After redefining the entire perspective of lyrical expressionism within a song during the previous decade, the early 70s found Bob Dylan less likely to comment on how the times they were still a-changing and more inclined to reflect on how little he wanted his world to change.
With at least half a dozen landmark albums to his name, more than any other artist in the field, Dylan had completely redrawn the boundaries of what passed as lyricism. His imagery, symbolism and free form word play brought about changes in consciousness, both personal and political, that without him may have remained dormant for years – the spokesman of a generation a worthy recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature long before he actually received it.
As the new decade unfolded Dylan continued to eschew the traditional LP/tour/LP approach to maintaining a career. He had carried on making albums, some fascinating, others fitful, the focus of his songwriting changing from protest to parable to parental viewpoint songs (‘Have a bunch of kids who call me Pa/That must be what it’s all about‘ as far removed from ‘Masters of War‘ as it was possible to be), this period of domestic contentment beginning in 1966 at which point he stopped touring and withdrew with wife Sara and their children to a home in upstate New York.
The domesticity of his private life was mixed with time spent recording with backing troupe The Hawks, who on changing their name to The Band would shortly begin an acclaimed career of their own, (the results of what they cut during 1967 finally appeared eight years later as a memorable double-set entitled ‘The Basement Tapes‘) – the time from 1970 until the midpoint of 1973 passing without release of a Dylan album that truly enthralled.
Indeed, the arbitrary nature of his choices manifested in Dylan agreeing to a minor role in the elegiac Sam Peckinpah western ‘Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid‘ (May 1973), for which he contributed ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ to the soundtrack. It became his most lauded composition of the era and climbed high on singles charts across the world.
The disparate paths that would mark his return to the hub of contemporary culture began connecting in the summer of 1973. On leaving Columbia with whom Dylan had spent his entire nine year career he signed to Asylum Records, the Los Angeles based label formed by David Geffen eighteen months earlier, whose profile was rapidly increasingly due to the success of country-rock purveyors Jackson Browne, the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt.
On moving to L.A. with his family, Dylan soon found he was a near neighbour of Robbie Robertson, guitarist and principal songwriter of The Band. The material so far recorded for his next LP was held in abeyance while the two men discussed the possibility of his previous supporting ensemble not only joining Dylan on the record but in a reunion tour, having rarely shared a stage together in the past eight years.
With the rest of The Band – Rick Danko (bass) Levon Helm (drums), Garth Hudson (keyboards/accordion) and Richard Manuel (piano) – agreeing to the plans, rehearsals at first concentrated on existing songs (‘We ran over an incredible number of tunes‘, recalled Robertson years later, ‘Bob would ask us to play certain tunes of ours and then we’d do the same, then we’d think of some that we would particularly like to do,’), the sessions suspended when Dylan left to compose more tracks for the intended album.
They reconvened in November 1973 and in just three days cut the eleven performances that would appear on ‘PLANET WAVES‘ (January 1974), Bob Dylan achieving his first number one album with a record that over time became his most overlooked – not feted like his unequalled 60s run or the two 70s releases that follow, but neither was it critically savaged like much of his 80s output.
If ‘Planet Waves‘ occupies its own cul-de-sac on the long avenue of Dylan albums, it does so due to the uncertainty expressed by the artist. Relationships are causing him untold confusion, yet the biggest mystery is the man at the heart of things. Dylan long-since an enigmatic, illusive figure to his audience, now a mystery even to himself.
The most personal, introspective collection of songs he had so far gathered on one record, ‘Planet Waves’ is a loose concept album, its theme the vagaries of love and how it can be moving, misplaced or missing altogether.
Domestic bliss is still apparent on tracks such as ‘Never Say Goodbye‘, the two versions of ‘Forever Young‘ (allegedly written for young son Jacob) and ‘Wedding Song‘, but on ‘Dirge‘ beginning with disconcerting opening line ‘I hate myself for loving you‘ the outlook is immediately darker – while ‘Going, Going, Gone‘ an uncomfortable depiction of marital discord, is a precursor to the peerless compositions populating ‘Blood on the Tracks‘ early the following year, when the strife between husband and wife would be so painfully documented.
Things start in lighthearted fashion, ‘On A Night Like This‘ having a spontaneous feel as if to underline the quickfire circumstances in which the songs were recorded. The shuffling drums and decorative accordion give the track Cajun overtones, Dylan in reflective, yet jovial mood (‘We got much to talk about and much to reminisce‘), the lover providing inspiration apparently conjured from the days when he was single:
‘Let the four winds blow around this old cabin door/If I’m not too far off I think we did this once before/
There’s more frost on the window glass with each new tender kiss/And it sure feels right on a night like this.’
