1001 Albums Summary

I have long wanted to get into and enjoy Bob Dylan's music, but so far the only few songs I enjoy from him are from the album "Desire". This album was no exception as it played in its full length without me enjoying a single song from it. I wasn't reading any of the lyrics of the songs or paying much attention to them which is the highlight of Bob Dylan's style so I wouldn't say I got to the heart of how good any of the songs are, but to be honest the only song which I wanted to read the lyrics for and listen more closely is "I shall be free" while all the other songs didn't have any phrases which I could pinpoint and be intrigued by. The simple guitar chords are probably what make this album so weak to me; it makes every song feel like the same to me (which is probably where the lyrics come in to make them feel special). His voice is also very monotone and doesn't really add much to the album except a constant droning, the only vocals I enjoyed were in "I shall be free" where he let out some hoots. I usually enjoy a smooth harmonica especially in blues songs but in this album the sound was very cutting and I can't imagine listening to it with a very high volume as it would probably damage my ears. Highlights were "I shall be free" and "Corrina, Corrina"

This is the first full rap/hip hop album I've ever listened to. The beats in each song were pretty static in that it was kept constant throughout the song, with only slight variations in some of the songs. This made me want to finish each song and get onto the next as across the album each song had a unique beat that I usually enjoyed. Reading the lyrics while listening to the songs definitely elevated my experience as the rapping portions had very interesting lyricism (storytelling and rhyming), however the themes of sex kept on repeating on nearly every song with just a couple of exception such as "Ms. Jackson" and "Toilet Tisha" which made the album feel very monothematical which undercut a bit from the more interesting stories told. Something else the lyrics did was talk about the album itself and Outkast as a group being present, standard practice for rap albums, which I didn't enjoy as they were really out of place. What I enjoyed most was the rapping since the instrumental parts didn't have many instruments and were just about the beat itself rather than using a variety of sounds so for example I enjoyed the song "Xplosions" as it was fully rap while a song like "BOB" was only good in the rapping sections. I didn't enjoy "Snappin' and Trappin'" as it felt like they were trying to be experimental with all the weird sounds but it didn't really add anything to the song. "Humble Mumble", "Xplosion", and "Ms. Jackson" were my favourite songs of the album. Overall would probably listen to a couple of these songs again but not the full album.

Though this album contains some of my favourite songs ("Little 15", "Never Let Me Down Again", "Behind The Wheel"), many of the other songs are very lacluster which don't add anything special to the album ("I Want You Now", "To Have And To Hold", "Nothing"). This makes the first half of the album really good, but the second half forgettable and unassuming. What I enjoyed most was the beat and the instruments used, the distorted guitar and bass coupled with the clean crisp piano. I also enjoyed the lyrics which had a wide range of themes and though many linked to sex, could be interpreted in different ways. They also sucessfully used the singing as another element of the beat.