Now the party's over, I'm so tired

Continuing my trip up Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time...

#337 : John Wesley Harding - Bob Dylan (1967)

Recovering from his 1966 motorcycle crash, Bob Dylan made a left turn into country fables and stark mystic folkways. He took a quick trip to Nashville and banged out John Wesley Harding. It’s his most ominous album, with characters from the Bible and the shadowy side of American history, from “I Am a Lonesome Hobo” to “All Along the Watchtower.” With his stripped-down sound and a black-and-white cover photo, Dylan was defiantly rejecting all the current trends — going his own way, as usual.

Well, the last time we ran into Bob, things didn't end well, so it's safe to say my expectations weren't high.  I actually found this one less annoying, but it's still a bit whiny and there's far too much harmonica on it - there's nothing here to convince me you're either a Dylan fan or you ain't.  Oh well - I'm sure he'll get at least another couple of chances to convert me.  I was, of course, aware of "All Along The Watchtower" and didn't mind his version, but prefer both the Hendrix and U2 versions - and suspect I could also find plenty of other versions I preferred if I looked (Chris de Burgh's version is worse though!).  I also knew "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" - but recognised it from the Thea Gilmore version rather than the Robert Palmer version, which I'd (thankfully) completely forgotten about.  Further Googling tells me that Thea Gilmore has actually re-recorded all of this album, which I suspect I'd enjoy waaaay more than the original (she's vastly under-rated imho)

Wikipedia tells me this album got to #1 in the UK and #2 in the US which just expands my ever growing mystification (that's a word, right?) about the whole Dylan thang.  I think I'm just going to have to say that this is an improvement on the last, so let's hope this continues...

#336 : Avalon - Roxy Music (1982)

Peter Sinfield, the producer of Roxy Music’s angular and wild 1972 debut, said that on Avalon they “ran out of naiveté.” Their sound was now woozy and refined, horny yet mature, and unabashedly, unironically romantic. A synth-soul landmark, Avalon was their biggest hit, their swan song, and the height of rock elegance and sophistication. The reggae lilt of the album’s title track was inspired by Bob Marley, who had recorded at the same studio as Roxy Music during the Seventies.

On the last Roxy Music album we met, I mentioned how I initially liked this period Roxy, but my affectations transferred to earlier stuff - but I didn't particularly like the album of earlier stuff, so I was intrigued to listen to this, with the expectation that most of it would sound smoooooth.  And yeah, that's pretty much what it is - inoffensive (except to fans of early Roxy stuff, I imagine) but a bit bland for my liking.

Wikipedia points out that this was the most successful Roxy Music album and it certainly feels like it was produced to be popular with the masses - interestingly, it managed to sell a million copes in the US whilst peaking at #53 in the charts, so it was very much a sleeper hit over there.  I still can't be bothered to read all of Roxy Music's Wikipedia page - it's too long!  "Customers also listened to" Chris Isaak, Peter Gabriel and INXS, which seems like a slightly weird mix but I guess I can see them.  Overall, I'd say it's a fine dinner party album to use to show off your new compact disc player (they're the future, you know!) but I struggle to see too many people actively listening to this too many times - myself included. 

#335 : The Basement Tapes - Bob Dylan And The Band (1975)

Bob Dylan and his pals spent the Summer of Love in Woodstock, messing around in the basement of a house they called Big Pink. The songs were so deeply weird, they sat unreleased for years, until The Basement Tapes finally collected bootleg favorites like “Million Dollar Bash” and “You Ain’t Going Nowhere.” (For a deeper dive, see the 2014 box set.) “They were a kick to do,” Dylan told Rolling Stone’s Jann S. Wenner in 1969. “That’s really the way to do a recording — in a peaceful, relaxed setting — in somebody’s basement. With the windows open … and a dog lying on the floor.”

Are you fucking kidding me?!?  Am I being Dylan-trolled by Rolling Stone?!?  I have to suffer 24 "deeply weird" tracks across 2 discs?!?  I am not happy about this in the slightest...

...but I'd have to say I didn't consider them to be any weirder than any of the other Dylan-related stuff I've had to endure so far - and a lot of it was far more bearable than the songs on Love And Theft.  I'd also say he sounds like he's enjoying himself on some of the tracks, which makes a nice change!  I'm also very glad I didn't have to listen to the special extended version which features 138 tracks across 6 discs (although, let's face it, that was never going to happen!).  

However, I really don't see any of these tracks as being any more than curiosities of interest to hardcore Dylan fans and hence not at all the 335th greatest album ever made.  I also really had to rack my brains to remember where I'd heard "This Wheel's On Fire" before - and then I remembered a god-awful version by Adrian Edmondson was used as the theme tune for Ab Fab (I really dragged that from the recesses of my mind!).  And that's all I'm saying about this album - no-one needs any more of me rattling on about Dylan.

So well done to Roxy Music for possibly the blandest winner so far.

#340-338 - Not a lot in common between this lot
#334-332 - And the award for most historic winner goes to...