Search - Bob Dylan :: Knocked Out Loaded

Extra Star for Brownsville Girl, Where was Tom Petty? Band o

Christopher Bushman | Portland, OR USA | 09/02/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This record came out in the middle of my (approximately) five year "Dylan Absorption Phase" when I was a high school / college student. So I listened to this a lot even if it was pretty lame overall.



The meager highlights here include his lyrical collaboration with Sam Shepard, Brownsville Girl. A very long stream of consciousness reminiscence, the music behind the words is just okay but the lyrics make it pretty magical. This is a good one to listen to through headphones in the dark. Pretty funny that Brownsville Girl was included on Greatest Hits III because I can assure you, in no way was this a hit single. Just a great album track.



The really disappointing thing is that this came out right around the time Dylan was touring with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band and those were really rocking shows. TP co-wrote one song here (the pretty rockin' and overlooked "Got My Mind Made Up") and the Heartbreakers play on the record a little but to no avail, the results are fairly sterile and boring.



Interestingly, right around this time, The Heartbreakers backed Dylan on a completely forgotten soundtrack single called Band of the Hand from a forgotten action movie of the same name. Band of the Hand rocks like nobody's business and is probably my favorite Dylan song from the 80's. Why it wasn't included on this hodgepodge record is a mystery but perhaps a bigger mystery is why Dylan has never added it to one of his rarities collections like Bootleg Series 1-3.

"

Underrated

Bill R. Moore | New York, USA | 07/12/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album seems to have a very bad reputation among Dylan fans. It is far, far from being his best album, but it does have several notable songs (and one great one), and is actually quite underrated. It obviously wasn't intended to be a cohesive or even a "real" album: it plays like a scattershot, featuring songs from various different recording sessions spread out over a number of years, as well as more than a handful of covers and songs co-written with other people (there are only two songs credited to "Bob Dylan.") The sessions for this album were originally intended to have Dylan recording a set of cover songs. Whatever the original intent, though, Dylan - with this mish-mash setlist and scattershot tracking, not to mention its short running time - clearly just wanted, for whatever reason, to release an album at this time. (Dylan's lack of interest in the project is evident from a story regarding the cover: it's actually the movie poster for some cheap foreign film; some insignificant character - a session player's girlfriend, or the like - just happened to bring it into the studio one day. Dylan, liking it, opted to use it for the cover of the album. When asked about securing the rights for its use, he replied, "Just let 'em sue us.") Such lack of effort in compiling the album may have led to its bad reputation - not to mention its handful of less-than-stellar tracks. One often reads in reviews that this album is Brownsville Girl and 7 tracks of banality. In actual fact, the only track you should skip is the absolutely unstandable They Killed Him. Aside from this, there is an energetic and enjoyable cover (You Wanna Ramble), three fine songs (Driftin' Too Far From Shore, Maybe Someday, and Under Your Spell - songs typical of the good songs that Dylan wrote in the 80's, but very good ones, nonetheless.) Brownsville Girl is, of course, an absolute masterpiece. One wonders how many of the lines are Dylan's and how many are Sam Shepherd's, but, whatever the case, this song, featuring a brilliant "sing/speak" Dylan vocal, is undeniably amazing. To sum it all up, you definitely don't want to make this one of your first Dylan purchases; but, if you're a fan, it's definitely worth owning, and deserves a lot more credit than it is usually given."

Certainly enjoyable

M. L. Wheeler | Guam | 03/15/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After reading reviews that this album and Down In the Groove are Dylan's worst albums, and still determined to collect all his albums, I find that this album is pretty enjoyable and a couple songs are my favorites. In my opinion, Dylan's worst albums are quality-wise at least as good as most other artists' best. There is just something about them. Also, they reflect the time and mood when they were made."