Wednesday, february 4, 1976
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ylan's. latest: A return. to commitment?
Bob Dylan '.Desire, Columbia.
Bob Dylan defies understanding. His career has been
like no one else's. It doesn't progress on the linear
continuum of most groups; that is, a career with a begin
ning, high point, and then, the end. Rather, it's a cyclical
career of birth and rebirth.
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Dylan has been in a rebirth period since 1974's Blood
on the Trackx But people who assess Dylan only by his
recent output have not grasped the artist who, after all,
wrote "Bbwin" in the Wind" when many of us were of
Kindergarten ie.
How easy it is to forget Dylan's legacy to popular music.
It is awesome. He originated the modern rock lyric. He
was the first to record an eight-minute rock song. He
was-and still is-a fountainhead of mystique. He stood as
the arch-foe of all authority while resisting active involve
ment in these causes.
He is the most self-reliant of artists. He has no need to
respond to the predominant trends in popular music. In
fact, he initiates these trends.
Released without hooplah
So what about this newest release, Desire! Like most .
Dylan albums it was released without much hooplah from
Columbia's public relations dept. But since this record
was not from just anybody, but from Bob Dylan, it
kindled excitement.
This is a great album. Blood on the Tracks was from an
emotionally ripped man. Nothing here matches the sput
tering bile of "Idiot Wind." The, alb um is from a different,
more stable Dylan.
The quality of a Dylan album is hardly the point
anymore. Dylan proved his geruus long ago. A new Dylan
album must be viewed in relation to the full spectrum of
his career.
Dylan is a mythmaker. At every stage of his career he
has created a myth about himself.
Bob Dylan, his first album, showed a folk singer of the
Woody Guthrie mold. But Dylan was too concerned with .
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Photo by S Bocrmr
Henry Fonda recites poetry for &s Nebraska Educational Television Network's nationally syndicated
series Anyone for Tennyson? Fonda taped several poems in Lincoln Monday with the show's First
Poetry Quartet including Robert Frost's "The Gift Outright" and Langston Hughes' "Dreams. The series
segment starring Fonda, "American Dream," wiO air in March.
overstatement to be a true foDcsinger.
FoScsiuger to folk prophet
With FreewheeUn' the folksinger became a folk prophet.
The Folk Prophet created stereotypes usually about an
authoritarian figure. Upon these he vented hatred .Every
thing was either black or white, with Dylan, ever the
moralist, casting himself above his subjects.
On "The Times They Are A Changin", the Folk Prophet
incorporated a new myth the imagery of Christianity. He
was obsessed with the apocalypse. His voice always has
had that quality of morality, of the fragility of life and
the inevitable death of all things.
, Dylan shed the Folk Prophet guise to become Folk Poet
on Another Side of Bob Dylan. This album contains "I
Dont Believe You," his first rock 'n' roll song. "My Back
Pages' shows his ability for self-analysis and criticism, and
his honesty, both to himself and to his audience. "Chimes
of Freedom" reveals a permanent Dylan characteristic
Ms love of majestic, epic material.
Dylan had gone electric by 1966. Some called him
Judas; many felt betrayed. But Dylan had exhausted al
most all the capabilities of the guitar-harmonica instru
mentation. When Dylan added the Band, he dissolved an
earlier myth-the image of one man against the world.
On Blonde on Blonde, Dylan was no longer the political
ly involved moralist. He was writing love songs; personal
songs, unrelated to his religious epic style. '
This Dylan is more a musician; the melodies stand alone
without the lyrics. The album closes a cycle. The folk star,
Dylan on an adult trip
Since John Wesley Harding, Dylan has been on an adult
trip the myth of the moderate man. Love songs like the
majority of cuts on Bbod on the 7radt5-becarne stand
ard in his repertoire. Dylan also experimented with
country music on Self Portrait and Nashville Skyline.
Critics lambasted these tributes to the American common
man. Dylan could not make the passion of country music
his own.
Dylan has used almost every lyric style imaginable-from
grandiose religious-political imagery to psychological
themes to drug visions. So, what's he using on Desire. '
Well, it's a hodge-podge, including bits of almost every
' thing that came before, seasoned with maturity and strong
musicianship.
"Isis" is a majestic epic story with Egyptian mythologi
cal imagery. Dylan uses a rhyming scheme not often
found in popular songs. Every other line rhymes, instead
of each line rhyming with the next in couplet form. This
sounds rather trivial, but listen to it. It's an unexpected
twist. It constantly catches you off-guard.
"Mozambique" shows an innocent charm Dylan rarely
uses. "One More Cup of Coffee" is a beautiful love song
(again, with an epic feel). Its haunting beauty is enhanced
by Scarlet Rivera's violin solos.
The moralist returns
This album also shows Dylan's myth of the moderate
man has changed. In this time when political involvement
is almost a symbol of embarrassment, Dylan the moralist
returns. He records "Hurricane Carter", one of his most
powerful protest songs ever.
While many rock performers have become increasingly
impersonal toward their audiences, Dylan has gathered a
crew of superstars to tour small concert halls in the
Northeast.
What does it all mean? Perhaps. . .hopefully, the return
of commitment. Time will tell.
But Dylan always has been one step ahead of the game,
and where Dylan leads, others follow.
Deb Gray
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