Wanet Plaves

Overall Album Score: 7.8 out of 10

Oh, man! Whatever happened to "Like a Rolling Stone" Bob Dylan? "Mr. Tambourine Man" Bob Dylan? "John Wesley Harding" Bob Dylan? Eh? Eh? Eh? Bobby took a four year break from doing regular studio albums, and he comes back with this??? A boring album??? Oh holy crap! What happened?

I know one thing, Bob Dylan has never felt so disconnected from his songs as he does here. I could sense this cold feeling slightly with New Morning. But, as long as we can dismiss Self Portrait as intentional, the last time I could sense that Bob's soul was missing from his body was during his 1964 protest folk album The Times They Are A-Changin'.

That said, there are three great songs on here. There's the album's opener "On a Night Like This," the songs' follow-up "Going Going Gone" and then "Forever Young." The only song that goes against my missing-soul theory is the song "Forever Young," which is so intensely touching that it could only go to recall everything from Bob Dylan's old glory days.

I should also mention that The Band plays the instrumentals on this album. While I don't think that Bob Dylan has ever been backed by such a lot of talented instrument-players before on one of his album (barring The Basement Tapes, which is a bootleg of stuff that Bob performed with The Band sometime in the 60s), they don't exactly lend Bob a compliment! While most of the blame ought to go to Bob Dylan (after all, he was the one in charge), The Bands' playing fails to turn many of these songs into life. And, I think Bob was sort of relying on The Band to do this. ...If he wasn't then he was just being lazy. So, I think The Band could have done a better job. (I suppose you might also have to factor in that in 1974, The Band was a powerhouse in the recording industry ... and that might have prevented Bob from ordering them around, which he was almost notorious for doing in his earlier albums!)

Nevertheless, if you compare Planet Waves with every other album in the world, you'll find that it is well above the average. But this ain't Bob the way that I'd like to remember him.

Overall Album Score: 7.8 out of 10 (While this is still, overall, a good album, it's a little bit disconcerting for Dylan fans, cause we were spoiled by his 9-scoring albums! Nevertheless, if you are a Dylan fan, this isn't something you ought to skip.)

Average Song Score: 8.4 (While this might be a perfectly good score for the average artist, this isn't such a good score for one of the greatest artists to ever hit this business.)

Album Tilt: 7.5 (I find this one rather trying to have to sit through sometimes! The last album in which I felt this was in The Times They Are A-Changin')

Artist Rating: 7.5 (While this is an album full of originals ... and there are three excellent-to-superior songs on here, there's something messed up here, 'cause I'm not getting much out of everything else.)

Track Reviews

On a Night Like This 10/10

Well! Bob Dylan certainly doesn't always open his albums with such nice, light pop-ditties! The melody is good and catchy, and the by-the-book but enjoyable accompaniment by The Band certainly makes this one of the most normal-sounding songs that Bob has ever done at this point. (That said ... were we ever looking for normal-sounding songs from Bob? ... No! ... But this one's nice.)

Going Going Gone 9.5/10

Another good song ... although the songwriting here isn't as brilliant as Bob is certainly capable of. I like the guitar playing on this one, though. (It sounds a lot like how that lead guitar is played on The Bands' "On Cripple Creek.") Alright ... so it's not Bob I like here. It's The Band. Oh well. Bob wrote the song, didn't he?

Tough Mama 8.5/10

Hmmmm... We're getting a little bit less of a vastly enjoyable track here. However, that's only relatively speaking. The Band turns in a perfectly fine instrumental performance ... but it doesn't seem to be as comfortably adapted with Bob Dylan's own style as the previous two tracks were.

Hazel 8/10

This song has a nice vibe to it! ... Though, this song seems like Bob is trying to make a regular love song... Why would Bob Dylan try to make a regular love song? Heck if I know! The melody is okay and so is the song.

Something There is About You 8/10

Oh, man ... Yeah, this song is pretty good, too! Bob Dylan is indeed the master ... but as with many of the other songs on this album, the song isn't as electrifying as Dylan used to be! They're all good songs, but they're almost tedious! "Something There is About You" seems to be missing some fundamental aspect in its soul ... which is something that Dylan always used to excel at consistently.

Forever Young 10/10

Well! This song has that "soul" that I was talking about. The subject here is very touching ... as we all remember Bob for doing the best! I also think the melody is very good, as well, and so is Bob's soul-wrenching vocal performance. This is a gem of Dylan's middle-career!

Forever Young (Version Two) 6.5/10

That last song was so good that they decided to do it again! This one is played quicker and more upbeat. Boy ... did I compliment The Band before in this album? Their playing here really seems tacky! (On the other side of the spectrum, it was good on the original version.) So ... what was the point of adding this one? It's bastardizes everything that "Forever Young" stands for, which Bob just finished dazzling and astonishing us with the previous track! There's no soul on this version!

Dirge 7.5/10

Oh chimmychullabugallugga! This 5:36 minute song is BORRRRRING! BORING! BORING! BORING! BORING! BORING! ... But it's still Dylan. Never forget that, chilluns.

You Angel You 9/10

Well, at least this one is upbeat and rockin'! The tune is pretty good too ... and I even like The Band instrument playing. In short: I like this song. Yep. I definitely like this song. Way to go, Bobby!

Never Say Goodbye 8.5/10

...Hmm... This one is pretty good, I'd say. I'm not excited about it at all, however. The instrumentals are solid ... Dylan is good as usual. It ain't a great Dylan ditty, though.

Wedding Song 7/10

Would somebody please tell me what Bob was thinking when he decided to write a song about weeding? ... I already knew that Bob Dylan used to like weed, but I never thought that it was that kind of weed! .. Oh ... I'm sorry. I read the title wrong. Um... That'll never happen again.

About the actual song, though ... CRAP! It's tedious! Why couldn't he have just extended those two previous tracks, which were under three minutes, and just cut this one altogether! This is a very feeble folk song for Bob Dylan! Yawn!

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