Friday, July 15, 2011
Ranked: Bob Dylan Albums From Worst to Best. A pointless exercise really, and not even a complete list. Is Street Legal really "better" than Self-Portrait? What does that statement even mean?
Relatedly, a Facebook friend was musing on how the way we are introduced to an artist affects the way we think about and relate to that artist's body of work. He was talking about an Albert Ayler side which he likes but which was derided as a commercial sellout, and said "I kind of like the fact that my first real exposure to [Ayler] comes via his ultra-controversial "sell out" move (which did not sell well at all, darn the luck). Maybe the equivalent would be someone whose first exposure to the Clash came from Cut the Crap? And didn't hate it at all? Or if your first Dylan album was Self-Portrait? Or your first Neil Young album was Trans? (Both of which I happen to love, at least for conceptual reasons.)" It is a good question, I think, and has had me thinking about what artists I was first I was first exposed to through a work that was unconventional, or a departure.
// posted by Bill @ 9:21 AM 
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