335. Bob Dylan and the Band, "The Basement Tapes"

 


Bob Dylan again!  Too soon.  Well, not just Bob Dylan, Bob and the Band.  And it really doesn't sound super-Dylany, like John Wesley Harding did.  Which can be a good thing, honestly.  Dylan sings lead on, I think, 16 of the songs, and other members of the band (dudes like Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm, nbd) sing the rest.

Recorded between June and October 1967 in the basement, natch, of the house called Big Pink in Saugerties, NY, these tracks were all recorded into one to three mics, and it definitely has that shaggy, let's-record-some-songs vibe.  I think some of my favorite songs on here are some of the non-Dylan ones, like the plaintive and richly melodic "Bessie Smith," sung by Rick Danko, on which I don't think Dylan plays at all.  The majestic drawl of Levon Helm leads "Ain't No More Cane," a traditional Southern work song that Helm really brings to life; it's lovely.  "Ruben Remus" is a great song, with a climbing chorus (sung by Richard Manuel) and a loping organ that follows along.  But there's also the Dylan-led "Tears of Rage," widely understood as an anti-war song, as powerful a song as Dylan ever recorded.

It's interesting taking this in so soon after John Wesley Harding, because they are so very different, and recorded so closely together.  This album sounds like a bunch of musicians having fun and bouncing ideas around and just addicted to recording and making music, because that's basically what it was.  It's rough around the edges but sounds like fun.  Then there's JWH, which is as stark and lonely and dark as this is full of life and joyous.  Quite a change of scenery and mood.

Of course, you hear ripples of this throughout music today.  Woods is an entire band based on this album, or at least it sounds that way.  In fact, the entire freak-folk movement sounds like they all listened to this album while shrooming.  Which everyone who made this would probably approve of.

Does this album deserve to be in the Top 500? Sure, yeah.

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