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I once wrote a review of a Dylan album -- Modern Times, I think it was -- where I described Dylan as the musical equivalent of the proverbial dancing bear. What's amazing about a dancing bear is not that he dances so expertly, but that he dances at all. That's what we've come to with Dylan's voice. That he can sing at all is amazing, but that hardly makes it artistic. Dylan is now a circus act. Wasn't it Randy Newman who questioned if Dylan even HAD a late period? I'm pretty much in that camp. No offense to those who enjoy it. We all have our guilty pleasures. Yes, I confess. I like Norah Jones! [Hangs head]
Bruce Cockburn made a Christmas album once. It is excellent. Track it down. Don't praise this one until you've heard Cockburn's.
Since Modern Times is one of my favorite albums, I'm much more likely to enjoy this one then you are. But that's just taste, not quality. The fact that it didn't strike a chord with you doesn't mean it isn't a great blues album. Many great blues singers have gravelly voices, it doesn't detract from the message.
Re autodidact (Shall I take notes?)
Yes, Bruce's album, especially "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", paints a beautiful Christmas portrait, and I also highly recommend it.
No, Dylan's Christmas album cannot touch Bruce's melodious delivery and imaginative arrangements. That said, cannot you extend a hand to Dylan and consider that he performed the selections given the voice he has and assuming he does so with the best of intentions? Ask Feeding America if they consider Dylan's generous in perpetuity royalty donations to be a dancing bear. Yes, that aspect counts; wouldn't you agree?
Dylan's art lives on a neverending, perpetually expanding canvas; it's so much more than a human voice. Perhaps you should read and enjoy some Pirsig, autodidact.
If Dylan is a circus act, perhaps you need to attend. I hear the circus is in town.
Peace.
Although I am a big fan of Pirsig, I don't see how it makes the case for Dylan. Pirsig's thing was "quality" -- and at first in Zen he wrote about quality as if it was similar to Potter Stewart's take on pornography: We know it when we see it. Remember Porsig's classroom discussions and voting on which pieces of student writing had quality? Pirsig implied that we had an innate sense of quality. (Granted, this was a limited, unscientific experiment, but Pirsig wasn't approaching it from a hard science perspective. This is a practical explanation, not the full metaphysical Monty.) I don't think quality is just "what we like" it is more than that. I recognize quality in opera although I don't like opera. (And yes, I know this is an interpretation of quality that Pirsig would not agree with, but he does sort of use it in the book. In Pirsig's sequel, Lila, it seems to me that he actually redefined Quality, and there we're talking about something entirely different, so I'm leaving this aside because to me Lila was ultimately a failed attempt. Low quality. haha)
I see quality in Dylan's "Things Have Changed." A sprawling, but very unique and interesting song, with a good hook. But "I'm in love with the ugliest girl in the world" or "My wife's home town." I'm afraid those are so bad it's not even funny. Amateur hour. Play those songs for a classroom full of writing students and see what kind of quality marks they get.
Dancing bear circus? Nope, some high quality Cirque du Soleil for me, thanks. It's hard for an attack on Bob's music not to sound like an attack on his fans. I like much of his work, but lately (the last 15 years?) I really am failing to enjoy it, or even understand the apologists for it. Enjoy it, if you can. :)
Bobbylicious.
After just 2 hours of that gig, my muscles were burning from dancing and my voice is just coming back. He does that almost every night, and he works out and cycles. Bob old? OMB he still looks, and sounds so fine!!!
Can "Cinco de Mayo In The Heart" be far behind?
Makes "Dylan & the Dead" look like "Blood on the Tracks".