The intuitive musical telepathy between each member of The Band is straightaway apparent, although surprisingly the supreme vocal talents, in this case as background singers, of Danko, Helm and Manuel are used sparingly throughout. But their brilliant collective interplay as musicians give Dylan a striking platform on which to build the melancholic ‘Going, Going, Gone.‘
With Hudson donating atmospheric organ work and Robertson some delicate guitar lines (the mood of the piece not too far removed from that of ‘It Makes No Difference’, a song Robertson would write for the next Band album), Dylan delivers an affecting vocal in describing a faltering relationship heading to the point of no return: ‘I’m closing the book on the pages and the text/And I don’t really care what happens next/I’m just going/I’m going/I’m gone.’
While on ‘Blood on the Tracks‘, in writing a suite of songs unsurpassable in their emotional complexity, he would try to view the impending break-up from the standpoint of his estranged wife (‘You’re a Big Girl Now’/’If You See Her Say Hello‘), here the narrator is looking no further than his decision to move on:
‘I been walking the road/I been living on the edge/Now, I’ve just got to go/Before I get to the ledge.’
‘Tough Mama‘ continues the notion of escaping, but the idea is played out within the framework of a resounding rock track, given extra edge by shrill harmonica from the writer. At different stages of the song he plots an escape route with various female companions, these being a ‘Dark Beauty‘, ‘Sweet Goddess‘ and ‘Silver Angel’ although by the end forlorn reality ‘I’m crestfallen/The world of illusion’s at my door,’ has taken hold.
While The Band pull out all the stops with a performance of typical subtlety, the lyrics to ‘Hazel‘ find Dylan issuing a straightforward plea for attention from the woman of the title (‘Hazel, dirty-blonde hair/I wouldn’t be ashamed to be seen with you anywhere’). The feeling in not being reciprocated leaves him to conclude this gently meandering ballad with, ‘Hazel, you called and I came/Now don’t make me play this waiting game.’
Boasting far greater depth, ‘Something There Is About You‘ has Dylan contemplating the distant past, ‘Thought I’d shaken the wonder and the phantoms of my youth/Rainy days on the Great Lakes, walkin’ the hills of old Duluth‘ (his Minnesota home town), the temptation of not reading the lines as autobiographical hard to resist, particularly when he alludes to meeting wife Sara amidst tumultuous days in the mid-60s, taking opportunity to also reaffirm his feelings toward her:
‘Something there is about you that moves with style and grace/I was in a whirlwind, now I’m in some better place.‘
The most perplexing feature of ‘Planet Waves’ is the decision to include differing versions of ‘Forever Young’ – the most resonant track on the album found closing side one then opening side two.
Heard to superb effect in bringing the first side to a close, Dylan expresses his hopes for young son Jacob, the heartfelt sentiment of a beautifully constructed lyric immediately apparent:
‘May God bless and keep you always/May your wishes all come true/May you always do for others/And let others do for you/May you build a ladder to the stars/And climb on every rung/May you stay forever young.’
Behind him The Band play with the serene majesty only they can muster, Robertson providing quivering electric guitar lines in adding to the emotional gravitas, although the definitive rendition of this sublime ballad would occur when Dylan joined his old cohorts on the event of ‘The Last Waltz,’ their 1976 farewell concert – a night when the final verse would take on added resonance:
‘May your hands always be busy/May your feet always be swift/May you have a strong foundation when the winds of changes shift/May your heart always be joyful/May your song always be sung/And may you stay forever young.’
The song is taken at a faster lick on kicking off side two, the poignancy of the words often lost in a chirpy lead vocal and country-rock affected melody – the net result coming across like Eric Clapton or Roger McGuinn attempting a cover version and doing their best to avoid sounding like Dylan and The Band.
According to producer Rob Fraboni, Dylan wrote the dark, foreboding ‘Dirge‘ during a break in recording. Initially composed on guitar, the composer then switched to piano and accompanied only by Robertson (acoustic guitar), utters some angry lyrical couplets (‘I hate myself for loving you and the weakness that is showed,’), in a tone bordering on bitter.
