Published on Apr 26, 2000
If you’ve followed the plot on Dylan thus far, through
Christopher Thelen’s series of reviews, you’ll know that, during
Bob Dylan’s first three albums, young Bob went from wide-eyed
Midwestern kid covering folk classics and blowing the hell out of a
harp to the world-weary protest songwriter of a generation. His
legend ensured by “Blowin’ In The Wind” and “The Times They Are
A-Changin’,” Dylan started to become uneasy and restless.
With the closing track of
The Times They Are A-Changin’ (“Restless Farewell”), Dylan
began to turn inward, to explore, as “One Too Many Mornings” so
eloquently put it, “the sounds inside my mind.”
Another Side Of Bob Dylan, released in 1964, began a
creative metamorphosis that would turn the rock world on its ear in
just two short years.
Recorded in one all-night session,
Another Side Of Bob Dylan features the same stripped down
voice-guitar-harmonica instrumentation as its predecessors. But,
let’s face it, despite the dizzying lyrical beauty of its best
songs, this is a sonic and instrumental disappointment.
Dylan’s guitar playing, which showed a rare gift for subtlety
and texture on the previous two albums, is just clanging
strum-strum-strum here, the harp is squealing, and often Dylan
struggles through the chord changes. The instrumental side just
doesn’t cut it, let’s be honest. But, there are three
classifications of songs here, each with moments of greatness –
some lighthearted and enjoyable romps, a couple killer
love/relationship songs, and finally there are some songs here of
sweeping beauty and poetic grandeur that really set the stage for
the 25-minute masterwork that is the acoustic side of
Bringing It All Back Home.
“Chimes of Freedom” is truly the centerpiece – a logical
successor of “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and predecessor of “Mr
Tambourine Man” — this song lovingly elucidates the violence and
beauty of a storm and hints obliquely at the liberating qualities
of nature. But it’s
subtle — not overstated or ham-fisted like “Only A Pawn In
Their Game” or the other protest tunes on
The Times They Are A-Changin’.
Also notable is “My Back Pages,” a fantastic lyric (think ‘I was
so much older then / I’m younger than that now’) given a lackluster
and dare I say boring reading here (Dylan performs it beautifully
live now, but on record the best versions of both this tune and
“Chimes” are the Byrds’). Still, “My Back Pages” is one of Dylan’s
most durable and lasting sentiments, and stands up in live
performance and on the printed page well to this day.
Those songs are the portents of the changing tides of Dylan’s
career — but the relationship songs are more consistently
pleasing, and provide links back to tunes like “Girl From The North
Country” and “Boots Of Spanish Leather”.
“It Ain’t Me Babe” — is this directed at an old girlfriend or
the folkies he was about to scandalize with an electric guitar at
Newport in ’65? Don’t matter to me, it’s a classic song of
self-definition, a real powerful statement. “Spanish Harlem
Incident” and “To Ramona” are just gorgeous longing love songs —
“Ramona” in particular has a sort of Spanish waltzy feel to it that
works wonderfully. “I Don’t Believe You,” weak here but vastly
improved with electricity by 1966, is another neat lyric. The
misstep is “Ballad In Plain D”, an excruciating 8-minute sob over a
lost relationship – a song that even Dylan says he wishes he’d
never written.
The one thing that the first two Dylan records had that
The Times They Are A-Changin’ was badly in need of was some
humorous or light-hearted songs — think “I Shall Be Free” or “Bob
Dylan’s Blues” — to break up the doom and gloom monotony.
Another Side showcases some great rhyming and riffing in the
mostly nonsensical “I Shall Be Free No. 10” (sample lyric: ‘set my
monkey on a log/and ordered him to do the dog/…/he up and did the
cat instead/he’s a weird monkey) and the gentle parody of
anti-Communism “Motorpsycho Nitemare”. Also fun listens are the
first two songs, the yodeling “All I Really Want To Do” (a world
away from the hard-charging Byrds cover) and “Black Crow Blues”,
lighthearted and mainly interesting because it’s Dylan’s first solo
piano performance officially released.
Another Side has a dopey title, a boring cover, and a really
odd spectrum of songs in both quality and style. In truth, it’s
better than the sum of its parts (program out “Ballad in Plain D”
and it’s a good listen), and it’s easy to see why folk-rockers all
over the globe mined it for tunes to record. My advice would be to
purchase the bundled 3-pack of
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan/The Times/Another Side for the
price of two CDs, a package which is widely available (because you
kinda NEED
Freewheelin’ and
Times, and then get
Another Side pretty much for free!). Otherwise this is only
for more committed Dylan fans.