catapult magazine

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I like U2 about as much

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lopez
May 02 2005
11:18 pm

Or Bob Dylan …

bob dylan, woody guthrie, tom waits, nick drake, greg brown. i love ’em all! these guys are all interesting songwriters and great performers in their own right.

however, if i was to judge their musical output as if they were bands they would fall short a majority of the time. solo artists such as these are generally focused on message and writing. there are exceptions to this, of course. people like leo kottke and phil keaggy are pretty much musical forces all on their own, but this takes an almost para-normal level of musical talent.

it’s as if many of you folks feel that i’m saying somebody such as bob dylan is worthless just because his music is not on par with that of a collective of musicians whose primary focus is to communicate through the sounds they create with their respective instruments. well i’m not. he’s awesome and i have more cd’s of his in my collection than any other single artist or band. at the same time, though, i’m not going to pretend that his greatest talent lies in his performances of the songs he writes. its just not what he’s all about.

put it this way. if i was from somewhere way down in south america and spoke no english and was required to listen to both bob dylan’s version of “all along the watchtower” as well as hendrix’, i’m quite sure there would be no doubt as to which version was musically superior. although dylan’s artistic force may well be 10 times that of any member in ten years after or traffic it does not negate the fact that music is an artform built on sound and when judged strictly on that basis people like bob dylan and woody guthrie will often be weighed and found wanting.