Electrifying Dylan

It was 60 years ago this month that Bob Dylan went electric at Newport festival. An act that has come to stand out as a revolution, creating a suitable climax to the recent biopic A Complete Unknown with the hero to villain dichotomy. At the time, it was certainly a rebellious thing to do, probably somewhat petulant, but with the preceding April 1965 release of Bringing It All Back Home, it could hardly have been unexpected. With hindsight it does, however, act as a lightning rod for the exponential development of a singular talent, whilst sitting in the midst of a seismic change in popular culture that changed music, and arguably the world, forever - Just ask The Beatles.

Born in 41 and growing up in Minnesota Robert Zimmerman would tune his radio into the sounds of the American south, the Grand Ole Opry and more. Hitting his teens just as rock and roll swept the country, he started playing in bands while at school learning guitar, harmonica and piano. He saw Buddy Holly play in Duluth just before Holly’s fateful flight and was utterly smitten. Ironically “the day the music died” gave an opportunity to fellow Minnesotan prodigy Bobby Vee, whose band filled the on-stage void for a show booked before Holly’s death. Shortly after this, one ‘Elston Gunn’ joined Vee’s band on piano for a couple of shows. It’s probably just as well that Dylan’s first experiment with pseudonyms was short lived!

As the decade closed, Robert went to Minnesota University and there immersed himself in the local folk revival scene. Finding greater depth, emotional impact and humanity in folk, particularly the songs of Woody Guthrie. In fact, Guthrie became an obsession and the newly christened Bob Dylan (after Dylan Thomas) decided on a pilgrimage to meet his idol, quitting college and pitching up in New York in early 61.

The film, A Complete Unknown weaves a good story around this time and shows a bright, confident, obviously talented and charismatic young man finding his feet within the already established circles. It happened quickly and by September he was getting glowing reviews and landing sessions, playing harmonica for Harry Belafonte and Carolyn Hester, with the latter getting him signed to Columbia Records.

More interestingly, the book Chronicles Volume 1 is Bob’s diary of his arrival and settling in NY. Although lacking date refences, except for seasonal weather markers, it documents the people that he met and got to know, some events that left a mark, the hang outs and the pecking order amongst his peers, with an itinerant ease yet also a clear sense of purpose.

By his own admission he isn’t fully formed and there is work to be done. He stayed with friends that had a huge library and immersed himself rapaciously and gratefully in their books. Musically he references the jazz of Monk, Ellington, Gillespie and Parker alongside Hank Williams, the great American songbook, Dave Van Ronk, Tom Paxton, Pete and Mike Seger, whilst painting a vivid portrait of cast of characters that populate beatnik dreams parties, cafes, clubs, gigs and concerts. They are high on life and much else besides, existentialists filling each day of their journey to who knows where.

The film and other accounts suggest that his output at this time was also prodigious. He seems to be permanently huddled over notebooks and typewriters as songs, poetry and prose fill the pages. But Dylan also sought to find a purity and an essence of real life and his first album features mostly the songs of others, borrowing heavily from the folk tradition, mixing in some country blues. In Chronicles Dylan muses as to what might have happened if Albert Grossman had invited him in as the third in Peter, Paul and Mary, yet it was precisely that perceived commercialisation of folk that inspired him to mine the folk tradition for deeper cuts.

It's what happened next and over the coming four years that really matters however, as his debut received little fanfare and sold poorly. But then less than six months after its release, he was back in the studio starting work on what would become The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. A signal of what that prodigious output was all about, all but two of the final track list were originals and in Blowin’ in the Wind, Masters of War, A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall and Talkin’ World War III Blues, he caught the political mood perfectly.

He had been inspired by the family of his then girlfriend Suze Rotolo, whose parents were members of the Communist Party and in many of the folk circles that were firmly entrenched in the American civil rights struggles. The ironic impact of Peter, Paul and Mary turning Blowin’ in the Wind into a massive smash hit single just three weeks after the album release should not be underestimated, but it was Dylan who became burdened with the “spokesman for a generation” tag, that would come to haunt him for years and eventually, and indeed literally, send him on the run.

As an aside it’s worth noting that the album’s Girl from the North Country borrows the tune of Martin Carthy’s arrangement of the traditional song Scarborough Fair. The pair had met when Dylan visited London in the midst of the album recording sessions and had played a couple of small venues. Dylan wouldn’t be the only up and coming singer songwriter to benefit from Carthy’s craft, as Paul Simon would also “borrow” the same song to much greater effect.

Freewheelin’… Came out in May 63 and by August he was back in the studio recording what would become The Times They Are a Changin’, the title track of which was a very deliberate attempt to write an anthem for the change movement. The album is once again politically charged, although playing a little more from social realism and newspaper stories with The lonesome Death of Hattie Carol, The Ballad of Hollis Brown and Only a Pawn in Their Game dealing with starvation, civil rights and murder. Boots of Spanish Leather, however, stands out as more oblique, whilst once again using that Scarborough Fair melody.

The album would land in February 64 against the backdrop of the “British invasion.” In the weeks before its release, on a road trip, Dylan himself had become smitten with I Want To Hold Your Hand. According to accounts of an accomplice, the song came on the radio and Dylan almost leap from the car, exclaiming, “You hear that man, it’s fucking great..”

