May 2011 sees the 70th birthday of Bob Dylan. To celebrate, we're taking you on a journey through the lesser celebrated avenues of his back catalogue. A journey down Highway 61 that won't stop off at 'Blowin' In The Wind', 'All Along The Watchtower' or 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' but will call by...
Tell Me That It Isn’t True (1968)
Less than three years after bemusing at least half his audience by perverting purist folk music with a backing band and electricity, Dylan was at it again. It wasn’t simply that the ‘Nashville Skyline’ album had a country feel, he also gave a headline slot to Johnny Cash, radically altered his voice into a previously un-heard higher pitched croon and shed all traces of speedball poetic and literate wordplay from his lyrics. This was a set of songs where the subject matter was generally clear on first listen and yet, they are no weaker or less significant in the Dylan canon for that. ‘Lay Lady Lay’ and ‘Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You’ are the best remembered tunes but the album as a whole is full of simply lush songs. The instrumental ‘Nashvillle Skyline Rag’ is perhaps the only weak link but even that, second song in, sets the tone just right. For me ‘Tell Me That It Isn’t True’ is the golden nugget, a gorgeous swaying song of insecurity and vein hope that the rumoured ill-tidings to be dealt by the object of the singers affections are unfounded. This lovingly attentive reading by the band The Rosewood Thieves is well worth a listen as it captures the songs beauty perfectly.
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