Nashville Skyline

 

Bob goes gentle, and country, and Can Sing.  The voice he has adopted at any point seems to be the one he specifically chose.  Here his voice is sweet, pitched higher and is really rather beautiful.  There are many things you can say about his singing later, but "sweet" is not one of them.

Lovely start with the duet with Johnny Cash, as ragged and wonky as it is.  Shame they never did more.

Very accessible songs, much more straightforward than ever before.  Perhaps some are disappointed by that: I really like the fact he can do anything with a lyric. Pop, surrealism, proto-rap/talking blues: that's why he is really growing on me.

I don't think this is my favourite album, but it's really easy on the ear in a good way.  And the standouts for me are Girl From The North Country and the hugely emotional I Threw It All Away.

Glad to hear there's still the odd slightly out-of-tune guitar!