Under the Red Sky ... But Why Is it Red? ... Hmmmmmm ...
Overall Album Score: 7.5 out of 10 Well, as if we hadn’t seen everything in Bob Dylan, in 1990 he released this album, which is chock-full of such trite songs that they had just might as well be put on the kids rack at the CD store! “Wiggle Wiggle” gives this away immediately. What on earth kind of sick adult would really want to listen to a song called “Wiggle Wiggle?” … the song itself is even more kiddy sounding than the title makes it sound … believe me. All Dylan needed was a kid’s choir in the background, and it would have been prime material for “Nick Jr.” on TV. The huuuuuuuuuuuuuge problem with this album is the cheesy production. That’s it exactly. The cheese in the instrumentals is so prominent that it’s sad … it’s even more sad when you look at the personnel involved here. George Harrison on guitar? Elton John on piano? … Not to mention the ever-so-awesome Bob Dylan! How on Earth could I dog on the instrumentation? … Well, really, the instrumentation by these guys are alright. The production, however, didn’t let them shine enough, giving this album the feel of an over-polished piece of plastic. And a Bob Dylan album should never feel like an over-polished piece of plastic. That’s a rock-and-roll felony!!! That all said, however, the huge redeeming quality of this album is clearly Dylan’s melodies. There are some catchy tunes on here and some snappy grooves! … I remember kids songs back in the late-80s/early-90s, and this would have been primo kid’s stuff! Even after I grew up (technically), I like these tunes as much as anything. That, and the basic advantage of the cheesy productions to be ‘pleasant’ makes Under the Red Sky an enjoyable album. That’s why it manages to get such a formidable rating. Overall Album Score: 7.5 out of 10 (A curious kiddie album. I’m not sure why Dylan bothered, but on the other hand, this was his best album that he had for a couple years.) Average Song Score: 8.1 (These songs improve, melodically speaking, from Dylan’s last handful of albums.) Album Tilt: 7.5 (This might be enjoyable for some people. I’d approach it with caution, though.) Artist Rating: 7.0 (It’s a good thing that Dylan jerked his style around a little bit … but this album is disposable even by other artists’ standards. The seasoned Dylan fan probably won’t like this … the diehard fan *might*) Track Reviews Wiggle Wiggle 8.5/10 Believe me … this song is as trite as its title makes it sound like like! And, I can picture a bunch of Kindergartners jumping up and down to this song and wiggling! (The kids probably wouldn’t even care about Dylan’s voice, either … the adults shouldn’t, either, but, alas…) This reminding me of a Kindergarten tune isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either. The childish aspect of this song isn’t hopelessly cheesy or anything. I cannot deny that it has a good melody, and it’s enjoyable. (The instrumentation is generic, but that doesn’t phase me much.) Under the Red Sky 9/10 The generic instrumentation does phase me a bit on this one … and Dylan’s rather lazy vocal performance does that, too. But I really do enjoy the melody on this one (not to mention the guitar solo in here by none other than GEORGE HARRISON!!!!) The huge redeeming aspect of this song, however, is its epic feel. You’ve got to appreciate that. I know I do! The lyrics are really sweet, too. Unbelievable 7/10 An upbeat (and still generically arranged) R&B type number that kids ought to like hopping around with. The groove is kind of snappy, but the overall song is rather stale. And, I wish Bobby would try a bit harder on his singing. It’s difficult enough as it is! (And he’s not being particularly resonant here, or anything, so his ‘sandpaper-and-glue’ vocals aren’t exactly an asset.) Born in Time 8.5/10 Wow! This song is kind of heart-tugging! … Again, I can’t help but to put this song a little bit down for the genericness of everything, but … yeah. This is a nice generic thing. (And it’s still kiddy.) T.V. Talkin’ Song 7/10 More upbeat generic kid’s stuff. Well, this isn’t *really* a kid’s song, because he says the ‘d’ word. Oooooo!!!! I’m telling his mommy! Again, the groove is really snappy, and the song is enjoyable (basically) … but it’s lacking that old Dylan magic … oh well. I’ve been getting used to that. 10,000 Men 7/10 Another schnazzy, generic, and disposable song. It’s fine to listen to, but I could never come up with a good reason why I *should* listen to it (other than the fact that I’m reviewing it, but … that’s another topic entirely). 2 X 2 8/10 Nice melody! … Goofy lyrics! … Again, the song is disposable, but I enjoy the melody enough to gobble this one up like candy corn. (Mmmmm… candy corn…) God Knows 9/10 This is a happy song (that’s on the more resonant side of the spectrum). It’s played better than most of the other songs from this album (a quality that I appreciate) … It’s not particularly dynamic or moving, but it works perfectly well in this context. Handy Dandy 8/10 Another silly kiddie song … I think it’s pretty good. Again, I like the melody. The instrumentation is generic … again … … But I do like this, overall. Cat’s in the Well 8.5/10 Nice groove! This is another goofy kiddy song with generic instrumentation (How many times can one say ‘generic instrumentation’ in a review? I think I just broke the record!) Again, this is technically a disposable, song, but I like it too much to dismiss it. This all sort of makes me want to revisit my childhood so that I could enjoy these songs properly. The Red Sky say sacrifice yo intellect and give me a comment about this album here! melinajerome@yahoo.com (Melinda) received May 20, 2007 He wote this album for his 4 yr old daughter at the time and doesn't concern himself with what others think at this age. The dedication on the album was to Gabby Goo Goo and his daughter's name is Desiree "Gabrielle" Dennis Dylan. Sounds like this was just an album written by a dad wrapped around a little girl's finger. |
All reviews are copyrighted by the author, Michael Lawrence. He is a honey.
