Nashville Skyline Pigeon

Overall Album Score: 9.0 out of 10

The cover explains it all! Don't you just like Bob Dylan in that picture? He has the greatest smile and he's looks like he's greeting you with that cowboy hat of his ... man! It just makes me want to go right up to Bob Dylan and ask him to be my friend. This is as opposed to most of his previous albums, in which he's looking at you as if you were some kind of evil government official.

Along with the friendly album cover, Bob Dylan also gets friendlier with his music! I don't know what the heck happened, but he decided to change his singing style to go along with his change of music style. Adopting country music, Dylan also adopts a sort of operatic singing voice. And ... geez! I'm sure everybody found it difficult to get into Bob Dylan's vocal style on his previous albums with that wheezy voice of his ... but he actually sounds somewhat normal here. When I first bought this album, I was absolutely convinced that it wasn't Bob Dylan singing. I thought it might be somebody from The Band or something. But it turned out to be Bob Dylan after all!

If you thought that Bob Dylan was simple on John Wesley Harding, he gets really simple here with some of the most straightforward and enjoyable country-rock you've probably ever heard. (And, also factor in the fact that I have always hated country music, but perhaps Bob Dylan is going to make me appreciate country-rock.)

This isn't a centerpiece of Dylan's legacy. (It was released in 1969, which seems to be the year when everybody was making their best album.) Nope. Bob Dylan has stopped being so revolutionary and tough and is continuing to sit back and deliver us some music that we can all enjoy. And ... oh boy! I do enjoy Nashville Skyline ... even though it's country music. (But it's not "country-western." It's a good blend of country-western music, however, with rock-and-roll.)

And ... wow ... Bob Dylan gets even shorter here. Oh well. I guess that means there's no room for filler, then, eh?

Overall Album Score: 9.0 out of 10 (More classic Dylan! And it's more simple stuff that's so much more easily lovable and charming than 1965-66 Dylan ever was. Daat ees gud! Though, it might disappoint some of you hard cores out there.)

Average Song Score: 9.1 (There are no real stunners out here, but all in all this album is full of a nice collection of laid back country-rock ditties.)

Album Tilt: 9.0 (While I find this to be a perfectly entertaining album, I don't find this to be particularly phenomenal as an album as a whole. ...I'm just explaining why I'm not giving Dylan a 9.5 in this category.)

Artist Rating: 9.0 (He's still the artist he always has been! Though, he's finally just decided to take the backseat and deliver us some simple little ditties.)

Track Reviews

Girl From the North Country 10/10

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash engage in one of the finest superstar collaborative efforts that I can think of. It's so smooth and slow, and the hooks are heavy. It's as if Dylan and Johnny Cash were sitting on their wooden porches in rocking chairs playing this one. (I wasn't aware that rock stars were in the business of doing self remakes in studio albums! Bobby also recorded this as a straight-folk song for The Freewheelin'. I have no idea which one that I like better.)

Nashville Skyline Rag 9/10

This one is an altogether good hillbilly jam session engaged in by Dylan and Co. It's the sort of thing I would expect to hear in at a show at a country western amusement park or something (oooh brother...) But Dylan jams with the best of 'em. And he's no amusement park entertainer!

To Be Alone With You 9.5/10

I must reiterate that I absolutely despise country-western music ... but the way Bob Dylan does it ... not sacrificing anything from brilliant melodies or orchestration just so that it would achieve that sound! Yes! It's country-western! But it's tasteful! It's quick, bouncy, and enjoyable through-and-through.

I Threw it All Away 9.5/10

Wow! How lovely! This is a slower-paced and mellow song that has this absolutely gorgeous acoustic guitar instrumentation on it. Dylan leaves absolutely nothing left for me to puzzle or strain myself over. The lyrics, even, are straightforward. I like it! I'm a simple man m'self.

Peggy Day 8.5/10

Why does this one sound so familiar? ... I'm sure Bobby lifted this off of someone. I know I heard it from somewhere before. Putting that aside, I can't deny that the song is catchy and 100 percent entertaining. So, lift songs from wherever you want for all I care. (Dylan and his new weird voice! Holy Toledo!)

Lay Lady Lay 10/10

Not only does this song have a great melody, it has great instrumentation. Although the major piece of instrumentation that really has me is that tin can sounding thing in the background. That's just about the coolest thing I've ever heard in a country album. Lay Frito Lay!

One More Night 8/10

Ohhhhhhh... the I'm-listening-to-a-country album apathy is finally setting in. This is Bob Dylan's most "typical" country-western song on the album. It's still listenable and enjoyable, however. It's just not as listenable or enjoyable. Alrighty-o.

Tell Me That it Isn't True 8.5/10

This isn't bad! In fact ... it's good, if anything! Okay ... I'll admit it. I find this one slightly boring. But this is, in fact, Bob Dylan. So I rest my case. It's not one of the best tracks of the album.

Country Pie 9/10

Hah! This is why I want to be Bob Dylan's friend all of the sudden! He's singing a relatively throwaway song about country pie! That sounds quite tasty, actually. It's a pleasant, quick ditty.

Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You 9/10

Well ... Bob doesn't close this album with anything particularly remarkable. It's a fairly dynamic song, however. In that respect it's unlike the other songs on the album ... but it fits! It's entertaining as usual. Way to go, Bobby! You pulled off another classic album!

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