Good As I Been To You, You Can Stop Chewing On My Leg Now
Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 I am a wildebeest. I not only look like a wildebeest, but I walk like a wildebeest, eat like a wildebeest, poo like a wildebeest, surf the Internet like a wildebeest. Really, a wildebeest and I are absolutely identical in every single aspect except for one thing: I don’t smell like a wildebeest. I smell more like a prairie dog. Uuuuuuhhhhhh … (Ignoring that last paragraph), it’s 1992 and Bob Dylan decided that he had just about enough of everything he did for the past 28 years and decided to return to his roots. HOORAY! BOB DYLAN IS RETURNING TO HIS ROOTS! … I’M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!! … … … Oh wait a minute, does that mean I have to sit through acoustic folk music again? … ?? … ??? … ???? That was my major concern about this album … I never really liked folk music that much. Although, I suppose do enjoy Bob Dylan’s brand of folk music, because he does it really well, specifically his The Freewheelin’ album. But it was 1992, and Bob Dylan had been way past his artistic peak. How am I to think that this album would be any good? Well, Bob Dylan doesn’t even write these songs. This is chock-full of covers of some rather obscure folk songs, and most of them are pretty good. Unfortunately, there is enough boring about this album for me not to recommend it wholeheartedly. Fortunately, however, this is Bob’s best album in more than a decade, probably, and I think we all ought to be very grateful about that! This isn’t essential for you Bob Dylan collection, but this isn’t one you ought to evade, either. Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 (Bob Dylan is … … doing acoustic folk covers???? Get out of here! He’s NEVER done that before! … … Oh wait, he has done that before. But that was a long long long time ago.) Average Song Score: 8.2 (These aren’t wonderfully brilliant folk covers, but for Bob Dylan to start doing folk again was a wonderfully brilliant idea!) Album Tilt: 8.0 (This album is very nice. There are a few songs on here that are on the more boring side of the spectrum, but that’s made up for the more entertaining ones.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (This isn’t really something that deserves a big pompous fanfare … after all, this is merely a bunch of folk covers. But at least Bob Dylan stopped altogether sucking, so this is a welcome gesture.) Track Reviews Frankie & Albert 9/10 Acoustic … humorous … folky … awesome guitar playing … Heck! It’s almost as if Bob Dylan had suddenly woken up from a coma that he had been in ever since 1964! And, so, we ought to just forget about everything the guy did after Another Side of Bob Dylan until Good As I Been to You! … … … Oh wait, I like Bob’s electric stuff better. But, after listening to all that weird 80s stuff and that strange previous 1990 effort, all this comes as a breath of fresh air. … Mmmmmm … fresh air. Jim Jones 8/10 Another good song that’s fun to listen to and skillful (not that I was expecting anything less than skillful). This is on the slow side of the spectrum. Unfortunately, this isn’t too terribly engaging. Blackjack Davey 7/10 Well, the huge drawback to Bob Dylan returning to pure folk is that it is usually rather difficult to make it intriguing ... for myself, anyway. Everyone who complained to the high heavens in 1965 when Bobby started playing electric music might have been rejoicing in 1992 (if their acid flashbacks weren’t too severe), but the more normal population of Dylan fans were probably thinking the same thing that I am now. (Although, us normal people really like Dylan’s decision not to give us another crap pop album.) This is a little boring, though. Canadee-i-o 8.5/10 This is quite a bit better. The melody is pretty good making this an all in all more enjoyable and engaging song. This is certainly a nice one if it’s not particularly engaging. Sittin’ On Top of the World 7/10 Not bad, either. This time, though, the melody seems awfully derivative (He didn’t write it, but … still). I think I’ve heard this song several times but with different titles. Besides that, it’s not something I particularly enjoy listening to. Oh well. At least it’s tolerable. Little Maggie 7.5/10 This is slightly boring and pretty darn good all at the same time. Yes … Bob Dylan is *back.* Hard Times 8.5/10 Acoustic … sounds a lot like a church hymn … it’s pretty good and involving. However, this isn’t interesting enough for me to want to write an 8-paragraph paper on it. That’s probably a good thing, because I doubt anyone would want to read an 8-paragraph paper about a song by Bob Dylan … especially a song that he sang in 1992. Step it Up and Go 9/10 This one is really quite entertaining, actually! The melody is catchy … but the best part of it is Bob’s vocal performance, which is so gruff that it’s almost cool. And, Bob Dylan wasn’t cool in 1992. He was old. Tomorrow Night 9/10 Wow! Another very nice song! The best thing about it is the wonderful melody (and another good vocal performance). This is a slow song, but it’s really very engaging and well done. Arthur McBride 8.5/10 Hmmm … I wonder why Bobby put a lot of the interesting songs toward the end of his album? Was he playing a mean trick on the people who might have actually enjoyed all his 80s stuff by boring them to death so that they would turn off their CD player and wait until only the REAL fans were listening to start giving us some really great songs? … That’s my theory, anyway. This is a mid-tempoed song that has a good melody and it’s pretty engaging and stuff. You’re Gonna Quit Me 8/10 Not bad … good melody … It’s not tremendous or anything, but it’s not boring, either. Diamond Joe 7.5/10 Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Ditto to that last track review. Froggie Went A-Courtin’ 8.5/10 Not a phenomenal album-closer, but it was a nicely chosen one. I’m pretty sure I heard this song from somewhere before, so I’m going to think twice this time before I call it “derivative.” Eh … why would I call it derivative when I’m enjoying it sort of. I'm wondering why you're not e-mailing me any comments about this album here. harmon@mac.com (harmon dow) received August 20, 2004 Hard Times is quite worthy of several, if not 8, paragraphs. It was written by Stephen Foster. " Foster's "Hard Times Come Again No More," published in early 1855, was both a reflection of recent events in his personal life and a portent of things to come. He and Jane separated for a time in 1853 and his close friend, Charles Shiras, died during that same period. During 1855, both his parents died. His song output diminished--only four new songs in that year--and his debts increased. He was forced to draw advances from his publishers, then found himself unable to supply the new new songs he had promised them." http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/foster.htm The best rendition of this I've ever heard was by the McGarrigal sisters & their family, including Rufus Wainwright, for a Civil War special about 15 years ago on PBS. And Dylan doesn't even credit him. It's one thing to sorta kinda claim the traditional stuff, but it is wrong not to acknowledge a known composer. Donignacio Responds: Thanks a lot for this wonderful information -- stuff that I was too lazy to bother researching on my own. |
All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. May he hit on your sister, please?
