1975
Bob Dylan and The Band
The Basement TapesBand lineupBob Dylan (acoustic guitar, piano, vocals)
Rick Danko (bass, mandolin, backing vocals)
Levon Helm (drums, mandolin, bass, vocals)
Garth Hudson (organ, clavinet, accordion, saxophone, piano)
Richard Manuel (piano, drums, harmonica, backing vocals)
Robbie Robertson (guitars, drums, backing vocals)
All tracks authored by Bob Dylan, except where noted.
Side A1. Odds and Ends (1:47)
2. Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast)
(Richard Manuel) (3:39)
3. Million Dollar Bash (2:32)
4. Yazoo Street Scandal
(Robbie Robertson) (3:29)
5. Goin' to Acapulco (5:27)
6. Katie's Been Gone
(Manuel, Robertson) (2:46)
Side B1. Lo and Behold! (2:46)
2. Bessie Smith
(Rick Danko, Robertson) (4:18)
3. Clothes Line Saga (2:58)
4. Apple Suckling Tree (2:48)
5. Please, Mrs. Henry (2:33)
6. Tears of Rage
(Dylan, Manuel) (4:15)
Side C1. Too Much of Nothing (3:04)
2. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread (2:15)
3. Ain't No More Cane
(traditional) (3:58)
4. Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) (2:04)
5. Ruben Remus
(Manuel, Robertson) (3:16)
6. Tiny Montgomery (2:47)
Side D1. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (2:42)
2. Don't Ya Tell Henry (3:13)
3. Nothing Was Delivered (4:23)
4. Open the Door, Homer (2:49)
5. Long Distance Operator (3:39)
6. This Wheel's on Fire
(Danko, Dylan) (3:52)
ReviewThis is mostly an album of typical Dylan jingles performed along with The Band, interspersed with a few The Band pieces without Dylan. I've never been a great Dylan fan, so this is likely to be a very biased review.
The Dylan tunes typically consist of repetitive folk themes, sometimes a tad on the bluesy side, that almost consistently fail to progress anywhere musically. The focus seems to be on the lyrics, which almost consistently fail to make any sense whatsoever. At their worst ("Apple Suckling Tree"), these pieces even sound under-rehearsed, to the point that I question their inclusion on this album even for Dylan fans.
However, it's not all doom and gloom. A couple of Dylan's songs are quite passable as stupid but pleasant rocking out -- my personal favourites being the intensely bluesy "Don't Ya Tell Henry" and "Long Distance Operator", with honourable mentions going out to the more acoustic "Crash on the Levee" and the calmer ballad "Nothing Was Delivered".
The songs without Dylan are, for me, much more consistently listenable. "Bessie Smith" and "Yazoo Street Scandal" in particular are very enjoyable, and quite different from each other stylistically, leaving the potential for a decent single album or EP if the more disappointing half of the material were stripped out.
I'm not going to say this is bad, and particularly if you enjoy Dylan's style, it's well worth a listen. But personally I would have been more selective with which cuts to include and produced a shorter, but more consistently enjoyable, record.
Christgau sez...These are the famous lost demos recorded at Big Pink in 1967 and later bootlegged on The Great White Wonder and elsewhere. Of the eighteen Dylan songs, thirteen have been heard in cover versions, one by Dylan himself; the six Band songs have never even been bootlegged and are among their best. Because the Dylan is all work tape, the music is certifiably unpremeditated, lazy as a river and rarely relentless or precise--laid back without complacency or slickness. The writerly "serious" songs like "Tears of Rage" are all the richer for the company of his greatest novelties--if "Going to Acapulco" is a dirge about having fun, "Don't Ya Tell Henry" is a ditty about separation from self, and both modes are enriched by the Band's more conventional ("realistic") approach to lyrics. We needn't bow our heads in shame because this is the best album of 1975. It would have been the best album of 1967 too. And it's sure to sound great in 1983. A+
"The best album of 1975", he says. Ah yes, 1975. The year he gave
Godbluff, the greatest and most cohesive 37 minutes Van der Graaf Generator ever committed to vinyl, a solid D+. I'm sorry, but if you're going to give such high praise to material that, by any artist other than Bob Dylan, would be considered so "lazy as a river and rarely relentless or precise" as to constitute a rehearsal and not an album, could you perhaps give at least a smidgeon of credit to actual musical talent when it pops up in the same year?
E