At our next meeting we a unique opportunity: to immerse ourselves in one of Bob Dylan’s most enigmatic albums. The language is biblical with echoes of Nineteenth Century America…the instrumentation is sparse and the sounds are rural but not exactly folk and not exactly the way country country music sounded in 1967. The songs are short and almost all without choruses or bridges. And what a contrast with his previous albums (Blond on Blond, Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing It All Back Home). In the autumn of 1967, the recordings later known later as the Basement Tapes were winding down and Bob was headed to Nashville to record a new album. The new album didn’t sound much like the Basement Tapes either. Rob Reginio argues that the ideas and new songs that Dylan brought to the studio must be seen in the context of the “Long, Hot Summer” and the larger social and poliltial issues had been unwinding since the end of World War II. Rob will join out discussion. The meeting link will be sent out the morning of the meeting (Sunday, November 15th, several hours before we meet—we start at 2 pm Eastern (US) time. SEE THE BACKPAGES FOR MORE INFO AND THE READING ASSIGNMENTS!
