Dylan and Oberst by the numbers: no masterpieces here…
Together Through This – Bob Dylan
11 Songs:
1 Pointless studio rehearsal of “Lay lady Lay”.
1 Middling Berry knock off (Chuck, is that you?)
1 Croaking atrocity.
1 Missed opprtunity-but really missed, missed by a mile the way the “When the night Comes falling from the sky” missed on “Empire Burlesque” only to be redeemed on “Bootleg vol 3”.
3 Blues boogies
1 Extended not very funny joke
1 Real good blues boogie, “Beyond Here Lies Nothing”
2 Minor additions but real additions to the ouevre, “I Feel A Change Coming” and “This Dream Of You,” the former finding only love for the times that are a changing, the other a gorgeous dream of love found in an empty cantista down mexico way, both featuring the accordion, both featuring Los Lobos (? -sounds like it to me but i could be wrong) and both waiting for the Isley brothers to come a-knocking.
Overview: so it isn’t perfect, it’s still pretty good.
Grade? B Plus
Outer South – Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
20 Songs
2 Pretty good songs by the rest of the band
3 Pretty bad songs by rest of the band
1 Truly awful song by the rest of the band (that would be “Eagle On A Pole”)
1 Conor song sung by Ringo (or whatever the drummers name is)
1 First song on the album “Slowly (Oh So Slowly)”
1 Contender for worst Conor song ever, “Roosevelt Room”
1 Awful blues shuffle by Conor, “Synethete Song”
1 Contender for worst Conor cover of all time “Corina, Corina”
1 Contender for worst Conor impression ever, “White Shoes”
1 Contender for “I know I should like it but don’t” award “Ten Women”
1 Worst verse, greatest chorus, “To All the Lights in the Window”
1 Beautiful heartbreaker, “Breezy”
4 First rate Conor songs “Cabbage Town,” “Nikorette,”Gentleman’s Pact” and “Spoiled”.
1 Masterpiece of the highest order, “I Got the Reason”
Overview: 11 songs make an album so I’ll grade Conors 11 song.
Grade: B +
