The Score Magazine - Archive April 2009 issue! | Page 17

cians and philosophers, in the 60’s. This was attributed to
the hard-hitting strains of revolution, protest and person-
ality liberally interlaced in his early work. Not that Dylan
was above writing commonplace songs about love, despair,
women and drugs alongside provocative compositions
aimed at other musicians and critics of his hey-day.
As far as his career went, Dylan probably had a fetish for
change and one against any manner of constancy; easily
evident from his decision to suddenly switch to electric in-
struments after having been the face of re-emergent acous-
tic American folk. It was a move that made him vastly un-
popular, especially when The Beatles crossed the Atlantic.
His born-again period with Christian music giving way to a
more refined rock influence, when the world saw the emer-
gence of heavy metal, is another. Constant changes in back-
ing musicians and touring support was a Dylan trademark;
as were collaborations with almost every noted musician
from George Harrison to Mark Knopfler. The only stream of
constancy that one can spot is his ready participation in pro-
tests, with powerfully penned words, through the ages; be
it against nuclear weapons with ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’
to the appeal for convicted boxer Rubin Carter with ‘Hur-
ricane’ or the globally televised Live Aid campaign featur-
ing ‘We Are The World’ and more recently, a rebirth of his
old single ‘Masters of War’ during the Gulf War. This avatar
of outspoken protest, whatever the nature of the cause, is
what most Dylan enthusiasts have become accustomed to.
The world has awakened, steadily and surely. Dylan’s front
line hits from the 60’s fetched him a slew of awards in the
90’s; when honours in music received a touch of organiza-
tion. Nothing else can justify a single person being inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame following several Gram-
my Awards, an Academy Award and a much prized Pulitzer
Prize Citation; an unprecedented occurrence. Few of which
could ever persuade the singer to take the honour serious-
ly.
What has most notably kept Dylan a force to still reckon with
in modern music circles is his continued presence, let alone
existence. Never one to ride on the past nor shimmy through
shows with a tide of reputation carrying him through, he
has continued to churn out albums with substantial studio
time. The Never Ending Tour that lasted nearly a decade till
2006 had an aging Dylan playing close to a hundred shows
every year. Arguably the quality of his vocal performance
dwindled with age but the charisma of the preceding de-
cades remained sufficiently intact to draw sold-out shows.
Dylan was and still is a huge draw. And there’s more. Hav-
ing just embarked on his Spring Tour of Europe which runs
all the way to July, Dylan is all geared up for the release of
his latest studio offering. Titled ‘Together Through Life’, the
previews have garnered fantastic response and at the risk
of sounding premature, it looks like there’s another winner
on the cards. Slated for release on April 27, this will be his
33rd Studio Album, apart from a whopping 58 Singles, 27
Live/Compilation albums and 6 Collaborations. Whoever
said keeping score was easy?
Adjectives have been lavished and overdone, but there are
a few times such as this when even superlatives prove inad-
equate. Call him a pioneer, a visionary, a prophet even; he’d
still be the guy with the harmonica and the guitar looking
for things to sing about in a world that could not have seen
any less of Bob Dylan. After all, though The Times They Are
a-Changing there is at least one man who has what it takes
to remain young, for fifty years, if not forever!
The SCORE Magazine | April 2009
17
Rewind Mode