Expecting Rain

An attempt to listen to all of Bob Dylan's studio albums in order over the summer, climaxing approximately with the release of the newest Bob Dylan album sometime in September. There will be about 2 albums per week. I'm not sure I can keep it going that long, anybody can pick up the ball on this one and start the next Summer Listening Challenge thread...

Part 3:
The Times They Are a-Changin'
Release: January 13, 1964
Part of the fun is the experience of hearing the albums in sequence, so listen and get back to us!

allmusic review:
reviewby Stephen Thomas Erlewine If The Times They Are a-Changin' isn't a marked step forward from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, even if it is his first collection of all originals, it's nevertheless a fine collection all the same. It isn't as rich as Freewheelin', and Dylan has tempered his sense of humor considerably, choosing to concentrate on social protests in the style of "Blowin' in the Wind." With the title track, he wrote an anthem that nearly equaled that song, and "With God on Our Side" and "Only a Pawn in Their Game" are nearly as good, while "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" are remarkably skilled re-castings of contemporary tales of injustice. His absurdity is missed, but he makes up for it with the wonderful "One Too Many Mornings" and "Boots of Spanish Leather," two lovely classics. If there are a couple of songs that don't achieve the level of the aforementioned songs, that speaks more to the quality of those songs than the weakness of the remainder of the record. And that's also true of the album itself -- yes, it pales next to its predecessor, but it's terrific by any other standard.


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Bob Dylan studio releases, per BD.com:

Bob Dylan
Release: March 19, 1962

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Release: May 27, 1963

The Times They Are a-Changin'
Release: January 13, 1964

Another Side of Bob Dylan
Release: August 8, 1964

Bringing It All Back Home
Release: March 22, 1965

Highway 61 Revisited
Release: August 30, 1965

Blonde on Blonde
Release: June 20, 1966

John Wesley Harding
Release: December 27, 1967

Nashville Skyline
Release: April 9, 1969

Self Portrait
Release: June 8, 1970

New Morning
Release: October 21, 1970

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Release: July 13, 1973

Dylan
Release: November 16, 1973

Planet Waves
Release: January 17, 1974

Blood on the Tracks
Release: January 17, 1975

The Basement Tapes
Release: June 26, 1975

Desire
Release: January 16, 1976

Street Legal
Release: June 15, 1978

Slow Train Coming
Release: August 20, 1979

Saved
Release: June 20, 1980

Shot of Love
Release: August 12, 1981

Infidels
Release: November 1, 1983

Empire Burlesque
Release: June 8, 1985

Knocked Out Loaded
Release: August 8, 1986

Down in the Groove
Release: May 31, 1988

Oh Mercy
Release: September 22, 1989

Under the Red Sky
Release: September 11, 1990

Good as I Been to You
Release: October 27, 1992

World Gone Wrong
Release: October 28, 1993

Time Out of Mind
Release: September 30, 1997

"Love and Theft"
Release: September 11, 2001

Modern Times
Release: August 29, 2006

Together Through Life
Release: April 28, 2009

Christmas in the Heart
Release: October 13, 2009

A classic Dylan album indeed. Probably his most "Protest song" type album. Several classics to be found here, The title track has always been a favorite of mine, along with North Country Blues, With God On Our Side, Boots of Spanish Leather and pretty much the rest of the album. Every track is Gold, if not on the official release then certainly at a later time on a live recording. But if the world had only given us these studio recordings, we'd be satisfied. Thank God it gave us the Live Gold it did though, 60's Bob NEVER dissapoints.

His voice is so lovely, sometimes it makes me want to cry.

I won't lie I often make outlandish comments about Bob (normally when I'm drunk) but sometimes I'll be so into his music that I'll say "Bob is the second coming" or something equally blasphemous . But at the time I'm making the comment he is literally moving me that intensely, for what that's worth. I know it may be a bit much, but no artist in any form of art has ever evoked such passion in me, and I guess sometimes I don't know any other words to put it into.

North Country Blues is the jewel of the album. He captures the mood of those kind of lyrics just like old Dock Boggs himself was a-sittin' there with 44 hogleg pointed at him. "Sing it, son."

