracks", "Before the Flood" and "The Basement Tapes" were all solid releases, even if critics had heard most of the "Basement Tapes" material on bootlegs, and even though the live side was recycled material. People wanted to believe that the erratic run of albums that started with "Self Portrait" was an aberration, and in its defense "Desire" has some pleasing tunes. It is a decent band, too, particularly Scarlet Rivera's fiddle. People liked that it was a return to protest song Bob, too.

    Nevertheless, this side marked the beginning of a long, bleak period for Dylan releases, and we should have recognized it for what it was.

    Worth avoiding, especially for "Joey". (Anyone interested in Crazy Joey Gallo is respectfully referred to Jimmy Breslin's "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight".)

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  5. Thanks for the perspective, Bill. Excellent points -- and I especially appreciate when commenters don't hide behind the "Anonymous" tag.

    The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight has been on my list of things to read for some time now. Maybe I'll finally get around to it. So thanks also for the reminder!

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  6. I 'hid' behind the anonymous tag because it's the easiset way to post a comment. I actually tried leaving my name first time and it triggered an error. I got nothin' to hide! Yes, it's true that reviewers often hail Dylan's latest album as 'best since' or even 'best yet', but that is true for other artists also. It's a reflection on critics, not Bob. Desire came right after Blood on the Tracks, which had re-established Dylan's credentials with those critics and fans who thought he'd lost it, again a reflection on the audience not the artist. Dylan never lost it. Desire is a great album. Joey Gallo was a gangster thug killer shithead, lets be clear. But the song was at least partly down to J Levy who was a celeb friend of Gallo's. The song itself is interestingly cinematic and the artistry behind it gets overlooked by people who just see th esubject matter and throw out a knee-jerk response. Any Dylan fan who reckons Desire is 'worth avoiding' is no Dylan fan. Sorry.

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  7. Everyone's got their opinion, and that's yours. Assuming you're the one who left the first two anonymous comments, thanks for finally explaining your point of view.

    The last time I played this album (right before clicking on "publish post") I was surprised to find that I liked it better than I remembered. But I still don't love it.

    And to sign your name to a comment, just do it like this:

    wardo

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  8. Ok. Apologies if I was rude, ok? Call me Mellish. I love Desire. Nopem it is not a perfect album. But it's got a lot going for it. I know people who'se favourite Dylan song is 'One More Cup of Coffee'. True. Black Diamond Bay is a great rocking multi-layered narrative track. Sara, as in Mrs Dylan, was in the studio making a surprise visit when Bob recorded that track, giving it an extra frisson. Hurricane, whatever teh non-angelic aspects of Rubin C, is a a stone cold classic. Isis is madly good, and spawned many great live versions. Mozabique is fin, same goes for Duango (remember Durango, Larry?) Oh Sister cannot be ignnored. Etc. etc. How can this be considered an ignorable album? I just cannot get with that.

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  9. With due respect, Desire has always struck me as underrated, diminished by the brilliance of the album it followed. "Durango" and "BD Bay" are well written and beautifully sung. Sorry, but I feel you really got this one wrong.

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  10. i tell you what, all these point/counterpoint arguments make me want to go get the damned thing and listen for myself.

    dick

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  11. Well, I think the comments have justified putting up the original post! That said, count me with a foot in the "Desire is overrated" camp, though I have trouble saying why. I don't care if Joey is pernicious fiction, I enjoy it (a bit bathetic but I dont mind). I actively admire Hurricane, and I find Sara touching rather than embarrassing. When I first heard the surrealist narratives Isis (my overall fave), Durango and Black Diamond Bay, live in Boston with Rolling Thunder, I was blown away, one of the best concert experiences of my life. Perhaps that's it -- the album never matched the live gig for me (nor do either the Live 75 official release or the bootlegs, we the audience did more than our share). Another theory: The songs seem rather deliberately crafted, which you would think was good but to me it comes across as a substitute for inspiration -- and I don't blame Levy, because (uh-oh, possible can of worms opening here) I think it's even more true of Street Legal, which ranks lower on my list.

