Random
Threefer
The Rumpus has a long interview with Paula Fox.
Okay, this one’s actually two, but I stole them both from Bookslut, and “fourfer” sounds stupid. Therefore, (2a) everybody’s homeboy (that is, Bookslut’s and ours) Michael Schaub is interviewed at Willamette Week. (2b) Anarchist news dot org has an interview with Eric Hazan of La Fabrique, the French publisher of The Coming Insurrection, which I have read a lot about and plan to own by the end of the day today.
Question: What is the reason for the resurrection of the communist idea?
Eric Hazan: People feel that there is no longer a choice between the Right and the Left, but between ways of getting out of capitalism. That’s the key question. If it remains in the domain of ideas, one can only go round in circles. For me, thinking about communism isn’t heading towards a political organization, but towards practical reflections.
And finally, the other day I was trilling about having finally received my copy of The Axioms of Religion in the mail. What I did not understand was that the 1977 edition, attributed to Hobbes and Mullins, is not in fact Mullins’s original work as edited by Hobbes, but is rather a wholesale revision by Hobbes of the original work. As such, he rightly credits himself as the primary author, and it’s not clear where and to what extent he is quoting or paraphrasing Mullins, whose writing is the actual locus of my interest. Also, after reading the intro and the first chapter, it’s clear to me that Hobbes is an incredibly annoying–though basically well-meaning, and only unintentionally racist– propagandist for his own weird notion of the Baptist cause. His edition, published during the (brief) heyday of the Carter administration, is basically designed as a primer to introduce the Baptist faith to a general American audience that, at the time, apparently needed a documentary special to explain what it was to be “born again” after Carter declared himself so. What a difference a generation makes! Yikes. Anyway, I want to read the real, original Axioms of Religion by E.Y. Mullins, which has apparently been out of print since 1908. HELLO INTERNET ARCHIVE. THANK YOU PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. I recommend the B&W pdf version, which is easier to load than the full-color one, and all you really lose is the yellowness of the scanned pages. Very, very excited to start reading this. Soul competency, here I come!
PS- As long as we’re all careening toward some weird conversionary episode, Mathias Svalina and I were talking the other day about Xian-era Bob Dylan. I was talking about listening somewhat obsessively to Shot of Love but he said the real action is on Saved. They’re both pretty amazing records. Have you ever seen the original cover art for Saved? It’s so hardcore that they actually switched it out after the first edition of the album, for this kind of crappy picture of BD playing live. But I still think Shot of Love would make a better poster.
Tags: bob dylan, E.Y. Mullins, Eric Hazan, Michael Schaub, Paula Fox
What does this all have to do with communism?
What does this all have to do with communism?
Click thru and see, DT.
Click thru and see, DT.
I love both of those Dylan albums–Shot of Love esp…
I love both of those Dylan albums–Shot of Love esp…
Yeah for sure. I think the playing and maybe the production on Saved is better. SoL, however, has some better songs- Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar, Every Grain of Sand, Heart of Mine, and of course Lenny Bruce, which has always seemed to me like a wonderful kind of anti-song, like he really strips it down and it’s kind of hard to listen to, but it feels like he is sacrificing the song itself to the memory of LB. The lyrics on Saved are more generic, he’s trading in a lot of tropes and well-grooved language, but I think it’s kind of understandable. His evangelical phase operates in a lot of ways like his folk-phase: he starts firmly ensconced in tradition, and then as he slowly builds toward the head of the tradition and then pushes it onward into originality, his compositions become more complex and even baroque. Evangelical Dylan could be understood to culminate in the sub-Blakean “Jokerman” on Infidels. Thinking about it in that way, it’s hard not to wonder if the current blues-focused Dylan is perhaps engaged in yet another iteration of this cycle.
Yeah for sure. I think the playing and maybe the production on Saved is better. SoL, however, has some better songs- Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar, Every Grain of Sand, Heart of Mine, and of course Lenny Bruce, which has always seemed to me like a wonderful kind of anti-song, like he really strips it down and it’s kind of hard to listen to, but it feels like he is sacrificing the song itself to the memory of LB. The lyrics on Saved are more generic, he’s trading in a lot of tropes and well-grooved language, but I think it’s kind of understandable. His evangelical phase operates in a lot of ways like his folk-phase: he starts firmly ensconced in tradition, and then as he slowly builds toward the head of the tradition and then pushes it onward into originality, his compositions become more complex and even baroque. Evangelical Dylan could be understood to culminate in the sub-Blakean “Jokerman” on Infidels. Thinking about it in that way, it’s hard not to wonder if the current blues-focused Dylan is perhaps engaged in yet another iteration of this cycle.
