I think I'm missing two Bob Dylan studio albums. Saved, his ultra religious born again album of the early 80's and Down In The Groove from 1986, which by most accounts is among his very worst. The news of a brand new Dylan record on the heals of a career renaissance consisting of two excellent studio albums (1997's Time Out Of Mind and 2001's Love and Theft), a recent above average album (2006's Modern Times) and an amazing collection of unreleased recordings from the last 20 years (last year's Tell Tale Signs) is incredibly exciting. And it's prompted me to look back at a Dylan album I may have overlooked.
1985's Empire Burlesque gets some occasional high marks from some Dylan fanatics who frequent message boards. The album is the follow up to 1983's Infidels, which along with 1989's Oh Mercy seem to get all the high praise for being worthwhile Dylan albums of the 1980's. But Allmusic gives Empire Burlesque a 4 star review, and the original Rolling Stone review by Kurt Loder is quite positive. I have a copy of it on vinyl that I only listened to once all the way through, if that, and at least ten years have passed. I thought about digging for it, but it's just as easy to download a copy as it is to weed through the vinyl buried somewhere in the deep recesses of my closet.
The production is hard to get past. This is 1980's modern production techniques at its worst. Female background singers in the foreground. Synth drums. Processed guitars and vocals. It seems like everything that is vital about the recordings are pushed to the background, with all of the inorganic touches and flourishes brought to the forefront. "When The Night Comes Falling From the Sky" sounds like it could have been recorded for Miami Vice.
The album feels upbeat by Dylan standards, and he's singing in his high register, which is something he's rarely done on his three comeback albums. There isn't much weight to the lyrics. He seems concerned with vague personal issues, which is a far cry from the politics of the previous record. But his voice works well within the disco beats and snappy trumpets on songs like "Seeing The Real You At Last." The opening song, "Tight Connection To My Heart" is catchy and memorable, but ultimately empty. The background vocals seem to devour the song and strip it off any power it might have. "Clean Cut Kid" hints at some lyrical brilliance and provides a solid rock song that might have had some real staying power had the recording not been so cluttered. But it's nice to hear Dylan cutting loose.
The slower songs work better here. "I'll Remember You" and "Emotionally Yours" are straight forward songs, and it's hard to not to read too much into Dylan's lyrics and think about the biographical object of his affections. Still, there's something so pedestrian about the songs. Like Dylan owed his record label an album went to work to write songs the way any mortal would, and it's a far cry from any of his classic albums, or even Infidels, the album that preceded it. The rhymes are predictable. The lyrics are simplistic. And a sound that is so unlike Dylan. Yet there is something quite likable about it.
Apparently these tracks were originally produced by Dylan. It's hard to fathom him adding all of the studio glitz, and if some of the demo tracks that surfaced on The Bootleg Series are any indication, the blame can be put solely on the producer, Arthur Baker. Ron Wood played on a couple tracks and has said that Dylan seemed removed from the recording process. What makes the record so fascinating is what makes any Dylan album fascinating. That it came from the same guy who brought us all of those amazing records. This time it's as if the producer thought he could get Bob Dylan on top 40 radio. As for Bob, Ron Wood seems to say that he walked away after recording the basic tracks. It sure sounds like it.
There is one song on here that really does Dylan justice. Featuring little effects, just Dylan, his guitar and harmonica, with his voice dead center, "Dark Eyes" is the clear standout on the record, and makes the album worth discovering.
The very last song on the album, it instantly reminds me of other Dylan classics that close out his albums. "Highlands" comes to mind because that song strips away the Daniel Lanios' production (although way less intrusive) of Time Out Of Mind the same way this one strips away Arthur Baker's and leaves us with unadorned Dylan at his best. The fact that it comes at the end of such an overproduced record makes it stand out even more.
It works as a nice fan-created (but abridged) tribute to George Harrison too.
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