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  12. to me Desire was dylan's last great album before the flood of shat that followed into the 80s.. he is a different bird now, going about things in a much different way than he did back in 75 and before.. i do like to dig throughthe 80s stuff and see what gems i can find, and there are some great tunes in there, but most of it is just not that interesting to me, and i mostly ignored that period.. i always loved Desire, and cherish my original pressing of it.. joey though, has to be the worst song on the album, if only for the screeeeching of "jooooooooeeeey" through out the song.. black diamond bay is one of my favorite songs of all time -edb

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  13. Thanks for all the input, folks! The good news is that we're about to slide into a truly contentious period for Dylan fans, so please keep reading and chiming in.

    Your comments are truly valuable. I love getting a new perspective on something I might have dismissed earlier. And that's something else that makes music fun.

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  14. truly contentious.. what do you mean by that?

    the definition of the word entails argument or strife, so i don't really see why we the current period would enlicit such reactions. I would like to know why you think so.

    maybe you are referring to the most recent album? i will say that it is not something i would listen to daily, as i would with TOOM or LAT or MT or even OM but i take it for what it is, an easy going lazy summer album.. great to listen to on a hot summer day on yer front porch.. just dont take it too seriously.. dylan will put out more great songs and records before his time is up, and is getting better in live performances than he was in the past ten years..

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  15. By "truly contentious" I meant that, as I'm reviewing these albums in chronological order, the next batch of Dylan albums I'll be going through will likely start similar arguments.

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  16. oh haha

    yeh like i said im not a huge fan of most of the next like 5 albums.. yer probably right..


    ahh well

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  17. I'm with Dick. "Hurricane" is the only song on this album I know, but having read through the arguments pro and con, I feel like I need to listen to the whole disc. Anything that could inspire that much division among fans automatically piques my curiosity.

    Vance

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  18. Desire is one of my favorite albums of all time by anyone. Admittedly, "Joey" is a stinker, but I believe that the rest of the album is terrific. It is the album that hooked me on Bob more than thirty yeats ago--it's one of his best.

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  19. OK, I have to put my two cents in here. My introduction to Dylan was the desire album. I listened to that record until the grooves wore out. How you can say " “Romance In Durango” and “Black Diamond Bay” are both enigmatic stories that fail to ignite" I just don't know. I think it must be because you first listened to Desire on CD or MP3's or something. The transition between Romance in Durango and Black Diamond Bay on vinyl is lost in the CD or selective listening of MP3. I guess it's just something that doesn't translate well to these cold formats. In any event, the flash point for these two songs and ultimately the entire record is the transition between them. You are taken from one part of the world to another, and told two inexplicably linked romantic stories. To me, they are the HIGHLIGHT of the album. I kind of agree with your assessment of "Joey" but it can be forgiven because it comes before Romance in Durango, and heightens your anticipation for 11 minutes :-) (by the way, I only post anonymously because I can't be assed to set up an acount, if you change that I will gladly post with my name)

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  20. I knew this review would raise hackles; I even predicted it. This album means a lot to many people, but it just doesn't do it for me.
    And truth be told, I've only ever owned Desire on vinyl. I've played it at least once a year to try and figure out what I'm missing and it still hasn't clicked. That's just the way it is. I do like the live versions of "Durango", if that helps any.

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  21. I know about everything Dylan has brought forth and I say: Desire is the peak of the peaks (how I love the violin!), even surpassing the wonderful Blood on the Tracks. This is one of the few albums where really every song blows me away. I wish this could be said of his albums he wrote after this when I was happy when there were 3 or 4 great songs on an album, like 'Not Dark yet'...

    Gerd

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  22. It's his voice. It's the last record the casual listener can stand... and it covers some poor songs. Hurricane is great and the fact that its a greatly massaged version of the truth doesn't really matter. But Joey -- and Sara -- both appalling, mawkish rewritings of history with some atrocious rhymes. Black diamond Bay is trite. And almost every other song is better performed elsewhere (mainly on Biograph).

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