Bob Dylan
Nashville Skyline
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NATN Recommended
Bob Dylan
Nashville Skyline
Columbia, 1969
RiYL: Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash |
Nashville Skyline was the second album following Dylan's infamous motorcycle accident, which drastically altered the career path of the 20th century's greatest musical poet. Going from the momentous trifecta of albums -- Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde -- to a winter spent in upstate New York recuperating from his accident and playing basement music with the Band, Dylan took it upon himself to change his musical direction once again with 1968's John Wesley Harding.
But while that album's spooky, restrained folk/country blend still held a lot of weight within its mutedly adventurous tunes and cryptic lyrics, follow-up Nashville Skyline retreated into pure country. Dylan, who briefly quit smoking before its recording, adopted a soft singing style miles away from the acerbic nasal delivery he championed a couple years previous. And the music itself is a calming, wintry, southern version of country rock.
While the album doesn't boast any tunes nearly as powerful in terms of social commentary or musical revolution as earlier Dylan standbys such as "The Times They Are A-Changin'" or "Like A Rolling Stone," some of the man's prettiest material surfaces in this restrained atmosphere. "Lay Lady Lay" became a top-ten hit, and that along with such tunes as "I Threw It All Away" and "Tell Me That It Isn't True" clearly illustrate that as sarcastic, bitter, and forceful as Dylan's music had already proved itself, he could also write simple love songs.
Silly rockers "Peggy Day" and "Country Pie" also fit comfortably into the mix, the latter sporting some playful country guitar work and down-home lyrics like "Just like ol' saxophone Joe / when he's got the hogshead up on his toe / oh me, oh my / love that country pie."
But Nashville Skyline is at its best when Dylan's at his most reflective, such as on opener "Girl From The North Country," a duet with Johnny Cash. The two match each other's wistfulness as they reminisce and long for the girl they remember from up North, who "once was a true love of mine."
"Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," the album's closer, is another simple love song, and as its melody saunters lovingly toward the end, its narrator assures his love that he won't be leaving on that train whose whistle keeps blowing across town. It's not often we hear Dylan in such a contented mood, and it's almost tempting to feel he's addressing the listener -- however distant he might have seemed in the past, tonight his music is going to sidle up to us and keep us warm, and we need not worry.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.