Bob Dylan - Planet Waves
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Free Music Notes for Planet Waves
Free Music Review: A Tough Act to Follow
Hit: 5 Stars
After Nashville Skyline, Self Portrait and New Morning,Planet Waves must have seemed like a return of the prodigal son for many of Bob Dylan's fans. Here he is, backed by a superb band, rocking out with deeply personal songs with dark, lyrical poetry. This is Dylan of old. He changed again, but this time, he changed back. Yes, "Nashville Skyline" and "New Morning" were pretty good records, but they can't light a candle to this one. "Planet Waves" is simply outstanding. It's Bob Dylan at his very best. The band too, have never sounded better. Like "Dylan" says in "Wedding Song," the closing number on the record. "The circle is complete." Well, for now anyway. And by now, I mean back in 1974 when this record came out.
Planet Waves is a must own record for anybody who has even a passing interest in Bob Dylan. His voice here is as good as it's ever been, his poetry too, it cuts like a knife. I have to admit, I am surprised Dylan didn't record more records with The Band over the years. It's true he's had some very good musicians backing him on a great many albums, but this group just seems to understand what he's about, their music complements him perfectly. This record would be a tough act for most artists to follow, to improve upon, but Bob Dylan is no ordinary musician-poet. Remember it's 1974 and he still has Blood on the Tracks, Desire, Infidels, Empire Burlesque and many more fine works to follow. Yes, this is a tough act to follow, but Bob Dylan is/was up to the challenge.
Ken Douglas, author of Dead Ringer.
Free Music Review: Heartfelt album is a must for Dylan admirers
Hit: 4 Stars
Don't be put off by the awful cover art - "Planet Waves" (1974) is a must for Dylan admirers. It contains some of his greatest, most heartfelt music - "Forever Young" (slow version) and "Dirge" are classics. Dylan was is in good form around this time and would follow this up one year later with the brilliant "Blood on the Tracks" (1975).Free Music Review: Obscure But Brilliant
Hit: 5 Stars
Dylan + The Band.
Some of his best songs, incredible musicianship - everything you expect from Dylan. Just a great collection of songs. Must have.
Free Music Review: I LOVE YOU MORE THAN BLOOD
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm not usually this provocative, but to all the idiots who rated Planet Waves with (1) star, well, you have absolutely no taste in music. This is by far, yes, by far, the best Bob Dylan ever produced. Yes, I have heard everything this good ol boy has scratched out on his guitar-- Planet Waves Rule. 1 Star?. What Planet Did you Come fRoM? All I can phathom is that there are a lot of losers who have nothing better to do than criticize clearly one of the best LPs (at the time) that was ever produced in this era. I'm sorry, I just can't believe that anyone would find anything wrong with Planet Waves. I have been collecting music from all genres for 40 years. This is one of my favorites. Enough said.Free Music Review: So much potential, but sadly it's unremarkable
Hit: 3 Stars
Yeah, it's a big shame that, despite their long history of collaboration, the only official studio album that Bob Dylan ever recorded with The Band is Planet Waves. Unfortunately, the best qualities of each entity didn't surface in this album. Just as unfortunately, though there's some worthwhile music on this album, and I love both The Band and Bob Dylan, I still can't rate it 4 or 5 stars--If Planet Waves deserves 5 stars, then how many stars do Dylan's true classics merit? No, compared to what Dylan and Bandmates were obviously capable of, Planet Waves is a 3 at best--worth checking out if you're a fan, but neither groundbreaking nor classic.
The most obvious predecessor of Planet Waves is New Morning--the songs are, for the most part, happy and focused on Dylan's family life and love for his wife and children, and the mood is loose and laid-back. However, New Morning had much more memorable songs. When it comes to Planet Waves, there are a few songwriting highlights--"Forever Young" is an obvious classic, though Dylan made the inadvisable choice of sequencing two different versions right next to each other (why???), "Something There is About You," is pretty good, and "Dirge" is an interesting, dark number that sounds atypical for Bob. Sadly, the rest is pleasant enough, but really not memorable--except for "You Angel You," in which Bob and The Band come out of their coma long enough to prove that they're not really zombie impostors. You can listen to the album a couple times, then look at the track listing and notice song titles that you don't even remember hearing.
Much as I love The Band, they don't really put on their finest show here either; the only member who really shines is Robbie Robertson, who lays down some pretty gnarly guitar lines on a few tracks. Where is Garth Hudson, who *made* The Band's first three albums pure magic, but here sits far back in the mix, only playing organ, rather than the excellent piano, sax, etc. that he was capable of? Likewise, Manuel's piano is pretty generic, Danko doesn't have strong songs to tie good basslines onto, Helm is stuck with boring mid- and slow-tempo songs, and, worst of all, Dylan only employs the amazing vocal harmony abilities of his backup band members on one or two songs. Add to that Dylan's harmonica, which sounds like it's playing in a different key from whatever song it's soloing in, and you're left with a mix that leaves little impression.
Planet Waves isn't a particularly BAD album, it's just not very memorable. When you know the breathtaking heights of which its musicians are capable of, such an album is a disappointment. Admittedly, there are a lot of people who find this album very enjoyable--more power to you if you do! I've tried to appreciate it and can't find an insertion point. If you're pretty new to Dylan's albums, this isn't a great place to start. If you're already a fan of Dylan's and The Band's music, check it out--you might be one of the people who enjoys its carefree, loose blend of folk rock. Probably the best way to appreciate it is not to expect anything too earth-shattering, and maybe you'll appreciate it as an album with some worthwhile small pleasures.