quote:

I think this is his first full-length with no strange sex songs on it (i.e., mountain-f*cking)

Awww.

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If you liked their more emotional tracks from six demon bag, you really need to hear 'gold teeth' from 'a man in a blue turban with a face.' To me, that song blows anything from SDB away.

I agree, that is one of the best songs on that album. I don't know if blows away all of Six Demon Bag, but it is very good.

A few songs off of Bob Dylans new release are pretty damn heart wrenching. You can feel it in his voice.

Also, I found the Guillemots sad throughout and feels somewhat hopeless. I felt this way about some of the songs off the new Grizzly Bear album as well.

An album whose emotions are all over the place is bt's This Binary Universe. The album is mostly instrumental (primarily electronic), but the compositions on the record are excellent.

The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America would place on my list, but not because it's a particularly sad album. This album simply contains American Graffiti-levels of nostalgia and teenage wistfullness. I love it.

Craig Finn is a damned good modern romantic.

I guess I'll be the first to say it:

This thread is so emo.

Goodness. How 2001.

Let's see, I felt emotions other than sadness in regards to many records this year so I will list some of them here (along with the sad ones of course):

Magnolia Electric Co. - Fading Trails

One of my top three favorite records this year, "Memphis Moon" gets me every time "two stars fallin from the memphis sky." Excellent record.

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

My favorite record this year, this disc never ceases to make me happy and songs like "The Blues are Still Blue" and "Funny Little Frog" get me tapping my toes without fail!

Tilly and the Wall - Bottoms of Barrels

Another toe tapper. "Rainbows in the Dark" has such a driving beat and "Bad Education" is such a fun track. Though the album is inconsistant it always brings with it a smile.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go

Though it's pace is rather slow (similar to "Get Lonely") the melancholy feeling of this record overwhelms me. It may not be as complete as "I See A Darkness" but it is still a sorrowful statement.

joanna newsome ~ y's
the decemberists ~ the crane wife
jeremy enigk ~ world waits

also there were a few tracks on the new damien rice release that were pretty emotional.

you could really truley hear it in his voice.

Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of Broken Seas

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I agree, that is one of the best songs on that album. I don't know if blows away all of Six Demon Bag, but it is very good.

I prolly should have mentioned that I'm a bit partial to the debut. It was more fierce and wild. Mainly because of the drummer, I think.

But if we're giving out prizes for 06, I've got to agree with Illiniq - Rosanne Cash's album.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: V,

Isis - in the absence of truth

Thom york - the eraser

I think that Johnny Cash - American V deserves to be mentionned. I don't understand why young people (I'm 20) doesn't care about ol' Johnny's music...

Ditto on Johnny's last recording...
The Cashes lead the way in emotional albums of 2006:
Johnny Cash - "A Hundred Highways" (life swan song)
Rosanne Cash - "Black Cadillac" (mature heartache)
Tilly & The Wall - "Bottoms of Barrels" (joy)
The Thermals - "The Body, The Blood, The Machine" (good ol' fashioned anger, like punk used to be)

OK, I guess this is as good a place to mess with anybody interested in something "so last year". How many people here have seen the awesome Letters From Iwo Jima? I know of ONE. Shut up, mark! Please don't be afraid of me, and tell me what you think of this gobble-dee-gook.


Modern Times by Bob Dylan

The greatest songwriter of the last 50 years returns with another classic. Maybe the problem for some is that it's "too classic" to be considered relevant anymore. Rest assured, Bob comes up with several curveballs and knuckleballs, brings up ideas of steroids ("cheating: his stealing from the masters"), and evolves even more (for the better) than he did from his last two great albums.

Attempting to review a Dylan album is a daunting task. How many albums has this guy released? About 50? There's no way a 65-year-old can feel or reproduce what it's like to be the 20-year old blues-folk "cover artist" he was when his self-titled LP came out in 1961. Even so, Modern Times finds Dylan completely in tune with his babyfaced self. This album probably has more real blues than any of his albums since his debut.

Dylan, who produced under his Jack Frost alias, does sequence the album interestingly. He starts off with a bluesy song, with some lyrics usually involving how some tart stole his sense and turned him into a woman-hating sexaholic. Then the next song usually discusses how much he loves his true love and wants to stay with her 'til the end. This back-and-forth Blues vs. Pop (of all the 20th-century varieties) and women are nasty vs. women are love and the only worthwhile thing provides the album with a dynamic which is clear to me: Man's need to love and be loved, the mystery and allure of Women, and the need and power of forgiveness and trust in a relationship (at least all from the Man's perspective ).

I haven't mentioned any specific songs or lyrics yet, but Bobby does come up with some gems.

From "Thunder on the Mountain":

I've been sittin' down studyin' the art of love
I think it will fit me like a glove

From "Spirit on the Water" (perhaps some of his most romantic lyrics):

I see you there
I'm blinded by the colors I see
I take good care
Of what belongs to me

I hear your name
Ringing up and down the line
I'm saying it plain
These ties are strong enough to bind

Now your sweet voice
Calls out from some old familiar shrine
I got no choice
Can't believe these things would ever fade from your mind

I could live forever
With you perfectly
You don't ever
Have to make a fuss over me

From East to West
Ever since the world began
I only mean it for the best
I want to be with you any way I can

I could go on and on. I enjoy the music because I'm a lover of the 20th century. This album compiles music from ALL of the 20th century, almost as much as Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire's The Swimming Hour. That and Love and Theft were my fave albums of their year. Dylan's band stays with the electric guitar, bass and drums combo, even when some songs sound like they came from the 1920s instead of 2006. Whether they are playing these older-sounding songs or their version of the blues as inspired by Chuck Berry, there is a palpable warmth coming from the band and its leader. Dylan's use of old-timey arrangements and melodies may be his sly way of saying that everything old becomes new again, even in music's restless evolutionary cycle.

Maybe I should mention something now about Bob's rebirth through his last three albums. Time Out of Mind deservedly won a Grammy, back when they started to believe that they could matter. That album shows Bob revving up his rock mojo, while acting like God Almighty Himself. The main difference between Time Out of Mind and Dylan's earlier classic albums is that before, he was just God's Messenger. In Time Out of Mind, He's His own messenger. A few years later, Bob put out Love and Theft, another album which showed a fine appreciation for music history (and also involved the exact same band from Modern Times). There was a notable difference from the earlier album though. Bob was more vulnerable. He was starting to be more of a buddy and less of a Boss.

Modern Times completes the transformation. Despite the fact that there are protests that he stole lyrical content without acknowledging the sources, the Dylan on the actual record is a man who feels no need to hide anything anymore. He knows he's much closer to the End than the Beginning. He also has no reason to bullshit you. He just wants to be your friend and try to help you through all the things which a complete human has to deal with. True, his voice is "shot", as ericg75 says, but I prefer to believe that he’s weary. Yes, he seems to know a lot about Death, but he knows even more about Life. If that makes him seem boring and/or irrelevant to some, just wait a few more decades. Or not, since I believe you shouldn’t wait until you're 50 to understand Dylan’s "NEW" album, or your life. After all, they both involve these "Modern Times".