Dylan on Drugs ?

John,
I am a Dylan nut even though I buy a whole load of contemporary stuff ,for me Love And Theft was easily album of the year.
I'm also no Dylan apologist he's had his fair share of low points over the years and I do think his voice could be a problem for the faint hearted...
Time Out Of Mind is a great album,it has 4 or 5 excellent/classic songs but imho it was possibly overrated slightly by the press although you will find others who prefer it to Love and Theft....certainly they represent his best back to back album releases for a very long time.
Dylan to me is without equal in popular music only recent disappointment is that his Spring UK tour is not taking in Scotland which explains why I have tickets for Paris and London.......
Oh and bye the way I think any reference to Dylan and drugs is lazy and shows an extreme lack of imagination regarding his work,that pretentious enough for ya?
Enjoy the music.

John,
Ah you can't kid a kidder but yes apparently the late 80's and early 90's saw Dylan on a bad alcohol trip.
I've actually seen Bob 8 times, all in Scotland-'89,'91x2,'95x3,'97 and 2000(I think these years are right but..)-as CFB points out his new band is excellent and 2000 was certainly the best show I've seen him give,the 91 first date was hilariously bad at times,he'd just put together a new band and well under rehearsed doesn't begin to describe it......Blowin'In The Wind I believe is a song about numerology (each verse has an actual real answer to Bob's questions i.e 7,13,2 etc.)if you add them all up it comes to 1941 the year Bob was born,so it could mean that actually Bob himself is the answer...Lay Lady Lay is probably about his pet chicken Lady and his desire for eggs,since the song is one of yearning we can never be really sure if it worked...of course you may have your own interpretations but they are unlikely to be as accurate are they?

RL/Jeff,
With respect RL not being able to grasp the fuss about Dylan is a little strange to me,I can understand you not liking his music but the reason for the fuss shouldn't be beyond you,simply he changed popular music forever,he took the form and completely re-invented it by using standard genres and remoulding them in a modern setting,he changed what a song can be and more than anything else he has challenged everybody's preconceptions about him through 5 decades,,he had so many idea's in his mid-60's classic triology that people are still using them today.
He's not perfect but he's still relevant today some 40 years later and nobody but nobody has even hinted about taking the popular songwriting form further than he has.
I love music and although there are classic artists I don't rate or like I try to find something positive in their music,it is much better to try to be positive about things.
I cannot believe there aren't Dylan songs you love.
Jeff-I can't agree although Dylan's voice went into severe decline in the late 80'searly 90's,he has now got a better grip of things.
Your vision of Dylan as a songwriter only,is only one aspect of his ability,he is a performing artist,constantly changing and challenging himself,it's a big part of what he is,to say he has no musical talent is a bit extreme,he had a fantastic voice in his younger days,not a fantastic technical ability but the type of voice that typifies what is best about rock music-an alien howl echoing through the banality of modern life-could anybody really have presented Like A Rolling Stone any better than Dylan?
I think not.