Dylan at Work

More Blood, More Tracks is a revelation.

The limited edition boxed set invites us to  follow the evolution of a masterpiece — Blood on the Tracks — from the first tracks Dylan recorded with just his guitar and harmonica in New York to those he laid down with a rollicking band in Minneapolis three months later.

The six discs in this remarkable collection include, in chronological order, all 87 takes that have survived (82 from New York and five from Minneapolis).

Along the way we get to witness the many ways in which Dylan experimented with the pacing and phrasing of each song — the results often brilliant but in different ways.

The New York sessions ended in what everyone thought was a finished album — indeed copies were circulated to reviewers — but Dylan was having second thoughts. Rightly so, as it turned out. The five tracks from Minneapolis, essentially recorded live in the studio at the end of 1974, boost the energy level of the whole enterprise.

Without them, Blood on the Tracks would still be a great album, but not the masterpiece it became. 

The delay also gave Dylan time to further refine his lyrics. Consider, for example, "If You See Her, Say Hello."

In New York, he sings: "I knew it had to be that way. It was written in the cards. But the bitter taste still lingers on. It all came down so hard."

On the final version, he sings: "Whatever makes her happy, I won't stand in the way, though the bitter taste still lingers on from the night I tried to make her stay."

Much better, right?

Desire Lines

This album is magical. 

It reminds me of how I felt when my heart was new. 

Every track is a gem.

"Troublemaker" and "Do It Again" are especially infectious. 

Check it out. You won't be sorry.

Wrecking Ball

Too often we seem to confuse patriotism with a willingness to wage war.

In his new album, Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen shares a more nuanced vision.

Consider the first track, "We Take Care of Our Own." Fierce national pride is evident in the chorus, "Wherever this flag is flown/We take care of our own." Yet the rest of the song and the album add up to a stinging indictment of how far we are from that ideal.

Remember "Born in the U.S.A."? This one is a lot like that. Pride and bitterness in equal measures.

Make no mistake, the songs on Wrecking Ball have a lot of fight in them. A lot of fight and a lot of longing for what our country could be.

It's a sad and angry album for a sad and angry time.

Far Away

For a number of years now, I've been following the progress of Eye Talk as it has evolved from rock band to something harder to define.

In its current form the group has pared down to its two core members, brothers Alan and Bob Clark. Older brother Alan has always been the driving force behind Eye Talk, writing nearly all of the songs, singing and playing lead guitar, but lately he's been encouraging his bass-playing brother to write more.

As a result, their latest release, Far Away, features five songs from each brother — and represents their most accomplished and compelling work to date.

Here are a few short samples, with each singing lead on his own songs:

• Where do we go from here? (Alan Clark)

• One more chance (Bob Clark)

• Until now (Bob Clark)

• Whole lives before us (Alan Clark)

That last one always get to me.

Memory Aids

I can't believe how bad my memory is. With the help of my wife (and the ticket stubs she saves), I now realize I forgot to include more than a dozen artists on my list of concerts seen. When you see the names, you'll understand just how forgetful I've become:

The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Chris Isaak, B.B. King, Little Feat, John Lee Hooker, Lucinda Williams, Eddie Money, Santana, the Grateful Dead, the Chieftains, Big Country, Stevie Nicks, the Association, the Grass Roots, Sara McLachlan, Joan Osbourne, Paula Cole, Jewel, Mike Scott, the Uninvited, the San Francisco Symphony, and, not long ago, Vieux Farka Toure.