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The Times They Are a-Changin’ by Bob Dylan (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: The Times They Are a-Changin’
  • Artist name: Bob Dylan
  • Year: 1964
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “GESSNER” written on the LP, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $30.04

The Times They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I mostly listen to Dylan’s records from around this era – my favorites are, in chronological order, Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin’, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde, but haven’t listened to this one as much. It’s the seventh Dylan record that I’m reviewing, and the previous six were:

What I expected

Mid 1960s folk and folk rock.

What it was actually like

As I may have mentioned once or twice in the past, I don’t really care for “protest music,” or generally for music with ideological, religious or political themes, and when listening to it, I try to focus on the music itself and ignore the message. This was probably Dylan’s preachiest record from his early era, and its songs were the most political and the least personal and musically catchy, and that’s why I haven’t listened to it anywhere near as much as the records from the few years before it and after it.

Also, while I think political themes aren’t inherently bad or wrong, I do think they can easily cross a line into being exploitative, and Dylan probably crossed that line multiple times on this record. For example, it would be one thing to write a song about the murder of Medgar Evers, but it was quite another to start a song off with direct references to “Medgar Evers’ blood.”

A couple of the songs, including the title track, began with lines like, “Come gather ’round people…,” which has always struck me as a bit demeaning, and almost belongs in children’s music. I do think The Times They Are a-Changin’ is a really powerful and rousing song, though. I just wouldn’t consider it one of Dylan’s best.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

New Riders of the Purple Sage (1971) (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: New Riders of the Purple Sage
  • Group name: New Riders of the Purple Sage
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $109.00

New Riders of the Purple Sage (1971)

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

Though I had heard of NRPS at some point or another before starting this project, it was reviewing three of their records last summer that really brought them to my attention, and now I listen to them all of the time. Here are those three:

This record is their first, and I’ve probably listened to it around 40 times by now.

What I expected

Cosmic American music.

What it was actually like

All of these songs have a very consistent style and the recordings are pretty tight (but you can find a ton of NRPS live recordings on youtube that vary dramatically in how well rehearsed they sounded). There were a lot of great harmonies and Jerry Garcia steel guitar (and banjo). I love this record.

Henry was probably my favorite song on side one, as it was the fastest and most energetic, and I liked Louisiana Lady the most on side two for the same reason.

Glendale Train also stood out as excellent, for the banjo and also for how they made the sound evoke a train engine (check out the beginning of this live version), and I also love the proto-funk bass in Dirty Business.

My least favorite song was All I Ever Wanted since it was slower (though I don’t skip it when I listen). On the other hand, Last Lonely Eagle was a similar tempo and I thought it was great.

Grade

5/5: love it

Ravel: Bolero by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Ravel: Bolero
  • Composer name: Maurice Ravel
  • Conductor name: Eugene Ormandy
  • Orchestra name: The Philadelphia Orchestra
  • Year: 1960
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Masterworks
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on top left of album, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Ebay: $25.00

Ravel: Bolero by Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

Like most people, and especially most people of my generation, Boléro is very familiar to me, but I never gave it a thought or knew its name until I read Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind around 15 years ago. I’ve probably played it around 100 times since then, and it’s also come up in various popular culture.

What I expected

Boléro, plus a couple of other pieces that I don’t know by name and doubt that I’ll recognize.

What it was actually like

I love every part of Boléro, but how can I review it? It’s a pretty piece of music and there’s a woman in a daze with a lit match in her mouth on the album cover.

I had never heard Toscanini’s infamous fast version before tonight, and I think I’m fine with how Ravel intended it. Here’s another version with just two cellos, which is extremely cool. Here’s a Frank Zappa version, because of course Frank Zappa would be all over anything that Allan Bloom disliked, and here’s a trippy cartoon rock version.

The two pieces on the second side, Alborada del gracioso and Le Tombeau de Couperin, were not very interesting.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Blind Faith (1969) (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Blind Faith
  • Group name: Blind Faith
  • Year: 1969
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: ATCO Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $19.99

Blind Faith (1969)

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have listened to this record at least once, but not recently.

What I expected

Hard rock, electric blues.

What it was actually like

This was quite good, despite its sometimes questionable vocals.

Had to Cry Today had the most beautiful guitar riff, and I think I could listen to it all day.

A high point was Well All Right, a 100% perfect song that I somehow managed to reach 2023 without realizing was actually a Buddy Holly cover (!). And now that I know, here is Santana’s version.

A low point was Do What You Like, which definitely had strong parts, but at 15:20 minutes long could easily have made space for two or three more songs. Ginger Baker is certainly the greatest rock dummer of all time[1], but did he really need to be given that much time, almost an entire side on an LP, for this extended jam? I don’t think so.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References

References
↑1 In a multi-way tie with Ringo Starr, John Bonham and Keith Moon.

Waiting for the Sun by the Doors (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Waiting for the Sun
  • Group name: the Doors
  • Year: 1968
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Elektra Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Who owned it: my father
  • Buy it on Amazon: $55.79

Waiting for the Sun by the Doors

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I may have listened to this record at one point, but I’m not sure. I am familiar with several of its songs, though. The three other Doors records that I’ve reviewed are:

What I expected

Psychedelic rock.

What it was actually like

I did not exactly have high expectations for this record, and it met them.

My favorite song was Spanish Caravan, which was an extended Oompa Loompa riff on Albéniz’s Asturias, which you definitely know. Hearing it approached from more of a hard rock direction with guitar distortion and bells was cool.

I also thought that there were parts of Not to Touch the Earth that were excellent, despite its self conscious weirdness. Overall, though, it underscored that the Doors and Morrison were at their best when writing and performing actual songs.

Hello, I Love You has always been one of my least favorite Doors songs, and I get that it was a hit, but it’s so light on melody and so heavy on Oompa Loompa. On that note, there was a lot of Oompa Loompa on Waiting for the Sun, with Love Street, which was much less psychedelic, and We Could Be So Good Together as prime examples.

I already strongly disliked The Unknown Soldier when I listened to it on 13, and hearing it again now reminded me how dumb it was.

Summer’s Almost Gone had a regular old piano instead of their usual organ, which was strange.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing