Bob Dylan Hates Modern Times
From Reuters via Brooklyn Vegan:
Bob Dylan says modern recordings sound "atrocious," and even the songs on his new album sounded much better in the studio than on disc.He obviously hasn't heard Sam's Town! (Rimshot.)"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really," the 65-year-old rocker said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
Dylan, who released eight studio albums in that time, returns with his first recording in five years, "Modern Times," next Tuesday.
Noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway."
"You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them," he added. "There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."
Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it's a losing battle.
"Even these songs probably sounded ten times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."
UPDATE: This entry's original title was "Bob Dylan Hates Your Band," which as you astute readers pointed out, was not accurate. Dylan's actually dissing modern recording technology; however, I still think his claims are a bit extreme.
Posted at 1:47 PM
Tags: Bob Dylan
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Gotta love ol' Robby Zimmerman!
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Gotta love ol' Robby Zimmerman!
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i love how all these old icons can be grumpy old men now. dylan, vonnegut...
but he is right: musical recordings these days sound like total garbage. listen to a Sun Records box set. Then listen to a Britney Spears album. (although I thought lanois did a really good job on TIME OUT OF MIND)
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And I thought Robert Pollard was grumpy! Actually, he might still be grumpier than Dylan.
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says the man who sang ball and biscuit with jacky white.
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Not included in this excerpt is the rant Dylan launches into about those damn kids on his lawn.
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Not included in this excerpt is the rant Dylan launches into about those damn kids on his lawn, with their backward ball caps and britches at their ankles.
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Dylan later went on to expound on the fact that he had to walk uphill both ways to school, barefoot, in 10 feet of snow. Every goddamn day. "Kids these days!"
Or maybe I'm still peeved that the last time I saw him in concert (perhaps 3 years ago) he didn't even pick up a guitar. Sigh.
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Dylan should follow bowie and byrne around NYC for a little introduction in what sounds halfway decent in music today.
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I think some of you are missing the point. He's not saying that artists themselves are bad (though he may very well believe that too) but that the RECORDINGS are bad.
I believe this is what he is referring to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
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hey nat, he has arthritis & can't play guitar everynight. hence the piano/keyboard playing.
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Blanket statements uttered with 100% certitiude are always correct, without exception.
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he's starting to sound a lot like a white music version of bill cosby.
"blah blah blah I'm grumpy blah blah blah fucking kids these days blah blah in my day we had to walk 20 miles in the snow to get to the studio and we were lucky if it had microphones"
things change bob. get over it...and get a pudding pop while you're at it.
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Dylan does not think modern music is worthless, and here's a few supporting facts to back that argument up:
*He names checks Alicia Keys, of all people, in the first song off the new album
*He sang with Norah Jones at the Amazon.com 10 year anniversary party
*He played an LL Cool J song("Mama Said Knock You Out") on the Mothers theme show of his XM satelite radio program.
*Yes, he played "Ball and Biscuit" with Jack White
Dylan is attacking the actual tangible sound of recording, and he's right. There was a story somewhere a few months ago which talked about how all the sound on modern albums is being mixed at the same level, without variation, which to Dylan's ear sounds like static. He's not the only person who thinks so.
What did Neil Young say? "Asking a musician to put his music on CD is like asking Picasso to fax you his art work."
Is that just because they've been playing music at high volumes their whole life? Maybe. But even I, at 23, can tell the difference in quality of mixing between the warmth of 40 year old record, and the artificial clumsiness of an mp3. Maybe Dylan should JUST release on vinyl, like the hardcore punks do. After all, he was one of the first.
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well he played with jack white
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you are all taking this way to seriously, bob dylan loves to fuck with the media, he has said that he never sang protest songs in the past when thats one of the most famous things about him. point is, he's got a new record out and trying to stir up some interest. but personally i think he's right for the most part.
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Arya! Arya! Arya! As Whitney Houston might say, "Hell to the yes."
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I wonder how he feels about Autotune.
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He played his last show weraring a Sufjan shirt though. Probably.
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All I have to say is that older recordings actually have to be turned up to start getting louder. Increasing the volume opens up the sound, you start to hear more frequencies, the low end starts to come out. Newer recordings come flying out of the gate at full volume, they're at full blast even when the volume is barely turned up. Most newer recordings that I listen to never make it past between 1/4 and 1/2 of my volume knob. That doesn't mean that I feel all new recordings sound like rubbish, I'm just saying that he does have a valid point.
Uh, huh huh huh, he said knob.
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Personally, I love how he claims that there is no "vocal" in today's recordings. This is coming from Mr. Unintelligible himself.
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i was wondering why he didn't pick up the guitar one time while he played the keyboard all night long last thursday?
damn....bob....love ya....but, i hated that show!
here's to better sounding records in 2007!
i'm bob dylan, bitch.
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well i hate his "vocals", he sing thru the nostrils.. is that fine sounding?
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If he's talking about the diabolical mastering jobs that seem to get done on most major CDs at the moment, he's right.. Open up the waveforms from your favourite big name disc released in the last 5-6 years and observe the white noise, people.
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Dylan should just work with someone like Steve Albini then, someone who's just going to record it the best they can and do minimal mixing. I understand what he's saying, mixing and mastering have become such a crutch these days, the performances rarely matter, a lot of the big name records might as well be entirely electronic.
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I guess Bob Dylan has never heard of Chad VanGaalen or Belle and Sebastian or [insert whatever Lo-Fi Indie artist/s here].
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Fuck you guys, I'm gonna say Indie's unforbidden catch phrase...
Bob Dylan should star in SNAKES ON A PLANE 2: Elephants On A Train. The theme song by Bob Dylan would be better than "modern" Cobra Starship.
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Bah he's not being grumpy... the man has a point, even if he were 20 years old
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(through a snotty melange:)
as a former analyst of music for pandora.com, i've listened to a lot of records, recent and old. all i can say is, i'm with bob. i cant even stand the sound of digital compression (mp3s or mastering plug ins). it makes me itch. the ear can eventually become sharp enough to pick these things out. WATCH OUT KIDS~!
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hey bob-
-record on a four track
-release independently
-shut the fuck up
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luv ya bob
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1s And 0s are not sound, much less music. CDs are codes that are read by empty electronic boxes. Old albums are pure sound minus these digital ghost that seem to be haunting the ears of musicians. By the way, 4 track analoge equipment is nearly dead, and most who could use these systems are dead.
Yes, time changes everything. That doesn't mean the changes are better than the previous
peace
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Hell, I feel like him and i'm not even 20.
The music industry marches to its doom.
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Bob's right. Death to the CD. Death to MP3. The record companies need to agree to switch to SACD and then just do it. A 2-channel SACD is like vinyl without the hiss.
And it's not expensive anymore- my $70 dvd player plays them.
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