John Wesley Harding Music Cd

John Wesley Harding - John Wesley Harding

See Larger Image

John Wesley Harding      Artist : Bob Dylan      List Price : $11.98 USD        Your Price : $10.99 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2004-06-01      Studio : Sony      Label : Sony      Avg. Customer Rating : (25 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for John Wesley Harding      John Wesley Harding      Rating:      John Wesley Harding being Dylan's 1967 release and his 8th studio album is one of Dylans most accessible albums to date. The lyrics are simple and to the point and does not included many strange allusions as he sometimes does on other albums. Songs such as I dreamed I saw St. Augustine, All along the watchtower are great tracks that just happen to follow one another on the album. All along the watchtower was covered by Hendrix in 1968. The book-let has a cover photo of Dylan with a bunch poorly dressed men. I like the photo on back with Dylan singing. It looks so nice and natural. Inside we have a strange little story. I have no idea what it is about. 4/5.     Customer Reviews for John Wesley Harding Cd      A change of pace, but an enjoyable one      Rating:       Was anyone ready for this album from Bob Dylan, in 1968? A folk-rock album with some occasional country touches, filled with parable-like lyrics? With arguably the world's most unpretentious album cover, just four guys standing in a forest? Even for Dylan, a guy best known for messing with his fan base, for never making the same album twice, for always defying people's expectations of him, this is quite the change-up. It's also the only Dylan album I'm aware of when the melodies and singing are more memorable than the lyrics. It's by far the most melodic of Dylan's career. Pretty much every song here is flat-out beautiful - "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" and the piano-fortified "Dear Landlord" (later done by Joe Cocker) are fantastic tearjerkers, while the minor-key "As I Went Out This Morning" is nicely spooky, and there's something menacing about the simple four or five-chord sequence of the classic "All Along the Watchtower." A quick aside about "Watchtower" - it's better known for Hendrix's version, but I think both takes of the song are equally fantastic. Dylan's original take sure doesn't have the jaw-dropping guitar pyrotechnics of the Hendrix version, but the harmonica wails do the same thing equally well. Plus its mood of intimate despair is just as efficient as Hendrix's apocalyptic rage. In other words, Hendrix picked a fantastic song to cover, and he did an equally fantastic cover version. "Drifter's Escape" (also done by Hendrix, although his version of this song isn't half as famous as "Watchtower" - it's on South Saturn Delta and it's good, check it out!) also manages to convey that sense of dread through the power of melody almost as well as "Watchtower" does. So does "The Wicked Messenger" (later covered by Patti Smith), which also adds a captivating riff. The only song without a good melody is "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest," which runs itself into the ground because of that and its five minute running time, despite some cool lyrics. I'll get to the lyrics, don't you worry about that. Not only do the melodies rule, but Dylan's in great voice here. Not only do "St. Augustine" and "Dear Landlord" have winning melodies, they also have heartbreaking vocals. The musical menace of "Watchtower," "Messenger," and "Drifter's Escape" is also conveyed through Bob's singing, and I love his rambling storyteller vocals on the opening title track. I think this is his best album as a singer by a very long shot. Who'd have thought it? Dylan, the crazy hippie who can't sing (other people's words, not mine!), singing and singing well! My biggest problem with JWH lies in the lyrics. There are some real winners - everything on "Watchtower," "His tongue it could not speak but only flatter" on "Wicked Messenger," "It's not a house, it's a home" from "Frankie Lee," "Where someone else's life begins, that's where mine ends" (or something to that effect) from "I Am a Lonesome Hobo," but on a whole they strike me as an afterthought. Some of them are downright annoying, like the "I told her with my voice/but you have no choice" rhyme on "As I Went Out One Morning," but most of them are just mediocre preaching. On top of that, a couple of these songs don't really get off the ground. "The Ballad of Robert E. Lee and Iron Maiden" or whatever it's called doesn't really get off the ground, and neither does "I Pity the Poor Immigrant." And the closing country duo is hit-or-miss - I like "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" plenty, but "Down Along the Cove" is no great shakes. This album doesn't really grab me the way other Dylan albums have, and it seems a lot of people like it a lot more than I do. But in a lot of ways it's fascinating, and it sure is a change of pace.