Showing posts with label Bob Dylan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bob Dylan. Show all posts

December 19, 2009

"All I really want to do" b/w "I'll feel a whole lot better" by The Byrds (CBS 1.947)


I don't think I bought this when it came out. It wasn't a big hit in 1965 and I think I bought it in the 1966 winter sale. I was pleasantly surprised by the B-side, which was actually better than "All I really want to do" which seemed to meander a bit. Cher's version was even ballsier. But I discovered Gene Clark with "I'll feel a whole lot better". The intro sounds a bit TOO much like "Needles & pins" by The Searchers, but it's a great song. There would be many cover versions ahead by Tom Petty and The Flamin' Groovies amongst others, but the original is unsurpassed.
Rating: ****

November 24, 2009

Mr. Tambourine Man b/w I knew I'd want you by The Byrds (CBS 1.922)


So Bob Dylan could write good songs, but they could also be executed beautifully. The Byrds sounded like a cross between Dylan and The Beatles, which it later turned out, was exactly what they intended to be. Three folkies, a bluegrass mandoline player and a "beach boy" playing "beat music" inspired by The Beatles, using a Rickenbacker 12-string their lead-singer Jim McGuinn had seen George Harrison use in the film "A hard day's night". Tambourine man Gene Clark seemed a bit out of place in this band, it wasn't until later I found out what he was up to.
Rating: *****

Like a rolling stone Part 1 b/w Like a rolling stone Part 2 by Bob Dylan (CBS 1.952)


Stupidity number???????? I bought this single when it had just been released. That was the version with "Like a rolling stone" cut in two parts and dispersed over two sides of a 7" single. The second pressing came out with the complete song on the A-side and "Gates of Eden" on the flipside. A friend of mine bought that second edition and laughed at me: he had twice as much music for the same money! I later sold or swapped my original, not realizing this Part 1 / Part 2 version would become a collector's item.......
Revolutionary music entering the Top 10 with Mike Bloomfield on guitar and Al Kooper on organ. But where was the cut exactly on the original single?
Rating: *****