Bob Dylan – Blues Review

A record label getting a scent of cash is never a good sign. For Bob Dylan, it means a staggering number of compilation discs tied to the times when he released contemporary material. Anything to make good on some public acknowledgement. For the release of Modern Times, it meant capitalising on a few heads turning to the legendary songwriter. Blues was the result. But this is no ordinary compilation of hits from the past, this is a package dolled up to suggest there may be something more than complementary, slowed tracks. Songs which were influenced by the work songs of old. Blues has a fresh-faced Dylan, that strange moustache slapped under his nose, as they repackage old material. But this is no showcase of the hits. At the very least, Blues is daring.  

Recontextualising the likes of Slow Train Coming and Shot of Love as blues-adjacent tracks, songs paying tribute to the everyman, happens without Blues. But this compilation is a starting point for such a suggestion. These are tales of the open road but without freedom. A cry out for those who get to experience it but not the feeling of grandeur, of hope, which came from the freewheeling experience. Blues, then, relies on that limited tragedy. About a bluesy as it gets for Dylan, then. A mad scramble to piece together songs which have the same tones to them, but are completely different to one another. It makes for a neat compilation, certainly one of the better official releases making good on the continued interest in Dylan as an artist. Keeping away from the expected hits and instead opening with She Belongs to Me is an interesting choice. Those little changes are enough to keep Blues interesting.  

Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat is certainly a bold choice. Ambitious compilations are few and far between. Where we may want to take Blues with a grain of salt, the fact is, it manages to compile the best spread of blues-like works from Dylan possible. Songs of finding new friends and fresh experiences on the open road are all pined for, not experienced, here. We are tethered to whatever work we can find and that stops us flying too close to the sun. But what if the burning rays were a sweet release? Blues has the morbid status needed, the likes of Down in the Flood reflecting on the intensity of Dylan’s wordplay when paired with those essential acoustics and harmonica pieces. Electrified blues makes the most of a period where Dylan, still moved by desire, turns his attention to simpler lyrical ploys and 1980s-influenced noise. The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Alter remains a braggadocious piece.  

But it too suggests a bluesy tone. A sense of pride in the everyman context of these work songs, which on further inspection certainly are in line with the genre. Dylan was always influenced by those old tones, he referred to as much in his book, The Philosophy of Modern Song. Some liberties are taken with the inclusion of Seeing the Real You at Last but by that point, Blues is struggling to piece together twelve strong enough songs of blues origin without repeating what so many compilations do. This is not a deep dive into the hits but a celebration of all things influenced by the likes of Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Piecing these songs together highlights a new and vulnerable side to Dylan. A man who, despite his range and success, stands as an artist afraid of losing that freedom of the open road, the hopes of not returning to those blues roots in his personal life. Blues remains a fine selection, albeit one made to cash in on Modern Times.