Where to begin…
Next up from the shuffle-o-matic is the 2020 Dylan release.
Nobel Prize winner, Bob Dylan.
Regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Bob Dylan.
It’s folly to think that I can add one scintilla of revelatory commentary to his body of work. So, what if Rough And Rowdy Ways dropped out of the sky from some no-named Schlubb?
Rough And Rowdy Ways is a meditative and reflective collection from a pop culture Solomon ranting an Ecclesiastical blues from a dusty and dimly-lit bar room. Sometimes somber, sometimes silly, but always engaging, the aged artist name-checks his way through major and minor figures of political and musical history in what seems like a spontaneous open-mic poetry slam, holding court while dispensing wise and wrathful observations and meditations.
With a graveled voice that may irritate some, he shambles his way down meandering path of consistently captivating material. Augmented by the sparse instrumentation of sensitive players, these ten tracks leave the listener gut-punched by beauty and sorrow, laid out from a man who has seen, done, and felt much over a lifetime.
If you’re bothered by what the name “Dylan” connotes, just think of this as a major work from a bar-stool Solomon whose age and experience provide observations that the less world-weary could never make.
4/5
Bob Dylan / Rough And Rowdy Ways
Columbia (2020)
71 minutes
For more information, to get to the lyrics, and to hear the album.