In what sounds deconstruction of their deteriorating marriage he still manages the occasional outward glance, (‘In the age of fibreglass, I’m searching for a gem‘), but for the most part attention is centred on how sour things have become between man and wife, to a point where darkness shrouds the present with a cloak of bitterness falling on the past:
‘Can’t recall a useful thing you ever did for me/’Cept pat me on the back one time when I was on my knees/’We stared into each other’s eyes ’till one of us would break/No use to apologize, what difference would it make?’
In complete contrast, ‘You Angel You‘ arrives as a relaxed, soft rock workout punctuated by buoyant contributions from organ and electric guitar, the composer showing no reluctance, ‘You angel, you/You’re as fine as can be/The way you walk and the way you talk/Is the way it ought to be,’ in declaring his affection.
After voicing his despair and disillusionment in ‘Going, Going, Gone‘ and ‘Dirge‘, with the two tracks that close the record Dylan makes overtures toward reconciliation, finding renewed faith in their eight year union.
Despite the melancholy lilt of the melody, ‘Never Say Goodbye‘ is imbued not only with optimism but compliments aplenty, (‘You’re beautiful beyond words/You’re beautiful to me/You can make me cry/Never say goodbye’). Manuel (piano) and Robertson (electric guitar), are to the fore in carrying the music, Dylan at pains to state what he and Sara are in danger of losing:
‘Time is all I have to give/You can have it if you choose/With me you can live/Never say goodbye.’
The final track, ‘Wedding Song‘, Dylan performs alone, the plaintive acoustic guitar and strident harmonica a throwback to his folk days, the opening lines in complete contradiction to what was conveyed in ‘Dirge‘.
‘I love you more than ever, more than time and more than love/I love you more than money and more than the stars above.’
As an exercise in painstaking songcraft it is nigh-on exemplary, Dylan reaffirming his position as the master wordsmith in the rock medium with a turn of phrase that is deft but direct:
‘You gave me babies one, two, three, what is more, you saved my life/Eye for eye and tooth for tooth, your love cuts like a knife/My thoughts of you don’t ever rest, they’d kill me if I lie/I’d sacrifice the world for you and watch my senses die.’
With each verse his outpourings become more devout, (‘And if there is eternity I’d love you there again’), qualifying everything he has said during the course of ‘Wedding Song‘ in the final verse:
‘You turn the tide on me each day and teach my eyes to see/Just being’ next to you is a natural thing for me/And I could never let you go, no matter what goes on/‘Cause I love you more than ever now that the past is gone.’
On the album art work, a black and white illustration by Dylan of three men, can be seen the words ‘Moonglow‘ and ‘Cast Iron Songs and Torch Ballads’, both of which, along with ‘Ceremonies of the Horsemen‘ (a line from 1965 Dylan opus ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit‘) came under consideration as titles for the record – but at the eleventh hour Dylan changed it to ‘Planet Waves‘ and in the process delayed release by a fortnight.
Nevertheless, his 14th studio album became the first to give him a Number One, topping the US Charts for three weeks in February/March 1974 while achieving a highest placing of seven in the UK.
The reign at top spot coincided with final dates on the extensive, sold-out North American tour undertaken by Dylan and The Band during the first six weeks of 1974. Most shows had a two hour running time, divided into segments of Dylan with the group, Dylan solo and The Band performing a handful of their own numbers.
On the early dates ‘Planet Waves‘ was represented by ‘Tough Mama‘, ‘Something There is About You‘, ‘Forever Young’ and ‘Wedding Song‘ but by the end only ‘Forever Young‘ remained – and then was omitted from the double live-album ‘Before the Flood’ compiled from performances on the tour that appeared later in the year.
In general the critics had been positive in their appraisal of ‘Planet Waves‘ but after the initial success it left the charts in rapid fashion, Dylan soon at odds with Geffen over tour costs impacting on publicity for an album whose sales quickly dwindled, despite claims twenty tickets could have been sold for each seat at every venue.
By the middle of 1974, however, Bob Dylan had more pressing concerns than a record sea worthy on launch only to then sink without trace.
‘Planet Waves‘ closer ‘Wedding Song‘ contained the line, ‘It’s never been my duty to remake the world at large/Nor is it my intention to sound a battle charge,‘ Dylan having no inclination to address the problems facing mankind, especially when distress reigned within his own four walls – the despondency surrounding a broken marriage soon to be articulated in breathtaking terms across ‘Blood on the Tracks.’
BOB DYLAN – PLANET WAVES (Released January 17 1974):
On a Night Like This/Going, Going Gone/Tough Mama/Hazel/Something There Is About You/Forever Young/Forever Young/Dirge/You Angel You/Never Say Goodbye/Wedding Song;
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