Dylan really gets it.

^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSj0sbHnVfs

And my god, he looks like a baby here! I'm still in awe of what he has done.

I'm on the same page as usual, rolling_thunder.

What a line-up!!
1. The Times They Are A-Changin'
2. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
3. With God On Our Side
4. One Too Many Mornings
5. North Country Blues
6. Only A Pawn In Their Game
7. Boots Of Spanish Leather
8. When The Ship Comes In
9. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
10. Restless Farewell

A couple of amazing outtakes: Percy's Song and Lay Down Your Weary Tune. The latter was to be the final song on Times, until the Newsweek article came out about how Bob had lied about his past. And so he quickly wrote and recorded Restless Farewell to take its place. The end of the record would certainly have a different feel--from "rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings/no voice could hope to hum" to "I'll make my stand/ And remain as I am/ And bid farewell and not give a damn."

Monolithic monumental masterpiece.

Mmm

I never knew that, John! Man, that would be a fantastic closer to the album!

Monumental masterpiece indeed. I got the first half in on the way to work, what an utterly amazing collection of songs and performances.

I think you've blown my mind, John, and as good as Restless Farewell is I think it might have been a mistake. Ending with the mystical Weary Tune might have made this album even more masterpieceful.

I'd prefer Lay Down Your Weary Tune as a closer. Though on Dylan's most protesty record, Restless Farewell provides a fitting ending. Why'd he leave these 2 songs off the record? My guess is that they were intended instead for the official Carnegie Hall release that almost happened. Percy's Song was probably one Long song too many for Times. And Lay Down Your Weary Tune would become a centerpiece on the official live release and reason to buy that record. As amazing as the studio cut is, I myself prefer the live take--which needs to see an official release at some point.

Listening to Times now in mono. Gorgeous vocals again. I sound like a broken record.

Wow, we're already at The Times, They Are A-Changin'. These albums are flying by fast. The interesting thing to me about this album as a whole is that it is arguably the most thematically focused album that Dylan has ever recorded (with perhaps his late 70's Christian albums maybe being a close second). This is the best thing and the worst thing about the album. I guess how much you like this album is dependent on your stomach for finger pointing songs. I personally find the song writing really strong on this album.

One of the complaints I have made in the past about The Times They Are A-Changin' is that while Dylan's vocals are strong on all of the songs, this is the album (in opinion) where Dylan's guitar playing started to get a little less interesting. There is less flat picking and finger picking on this album and more simple strumming arrangements than the previous two albums. That being said, there is still some interesting guitar work. For example, the Double Drop D tuning on the "Ballad of Hollis Brown" and the weird Open A guitar tuning and finger picking on "One Too Many Mornings" are both interesting. I also like the guitar work on "Boots of Spanish Leather" (although some could argue that the guitar work on this song is a re-hash of "Girl of the North Country") and "Restless Farewell". Also, I am not sure if there is any harmonica work of Dylan's that is better than his harmonica solo on "When the Ships Come In".

According to Olof's Files, this album was recorded in six sessions beginning on August 6, 1963 and ending on October 31, 1963. While the album does not have such an expansive set of outtakes as Freewheelin', there are still quite a number of gems as follows (I have listed them based on the first date during the sessions when Dylan recorded them):

August 6, 1963 - "Seven Curses", "Farewell" (heavily based on the folk song “Leaving of Liverpool”), "Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag"

August 7, 1963 - "Walls Of Red Wing", "Eternal Circle", "East Laredo Blues", "Key To The Highway" (Charles Segar/Willie Broonzy), "That's All Right Mama" (Arthur Crudup)

August 12, 1963 - "Paths Of Victory", "Hero Blues", "Moonshine Blues" (aka "Moonshiner"), "Only A Hobo"

October 24, 1963 - "Lay Down Your Weary Tune", "Suze (The Cough Song)"

I am hard pressed to single any one of these outtakes out as most of them are very strong. "Suze (The Cough Song)" is one of the last great examples of Dylan being able to play country blues. "Farewell" has always been slightly more obscure than a lot of the other outtakes but it is a lovely song (although I do prefer the Witmark Demos version).

