John Wesley Harding (1967)
1. John Wesley Harding
2. As I Went Out One Morning
3. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
4. All Along the Watchtower
5. The Ballad of Frankie Lee and
Judas Priest
6. Drifter's Escape
7. Dear Landlord
8. I Am a Lonesome Hobo
9. I Pity the Poor Immigrant
10.The Wicked Messenger
11.Down Along the Cove
12.I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
 
After Dylan had conquered the world
during the first half of the 1960's, the latter part of the decade and -
the rest of his entire career, really - would be a series of ups and
downs. Many of those self-imposed. His first "experiment" was this,
sort of "concept" album. This has been dubbed Dylan's Country-Western
album, but it's actually a lot more "western" than "country". The songs
featured here,musically and lyrically, seem to loosely depict simpler times of
yesteryore,
such as the character in the title track John Wesley Harding.
This isn't a tribute to the "old west". No, Dylan is too much of a pro
for that, but just a relaxed album that does transcend to the listener
into the above mentioned genre. This music would sort of have a brief
run of popularity during the late sixties and early seventies. It would
give birth to such bands as The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Eagles
and was pretty far removed from the hip, acid-laden sixties that Dylan
had been lately associated. If anything, I find the album to be a bit
on the redundant side. It's hard for me to differentiate a lot of the
tracks. Had the album been powerful in sound and delivery, it would have
resonated stronger with me. This album's strengths are its quietness
and overall laid back feel, so even though pleasant, does tend to slightly drone
on at times.
Standouts are All Along the Watchtower which, ironically was
covered by Jimi Hendrix (now there's an incident of respect for
you) and the closing, sweet I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. All of
the songs are what you would call "good", as Dylan sings about good
guys, bad guys, saints, hobos, and immigrants among other things. It's
a very sweet diversion for him, and when it came to diversions, there
were always plenty from Dylan. This is one of his stronger albums even
if it doesn't rank amongst his classics.
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