#41 Bob Dylan- Bringing It All Back Home

Is this a joke? But y’know, in a good way…

(CBS)

Released: 7^th May 1965

Producer: Tom Wilson

Topped the chart:

23^rd May 1965 (for 1 week)

1 week total

Bob Dylan is one of a number of artists who are a particularly daunting prospect to try and get “into.” Along with the likes of Frank Zappa, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, Dylan’s catalogue is so vast and full of ups and downs that it can be difficult to find a starting to point.

But another barrier to entry in Dylan’s case is the sheer amount of chin-stroking academia that comes along with his mid-60s golden era. It’s a little nauseating when his work is treated with hushed reverence and his Nobel Prize-winning lyrics are pompously poured over like a lost volume of William Blake poetry.

Under all of that, one question often gets missed when discussing the three albums Dylan released from April 1965-June 1966: are they actually enjoyable to listen to, or is Bringing It All Back Home just a fusty museum piece? Well, let’s find out…

Pre-figuring what David Bowie and Brian Eno would achieve on 1977’s genre-exploding Low, Bringing It All Back Home is a game of two halves, the ultimate transitional album. The first half is electric, loud and blaring into the future, and the epochal Highway 61 Revisted, released by Dylan just four months after Bringing… The B-side, meanwhile, is mostly acoustic, a step back into the more serious and darker ‘64 Dylan albums The Times They Are A-Changing and Another Side of Bob Dylan. How much of this was a commercial decision, an artistic wish or lack of confidence (unlikely- reports and footage from the era suggests that this wasn’t something Dylan was particularly lacking in, often to the detriment of those around him) is unclear. But while Bringing It All Back Home has its share of seriousness, there is a sense building that Dylan might just be taking the piss.

Most of that merry piss-taking can be found on side A, and exhibit A is the breakdown on Bob Dylan’s 115^th Dream. Dylan himself loses it, calls to start again before literally hooting with laughter. It’s a joyous release and a rare glimpse into Dylan’s real voice on record. It also suggests that he may not be taking this rambling, surreal rip through American history and culture (from the Mayflower to a modern diner “explode[ing] from boiling fat”) as seriously as you are. He pulls down his pants when asked to present “collateral” and even leaves “without my hat.”

Then look back at Subterranean Homesick Blues, which tears the album out of its starting blocks like a child opening Christmas presents. Multiple guitars heap on top of each other- one rhythm, one all discord and drenched in feedback, a third picking solo notes out of the maelstrom. While not as whip-crack as Like A Rolling Stone, its controlled chaos is an even bigger “screw you” to the folk crowds that Dylan knew couldn’t accept something as mind-blowing as this. It’s some of Bob’s best nonsense lyrics too- rhyming “vandals” and “handles”, “No-Doz” with “fire hose.” He might have swallowed the rhyming dictionary, but Dylan has eaten well.

It doesn’t even matter that it’s riff and rhythm are essentially repeated on Maggie’s Farm and Outlaw Blues, it’s a sound that bears repeating because it’s so thrilling. Blues is the constituion for rock music but unlike the British blues artists of the era, Dylan isn’t afraid to scribble all over the document to present something new. Even a more traditional 12-bar chugger like On The Road Again is played with such excitement, with Dylan’s previously weedy whine turning into a full throated roar between gleefully tuneless harmonica rushes.

Side B’s four tracks feel a lot more serious, but there’s still plenty of enjoyment to be found. Mr Tambourine Man may not top the revelatory Byrds take, but Dylan’s version is more verbose and feels like the final word on his pre-1965 form, with some tasteful electric guitar bleeps and bloops provided by Bruce Langhorne. Gates of Eden and It’s Alright Ma… are impressive brews that both feel like the end of the world , as dark and gloomy as you would expect with extended songs that quote Bible verse, but with the latter in particular featuring Dylan’s best acoustic guitar work to date as he prepares for the end.

The conveniently-titled It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue brings things to a close, an enjoyably terse kiss-off that ranks among his most famous pop hits, standing alongside the likes of Blowin’ In The Wind and Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright. It might not have the heft of forthcoming epic closers like Desolation Row and Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands but as a closer that combines warm production with acidic putdowns, it ranks pretty well.

Loathe to mention we may be, but it’s important to at least touch on Dylan’s lyrical prowess as, with the possible exception of 1975’s Blood on the Tracks, this is the high watermark. Rather than telling traditional narratives, the surreal and visual nature of Dylan’s lyrics means each song feels like a Renaissance painting with events and characters happening in little corners- Netherlandish Proverbs by Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, for example. A song like Maggie’s Farm reveals these layers on multiple listens: the father in one corner where “he puts a cigar out in your face” as “the National Guard stands around the door,” or the brother “who asks you with a grin if you’re having a good time.” It’s a game you can play equally well with the more observational Subterranean Homesick Blues or the hell dimension contained within Gates of Eden.

Other tracks feel more like portraits. Mr Tambourine Man could be a mocking self-portrait (his “reels of rhyme” being simply “a ragged clown behind”), while She Belongs to Me, despite its title, presents an independent lover who “can take the dark out of the nighttime and paint the daytime black.”

And with that, our pompous over-analysis which we've been failing to avoid can come to an end.

For all of Dylan’s desire to escape being the voice of a generation, Bringing It All Back Home almost accidentally becomes the defining sound of 1965, representing the battle between the traditional music of the post-war era and this new raucous rock music that the kids are talking about. In January 1965, Dylan apparently told photographer Daniel Kramer that he had 18 new songs, but would only be recording 12 of them for his next album. When asked why, Dylan replied, “How do I know I can do it again?” Bringing It All Back Home is a masterpiece, but with both Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde on the horizon, it wouldn’t take long for that question to be answered.

Score: 10/10

Tracklisting:

SIDE A

1.      Subterranean Homesick Blues

2.      She Belongs to Me

3.      Maggie’s Farm

4.      Love Minus Zero/No Limit

5.      Outlaw Blues

6.      On the Road Again

7.      Bob Dylan’s 115^th Dream

SIDE B

8.      Mr Tambourine Man

9.      Gates of Eden

10.  It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)

11.  It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue