Bob Dylan – Rough And Rowdy Ways

Is there any difference between the different vinyl editions other than the color of the disc itself? There's no different sleeves or limited art prints? I wanna buy the black one but I'm afraid I'll miss out on some goodies from the limited editions?

Stunning album. Tremendous lyrics especially Murder Most Foul..great pressing. Age has not withered him. Great backing band,they complement him with effortless elegance.

Dylan`s new album has a grandeur and majesty about it that is unmatched by anything we`ve heard for years. He is so far ahead of the pack that no one can catch him now.

He has almost invented a new genre of music: from the cinematic `Murder most foul` to the vast landscape of `Key West` he leads us through the vistas of his sage-like mind. He is an old man now. And he has every right to write about it. There is a dignity about this new late-late phase that is moving and demands our respect. His voice is wrecked; left on the shores of thousands of gigs. But it is the perfect voice for his music, the perfect instrument for his story-telling. He is without a doubt one of the greatest singers who has ever lived. He is the master of emphasis and restraint, knowing exactly the importance of each and every word. His words.

I have seen comments below from the verbose Jenell Kesler that the songs here are pessimistic, sung in a monotone. (I wonder what she thinks of late period Leonard Cohen then...) What does she want: bubble gun music?! You`ve come to the wrong place, girl. This is Dylan country where he can express himself in any damn way he likes. “...cliches, moaning, slurring and systemic silly syllables.” This woman clearly has no understanding of Bob Dylan`s music, his style, his trademark wordplay. One wonders what she is doing here if she has nothing positive or intelligent to say.

What other artist could give us the sublime and ultra-sensitive `Mother of Muses` and the really rough and rowdy `False Prophet` on the same album? You get the full width of Dylan`s prodigious talent as he takes us along on this roller coaster ride through his loves, fears, history....and short future....

Not everything Dylan does is great I`d be the first to acknowledge; the crooner covers albums did nowt for me – and the Christmas album was way out there...! We can`t name one artist that has been 100% consistent throughout their careers or produced a perfect album where every song works. Jenell Kesler complains that she wants an album that`s “fun to listen to “ I say again: What is this woman doing here...!? Dylan has always had a great sense of humour and loves playing with words and displays that talent again here for those who have ears to hear:

Hello, Mary Lou
Hello, Miss Pearl
My fleet-footed guides from the underworld
No stars in the sky shine brighter than you
You girls mean business and I do too

It is obvious glancing at some of her reviews here and in some obscure magazine that she writes for that two things are true: A – She adores the sound of her own voice; B – Outside of her rather odd very narrow musical taste she knows nothing about music..

Bob Dylan is our living Shakespeare. Anyone who fails to recognise that doesn`t have a poetic bone in their body or fails to appreciate the wonder of language. In 300 years people will still be listening to Dylan`s music and examining his lyrics in universities.

`Rough and Rowdy Ways` is a rebirth, a reaffirmation of his importance, a glimpse into his mind...a gift for those who understand the man. So...probably not for mouthy cowgirls in the outback of America who only came here for optimistic fun times. You can probably get that down your local bar shooting pool with the boys and talking about Vietnam endlessly.

Let`s leave the final word to our hero:

I'm first among equals
Second to none
The last of the best
You can bury the rest

And to Ms Kesler:

What are you lookin' at
You don't know me, darlin'

......

Not a comment on the album, but it's absurd that this is on two CDs when it doesn't remotely need to be.

Love the album. Bob seems to have come to terms with his voice now and virtually speaks everything. All the better for it IMHO.
Flimsiest packaging ever. Almost impossible to remove CD's without ripping. Looks like demo packaging and seems like an afterthought. Poor show Columbia.

Is there somewhere a cd version in a jewel case? (I hate digipacks)

I realize there are many who would walk on gilded splinters at the thought of a new Bob Dylan album, I know, I used to be one of them; though not so much lately.

There are several reasons not to find this album attractive, not the least being that Dylan sounds reliant on fate these days, as if he’s not in control of his destiny, as if he’s lost touch and is unable to influence all that’s happening around him, where he’s become nothing more than a distant spectator, if not a voyeur, interjecting an idea or two, remembering some lost visions from his past, sounding for all the world like my grandfather, bathing in the fortune of his own misfortune. While some would claim that Rough and Rowdy Ways is immersive, I found it nothing short of strange, filled with pessimistic overviews that come across as a series of dozing hallucinatory fever dreams sung like a lounge lizard in stoned out monotones.

There are those who are gonna insist that Dylan is taking us on a journey to places we know intimately well, yet lacing them with the notion that all we know, love and aspired to is nothing more than a haunted house of misguidance filled with cliches, moaning, slurring and systemic silly syllables. The album is nothing short of an out of focus existential comedy as his Bob-ness rummages though his past while never embracing his future or the present … and yes, god is still in the picture for the man, though god seems to have severely let him down, refusing to show him an actual light, though Dylan does manage to hold up and note a number of false prophets, gangsters and thieves.

These are not world saving songs, nor are they emancipations to bolster upturned faces, these are songs of reflection, though not in the obvious sense, where Dylan suggests that whenever he holds his mirror up to the failing thing called America, he has to see himself as well, which sparks an ancient line from an ancient album, where he goes on to say “Fearing not that I’d become my enemy in the instant that I preach,” though don’t expect to ebb out any true confessions. This is Dylan taking the long view, not forward, but back, coming across as biographical theology from the times in which he lived, though that said, it leaves me with an uncomfortable conspiratorial portrait, as if Dylan’s lived through so much, been part of so much, and is still amazed that his sins have not cost him dearly.

Like many of Dylan’s albums from the last twenty years, they all have their moments, some better than others, though aside from here, they were all, if not forgettable, fun to listen to. Perhaps as Neil Young once said, which applies to Neil as well, it might be far better to burn out than to turn to rust, which is just what Dylan’s done here as he blows the dust off the jacket cover of his book, tucks it in the bottom drawer, locks his desk and tosses away the key. Rough and Rowdy Ways is far from Dylan’s Ulysses, it’s just the weight of the modern world bearing down with confusion on his lips and tongue.

*** The Fun Facts: The photo on the cover of Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways was snapped more than 50 years ago by a man who is, admittedly, not all that familiar with the musician, saying, ”Like most photographers, I’m a visual guy,” said photographer Ian Berry (now 86) who lives in Salisbury, England. Still, when he received an email asking for permission to use the image, he was flattered, saying ”I was delighted, a record cover for Dylan is a great compliment.”

The 1964 photo images a well dressed couple dancing the night away in club while an anonymous man leans over to examine a jukebox behind them. None of their faces are visible, but the image crackles with intrigue and romance. Seems that Berry took the photo at a long defunct underground club on Cable Street in the East London town of Whitechapel when he was on assignment for the Observer, photographing images for an article about black culture in the UK, saying, ”I was working quickly, and in very poor light, shooting away with a 35 millimeter camera, I knew at some point I’d have to leave because I hadn’t asked permission to be there. I remember that the lady had a good figure, creating great juxtaposition with the jukebox.” After about 15 or 20 minutes of taking photos, the patrons in the club seemed to have had enough of the camera wielding stranger, with Ian elaborating, ”There were crates of beer bottles near the entrance and people started throwing beer bottles at me, so I left.”

Review by Jenell Kesler

This album will be the best album of the 21st Century. Its Bob's best since blood on the tracks in 1975. Not one bad track on the album and cant wait for the vinyl issues next month.

it look like a promo, not a official release, the back artwork look really a promo

I though it was being released tomorrow?¡How come it is here already?