thin silver sound like razor wire caught by the moon among the shadows -

for me Planet Waves forms a trilogy with BOTT and Street Legal
(much as i love Desire and The Rolling Thunder Tour - that whole things feels like a separate project)
the warm - giving way to angular chills - the darkness of night - a mess of mixed up confusion and a new voice - all common elements to his main seventies output.

the sensitive playing of the band - even when they're playing dirty - is hardly commented on in reviews, probably because it all sounds so casual.
but then so do the basement tapes.

the lyrics are fragments from a cagey autobiography of sorts and make this the nearest to Chronicles that Dylan has yet put down on vinyl.

Going Going Gone is a scarifying first look at the valley below and the liner notes and crude cover point the way for a new street suss Bob - while being nostalgic at the same time - the black and white reminds me of the famous Pocket editions of the Beat Poets especially Ginsberg.

And the songs! Forever Young is justly famous - as are Wedding Song and Dirge, twisted ballads with plenty of blood in their tracks.

But even the smaller pleasures - the humour of 'I swear you could make me sing' or the crack in his voice on Hazel 'dirty blonde hair - i wouldn't be ashamed to be seen with you, anywhere...'

Far more focused and alive than New Morning, this is great stuff and one of my most often listened to Bob albums.

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