What's So Great About Bob Dylan - Music - Forums : Best Ever Albums

CaptainFicus

Gender: Male

Age: 28

I'm kind of in the middle. i think he's a great lyricist, but not the greatest ever. I think he has good/great songs, but not the best ever. he is very talented but a bit overrated IMO
What bothers me is people getting shit all over just for not praising bob dylan as the king of music
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I love songs with Beep Boops
https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsHype1?fref=ts

Evandar

Norman Bates' seems to be the definitive reply here, I at least have nothing to add to that.

junodog4

Future Grumpy Old Man

Gender: Male

Location: Calgary

I know I'm adding to what many have already said, but I have to emphasize, since so many have missed the point: There's more to Bob Dylan's genius than lyrics. He wrote great music as well.
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Finnegan was super bad-ass.

Jasonconfused

If We Make It We Can All Sit Back and Laugh

Gender: Male

Location: Washington

junodog4 wrote:

I know I'm adding to what many have already said, but I have to emphasize, since so many have missed the point: There's more to Bob Dylan's genius than lyrics. He wrote great music as well.

Exactly. Do people actually think that Bob Dylan would be as popular as he is if his lyrics were accompanied by shitty music?
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edubs

You have to put Dylan into historical context to appreciate what he represents and how he fundamentally shifted the entire landscape of rock and popular music.
He took tales of the human condition, and experiences, struggles and strife and the type of personal lyrics found in folk music - cranked it up a notch and put it into rock music.
Instead of lyrical tripe - endless love songs, silly songs and the like, Dylan gave us social commentary and meaning that was ground-breaking.
You want to understand what sets Bob Dylan apart - go to the album "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and immerse yourself in the lyrics.
The title track is an anthem for a generation.
"Ballad of Hollis Brown" - is a chilling tale - a throw-back/nod to the kind of hard times tale that Woodie Guthrie weaved about the Dust Bowl.
The sone "With God On Our Side" is stunning lyrically. You can't compare silly-ass lyrics like "two girls for every boy" and most of the pop lyric garbage to a song like this.
"Only a Pawn in Their Game" - again - a level of thinking about cultural/political/racial issues beyond what others could imagine.
"When The Ship Comes In" - another classic that uses such beautiful imagery.
"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" - can't even describe how f'n good this song is - emotional, moving ... putting into powerful words the issue of abuse of power/wealth/status ... Nobody writes songs like this - this came from another dimension/planet in comparison to 99.9% of music.
This is just ONE Dylan album - ONE ... on which he proves to be 100X the competition. And this isn't an album universally praised as one of his best.

meruizh

Gender: Male

Age: 32

He's is a good guy. He's Ego is too big, honestly I saw him live a year ago, and I can say it was one of the weirdest gigs I ever been too... By weird I mean... I'll never see that guy live again.

Great tunes, a discography to be considered legendary... but.. Pink Floys or The Beatles are on top of him for me, as of everything (music, lyrics, live performance)
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"Hurry Up, We're Dreaming"

Evandar

meruizh wrote:

He's is a good guy. He's Ego is too big, honestly I saw him live a year ago, and I can say it was one of the weirdest gigs I ever been too... By weird I mean... I'll never see that guy live again.

Great tunes, a discography to be considered legendary... but.. Pink Floys or The Beatles are on top of him for me, as of everything (music, lyrics, live performance)

Well, in recent years (meaning since the 90s, I'm sure, haha) going to a Dylan gig can be like going to a "guess what song this is"-competition. Very Happy

I've never seen him live, but I have watched many a youtube clip, and not only do the song arrangements change regularly, but with his current voice, it can be hard to pick out the melody and realize what song it is. Very Happy

So I'm sure you had a weird gig. :p

bananafish

I haven't read through the thread so sorry if I'm repeating anything already said...

Dylan, in my view, is treated similar to The Beatles--some people feel obligated to like them because the media has been shoving it down our throats our whole lives that they're simply incomparable and any "real" music fan couldn't possibly not like them. I'm not sure how Dylan achieved this level of admiration, but I definitely know hipsters who just seem to like Bob Dylan because he's Bob Dylan.

I don't have anything against him really, just don't understand the hype. His vocals suck. There's nothing special about the instrumentals in his songs. If you compared Dylan's instrumentals to say Genesis in the 1970s it would be like comparing a child to Beethoven. I do like some of his songs. "Lay Lady Lay" is on my let's get it on playlist. Twisted Evil

Evandar

bananafish wrote:

I haven't read through the thread so sorry if I'm repeating anything already said...

Dylan, in my view, is treated similar to The Beatles--some people feel obligated to like them because the media has been shoving it down our throats our whole lives that they're simply incomparable and any "real" music fan couldn't possibly not like them. I'm not sure how Dylan achieved this level of admiration, but I definitely know hipsters who just seem to like Bob Dylan because he's Bob Dylan.

I don't have anything against him really, just don't understand the hype. His vocals suck. There's nothing special about the instrumentals in his songs. If you compared Dylan's instrumentals to say Genesis in the 1970s it would be like comparing a child to Beethoven. I do like some of his songs. "Lay Lady Lay" is on my let's get it on playlist. Twisted Evil

For me, aside from his mysteriously awesome songwriting skills, his voice is what really makes him my (maybe) favourite artist ever. While he technically can't compare to many other singers, he used what he had to make his songs come alive. His inflections and phrasings, not to mention all the different ways he went about it through his career, makes him not only completely unique, but also one of the most fascinating and interesting vocalists that ever walked this planet. By gods, even on his latest album he can still astound me with they way he chooses to utter his lyrics. Smile

All that said, I thought he was a whiny sheep the first few months I tried to understand him, so I understand that some people don't dig his voice. Very Happy

bananafish

Evandar wrote:

For me, aside from his mysteriously awesome songwriting skills, his voice is what really makes him my (maybe) favourite artist ever. While he technically can't compare to many other singers, he used what he had to make his songs come alive. His inflections and phrasings, not to mention all the different ways he went about it through his career, makes him not only completely unique, but also one of the most fascinating and interesting vocalists that ever walked this planet. By gods, even on his latest album he can still astound me with they way he chooses to utter his lyrics. Smile

All that said, I thought he was a whiny sheep the first few months I tried to understand him, so I understand that some people don't dig his voice. Very Happy

I feel what you're saying. I haven't listened to him much outside of the hits, so perhaps if I delved more into his work I could garner more of an appreciation for him. Ironically, I think his son Jakob is one of the best vocalists ever.