Blast from the past: Bob Dylan, Neil Young back with albums
NEWYORK: Bob Dylan and Neil Young, two legends of the music industry, were back in the headlines on Friday, launching their respective albums and spreading cheer among fans in times of the coronavirus pandemic.
Folk singer Dylan released his first album of original songs in eight years with the ten-track Rough and Rowdy Ways.
At around the same time, Young’s studio album from 1975, called Homegrown, has finally been released by the singer-songwriter, which the 74-year-old Young himself announced on Twitter.
Young’s new album comes with what is being widely reported as an impressive studio band, including Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Tim Drummond, Karl T Himmel, Ben Keith, Stan Szlelest and a special appearance by multiple-Grammy winner
Emmylou Harris.
Dylan’s 39th studio album features a 17-minute ballad about the assassination of John F Kennedy, as well as a tribute to American electric bluesman Jimmy Reed.
Rough and Rowdy Ways is the Nobel winner’s first collection of new material since Tempest in 2012, although he has released a number of cover albums in the interim.
It sees Dylan mix bluesy riffs with folksy storytelling, his signature raspy voice delivering lyrics that switch between bleakly haunting and darkly humorous.
At times, he sounds warm, at other times scathing. Dylan was asked about the lyrics in a recent interview with The New York Times.
“I think about the death of the human race. The long strange trip of the naked ape,” he replied. “Everybody’s life is so transient. Every human being, no matter how strong or mighty, is frail when it comes to death.”