When you said baroque I thought of his live album at Budokan, which has really big arrangements with a big band. I thought that it was recorded around the time Saved came out, but I see on Wikipedia that Budokan was recorded before Slow Train Coming.
I like the way Shot of Love was recorded. There seems to be a lot more space between the instrumentation and his voice compared to Saved. Maybe that’s more having to do with how it was mixed. My iPod’s got a few songs from each of these albums (from Street Legal through Infidels) and they all work at the gym—esp Property of Jesus.
I agree with what you said about his reiteration of cycles. Made me think of this–“The course of serial narrative: primitive, classic, baroque, and decadent.” Dylan has cycled though his serial narrative a few times.
But he seemed very old in video of the White House gig a few weeks ago.
When you said baroque I thought of his live album at Budokan, which has really big arrangements with a big band. I thought that it was recorded around the time Saved came out, but I see on Wikipedia that Budokan was recorded before Slow Train Coming.
I like the way Shot of Love was recorded. There seems to be a lot more space between the instrumentation and his voice compared to Saved. Maybe that’s more having to do with how it was mixed. My iPod’s got a few songs from each of these albums (from Street Legal through Infidels) and they all work at the gym—esp Property of Jesus.
I agree with what you said about his reiteration of cycles. Made me think of this–“The course of serial narrative: primitive, classic, baroque, and decadent.” Dylan has cycled though his serial narrative a few times.
But he seemed very old in video of the White House gig a few weeks ago.
Saved, really? There are some amazing live boots from this gospel period, but that album has always left me cold. Something about the production. Maybe I need to revisit.
Was Groom on the original version of SoL? I thought that was added later after it appeared on some box set. Maybe I’m mistaking it for some of the other interesting outtakes from that period? I was always shocked that Dylan left Blind Willie McTell off Infidels despite (because of?) it being better than everything else on the album combined.
Saved, really? There are some amazing live boots from this gospel period, but that album has always left me cold. Something about the production. Maybe I need to revisit.
Was Groom on the original version of SoL? I thought that was added later after it appeared on some box set. Maybe I’m mistaking it for some of the other interesting outtakes from that period? I was always shocked that Dylan left Blind Willie McTell off Infidels despite (because of?) it being better than everything else on the album combined.
Yeah, Groom was added to later versions of the release. I love that song. It’s bananas.
Yeah, Groom was added to later versions of the release. I love that song. It’s bananas.
I agree – it’s an amazing tune.
I agree – it’s an amazing tune.
That M-Schaub interview is cool and funny. I read it on the train to work this morning. Yes, we have trains in Portland.
That M-Schaub interview is cool and funny. I read it on the train to work this morning. Yes, we have trains in Portland.
Yo, the bootleg concert versions of the material on “Shot of Love” and “Saved” are much better than the later album versions and pretty much the best thing Dylan’s ever done in sheer musical terms.
Check out this version of Solid Rock for instance.
Yo, the bootleg concert versions of the material on “Shot of Love” and “Saved” are much better than the later album versions and pretty much the best thing Dylan’s ever done in sheer musical terms.
Check out this version of Solid Rock for instance.
Sorry, I’m a bit evangelical about this subject. Here’s Paul Williams on the above performance :
“Hanging on to a Solid Rock”… just happens to have one of the finer bass-line hooks in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. (Comparable to “Daytripper,” but it rocks harder.) … The musical suspension of time after Dylan sings “I’m hanging on—” is awesome. And the intensity of the musical experience plays into the lyric content perfectly—there can be no doubt in the listener’s mind about the solidity of that rock, no question as to where all this energy is coming from. When he shouts “I won’t let go and I can’t let go!” he’s speaking for any one of us who ever believed in anything, and we just have to scream, “Right on!”
Sorry, I’m a bit evangelical about this subject. Here’s Paul Williams on the above performance :
“Hanging on to a Solid Rock”… just happens to have one of the finer bass-line hooks in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. (Comparable to “Daytripper,” but it rocks harder.) … The musical suspension of time after Dylan sings “I’m hanging on—” is awesome. And the intensity of the musical experience plays into the lyric content perfectly—there can be no doubt in the listener’s mind about the solidity of that rock, no question as to where all this energy is coming from. When he shouts “I won’t let go and I can’t let go!” he’s speaking for any one of us who ever believed in anything, and we just have to scream, “Right on!”
This is a Dylan phase that I basically ignored after being very turned off by Slow Train. Infidels is the record that sparked my Dylan interest anew.
This is a Dylan phase that I basically ignored after being very turned off by Slow Train. Infidels is the record that sparked my Dylan interest anew.