Thursday, August 23, 2012: Bob Dylan - Jokerman

In 1988, the Beach Boys had a #1 hit with the song Kokomo.  It was The Beach Boys' first #1 hit in the United States since "Good Vibrations" in 1966.

And that was the thing, see.  I doubt anyone had ever expected The Beach Boys to have any other #1 hits. Ever.  Especially since 20+ years had passed since their last #1.  The best of their catalog was way back in the 1960's.  Their songs were classic.  But Classic = Old.  You got the feeling like they were the very definition of the term Resting On Your Laurels.

The 80's were like that.  Growing up in the 80's, you got the impression that, unless you were very into computers, the best things to ever happen to the world had already happened.  Way back when.  The 1940's, the 1950's (very popular in the 1980's), and the 1960's were all held up as those golden years, those halcyon days, the best of days.  I think Bob Dylan wrestled with a large portion of that sentiment.

Like the Beach Boys, the conventional wisdom was that all his best stuff happened in the 60's.  He, and his generation, helped change the world.  The answers just simply blew in the wind, back then.  His songs were the soundtrack to the evolution and revolution of those turbulent times.  A beautiful encapsulation of those powerful days.  Then the 70's rolled around.  As Jim Morrison famously sang, "Let's change the mood from glad to sadness." No lyric better describes that transition between those decades.  Dylan was full electric by then, and becoming less and less relevant.  Oh, he still had a couple of classic albums in him, Blood On The Tracks for instance.  But it was no Blonde On Blonde.  And everyone knew it.

In the late Seventies, Dylan found religion and sang about it for a couple of albums, Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980).  Both have great moments, but aren't necessarily great albums.  1981's Shot Of Love marks his transition from being a "Christian" artist to going back to just being an artist.  It was a lackluster effort, and hardly anyone remembers it.  Then, in October 1983, he released his 22nd studio album Infidels.

Produced mostly by Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, Infidels isn't a great album compared with the traditional Bob Dylan Canon. It, too, is no Blonde On Blonde. But, away from those impossible comparisons, Infidels is, on it's own, a very good album. It is also a fantastically underrated album. And, compared to anything else released in 1983, it is an album that has aged magnificently well.

Listen to Jokerman, then go listen to anything else released that year.  The soundtrack for Flashdance, for instance, or Mental Health by Quiet Riot, or Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie.  Can you listen to those albums and not think of pastel colors, Nagel prints and neon light fixtures of palm trees?  I thought not.

Infidels, and specifically Jokerman, needs to start seeping, slowly, into the Canon.  If the Canon isn't already closed.