Comrades From The North

Comrades From The North

Well here we are again for another year on the roller-coaster. It's a Big Dipper on which Dylan is firmly saddled as he makes his first foray to the Far East since the pandemic brought about the cancellation of his planned Japanese gigs in 2020. At the time of going to print, news came through of a mid-June festival show in Granada, Spain. More to follow, one assumes. Dylan has also been the subject of a photographic piece by Hedi Slimane who snapped the great man for the latest Portrait of a Musician series for Celine Homme, an online fashion outlet.

At the end of last year The Wall Street Journal printed a question and answer session with Dylan, conducted by Jeff Slate (see Jotting Down Notes) to publicize Dylan’s latest literary work The Philosophy of Modern Song. Dylan was pretty forthcoming with his responses and much could have been made of his insightful views. However, most of the British popular press deemed it more worthy to highlight the revelation that Dylan had binge-watched Coronation Street and Father Brown. " know they’re old-fashioned shows, but they make me feel at home. I’m not a fan of packaged programs, or news shows, so I don’t watch them. I never watch anything foul smelling or evil. Nothing disgusting; nothing dog ass." quipped Dylan.

Ignoring its cost (something we dwelt on in the last editorial) the reception of Fragments- Bootleg Series Vol 17 has been nothing short of rapturous. In particular, the new mix of the album has revealed a very different soundscape, one which is entirely welcomed. In this issue of The Bridge you will find three critiques of the set for your enjoyment and possible agreement? Given the successful outcome of the remix, one can’t help feeling a little sympathy for Daniel Lanois who is attracting much latter-day opprobrium for his original ‘swamp mix’. After all, we all loved Oh Mercy,didn’t we, and Time Out Of Mind was regarded as superb in 1997!!! But things have changed.

This year marks the 60^th anniversary of the release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. the album that fuelled Dylan's rise from a 'Woody Guthrie clone' as many would have it, to a songwriter already leaving behind his colleagues and rivals in the Greenwich Village folk scene, none of whom were able to follow him into the stratosphere. In the UK, the album was released into an environment dominated by Beatlemania, the emerging Rolling Stones and countless other beat groups so it didn’t make an immediate impression with those of us who were enjoying adolescence during that time. It was a different age, information was difficult to source, few people had telephones, there were no youth radio stations and only two TV channels. But there were lots of record shops, independent ones and those present in every department store.One day, in one such corner shop that sold bicycles and records (!!???), there, displayed in the window, were the first three Dylan albums. So by now it was 1964. And you didn’t have to hear a note of the music they contained to know that here was someone who was different, someone so charismatic that he drew you to his music. And then you did have to hear it! The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan made waves, maybe ripples initially over here, but soon enough waves that would crash through the orthodoxies of the time.The Hi-Fi Stereo Review of November 1963 put it eloquently:

"The range of emotion, performance style, and subject matter in this one album is astonishing,....The album stays with the listener, different numbers demanding to be played again, depending on one's mood" So say all of us.

Until next time.

May you climb on every rung ..........

Mike & John

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