By April of 64, The Beatles held the top 5 positions in the national singles chart and Beatlemania was in full flow. By August Dylan had met them at a hotel in New York, just as his own fourth album was just being released. The meeting has gone down is history as Dylan introducing The Beatles to ‘pot’. Although that almost certainly wasn’t their first experience - the session left its mark. Paul McCartney at least was keen to record the profundities being discussed, asking aide Mal Evans to write notes. No actual insight into anything was necessarily gained, but lasting bonds were made and the ‘weed’ would become a part of The Beatles modus operandi.

The meeting was more impactful in other ways however and affected both parties in shaping their future musical direction. Whilst the contemporary album release, Another Side of Bob Dylan, was once again a fairly stripped back affair Dylan was already minded to push those boundaries and would do soon enough. But it was lyrically that the album leaped into new spheres, taking his inspirations from that earlier road trip. Dylans idea was to develop beyond the folk song form. Time on the road had given Dylan a freedom to talk, listen to others and his inner self. Out went the anthems and in came the streams of consciousness, inspiration and free ranging imagery. It was this that would nudge The Beatles’ future songwriting into deeper realms.

The Beatles own fourth album, The Beatles For Sale would follow in December and the evidence of their own development was immediately apparent.  Lennon’s I’m a Loser sounds Dylanesque and his No Reply included the lines, “I saw the light, I nearly died,” while McCartney’s She’s a Woman finds new expansive expression for The Beatles’ standard “she loves you” trope. Baby’s in Black is a darker affair and then Eight Days a Week and I Feel Fine are simply stunning. The album overall remains a curio though as a lack of time in The Beatles’ hectic schedule limited new songs and so it is fleshed out with some spikey American rock n roll cover versions.

Almost certainly inspired by this and also by the recordings of John P Hammond (the son of the man, also John H. Hammond, who signed Dylan to Columbia) Jon Hammond had recruited a certain Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm from The Hawks to electrify his own acoustic blues album. Dylan was back in the studio in January 65 - Although the initial sessions were acoustic, fleshing out ideas, it wasn’t long before producer Tom Scott started experimenting. Firstly, with overdubbing electric instruments on older tracks before moving on to a full studio band.

Guitarists Al Gorgoni, Kenny Rankin, and Bruce Langhorne pianist Paul Griffin, bassists Joseph Macho Jr. and William E. Lee, and drummer Bobby Gregg joined the fray and worked quickly and remarkably intuitively, laying down Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Outlaw Blues, She Belongs to Me, and Bob Dylan's 115th Dream with just a handful of takes. The album is a split affair, with the second side adding only sparring guitar or bass to Dylan’s acoustic strumming rather than the full band. The songs were still a revelation, notably the rolling, lysergic Mr. Tambourine Man (held back from the recording of Another Side..) and the epic, potent It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).

Released in April ‘65 Bringing It All Back Home went top 10 in America and topped the UK album chart, it also coincided with the end of a joint tour with Joan Baez, with Dylan now the bigger star. Also released that month and later in May in the UK, The Byrds version of Mr. Tambourine Man would top the single’s charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Back in the UK, The Beatles (who were now almost permanently stoned) were working on Help!, the joint album and film project. Lennon referred to this as his ‘Dylan’ period and the song You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, is emblematic of what he meant, but the introspection and anguish of the title track was also exceptional. The album also featured Ticket to Ride and I’ve just seen a Face alongside Yesterday, which has become the most covered song in pop history.

The last week of July and August of 65 would see Dylan play Newport, with that iconically controversial electric set, the release of Help! the Film - followed a week later by the album, and then at the end of the month, the release of Dylan’s second album of that year, Highway 61 revisited, which (bar one track) was entirely electric. The band were electric in every sense, with guitar prodigy Mike Bloomfield of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Al Kooper, who as an uninvited guest came up with the organ line for Like a Rolling Stone and country music legend Charlie McCoy joining the session players that were largely held over from the previous album. It is a record that has stood the test of time, surely not faultless, yet timeless and as valid today as it was then.

In this particular story of 1965 still had one Ace up its sleeve. The Beatles had toured the US in August setting new concert attendance records. Just six weeks later they were back in the studio and initially struggling for material. What emerged took all that they had absorbed, Dylan, the soul music of America, even Elvis Presley and more - and then added a psychedelic twist, resulting in Rubber Soul. The record hit number one in the UK and sold more than 1 million copies in its first two weeks of release in America, a figure unprecedented for the album format at that time.

The first side comprises Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, You Won’t See Me, Think For Yourself, The Word and Michelle. On The second side Girl, In My Life and If I Needed Someone, stand out as exceptional. For many, Rubber Soul vies for the best record The Beatles ever made. However, it would take me as many words again to ‘get into it’ properly!

But to conclude this historical ramble with a little extra context. The Rolling Stones would release their second album in 1965, comprising all covers. But then follow with Out of Our Heads, which included four originals. The Stones big moment however, was the release of Satisfaction as a single. Also worth noting that Dylan’s producer would return to his overdub experiments in ‘65, adding a full band to the, sadly ignored, original acoustic version of Paul Simon’s Sound of Silence. Its author wasn’t aware of this until after the release of a single, but then that single topped the charts! That however, gets us into 1966 and all that, which is a whole other story that needs to be told.... Judas!