Bob Dylan: Technology Sucks
unlascivious
220 Posts
Bob Dylan says the quality of modern recordings is "atrocious," and even the songs on his new album sounded much better in the studio than on disc."I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past 20 years, really," the 65-year-old rocker said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.Dylan, who released eight studio albums in the past two decades, returns with his first recording in five years, Modern Times, next Tuesday.Noting the music industry's complaints that illegal downloading means people are getting their music for free, he said, "Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway.""You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them," he added. "There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like ... static."Dylan said he does his best to fight technology, but it's a losing battle."Even these songs probably sounded 10 times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."source:http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71636-0.html?tw=rss.index
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Respect due to Mr Zimmerman, but that quote perfectly illustrates the validity of his observations at this point.
and what's funnier...
1986 Knocked Out Loaded Columbia
1988 Down in the Groove Columbia
1989 Dylan & the Dead [live] Columbia
1989 Oh Mercy Columbia
1990 Under the Red Sky Columbia
1992 Good as I Been to You Columbia
1993 World Gone Wrong Columbia
1995 MTV Unplugged [live] Columbia
1997 Time Out of Mind Columbia
2001 Love and Theft Columbia
2003 Masked and Anonymous Sony
2006 Modern Times Columbia
"don't hate my latest 12 albums over the past 20 years because of their sound, hate them because of technology!"
is
I really like this album.
he's taking it to an extreme, but he has a point I
would think many of you agree with ... he's not
saying music sucks now, but that the sound
quality of albums released is terrible, and that the
sound of a CD is inferior to what records sounded like,
and I pretty much have to agree with him there...
Vinyl is still being pressed, no? And plenty of purists are still using analog recording techniques.
I love the way old records sound but I also like the way new records sound as well. Sound quality isn't what makes records amazing anyways. He's just a little gumpy.
sound quality matter much in enjoying a piece of music (PJ HARVEY "RID OF ME" anyone?)
google image search for gumpy turned up this
^^^^^Doesn't Brian Peppers have his eyes open in the orignal photo?
Yes, but that audiophile tirade against the ills of digital sound is still a bit tired. I've been listening to that speech from these old fogeys since the 80s. I'm sure we can all agree that the standards that came with the advent of the CD format are not optimal, but I'd rather deal with reality than sit in the corner and sulk over a sonic setback that is bound to be remedied one way or the other as time moves on, technology improves and standards change.
The digital format meant going a step down sound-wise, but I think its cultural and sociological impact must also be taken into consideration. The way we make, acquire and listen to music today is so much different than in the oooooold days (in a good way IMO), and I think this is just as important as the dissection of sound quality.
All those interested should check this article and find out how technology has helped to ruin the art of musical recording.
Imperfect Sound Forever
Word up!
The CD days are limited anyways, when ever the new standard drops (maybe within 5 years?) we will not be having this discussion. Sound will get better with time.
I'm not so sure that it's better. It's certainly easier, and it's opened the doors for a lot of people, but I don't think that the digital era has improved music. What I really think he's talking about is the tendancy to over-compress and limit cd's so that they just sound like a block of noise, or "static" as he puts it. I dunno, there's definately cd's in my shelf that hurt my ears after a while. Check any recent drum and bass for ridiculous levels of limiting. Maybe old Bob should rally against the Waves L2 instead of music?
LOL. DnB is the WORST for that, you can literally turn your amp off and listen to the record. SCREAMIN' HOT high-end is NAGL. There is no dynamics in most records these days. The worst part about this is that radio stations (big ones) compress these already squished to death tracks. That's not going to change any time soon though. Oldschool engineers kringe at the thought of compressing songs that much, but that's just the way it is now.
co-sign, and CDs are pressed (?) hotter and hotter every year to make it sound good on those horrible boomboxes.
His new album due next week is supposed to be really damn good. His tour this fall on the east coast is gonna be cool as well.
that said - I really don't quite understand what the hell he's talking about.
Sampling? Hip-hop? Without the digital era we would still be listening to the grateful dead. However, you point about compression is the real issue here. Compression just sucks when it's abused, you lose tonality, and space. Many contemporary releases don't take advantage of any active panning techniques.
As far as Bob Dylan goes: sucker.
Leonard Cohen is
One of you photoshop geniuses, please make this happen:
Oh, and as far as your actual comment:
Uh, yeah, if you can say one thing about Bob Dylan,
it's that he's a terrible songwriter ... right... um...
TRUE!
I been trying to find this open letter that Neil Young wrote about 5 years ago about how digital music sucks. It was so on point.
And when you diss Dylan, you diss yourself.
Well...
Those three are worth a listen IMO.
Oh Mercy and Time out of Mind are both excellent Daniel Lanois productions.
Love and Theft is the best of the three and one of his best records. We're talking about a different Dylan at this point. Forget about Blonde on Blonde, Desire etc. This is more like the Johnny Cash stuff that Rick Rubin produced. Haunting and rich.
While his recent records are spotty at best, when they are good, they are GREAT IMO.
And most of what he says in interviews is so on point. Try to find the footage of his recent interview with Ed Bradley.
Ed asks Dylan flat out how he wrote all the songs up through Blonde on Blonde. Dylan flatly says, "I don't know." and Bradley follows up, "Do you think you could do that again?" Daylan straight up says, "No."
I also like the Things Done Changed song from "Wonder Boys"
Seriously, he can say what ever the fuck he wants about music.
Without Dylan there is no Leonard Cohen.
On point.