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Jan 3, 2011At its core, this constitutes a hearty glimpse of young Bob Dylan changing the music business, and the world, one note at a time.
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He sounds like what he was beneath the myth he was already constructing for himself: a man with a gift for words and music, sitting in a small room and hoping someone outside would listen.
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Dec 20, 2010At its core, these demos are the sound of Dylan becoming Bob Dylan, and it's an evolution that's spellbinding.
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Dec 22, 2010These songs, nearly half a century old, are as relevant as ever. They should have never been hawked to commercial singers, but delivered as broadsides to the public or as protest music to audiences (as many of them were). Active, agitated citizens should be the recipients of these songs.
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Oct 26, 2010Though The Witmark Demos' contents may occasionally be unkempt, the same cannot be said for its trappings. As with all Dylan Bootleg Series releases, it is beautifully and thoughtfully packaged and annotated.
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Even the very concept of a songwriter laying down a plethora of new songs in his publisher's office for others to perform feels out-of-time - quaintly and genuinely so.
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It's an informal set, full of coughs and corrections and chatty asides; the sense of intimacy this fosters between the eager young singer and the modern listener might be this collection's greatest appeal.
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There are minor variations, like key changes and picking patterns, but nothing as radical as the ways he would transform the songs in later years.
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UncutIn the jigsaw puzzle that is Bob Dylan, The Whitmark Demos are crucial pieces, and it's easy to get lost in the depths, the sheer audacity and beauty, of this music. [Nov 2010, p.107]
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Like Volume 8 in the Bootleg Series, Tell Tale Signs, which gave us a new context for Dylan's recent output, The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 give us a new frame for his genesis.
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If there's nothing truly revelatory, it's still a dandy opportunity to eavesdrop on the future mouthpiece of a generation finding his voice (sometimes awkwardly).
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Even in this raw setting, the best of these songs transcended his Northern Minnesota upbringing and crackled with subversive wit and the acute anger of a young man not just making his way in the world, but intent on changing it.
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Dec 20, 2010The casual nature of the sessions-Dylan coughs during "Blowin' in the Wind" and stops "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" to correct a lyric, for instance-only enriches the experience.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 14 out of 18
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Mixed: 1 out of 18
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Negative: 3 out of 18
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Jan 25, 2011
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Nov 3, 2010
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Nov 2, 2010