Think he'll like it?

Personally, I think it's going to be one of those rare occurrences where I agree with him. There's just enough agency there for him to get into.

Mississippi and Lonesome Day Blues are so great.

Hopefully it's not lost on Stip just how much agency this album really has.

I feel like a dog who's been kenneled for 36 hours with no piss break, that's how much I can't wait to find out what Stip thinks of this album.

I don't know what any of this means, but I really want stip to chime in.

Mississippi might be the best song of the decade.

I knew you'd be able to articulate this perfectly.

i don't know that have the agency to carry this thread on my shoulders.

I finished it today driving home from work. I liked it, but I need two more listens before I'm prepared to comment on it.

If you say the songs are too long I swear to God...

nah, he's got a style that suits meandering songs well.

After my first listen the standouts for me were

Tweedle Dee...
Mississippi (not prepared to call it the best song of the decade, however)
Floater
High water (maybe my favorite)
Honest With me


I suspect once I know the lyrics to lonesome day blues i'lll like that a lot too.

High Water was my initial favorite as well.

Fun fact: This is the only Bob Dylan album I purchased the day it was released.

That and Po' Boy.

Oddly enough, this is the one Dylan album (since I've been into him, that is) that I didn't purchase on the day it was released. I'd intended to, but ended up getting sucked into the newscast about those planes smashing into the World Trade Center towers, which happened about an hour and fifteen minutes before Best Buy was scheduled to open.

In fact, it's kind of an odd coincidence that my three favorite records from 2001 (this, "Bayleaf," and Jay-Z's "Blueprint") were all released on 9/11. "Mississippi" ("Sky's full of fire/Pain pouring down") sounded especially poignant that week, prophetic even.

There's not a song on this album I don't love. Right now the two I really want to hear are "Po' Boy" and "Floater." In fact, I might just indulge myself.

I love the knock-knock joke in Po' Boy.

think I'll buy this tonight...Chud, how does it stand up to my all time favorite album?

crap, I meant Tempest...

How does anything stand up to your all time favorite album, really?

I've been waiting since 1975 to hear something better

Old story alert.

I roadied very briefly for the N.E.T. in the midwest in 2002, and mostly the backstage area was kind of....sad. Lots of unhealthy looking people who demanded $600 worth of doughnuts and organic food that they mostly threw away, and had really ratty hippie blankets that had to be dry cleaned. But the crazy thing was none of them ever saw Bob except at the show. He traveled on his own bus, with his own chef, and never came out but for the concert. No socializing. No pregig huggle. Nothing. It's HIS show, and he's a ghost. Amazing, the vibe among those people when the door opens and he walks off the bus.

The highlight beyond ANY actual show for me was watching the soundchecks. Standing literally next to guys like Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton on an empty stage while they shoundcheck Ain't Dark Yet (not played in concert while I was hitching, but always soundchecked), swamping the mud just as deep as on the record, was amazing. Really, soundcheck in general was incredible, but Not Dark Yet took the cake as the most impactful instrumental of the bunch. It's like sitting in at your own funeral, but not coming away with anything that you've learned.

The second day while they were playing I went and sat on the stage, and security came up (assuming I was bootlegging, maybe), but the drummer...not David Kemper, I don't think...pretty sure he was gone by then...shooed him off.

All that said, Mississippi is still king. Easily one of the best songs of Dylan's career. I'm so glad he held off the Love and Theft version, much as the lyrics belong with that record. The redo was better...so much better.

I think Kemper split around the end of 2001, after the first leg of the "L&T" shows. His permanent replacement was the vastly inferior George Recile, but I can't remember if he had some kind of temp in between. The NET was breathing its dying breath around that time; after Campbell and co. were replaced by the band that would ultimately record "Modern Times," I think at the beginning of 2005, the whole thing reached a point of no return.

That's a fantastic story, McP. I'm glad you shared it. 2002 was the year he was covering Zevon's "Mutineer" and "Accidentally Like a Martyr," after learning he'd just been diagnosed with cancer. Those are marvelous performances. Care to elaborate on your experience at all?

In terms of musical experience, the soundcheck was the thing. My part was always done well before showtime, so I'd hop to the nearest bar, drink a bit, and then go to the show...but it was never as good as that. It felt really removed to be in the audience after being that close. Bob was...restless...for most of the performances I saw at that time, and this could mean glory or stumble depending on the song. I don't know that any show was stellar as much as they were just consistently good. Sadly, I never really saw a great take on Mississippi. But the band was sounding amazing, and I honestly don't know that any concert I've ever been to compared to sitting on that stage for soundcheck, which is saying something because I'm one of those "lyrics above all else" people.

I do believe it was George on drums at that point. And don't poop too hard on him....he was a Wingless Angel for a time. That's a badge.

Funny sidenote: this is like the 5th time I've brought this little tale up on RM, but I totally blank on it in real life. Literally. Of the people I know and spend time with today, I think my wife is the only person who knows that it happened. I just sort of forget, like it was somebody else or just something I read once, unless the very specific subject of Love and Theft comes up. And while I play with musicians, I play with an eclectic bunch....the Broken Social Scene hipster drummer, the "Irish folk music only" frumpy chick, the prog rock-loving homebrewing bassist....as the Tom Waits adoring member of the bunch, I find that my favorite records don't come up very often. And in my working life I've either spent my days with twelve year olds or Christian rock fans (....), so I just sort of...forget.

Also, this is the first time that remembering it made me feel old.