[Harp-L] Re: Dylan

["Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"That Dylan´s harp playing leaves something to be desired maybe even to his own ears could perhaps be surmised from the fact that he let Charlie McCoy play the (unchallenging) riff on, is it "Obviously five believers"? on "Blonde on blonde".
    At that point Dyland had been playing harp for at least eight years, I think.
    
  /Martin "

As Ron mentioned, Dylan hates overdubs, and that is probably the reason he had Charlie McCoy play on "Obviously 5 Believers".  The song was written to have vocals and harmonica at the same time, so it wasn't possible for Dylan to play the harp part himself.  Since McCoy was in the studio anyway to play bass, it made sense for him to play harp on this song.

By the way, I agree that Dylan's harp playing became progressively worse through the 60s.  However, I wouldn't say that his best overall material was on the self-titled debut album.  He came back in the mid-70s with some strong harp playing on Blood On the Tracks and Desire, and there are a small number of great harp solos from the 80s as well.  He played harp sparingly through the 90s and none at all on his 2001 album Love and Theft, but there is one fantastic harp solo on last year's Modern Times ("Spirit On the Water", well worth a dollar on iTunes), and he does occasionally play a great solo in his live concerts even now.  I saw him play an utterly fantastic harp solo during "Don't Think Twice" at Bonnaroo 2004.  So, I would say that his harp playing has been slowly sloping back upwards since the John Wesley Harding days.  (I cannot stand any of the harmonica on that album.  I think it's intentionally obnoxious.)

Jonathan Metts