Articles in section: 'Music Reviews'

Follow the light: The heart in Bob Dylan’s Christmas

Christmas In The Heart by Bob Dylan(Warning: Contains spoilers for those who still believe in Santa Claus)

Bob Dylan’s album Christmas In The Heart struck me both strongly and delightfully upon the very first listen, and it continues to strike me that way after many further spins. However, rather than try to make a grand case here as to why others ought to like the album (I know that some people love it and some people feel quite otherwise) I’m just going to explore why it seems to work better for me personally than most Christmas albums. I do suspect that how I have inwardly responded to it is true for quite a few others as well, whether or not they have analyzed it for themselves in the same way I do here. [Read more →]

From section: Music Reviews, Reviews by Sean Curnyn
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Tears of Rage: The Great Bob Dylan Audio Scandal

Modern Times by Bob DylanAt the outset, I should say that I am no extreme hi-fi buff, in my own estimation; perhaps not even a moderate hi-fi buff. It’s well that I remember being a teenager and how intensely I enjoyed music, some of which I still listen to today, on some of the worst equipment imaginable: a monophonic compact cassette player that would eat up my precious tapes; an old portable mono phonograph with a buzzing speaker and a tendency of the arm to skip right down a perfect brand new album. Ah, my poor deprived childhood! It was a hellish effort just [Read more →]

From section: Commentary, Music Reviews, Reviews by Sean Curnyn
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Bob Dylan: Keeping It Together

Together Through Life by Bob DylanI have a piece today on Bob Dylan’s new album, Together Through Life, and thoughts generated out of listening to it and through reading recent interviews with him. It’s in The New Ledger: Bob Dylan: Keeping It Together.

Together Through Life, the album just released by Bob Dylan, has entered both the U.S. and U.K. charts at the number one position, and is at or near the top of the charts in numerous other countries across the world. Dylan appears to be doing something very right, in commercial terms, at the ripe old age of 68, but I question whether even he has any firm idea of what that might be. One thing for which he doesn’t get much credit, but which I think has paid off for him in the end, is his consistency. The curious thing is that his kind of consistency has often been portrayed instead as a mysterious and chameleon-like series of transformations, perhaps largely because of a failure by commentators to grasp the nature of the steadiness at the core of his work. Average listeners may well appreciate it better than the storied rock critics who have filled shelves with books on his songs and his various phases and incarnations.

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From section: Music Reviews, Reviews by Sean Curnyn
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Frank Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra In The Wee Small Hours(This was originally published May 14th, 2008. )

Frank Sinatra passed on ten years ago today. I recall thinking at the time that with Sinatra gone, all bets were off — anything might now happen in this sad old world. (And I think the record would show that my fear in this respect has proven largely correct.) [Read more →]

From section: Music Reviews, Reviews by Sean Curnyn
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