Expecting Rain

Finally, an easy one. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't spin it 4-18 times to be sure. Nothing wrong with these songs...

Modern Times

For me it is not THAT easy, to be honest. I like both sides almost equally. After all, both sides have some great songs: "Thunder on the Mountain", "Spirit on the Water", "Someday Baby" ... vs. ... "Working Man Blues #2", "Beyond the Horizon", "Nettie Moore". Furthermore, both sides contain some songs I could do without: "Rollin' & Tumblin'" vs. "The Levee's Gonna Break". (I always groan in exasperation when Bob throws them into his setlists, because it is a waste of setlist-space). Hence, this is a really difficult decision for me, but I think I will vote for side 1, simply because I think "Spirit on the Water" is from a musical point of view an outstanding song in Bob's large corpus of songs. There is no other song which sounds remotely like it.

Side 1: Has Thunder On the Mountain and Spirit On the Water, both great songs. The others I like, but don't listen to as much. Side 2 has Nettie Moore, Workingman Blues, Ain't Talkin...and I personally like The Levee's Gonna Break, but it's the weaker of the others I mentioned. Side 2 for me is the better side pretty easily.

Yeh I voted side 2 also but not all that easy actually - Ain`t Talking swung it for me.

Any album side with Working Man and Ain't Talking on it must be the best of two, and with "fillers" like Nettie Moore, it doesn't matter if When The Deal Goes Down is on the other side.

Could someone explain what's wrong with 'Levee? Besides overexposure, I can think of nothing.

Side 1. I'm not a big Nettie Moore fan. Overrated, IMO.

Booooring. That's what.

Charming too. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I know. But boring is. It doesn't contain anything new.

It's "summer days" with different words.

No. it isn't. It is dull on the album though...but live it soars.

Yes, much better live - there was only one show i've been to where i felt they were phoning it in, that was Indianapolis 2010. Beyond the horizon i think is quite sub-par on the album compared to where i've seen it go live.



i'm in a different camp. I put Nettie Moore up there with Po' Boy (which i find over-rated myself - there are other acousticly inclined numbers on L&T i like better). Nettie Moore is my favorite on the album and I would put it in the classics category. someday i hope to have a dog I will name Nettie.

We're talking album sides here, aren't we?

^true enough

dull isn't the word i would use though, i'd say contained. just like someday baby. and i don't see anything wrong with that. every single dylan album has a mind blower (or several) and a few that are nod along and groove (except perhaps H61 & BoB). without that fluctuation it would simply be an exhausting experience.

no, there's plenty wrong with long winded blues unless you're drunk. If you don't get that please listen to Muddy Waters sing "Trouble no More" (or "Rollin' and Tumblin'" for that matter). That will put Modern Times into perspective.

thank you, i'm plenty sober and plenty exposed to Muddy Waters. I happen to be writing up an exhibit on the Blues to be staged at Chess Records in between posting around here, thank you very much. hop down off your high horse and don't be so presumptuous...you haven't met anyone here, correct? the blues aren't supposed to be elitist dude. Rollin' & Tumblin' is a little annoying. great. a small annoyance for 4.6% of an album.

The blues aren't elitist. Sure, any clod can play them. And anybody can write lyrics for them, because there's no wisdom in a century of lyric refinement. How did you come to be "writing up" an exhibit on the Blues? You must be a journalist who volunteered. Good luck with that effort and I hope you get to listen to plenty of the real deal. From this high horse it is evident that exposure to the real thing ruins appreciation for uninspired adaptations.

it's a fair point you make - if we want to compare the two approaches, Dylan's efforts can be overshadowed by what was accomplished by the real deal. he may admit the same.

but i don't have to be a journalist, do I? By writing it up, i mean that i'm actually writing/designing the exhibition. i am in graduate school for a Museum Curating & Exhibition Studies degree, and in the end I will be a curator. talk about fun homework and happy all nighters! no better way to listen to the blues

as it happens, the central thesis of the exhibit focuses on the appropriation of strong blues techniques by up and coming rock star hopefuls (like the Stones) who adopted a (very small) portion of these great artists' skill set, and directed attention away from the blues itself into the 'watered down' genres of rock, soul, and gospel....

Ain't Talkin' and Nettie Moore swing it for me. Not to mention Working Man Blues.

But why not four sides? I thought we were following the vinyl editions.

This...Exactly this.

See together thru life thread for rationale.... I am planning on doing TooM with a four side analysis

This.

i agree with your choice to divide the sides this way and not how the double LP does it, yuck - sad when albums are not formatted for vinyl

-Voted for Side 2 for Workingman's Blues and Ain't Talkin. I also like Nettie Moore, but
not as crazy about it as i used to be.
Spirit on the Water is also excellent.

This album is my favorite of his later albums, after Time out of Mind.

in exchange for those kind and spot on words Queen Ann, I will gladly give Dylan one complementary spin. it's on me. but i get to leave one song off due to the N-M comment. unless it's because you've overplayed it. that i can understand. but then there are live alternatives to make you fall back in love with it again.