You are not alone!

Me, too, rolling & raging - well put, rolling_thunder

this album is so consistently strong - and fixed on message. hypnotic guitar playing - moving away from the showmanship, but a unique reductive style emerges. practically one 'voice' throughout, unlike the chameleonlike vocal appearances on the debut and freewheelin'. the 'old sage dylan' is prevalent throughout, ranging from a softer side heard in 'one too many mornings' to the charging anthemic version in the title song.

just as strong as Freewheelin' - but darker, more serious tunes (of the likes of hollis brown) in place of the more universal anthems and pop song structures found it its predecessor. (it is the anthems of Times that bare resemblance to Freewheelin' - Hattie Carroll, With God on Our Side, When the ship comes in, etc...)

Don't like Ballad of Hollis Brown and With God On Our Side anymore, the rest still ranges from A to triple A ratings and is just great.

God On Our Side and Hattie Carroll I don't care for, and the title track, because just I'm tired of hearing it.

Probably goes without saying, but if some of those outtakes like Moonshiner had been in there, it could have been among of his greatest albums. As it is, it's upper level mid-tier in his album canon.

I haven't listened to God on our Side in a long while, and I found myself really enjoying it, as I did the whole album from start to finish. Some of the "big" songs on Freewheelin' couldn't shake their over-exposure when I revisited, but on this album everything sailed.

This is the only one of Bob's early albums that i listen to regularly.
"When the Ship Comes in" is one of those songs that i can listen to on repeat over and over and over.
Also love North Country Blues , Restless Farewell, Boots of Spanish Leather...
It's a wonderful album.

thanks, Bob

I love "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" and also think it would have been an even better album if that had been the closing song.


Thanks for the info, John B.

It's gotta be on of the most transcendent performances, live or otherwise, in the Dylan cannon. I know people hERe are tired of the 60s, but Sony has to release the Carnegie & Town Hall shows someday. Essential listening.

i find Percy's song mesmerizing.

lay down your weary tune hasn't done it for me since high school...but i like it on a day i need a pick me up. i still like the way he ended the album as is. awesome notes on the back cover, 11 outlined epitaphs by Bob Dylan. Here is one about Hibbing:

The town i was born in holds no memories
but for the honkin foghorns
the rainy mist
an the rocky cliffs
I have carried no feelings
up past the lake superior hills
the town i grew up in is the one
that has left me with my legacy visions
it was not a rich town
it was not a poor town
and my parents were not poor
it was a dyin town
(it was a dyin town)
a train line cuts the ground
showin where the fathers and mothers
of me an my friends had picked
up a moved from
north Hibbing
t south Hibbing
old north Hibbing...
deserted
already dead
with it's stone courthouse
decayin in the wind
long abandoned
windows crashed out
the breath of it's broken walls
being smothered in clingin moss
the old school
where my mother went to
rottin shiverin but still livin
standin cold an lonesome
arms cut off
with even the moon bypassin it's jagged body
prtendin not t see
an givin it it's final dignity
dogs howled over the graveyard
where even the markin stones were dead
an there was no sound except for the wind
blowin thru the high grass
and the bricks that fell back
t the dirt from a slight stab
of the breeze...it was as tho
the rains of wartime had
left the land bombed out an shattered
south Hibbing
is where everybody came t start their
town again. but the winds of the
north came followin an grew fiercer
as the years went by
but i was so young
as so i ran
an kept runnin...

I am still runnin I guess
but my road has seen many changes
for i've served my time as a refugee
in mental terms an in physical terms
an many a fear has vanished
an many an attitude has fallen
an many a dream has faded
an i know I shall meet the snowy North
again -- but with changed eyes nex time round
t walk lazily down it's streets
an linger by the edge of town
find old friends if they're still around
talk t the old people
an the young people
running yes...
but stoppin for a while
embracin what I left
an lovin it -- for i learned by now
never t expect
what it can not give me

^
thanks for posting that, Troubadour. It's beautiful and quite prophetic.

an i know I shall meet the snowy North
again -- but with changed eyes nex time round

Indeed.