Expecting Rain

http://bobdylanencyclopedia.blogspot.co ... t-now.html


I don't agree with most of it but always an interesting read.

he's a twat too hung up on words

It read pretty good to me - and without words, I reckon it wouldn't have read so good. I'm just saying. But, still, these bloomin' writers and their bloomin' words, eh!

I think Michael Gray just jumped the shark!

Well he does render a verdict, but other than that it's not much of a review. I think I read the whole thing, but I kept waiting for the actual review to start. Just when I thought he was going to start discussing the songs...the article ended. Maybe there's more to come later.

Given the nature of the verdict, main points listed below, ¿what more do you want?

Four letter words???????

So I'm sorry to report that I think it a [i]very poor album….

The writing is so careless that it's astonishing it took two people to come up with it and that neither said "Hang on a minute, we can do a whole lot better than this", and the voice - the shot voice that was used so skilfully on "Love and Theft" - is mostly inexpressive…….

The music is plodding, the tunes dull and any sense of a need to communicate wholly absent….

It seems popular to say that this is a minor Dylan album on a par with, say, Nashville Skyline: but Nashville Skyline was radiant with beautiful vocals, sparklingly deft individual musical playing recorded with shining clarity and an unmistakeable generosity of good humour and vitality. It is a towering achievement[/i]

Now who was it posted on here 6 weeks ago to say that he hadn´t bothered to listen again to the download from the net?

Nuff sed.

What's this guys favorite food?

Well he doesn't have one, being that he HAS NO TASTE!

HA! PWNED!

it reads like he's too hung up on his own feelings of self-importance and superior intellect.

How dare he presume to suggest what Dylan should or should not be doing or 'communicating'? I hope he doesn't continue to occupy front-row seats at concerts if he's no longer keen on the performances or the more recently written songs. Just stay home and listen to the recordings he prefers. I don't think Bob particularly wants to encounter him anyway, didn't he once make some comment about not moving 'in those circles'?

Critics, eh! Criticising stuff in their blogs - just 'cos they can. I didn't get where I am today by not seeing through their little game.

Everytimes the guy writes a book, whole tribes get displaced from their homes.

F**k that.

I guess he did not like it?

Poor guy. So, he doesn't like TTL. That's one person's problem _ his.

To me, from first listen, it was immediately obvious that this was a great record about obsession and perception, and I'm thankful Bob made it. It's speaks to me as much if not more than some of his others. I'm wearing it out.

about TTL... .
some people get it...
an..... .some don't...
and really..who cares ,and does it really matter?
NAWWW...
btw methinks it's one of his best.

It must be many years since Michael Gray said anything positive about Bob Dylan.

I liked this bit:



Not saying I agree with it, but it certainly isn't pretentious waffle. He's saying exactly what he thinks.

Never trust a man with a soul patch.

I dont really see the point in digging too deep in Dylan songs, assuming this and that.. I just sit back, relax and enjoy the music!!

"The music is plodding, the tunes dull..." is the verdict; if I´m not mistaken

He's right! The album is pretty poor, sorry to say.

Album's great. Shutyerface and listen.

One of the things Gray hints at, is the sad, puzzling phenomenon of Dylan fans refusing to admit the Great Man is capable of producing stuff that just isn't very good. That tendency to overrate Dylan's lesser works is understandable in the media, cause they spent so long slanging him off. But why do some Dylan fans share such a herd mentality? You have the nous to discern that Bob is great in the first place, why can't you recognise a lesser work for what it is? Leaving aside the Bootleg Series releases, in recent times we've had TOOM (very good, some caveats, a few great tracks), L&T (arguably better, more consistent, less 'big songs' but perhaps of more lasting value overall), MT (far too long, no great songs, many clunkers, a letdown), and TTL (tremendously underwhelming, a damp squib, sometimes enjoyable in a very minor way). Now, that's still a lot more than we could have expected, but it's of variable quality, not really surprising, the man is human after all.

I think it does Dylan a disservice to mindlessly hail everything he does as genius.

For over twenty years now M. Gray has used Bob Dylan as a springboard for the presentation of his own supposed self-importance.
He has used every opportunity to insult and attack Dylan and his work.
If he really thinks Dylan's work is that bad he simply should do everyone a favour and stop writing about the man.
The saying goes that whatever you accuse others of is what you hate the most about yourself.
Something to think about, M. Gray.

Together Through Life is an enjoyable album. That means I like it.