Bob Dylan Assessment

[barrowjh]

This is the only thread I could find about Bob Dylan. I took a look at the photos in this series, and there are some great shots of Dylan sporting what appears to be a regular telescope crown western on the 1975 'Rolling Thunder' tour. Worth a look.
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/bob-dylans-rolling-thunder-revue-tour-photos-by-ken-regan/

 

[ChiTownScion]

My late Dad was a big fan of Olivia Newton John's cover of "If Not for You." Early 70's, the two of us were coming back from a fishing trip when Dylan's recording of it came on the car radio.

Dad: "This guy can't sing worth a sh** !!"

Me: "Dad, he wrote the song..."

 

[Atticus Finch]

I lived through the Dylan era...but wasn't old enough to fully appreciate his early music...not when it was first popular. I didn't seriously start following his writing until 1968 or so.

But, yeah, I liked Bob Dylan...in the day.

His strength is his songwriting. Yes, he has a unique singing style...but a lot of singers have unique styles and "unique" doesn't always translate to "good". And his musicianship is basic, at best. But, at one time, he was a hell of a songwriter. An easy way to gauge how prodigious was his song writing is to mentally list all of his songs that have been successfully covered by other artists. In many cases, by multiple other artists. And in some cases, by artists who were Titans of songwriting, themselves. It is a long, long list...I mean, Hendrix and Dave Mason both successfully covered All Along the Watchtower!

AF

 

[HudsonHawk]

I lived through the Dylan era...but wasn't old enough to fully appreciate his early music...not when it was first popular. I didn't seriously start following his writing until 1968 or so.

But, yeah, I liked Bob Dylan...in the day.

His strength is his songwriting. Yes, he has a unique singing style...but a lot of singers have unique styles and "unique" doesn't always translate to "good". And his musicianship is basic, at best. But, at one time, he was a hell of a songwriter. An easy way to gauge how prodigious was his song writing is to mentally list all of his songs that have been successfully covered by other artists. In many cases, by multiple other artists. And in some cases, by artists who were Titans of songwriting, themselves. It is a long, long list...I mean, Hendrix and Dave Mason both successfully covered All Along the Watchtower!

AF

Dylan is on the Mt. Rushmore of pop/rock era songwriters, along with Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt.