In response to my recent post (one before MLK Day), juandelacruz said:

How is the Uncut Dylan cd? The "Blood on the Tracks" story and the alternate album that was originally recorded (acoustic and in most cases, I think, even more raw...maybe TOO raw was the idea, I guess, huh?) is really interesting. I have a recording of his appearance on Mary Travers' radio show when that album came out, where she tells him she really enjoyed "Blood on the Tracks," and he says something like, "Yeah, people tell me that all the time and I've never understood that, enjoying that kind of pain." Whew!

Yeah, they actually use that quote by him in their story. In usual Dylan fashion, he’s been inconsistent when talking about that album’s influences. On one hand, the quote referenced above. Later, though, he said that the album had nothing to do with him or his life and that they were just songs.

The one track that singlehandedly brought me to Dylan's music was an unreleased track from 'Blood,' "Up to Me." It just haunted me and absolutely, perfectly captured and painted in abstract strokes the despair and sorrow I'd felt at that moment...it changed my life, headed me towards folk music, towards a more abstract and artistic approach to, well, everything, etc. It still stirs emotions in me, just for the power it had for me, rolling around in my lonesome head one winter weekend in...maybe 1995.

I’ll definitely have to go listen to that one. I did find a copy of the raw, original Blood on the Tracks but now I’ll have to look up that song..

The Uncut compilation is all right. Some fairly obvious tracks on there, some not so much. Much of the collection is dedicated to covers. Warren Zevon’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” is a little chilling, of course, and cuts like Richie Havens covering “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Sam Stone” by John Prine aren’t surprising, but very solid. A musician named Buddy Miller who has long been a sort of Christian “alt.country” standard bearer (he does a lot with his wife, Julie) belts out “With God On Our Side.” I’d heard his album a month or so ago and it’s a fairly decent country album, one fans of traditional country will enjoy more than your average Toby Keith fan, but it’s more country than gospel and could hold its own on country radio if given a chance. Anyway, I was a bit surprised to hear him cover it on his album but there it was…ready for ears to hear. It drags a little, honestly, but I’m used to Dylan’s fairly rapid delivery on it, too. There’s some really good stuff on this compilation by bands/musicians I’d not really heard before: Mary Lee’s Corvette (fairly decent rendition of “Shelter from the Storm”), Graham Lindsey (Dead Man’s Waltz) and Dream Syndicate (covering his cover of “See that my Grave is Kept Clean”). Robyn Hitchcock, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings triple up on “Trying to get to Heaven before They Close the Door,” Billy Bragg (a natural for this album if ever there was one) sings “Deportees” and Steve Goodman, a folk singer I’ve heard one other song by, throws in a live cover of Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans.” A group I’d only heard of in passing, The Coal Porters, do “Idiot Wind.” While obviously a zillion other cuts could have made the collection, I sort of expected Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel” to pop up, given their association with Doc Watson and a fairly significant following, at least in the U.S. Oh well, anyway, a few more folks are on the disc, too, but that’s about all the review I have in me.


My nephew should arrive in a couple weeks. After some of the issues with Becca’s birth (she lodged sideways and wouldn’t budge), my sister and her doctor decided to just have another c-section so Benjamin Isaac has the healthiest birth-day. I’m very happy to have a nephew coming and can hardly wait to meet the young fellow someday soon.