Dylan’s needle sticks in grooves of latest album
by
JOHN MARRIOTT
The release of “Down in the Groove," the new album from Bob Dylan, [ has now been indefinitely postponed. Its stop-start history has) already included the replacement of three: tracks on two separate occasions, tjlow it has been decided to; dejlay the project altogether. From the songs I have heard (many of them covers), “Groove*’ has Dylan’s needle firmly stuck. Whether this unsavoury boogie stodge is ladled out to meet his' contract requirements to CBS, or simply as a replacement for the singer’s ‘once-fertile imagination,! only Dylan knows. Or perhaps he doesn’t. |He has been devoid ]of judgment and ideas in recent times,, and his starring role 'in “Hearts | of (Fire” caused embarrassed) laughter round the world. ! This batch of songs does the same.lit is a perfect match for the trot-it-put quality of his Wembley shows last year. Where he then bolstered his presence; with .Tom Petty and Roger, McGuinh, he now holds hands' with Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor. and;the,Grajteful Dead, who were the last;band to back him in the! United States. , Canned Heat’s "Let’s Stick Together,”) a churning blues classic covered by a stack of! threechord! gee-tar merchants, was to have been fhe opener. Sounding as; if I it 1 were recorded after a 1 round of Hprlicks, it shunts along with sleepy guitar chops and 1 lame harmonica frills. Introduc-' ing us .to the dull thud which 1 pervades the collection, it makes' an ideal partner for “Sally Sue Brown") and “Silvion,” two more wonders of 12-bar triteness. , j The i once-familiar passion; pain and Verbal play have now given) way to scratchy guitars and) feeble; vocals. In "Ugliest Girl | In I The World,” Dylan’s attempts | at irony are such a wheeze; that one is grateful for the' arrival j of the girlie back-up vocals which drown the lyrics,. Even! Did You Leave Heaven!’ never becomes the searing ballad lit ought to be; "Rank Stranger” has the same plain electric-strum and psuedo-
■gospel tinge Of “Shenandoah,” a beautiful American folk standard crying out or an original arrangement. Ciy | as j.it' might, Dylan does not deliver.). The three tracks which have been nervously pulled from the album include; “Got Love If You Want It" and [(lmportant Words,” both of which constitute: more soul-less boogid, while I “90 Miles An Hourf’ is; a further soul-ballad-that-n ight-have-beeh. The intended replacements I were to be John Hiatt’s. “The Usual" (propped ujjjibyjEric Clapton), “Had AlDream About You Baby” (from jthe .“Hearts pf Fire;; soundtrack) and i “Death Is Not The End” (an (“Infidels” outtake). The last (two ( showcase Ronnie lyooci and Mick Taylor respectively and give a hint that the spice] and spark of] old may still be thprej. But glamour guests are unable to shore up this set of shuffling [songs which (exude the feel of ah R ’n’ B pub-band. Given biaf Dylan is (no longer the angry torch-bearer) he used to be, one at least expects a few ] decent ditties. An album composed largely of cover! versions ; can mean either that an artist is confident] enough of ;his own songs tq include worth-while-repeats I Bruce Springsteen for details) of that he’s.sweating at his plejctrbm with no (chord of his own. ) ; ■]
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Press, 23 March 1988, Page 22
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540Dylan’s needle sticks in grooves of latest album Press, 23 March 1988, Page 22
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