Rare Dylan Released Tomorrow. Hair Remains Atrocious.

The 8th Volume of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series hits stores tomorrow and I am Stoked with a capital S. Why? Because I am Bob Dylan crazy. Here I am praying to him through a car window.

See? It's like Dylan is Jesus but only cooler and smoking. I have 7.52 GB of Dylan. I have a nephew named Dylan. Sometimes, I mutter "Dylan" in my sleep. I even have a psychic connection with Dylan. I saw him in concert last month and he kept hitting this note on his keyboard that made him wince from his own sheer rocking power. Then he would take 2 steps back, look right in my face, and communicate with me like that creepy Danny kid and Scatman Crothers in The Shining.

BOB DYLAN (via psychic thought connection): Did you hear THAT, Black Hockey Jesus?

BLACK HOCKEY JESUS (via psychic thought connection): You're damn right I did, Bob Dylan. (out loud to wife, Jenna) O my God I'm talking to Bob Dylan with the Shining, honey!!!

JENNA: I can't believe this cost $223. My feet hurt.

Anyway, I love Bob Dylan so flipping much that his people sent my people an advance copy of Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs. And my review (before the album even comes out) follows the jump. Should you click? I think you must.

OK I'm a total liar. Anyone can listen to the album in its entirety at NPR. That would've been rad if I did get an advance copy, but I didn't.

So anyway, one of the things I love about Dylan is that he just doesn't give a fuck. He didn't give a fuck way before Tupac. He's the Grandfather Of Not Giving A Fuck. He went electric before it was cool. He made some bad albums just to mess with people. He was even a Jesus nut for 2 albums. Plus his hair has been stupid beyond comprehension for several years now.

But do you think he cares? No. Because he's Bob Dylan and he doesn't have to care. Bob Dylan is such a badass that he's releasing an album on 2 CDs tomorrow, and get this. The first CD is a Bob Dylan fan's dream filled with alternate takes of some of the best tunes off Oh Mercy and Time Out Of Mind, some unreleased material, and some great live tracks. It will slay you. I'm not even kidding. The alternate take of Mississippi itself is worth the price of admission.

But the 2nd CD sucks donkey balls (with the exception of a kick ass live version of Ring Them Bells and a live cover of Girl On The Greenbriar Shore). It's bad. It's so bad that Bob must know it's bad. But he's Bob Dylan. He crosses his feet on the kitchen table and says "The 2nd CD is shit. Release it anyway."

So cool. Did you know Dylan got the Beatles high for the first time? He took a bunch of dorks who wanted to hold your hand and turned them into Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. And just look what happens if you throw glass in the street:

I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna argue with Bob Dylan. I'll admit to being a little bummed that there's 2 versions of Mississippi and Dignity (and the 2nd of each are TERRIBLE) when I could've used a live shot of Not Dark Yet. But you can't argue with Bob Dylan. He'll put out a crappy 2nd CD if he feels like it. And I will buy it. Because somewhere beneath all those folds of recent strangeness is 1966 Bob Dylan. And the fact remains that 1966 Bob Dylan ripped a hole in the profane world and revealed a rare luminosity that makes life worth living. We're all better people for having lived in a world with Bob Dylan. And for that we can forgive him a lame 2nd CD and some fucked up hair.

Comments

[lolismum]

I saw him concert in Turkey about 17 years ago in an amazing ancient amphitheater. He came on stage in the dark, when the lights were turned on, he had his back turned to the audience. For the next hour, he never turned his back nor did he acknowledge the audience or spoke one word directly to the audience. He sang his tunes and he left. Yeah, talk about not giving a fuck. But you know what, after that, neither did I. Never listened to him since then.

[Heidi]

Not a Dylan fan. But totally getting to be a BHJ fan! I hope you take this as a compliment, but reading this post, I kept hearing Will Ferrel's voice narrating. Especially this line, "It will slay you." Am I the only one?

[Irma]

Lolismum, I'm with you: I saw Bob Dylan three months ago. He spent the entire concert with his back to us, never said a word to the audience or even acknowledged our presence. Some things never change.

He is notorious for being terrible in concert, but....that's just part of his gig. If we keep buying tickets, then why should he change?

I actually do think he's a genius. I just know to spend my money on CDs instead ot tickets from now on.

[Amalah]

I saw Dylan in concert a slew of times in college -- even when he DID try to talk to the audience you can't understand him at all, so really, it's better when he just performs. He would say something that maybe sort of sounded like a question and we'd all just stare at him and be like, "whoooo! yeah! Tangled Up in Blue!"

So yeah. A very different sort of concert, but then you put on a few of his old CDs and for real, that man can do whatever fuck kind of concert he wants, because he's brilliant and I'm glad I got to see him in person. Once IS probably enough though.