The cat came back

Gee, that's a small cover of Bringing It All Back Home. Question: Why isn’t Blonde on Blonde in the tourney? Doesn’t that seem like the most obvious Dylan choice for us to agree on? In any case, I don’t quite feel equipped to talk about Dylan. Maybe that’s because I never got into the whole mythology thing. It seems like there’s a fixed time in your life where you become obsessed not just with the songs of your favorite musician but with their whole life. By the time I started listening to Dylan, it was a little too late for that, and that’s probably good because it lets me concentrate on the tunes themselves a little more. So I’ll just say this about Bringing It All Back Home: I understand it was an important album in terms of transition for Dylan, and it has some absolutely amazing songs, but ultimately, it’s just not one of my favorites. The songs I enjoy most on Bringing It Back come at the beginning and the end. In the middle though, about the time I reach “Bob Dylan’s 115^th Dream” I’m a little tired of him doing his cocky blues/rock n’roll thang. I think it’s a good tune, as are “Maggie’s Farm,” “On The Road Again,” and “Outlaw Blues,” but having them all sit on the first half of the record gives me a slightly claustrophobic feeling. I picked Highway 61, and you could probably level some of these same criticisms at that album, but I feel like as Dylan continued his career, he was able to instill a little more roll in his rock n’roll. Bringing It All Back Home switches gears for its acoustic side, but I’ve never been all too keen on “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and “Gates of Eden” takes a little bit of slogging to get through. Nice then that Dylan wraps things up with “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” I do wonder if I would like this album more if it had been sequenced differently. Just a thought.

Wow, that's a big picture of You Are Free. I’ve already commented that I think You Are Free is an underrated Cat Power album. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but I don’t remember our particular group of friends getting geeked out about it the same way we did for Moon Pix. I do like Moon Pix, especially “Metal Heart”, but I don’t think it’s all that consistent. You Are Free might not have anything quite as good as “Metal Heart” or “Lived in Bars” (from The Greatest), but it has a lot that comes awfully close. The opener “I Don’t Blame You” is classic Cat Power, and “Good Woman” lives up to its name. “Free” and “Speak For Me” start a little questionable, but they both convince me by their ends. I love the chorus of “Fool”—it might even be good enough to convince a naysayer like Jeff. There are a few so-so tracks like the mediocre “He War” and “Shaking Paper,” but there are plenty more great tunes--“Maybe Not,” “Half of You,” and “Evolution”.

So Cat Power should probably be the winner. I’m pretty sure Chan Marshall would pick Dylan herself, and I hate to advance another token feminist for Sarah after she knocked out The Clash and Bruce knocked out my Springsteen choice, but I’m trying hard to be a less surly, less petty individual these days. Okay, Cat Power wins, and Sarah does too. As Clay Davis would put it, "shhhheeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttt."