Another Side of Bob Dylan?

Bob Dylan: Writings and Drawings Panther 1974 $4.25 paperback

Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks CBS $6.50

Reviewed by Anthony Ward

It's never been my duty to remake the world at large
Nor is it my intention to sound the battle charge

Wedding Song 1973

I'm a-going back out 'fore the rain starts a fallin'
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest ...
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it.

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall 1963

Like the times, Bob Dylan is 'a-changm". These two releases, one book, one record, both document this in different ways. Writings and Drawings contains the lyrics of Dylan's albums from Bob Dylan and Talking New York in 1962 to New Morning and Watching the River Flow in 1971. Since then, of course, there's been the Pat Garrett soundtrack, Planet Waves, the sold-out tour with the Band and After the Flood. And now Shod On the Tracks - exciting both because of the quality of the music and because of the new 'directions it points to after the introspective period of New Morning and Planet Waves.

Writings and Drawings contains just that - no commentary or brief biography of where the lyrics and graphics fit into the life story of Bob Dylan (for that, Tony Scaduto's Bob Dylan (Abacus) can be recommended) or the protest movement of the sixties which Blowin' in the Wind and Times were so much a pan of, and Mr Tambourine Man so much a reaction against. Generally, it is a mistake to take any art divorced from the social background that gave rise to it - and certainly the lyrics here tell but one side of the story.

The more usual criticism of this volume, that the lyrics lose meaning without the music I don't share. They're different, sure, and they're not poetry, but they still contain much more of the essence of Bob Dylan than, for example, the disinterested After the Flood. They also give a good indication of his changing ideas that comes through in the records (if you've got the whole selection) but often Dylan sings so fast it's difficult following the exact words. So if you're not a complete Dylan freak (in which case you've probably already got it) the book is helpful in deciphering - and giving extra meaning - to the words.

You don't need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows

Subterranean Homesick Blues

But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

It's Alright Me

And the utility of the words doesn't stop there - you can always try quoting them as an intro to an essay (well - it worked in Hist 302 with Times)

The drawings? Well, from the cover of Self Portrait thru' Planet Waves I've never thought much of Dylan's drawing, and this doesn't change that opinion.

Shelter From the Storm

Wedding Song - Planet Waves

Another difference from Planet Waves is that Dylan is no longer backed by the Band - part of the price of his shift back to CBS. The musicians here stili get a good run - and perform well. The earlier dominance of Dylan Dylan's guitar and harmonica is muted still - and the result is competent and impressive.

On an almost humourous level, Jack of Hearts and Buckets of Rain deal with people mixed up and uncertain - of the bank robbers waiting for the illusive and ever-changing Jack of Hearts. It's almost the alienation of All along the Watchtower and Desolation Row, but the message is more complex 'metaphors of buckets of moonbeams' for example.

Which brings us to the two outstanding tracks of the album (in my opinion anyway): Shelter from the Storm and Idiot Wind. Some lines from the first were noted above - it later gets something of a Messaic overtone - the singer is coming in from the wilderness, his crown of thorns is removed, his clothes are gambled over. One begins to think of similarities between the activities of critics ('So forget the clenched young scholars who analyse his rhymes into dust' says the record cover) and the crucifixion.

I took too much for granted
I got my signals crossed.

Not bitter - almost inevitable.

And the anti-Dylan critics have turned into all the antihuman forces trying to spindle and mutilate us.

This is not to say the album has no faults - not alt tracks are strong, Buckets of Rain particularly. In many places (especially Jack of Hearts) it is obscure, and there is little attempt to resolve the problems presented which could in their turn be analysed clearer. Yet Blood on the Tracks is a considerable development over Dylan's last few albums - a move however tentative, back towards the vital social comment of the sixties. Those days are a decade dead - but the movements have developed ever since. Bob Dylan is developing and changing too - as Writings and Drawings testify, and now coming back from his own world to the personal and social problems that beset all of us in Blood on the Tracks. It's a healthy sign.

If you're into Dylan, Blood on the Tracks is a must, and Writings and Drawings only a little less so. If not, this new album is a good place to start.