The best album since “Blood on the Tracks?” Our critics weigh in.
Bob Dylan
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Culture Dylan’s latest album comes at a time when we need it most
The Forward, a Jewish publication, asks me a question: “Is ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ Bob Dylan’s best album since “Blood on the Tracks?” As a Jew, I can imagine only one possible answer: “yes and no.” Musically, it’s not even close. “Desire” has more beautiful melodies, tighter lyrics and far better hooks. I also think,…
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Culture Life, death, heartbreak, disillusionment — Dylan’s first album as an old man
Bob Dylan’s Grammy-award-winning comeback album, 1997’s “Time Out of Mind,” is a glorious record of death and rebirth. Death insofar as the album’s songs frequently have themes of mortality and aging (“I been all around the world, boys / Now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door”)(“It’s not dark yet, but…
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Culture Why In The World Is Mike Pompeo Referencing Bob Dylan?
While speaking to the Heritage Foundation’s President’s Club today , Secretary of State Mike Pompeo let the world know he is a Bob Dylan fan — although maybe not the kind who listens for the lyrics. “It’s great to be here,” Pompeo said, expressing relief to be among the members of a conservative think tank…
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Culture Our Forgotten Guitar Hero, Michael Bloomfield
Editor’s Note: Michael Bloomfield would have turned 76 today. Here’s a look back at the life of the Jewish guitar legend. Back in 1977, Michael Bloomfield, the seminal white blues guitarist from Chicago who studied at the feet of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, took to the stage for a performance at the intimate McCabe’s…
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Culture Bob Dylan’s 10 Most Jewish Songs
Bob Dylan turns 78 today. In honor of that auspicious occasion, we revisit his 10 most Jewish songs.” While Bob Dylan has, throughout his life and career, engaged in all sorts of mythologizing and playful biographical falsification, it has never been in the service of denying his heritage. This son of a middle-class appliance salesman…
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Fast Forward Who Knew? Bob Dylan Wrote A Zionist Anthem, ‘Neighborhood Bully’
Happy birthday Bob Dylan! The legendary musician turns 78 this year. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan once lived on a kibbutz. He’s toured with the Rolling Stones, performing in Tel Aviv. He’s played his own shows in Israel, three times over the last thirty years. But… did you know he also wrote an anthem about…
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Music How An Irish Playwright Found The Soul Of Bob Dylan
About a quarter way into Conor McPherson’s play with music, “Girl From the North Country” (running through Sunday, December 9, at the Public Theater in lower Manhattan), a bible salesman unaccountably mutters this apparent non sequitur: Big storm’s coming, my boy. Here. Europe. Everywhere. You ever wonder what woulda happened if the Jews met the…
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The Schmooze Leave It To Howard Stern To Say Something Vulgar About Leonard Cohen
Loyal readers of The Schmooze know that I, a low ranking blogger born in the 1990s, feel that I was placed on this earth by God for one purpose: to find and destroy Howard Stern. But I will allow a brief detente in the one-way war of words between the mangled bag of aging irrelevancy…
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