I'll always thank the Lord
When my working day is through
I get my sweet reward
To be alone with you
1. Girl from the North Country (3:44) [featuring Johnny Cash]
2. Nashville Skyline Rag (3:14)
3. To Be Alone With You (2:10)
4. I Threw It All Away (2:26)
5. Peggy Day (2:05)
6. Lay Lady Lay (3:21)
7. One More Night (2:25)
8. Tell Me That It Isn't True (2:43)
9. Country Pie (1:39)
10. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You (3:23)
Bob Dylan's followup to the barebones, countryish John Wesley Harding was the even more countryish, lightweight Nashville Skyline. Immediately Bob's voice grabs the listener. He sings with a honey sweet tone, a radical departure from the nasal whine and sneer he was famous for during much of the 60s.
The album itself is a very pleasant country rock hybrid. The songs are short and sweet, the whole album clocks in under 30 minutes, and Johnny Cash duets with Bob on the first track. There may not be many "classics" here in the conventional sense, but the songs are consistently very good. 'Lay Lady Lay' has made it onto many of Bob's greatest hits collections. Most of the rest of the songs, save the instrumental and 'Peggy Day,' have gotten consistent play from Bob throughout his live tours. 'I Threw It All Away' and 'Lay Lady Lay' both appeared at the Isle of Wight festival in 1969 and on the Hard Rain album of 1976, with 'Lay Lady Lay' also appearing on 1974's Before The Flood. Many of the other songs would come and go in Bob's "Never Ending Tour" Setlists.
It is a tough album to compare to the rest of his catalogue. The song lyrics are simple and straightforward love songs. Gone is the Biblical language and fables as heard on John Wesley Harding, and way gone is the dense surrealism Bob made famous in the mid 60s. All this coming after a rare year off in 1968 (Bob recorded at least one album, sometimes two, every year from 1962 through 1967). But the delay is not without good reason: Bob was in a serious motorcycle accident in 1967, then he recorded 'The Basement Tapes' with The Band, which wouldn't be officially released for years to come.
So its not complicated, but that doesn't mean it's not good. These are great country rock songs performed by professionals (the studio musicians are thankfully given a bit more to do than on John Wesley Harding - an intro here, a fill there). Bob's voice may shock at first, but its much easier on the Dylan novice than ever before. He sounds ... normal. In a career that suddenly began taking a number of left turns, this is one of the most successful.
Rating: 9/10 ********* / **********
Best 3 song run: Lay Lady Lay - One More Night - Tell Me That It Isn't True
Song I'm most likely to skip: None. The album is 27 minutes!
Song Tiers:
A: Lay Lady Lay, Girl of the North Country
A-: To Be Alone With You, I Threw It All Away, One More Night, Tell Me That It Isn't True
B+: Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You, Country Pie
B-: Peggy Day
C+: Nashville Skyline Rag
