Nashville Skyline

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Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 26:42

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Douglas Wolk

eMusic Contributor

Douglas Wolk writes about pop music and comic books for Time, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired and elsewhere. He's the author of Reading Comics: How Gra...more »

06.30.09
Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline
1985 | Label: Columbia

Dylan is nothing if not a contrarian, and his reaction to the late-'60s audience that expected visionary rock poetry from him was to become a lightweight country singer with moon-June rhymes and a clear, crooning tenor voice. There's even an acoustic duet with Johnny Cash up front as a sort of "who, me? A rock star? Surely you must be thinking of someone else" gesture. The punch line is that Dylan's kind of terrific at lightweight country: "Lay, Lady, Lay" became one of his biggest hits, and a few other tracks, especially "I Threw It All Away," achieve the kind of profound simplicity he's always sought out in other people's songs.

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Underrated effort

banomassa

Dylan can sing when he wants and this record proves it. I always believed this one was underrated because it wasn't "Dylan" enough for people. But when has Dylan not been Dylan. Kind of a dumb statement, my friend always thought it didn't live up to the classic albums of his catalog but this is a phenomenal outing, you have to love Nashville Skyline Rag. Just another color in Dylan's spectrum.

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Dylan...just Dylan

OldMess

This is Dylan and his 'Dylan' best. Lyrics, music, melody, humor and just Dylan...

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Dylan's other side revealed

Glennd

Tempted to harshly criticize Emusic's outrageous "credit's " used policy and lack of relevant music but I won't. Instead I enjoy Dylan, Nashville Skyline in particular. Nashville Skyline Rag demonstrates that the man is also quite a picker. A reat treat for Dylan fan's

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The most accessible Dylan

mommax2

This is probably the easiest Dylan album to listen to from start to finish. This is always a go to for me on long drives. Everyone knows Lay Lady Lay, but check out Tonight I'll be Staying Here With You.

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Easy listening--in a good way!

EMUSIC-01CEA5D0

This is a good intro to BDylan for people who don't "get" Dylan--it's more melodic, and with less of the stripped down instrumentation that mainstream listeners find irritating.

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One of my favorite dylan albums

jdubya

Sometimes I don't want to spend a day listening to a good Bob Dylan song. The songs on this album are most all short and fun. Getting this album isn't just a way to get Lay Lady Lay. Get the whole thing and enjoy it. No problems.

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0ef74ce7845c377affe4f49ace653766

Icon: Bob Dylan

By Douglas Wolk

Bob Dylan didn't get to be the greatest living songwriter by repeating himself. He's reinvented his style and technique with nearly every record he's made in the course of his half-century career; he's been the political spitfire of The Times They Are A-Changin', the mysterious joker of The Basement Tapes, the domestic ruminator of New Morning, the indignant holy roller of Slow Train Coming, the aging Romeo of Time Out of Mind. The only constants… more »

They Say All Media Guide

John Wesley Harding suggested country with its textures and structures, but Nashville Skyline was a full-fledged country album, complete with steel guitars and brief, direct songs. It’s a warm, friendly album, particularly since Bob Dylan is singing in a previously unheard gentle croon — the sound of his voice is so different it may be disarming upon first listen, but it suits the songs. While there are a handful of lightweight numbers on the record, at its core are several excellent songs — “Lay Lady Lay,” “To Be Alone With You,” “I Threw It All Away,” “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,” as well as a duet with Johnny Cash on “Girl From the North Country” — that have become country-rock standards. And there’s no discounting that Nashville Skyline, arriving in the spring of 1969, established country-rock as a vital force in pop music, as well as a commercially viable genre. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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