Showing posts with label cd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cd. Show all posts

Saturday 25 July 2020

Rough and Rowdy, Bob Dylan


'Considered, elegiac and richly allusive, this austere gem may be Dylan’s best album in 40 years' Bryan Applyard , Sunday Times july 2020
This is his first album since Tempest 2012. I read a wonderful review – “So Bob, you’re 80 next year; what have you to say for yourself?“ the overall effect is austere, serious and pared down. It is a mesmeric and magnificent piece of work. 
"The songs vary from romantic to surreal. His rhyming is as ingenious, playful and varied as ever.” Lyrically Dylan is operating at a peak not seen since his albums Blood on the Tracks and Blonde on Blonde. 
SONGS:   Key West (Philosopher Pilot)/ Black Rider/  Crossing the Rubicon/  I sing of love/  I sing of betrayal,/ I Contain multitudes/  False Prophet/ My Own Version of You. And the Lovely romantic ballad – I have made up my mind to give myself to you. Dylan writes, “Can you tell me what it means to be or not to be.’
Another link – the assassination of John F Kennedy at the center of Murder most foul, and in a sense of the center of entire album, suggesting, as it does, a dark cloud, which may be death or may be Trump, from which there is no escape.
On the Lyrics on Murder most Foul - “Visiting morgues and monasteries/ looking for the necessary body part” with Freud and Marx looking on. Plus others -   Edgar Allan Poe, William Blake, the bluesman jimmy reed, Elvis, Presley, Allen Ginsberg, jack Kerouac, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Tom Dooley. This is an assertion that culture comes first, history is a footnote; a long one, but a footnote nonetheless. Culture, like the individual, contains everything, right or wrong, good or bad. Everything is double-edged. 
"Whitman was similarly obsesses with the assignations of his friend Abraham Lincoln. His two most famous poems – ‘Oh Captain! My Captain! – “When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloomd” – are about the terrible moment.. 
"The album celebrated the noble conviction – Whitman’s conviction – that you can’t sing about anything without singing about everything. With this album Dylan announces himself as Whitman’s child.  As a way of saying we contain, like Whitman all contradictory possibilities. 
“I’m not what I was; things aren’t what they were.” Back to when he told journalists, you cant put me in a box.”  The backing is sparse but precise,  and beautifully exact in its evocation of genres – ballad, blues and so on.. also a kind of list of American musical forms.” Whitman’s attempted to contain the entire country.  

Saturday 10 March 2012

Jim Byrne and the Blackwoods and Dinny at Bar Brel Feb 2012

On a wet Glasgow night Jim Byrne and his band brought colour to the dull February days with enriching and soothing sounds..

The Bar Brel was full and cosy and I took a seat near the front in the hope of getting some good shots. This was the CD launch for Jim’s new set of tunes for his album The Innocent and he was accompanied by the Blackwood’s which consisted of Graham MacKintosh (banjo, violin), Elanor Gunn (violin) Dinny (guitar, harp and vocals), and Peter Bryne (bass, percussion, backing vocals). The band all did a very good job of backing Jim’s deep soothing bluesman vocals.

Stand out songs were requested - Two Empty Chairs, Sand in Our Shoes, and cover song Thirteen. I enjoyed the gypsy guitar vibe of Down by the Wildwood, after which Bryne took the temperature down with the comforting Sweeter than a Rose and the earthy Sand in Our Shoes.  He sang the covers Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes, Satisfied Mind ( Joe "Red" Hayes), There Stands The Glass (Russ Hull, Mary Jean Shurtz and Audrey Greisham) and a fun Make Me a Pallet on the Floor. His cover songs are well thought out as are his own songs which show his obvious love of music.

Jim’s music has a warm nostalgic feel and their set was very much in Jim’s chilled out late night groove style.
I am impressed with the way Jim maintains his Scottishness while taking on his American folk and blues influences. His sound draws on diverse influences such as Johnny Cash and Tom Waits, as well as other lesser known folk artists. Jim Byrne is a singer songwriter influenced by Americana, folk, alt-country and blues music. 
Byrne has an expressive voice and slightly eccentric songs making for a distinctive sound. He steered a calm ship with his quiet relaxed manner and smile which filters through his mellow country tunes and quality guitar playing. 

His new album has a cover by Susanne McGreevy and is called The Innocent. It has more atmosphere and is a step on from his well received previous album "Every Day is Sunshine.” The Innocent has an earthy sound and his songs have quirky and unexpected lyrics. The backing musicians play a wide variety of instruments on the record which adds a rootsy sound with a richer depth and with more fluid soundscapes.

A highly enjoyable night and I recommend checking out Jim's latest offerings.
Dinny sang a few of her own songs as the support slot and she has a very good voice with a pure quality to it as well as being a talented guitarist.  http://songsbyjimbyrne.com/
 As on Jim's previous album, he's joined by some of Glasgow's best musicians, notably Yvonne Lyon (delicate piano on Sleepy Head) and virtuoso guitarist and banjo picker Graham Mackintosh (Satisfied Mind, Thirteen). Jim’s brother, Peter Byrne, adds harmonic richness on backing vocals (check the chorus on Sand in your Shoes) as does Glasgow singer songwriter Dinny (Two Empty Chairs, You Are A Good Friend Of Mine).   

Set List Fancy Wooden Box
Tell Me You Love Me Again
Down By The Wildwood
Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes
Satisfied Mind (cover song by Joe "Red" Hayes)

Thirteen
Sweeter Than A Rose
Sand In Our Shoes

II
You Dont know
There Stands The Glass
Two Empty Chairs
When You Bit Into That Apple
Make Me down A Pallette On Your Floor
The Handle's Broken On my Cup
Daddy's Car