Bob Dylan became the voice of the 60s by writing songs about contemporary issues, songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall”, and ”The Times They Are a-Changin’.” In 1965, Dylan started recording with electric instruments, which completely alienated the folkmusic community, and his lyrics, previously grounded in topical subjects, became increasingly abstract. The release of the albums “Bringing It All Back Home”, “Highway 61 Revisited” (both 1965) and “Blonde On Blonde” (1966) constitute, in my opinion, the most signicant achievement in all of contemporary music.
“Desolation Row”, taken from “Highway 61 Revisited”, is a representative example of Dylan’s new direction, a dream/nightmare populated by characters from the Bible (Cain and Abel), Shakespeare (Ophelia, Romeo), fairy tales (Cinderella), literature (Quasimodo), legend (Robin Hood) and even reality (Einstein, Bette Davis). As a 15 year-old kid, this was heady stuff indeed and I can easily say it changed my life. My whole perception of the world changed after Dylan.
Bob Séguin: voice
Richard Séguin: acoustic guitar, mandolin, MIDI guitar (upright bass)
Roch Tassé: drums