A Contrarian's View of Dylan

The second (and final) album during this piecemeal phase is often derided as Self-Portrait part two. And while it's a sad state of affairs that the original Self-Portrait engendered so much shock and outrage at the time of its release, while Down In The Groove received only a disappointed shrug of the shoulders, what this album really is closer to is Knocked Out Loaded without the "Brownsville Girl". Both feature the (unique for Dylan) co-writers. Both feature their share of covers. Both have a couple of originals thrown in. Both have an entirely different group of musicians backing him on each song. Both are filled out with outtakes from previous albums: "Brownsville Girl" was originally slated for Empire Burlesque while "Death Is Not The End" was recorded during the Infidels sessions. "Shenandoah" is Down In The Groove's "Precious Memories". "Let's Stick Together" sounds so much like "You Wanna Ramble" that it's surprising that they weren't cut at the same sessions. If nothing else Down In The Groove proves that Knocked Out Loaded's sound and methodology wasn't a fluke. "When Did You Leave Heaven" shows the Empire Burlesque synthesizer sound working on a traditional song. While "Sally Sue Brown" doesn't take full advantage of the members of The Clash and The Sex Pistols playing on it, it's still a walloping good time. The two collaborations with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter are also pretty rocking. It's too bad that "Silvio" is the only one people are really familiar with (appearing on Greatest Hits, Vol. III as well as numerous live shows), because "Ugliest Girl In The World" is just as good. The lyrics manage to be simultaneously insulting and flattering to its object of desire, plus it the first time Bob's tried to this funny since Another Side Of Bob Dylan. In fact, it's those fun upbeat tunes that really make the album. Only the slower songs (like "Death Is Not The End") don't work as well. "Ninety Miles An Hour (Down A Dead End Street)" and "Rank Strangers To Me" all sound like the freely improved intros to some other song. I keep waiting for the drums to kick in and the real tune to start, but it never does. If these songs had been replaced by some of the other upbeat songs for movies he did at this time ("Band Of the Hand (It's Helltime, Man)" for the movie Band Of The Hand and the version of John Hiatt's "The Usual" he recorded for his own starring vehicle, Hearts Of Fire) as well as the cover of "Important Words" that mistakenly got stuck on copies of the album released in Argentina, well then Down In The Groove would've been something to really write home about.

It's The Groooove, Man!

As a life-long Dylan addict I have come to expect great things from The Bob. I was not disappointed with Down In The Groove. This is one of my all time favorite Dylan collections. It is just what the title says; A very nice groove. That groove is carried by a well-balanced collection of interesting (and very solid) songs. Bob is not trying to impress or record hits here. He's simply catching some quality time with his guitar, playing songs he enjoys. Relax. Stop trying to figure out if this CD is good or bad, worthy or unworthy. If you get into that rut...you'll miss the groove. Just enjoy!

Not A Grammy Winner, But Has Its Good Points

In short, it's definitely not an album I'd nominate for a Grammy award, but it has its good points.



Let's Stick Together has a really good beat and poignant vocal. Had A Dream About You, Baby could have been longer, but otherwise I thought it was a nice rock anthem. Couldn't help but jiggle my [...] to "Gotta meet you someplace baby, I don't care. Meet you anyplace baby; you say where..."



I thought he could have done a lot more in terms of instrumental in When Did You Leave Heaven? It had a good vocal and musical arrangement, but was unnecessarily too short. Ninety Miles An Hour (Down A Dead End Street) I thought had a really flaky vocal and arrangement. The other songs I thought were good.



The ones that stood out for me were Let's Stick Together, Had A Dream About You, Baby (song that attracted me to the album in the first place from Hearts of Fire), and Death Is Not The End..



Overall, two stars out of four.



I suspect most won't agree with my liberally favorable review, but hey: It sold out on buy.com twice this year. SO I guess that there is a segment of the population that likes this album.