Product Description

Track listing 1. Wiggle Wiggle 2. Under The Red Sky 3. Unbelievable 4. Born In Time 5. TV Talkin' Song 6. 10000 Men 7. 2 X 2 8. God Knows 9. Handy Dandy 10. Cat's In The Well

Track Listing

1. Wiggle Wiggle
2. Under The Red Sky
3. Unbelievable
4. Born In Time
5. TV Talkin' Song
6. 10000 Men
7. 2 X 2
8. God Knows
9. Handy Dandy
10. Cat's In The Well

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26799 in Music
• Released on: 1992-10-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

underrated
This is a fascinating album, and, actually, a bit frightening. The singer seems to be trying to recite nurcery rhymes. But he can't help infuse these with feverish Bible-inspired images that whirl around in his head. In other words, a portrait of a singer lost in the lonely graveyard of his mind. It is easy to dismiss this album. Some even find it scandalous. Of course, all the smooth frases from "Oh Mercy" are nowhere to be found. But the album is coherent in its own way, and very listenable. The point is perhaps that the listener is free to analyse, but he can't ever fully comprehend. (That is, a real Dylan album.)

One that got away......
After the pleasantly surprising first Wilbury adventure, Bob released the Daniel Lanois-produced Oh Mercy (his finest album of the 80's), and then this. Few would have thought that it would be seven years until his next album of original songs (the grammy award winning Time Out of Mind), so in many ways this seemed for many years like a stuttering final statement.
And perhaps this is why history hasn't treated it kindly for,lyrically, it is lightweight on the surface. It seems to lack the intensity and production values of its predecessor. In reality, this rough and ready album sounds far more like the in-the-studio-and-out Bob that we all know and love and is not far removed from his current (Modern Times) sound.
Lyrically, much has been made of the childlike lyrics and imagery and has been put down to a dearth of inspiration or laziness. Dylan alludes to Hansel and Gretel, The Man In The Moon, The Grand Old Duke Of York, Noah's Ark and the Cat In The Well. He doesn't try to mask it either. They are delivered in a particularly creepy Grimm style and imply that any fairy tale in a world gone wrong will end in tears.
Of the remaining songs, Wiggle,Wiggle could well have opened Wilbury's Vol 3. Unbelievable presents Dylan's view of America's lost dream. TV Talkin' Song is an amusing tale of the author listening to soap-box preachers in Hyde Park. God Knows concerns the fragilty of life itself and Handy Dandy is a wonderful portrait of a cad and his frailties.
And I haven't mentioned Born In Time. A beautiful song about a lost love, a gorgeous melody and the warmest vocal he'd delivered in a long time:

In the hills of mystery
In the foggy web of destiny
You can have have what's left of me
Where we were born in time.

I called this review 'the one that got away' because, as an album, it has escaped serious critical appraisal. Let it go at your loss. Its crepuscular atmosphere suggests the end of an era. In fact it is the start of a new one.

Weird but not without merit
When I first listened to this album, I thought it had the craziest, most nonsensical lyrics I had ever heard. Admittedly, some of the tracks still don't make much sense to me, but a few surprisingly good songs give this album a solid depth that is too little appreciated. Certainly, this is not the moralizing philosopher Dylan of old, but that's OK. It's pretty cool to hear Dylan playing a few songs seemingly just for fun. "Wiggle Wiggle" is total nonsense, but it's a pretty cool, catchy song nonetheless. "Under the Red Sky" does seem to be some kind of musical tribute to nursery rhymes, but its meaning quite escapes me. "10 000 Men" and "Cat's in the Well" are also weird songs with seemingly no meaning. The other tracks have varying degrees of substance to them. "Handy Dandy" confuses me somewhat, but if I had to interpret it, I would lean toward the autobiographical line of thought and steer clear of the Ronald Reagan "theory," in large part due to the fleeting echo of "Like a Rolling Stone" it exhibits. "Unbelievable," "TV Talkin' Song," and "God Knows" are pretty good tracks, with "God Knows" possessing a somewhat comforting quality to it. My two personal favorites here are "2 x 2" and "Born in Time," both of which happen to feature David Crosby's distinctive background vocals. "2 x 2" doesn't make a lot of sense, but the bridges with their unique blend of Dylan and Crosby vocals fill me with delight for some reason. "Born in Time" must be singled out for particular attention. I consider it one of Dylan's best songs of the 1990s, featuring particularly strong and powerful bridges.

I really like this album, but it is definitely one of Dylan's weirdest releases. Dylan wrote every single song, so he must have had some purpose in mind, even if that purpose was to surprise his fans yet again or to just confound his critics. Overall, this music is not bad at all, and Dylan's vocals are strong if gravelly. A strong list of contributing musicians sometimes makes this feel like a fun jam session, with Dylan sometimes just having a good time making lines rhyme without reason. Among the notables who contributed to this album were George Harrison, Slash from Guns 'n' Roses, David Crosby, Bruce Hornsby, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Elton John. Clearly, this is an album only Dylan could have made, and its unique qualities make it one of the more interesting chapters in this incredible musician's long career. Despite the quality of these musicians, however, the whole sound of the album seems rather generic and uninspired, and I consider this the album's most telling weakness.

I would not suggest you rush out to buy Under the Red Sky immediately, but on the other hand I would urge Dylan fans not to cross it off their purchase lists arbitrarily. After all, any album widely disparaged by the critics must have some merit to it.