Album: Planet Waves
Recorded: November 1973
Released: January 1974
Songs / length: 11 / 42:12
1974 opened with Dylan back touring with The Band, after seven long years apart. At the same time, their reunion marked a deterioration in Dylan's relationship with his wife Sara and an end to his long period of relative domesticity. Pulling some of the strings in the background was David Geffen, head of the Asylum label, who eyed the huge commercial potential of getting Robbie Robertson and The Band back recording and touring with Dylan. In autumn 1973, they all reconvened in Malibu to see if they could rediscover their old Big Pink magic. Satisfied with the results, Dylan then flew to New York to write some songs for the new album and flew back to LA to start recording with The Band. Never Say Goodbye was the first cut that made the album, and it finds Dylan on sparkling form, backed by the magnificent ensemble playing of The Band.
Another favourites of mine is Dirge, with Dylan's vocals again impassioned and this time more firmly at the front of mix, indicating a renewed confidence in his songwriting. Other highlights are Hazel, The Wedding Song and of course Forever Young, especially the slow version. Few songs actually have what I could only describe as a holy quality, giving them the sound of a blessing or a prayer. I try not to overplay Forever Young, but sometimes when it comes on somewhere by surprise, it has the power to move me to tears.
It's a shame that Nobody Cept You didn't make the final cut for the album, as it would have been a worthy replacement for some of the more pedestrian tracks, like On A Night Like This. For me, the album is a bit of an underrated gem, but its main flaw is that Dylan didn't give himself enough time to write the breadth of songs that could have made it a classic. It was more a last-minute venture before the main event, which was the tour in 1974.
That tour is forever preserved in the double live album Before The Flood, which contains a heady mix of classic songs from The Band's and Dylan's canon, but very little early 70s material. Perhaps both parties knew that Planet Waves wasn't quite up to their old standards, but a necessary project to get the creative juices flowing again. What followed for them both – Dylan with Blood On The Tracks and The Band with Northern Lights, Southern Cross – gives credence to that theory.
Album rating: B-
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