
Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline (1969)
Yesterday I've been counting my Bob Dylan albums, and the one I bought a few days earlier was the 15th one. This man is higly productive and of course active for a real long time. It's very hard to pick a favourite. The Bootleg Series (Part 4 to 6) can be the ones. Or Blonde on blonde. Or maybe Bringing it all back home. There's so much there, and all have some beautiful songs.
But what about this one? Nashville Skyline, released in 1969, was a reaction of Bob to actions of his fans. They had crowned him to leader of rebellion, something that he just wasn't all about. That's why he made an album like this. This album is really light-hearted, easy listening and most of all...happy.
The first time I've heard this one I had to listen closely to understand that this is really the same old Bobby D. His voice seemed pure, nothing like his first list of albums. I needed some time to really get this. Where did this came from? Why this voice and style change? Then I've read something about this album as discribed earlier. He made this to shut the protesters up. And he did.
Although it's not a protestrecord, Nashville Skyline is a very strong record. With it's 27 minutes it's a bit short, but it has some beautiful tracks like 'Lay Lady Lay' and 'Girl From The North Country' (in a version with the great Johnny Cash!). Also the instrumentals like 'Nashville Skyline Rag (which I normally don't like) are great. Ánd of course with this short running time the album doesn't get the chance of gettin' dull at all.
Conclusion: I think this is one hell of an album! The only problem at first was the comparison with older material by Dylan. Once you are able to let this go, you'll enjoy this very much.
Stand-out Tracks: 'Lay Lady Lay' and 'Tell Me That It Isn't True'.
Total rating: 4.0/5.0
