Nashville Skyline (1969)
1. Girl From the North Country
2. Nashville Skyline Rag
3. To Be Alone With You
4. I Threw It All Away
5. Peggy Day
6. Lay Lady Lay
7. One More Night
8. Tell Me That it Isn't True
9. Country Pie
10.Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
 
This is the Bob Dylan album that
people who are not a fan of him, might actually enjoy. Yes, this is a
"Country" album, yet so was his last release John Wesley Harding, yet this album
couldn't possibly be more different. This album is much more slick,
polished, and some would argue over-produced, at least for Dylan's
standards. He doesn't even sound like himself on this record,
the treatment of his voice has such a heavy handed adjustment that you
have to wonder exactly what was done in the recording studio to
achieve such a bizarre effect to his vocal chords.
Yet happily everything on this album works quite well. This just goes
to show you that an album doesn't have to "sound like" the artist, it just has to be good and this album
is very good. The first song of the album, Girl From the
North Country is actually a remake from a song he did on his
legendary The Freewheelin' Bob
Dylan back in, what seemed, oh so long ago. Yet this version is so
distinctively different that it's almost as though Bob is making a
statement right at the beginning that this is not the Bob Dylan of old.
He even turns the song into a duet - with guest vocalist Johnny Cash,
who had to be the hottest thing in Nashville during the time of this
record.
The rest of the album falls in exactly the same vein. It's so
lighthearted, so fun, so....Nashville that it's hard for anyone
not to enjoy - even if you were still a rebellious folk loving hippy
(and this was still 1969, remember). The highlight on the album is one
of the very best Bob Dylan songs, Lay Lady Lay that is so
timeless just in its sweetness and melody. Nothing here is as good as
that song, but then again almost nothing at all he released was
as good as that song.
It's a quick album. The running time is only at about 28 minutes, so
it's safe to say that he wasn't really trying for anything too serious.
You almost wish he could have added about a minute or so to each song
because the tunes are so enjoyable. Country Pie, for example,
barely clocks in at 90 seconds and almost feels like more of a
commercial than a song. Yes, Dylan could play Country music. And based
on the differences between this album and the last, he could play all
kinds of Country music. It almost makes you wish he would have
done more work in this particular style.
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