Planet Waves
Encyclopedia
Planet Waves is singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan
's 14th studio album
, released by Asylum Records
(Island Records
in the UK) in January 1974.
Dylan is supported on the album by longtime collaborators The Band
, with whom he embarked on a major reunion tour following its release (documented on the live album Before the Flood
.) With a successful tour and a host of publicity, Planet Waves was a hit, enjoying a brief stay at #1 on the US Billboard charts
- a first for the artist - and #7 in the UK. Critics were not negative, as they had been with some recent Bob Dylan albums (namely Self Portrait
and Dylan), but still not enthusiastic for the album's brand of laid-back roots rock
.
The album was originally set to be titled Ceremonies Of The Horsemen, a reference to the song "Love Minus Zero/No Limit
", from the 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home
; the release was delayed two weeks when Dylan decided to change the title at the last minute.
, lead guitarist of The Band, relocated to Malibu, California, not far from Dylan's residence. According to Robertson, the idea of collaborating with Dylan evolved from a conversation that took place sometime after July 28, when The Band played to hundreds of thousands of people at Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
in upstate New York. After much discussion about that experience, the idea of touring again "seemed to really make sense," says Robertson. "It was a good idea, a kind of step into the past...The other guys in the Band came out [to Malibu] and we went right to work."
Dylan had not toured since 1966, when The Band accompanied him as The Hawks. Since then, he had played with The Band on a number of occasions, including a New Year's concert in 1971/1972; that was the last time Dylan had played with The Band, and it was warmly received by the audience. When Dylan joined The Band for a test run at Robertson's home in September 1973, he was satisfied by the results, enough to proceed with touring plans.
"We sat down and played for four hours and ran over an incredible number of tunes," recalls Robertson. "Bob would ask us to play certain tunes of ours, and then we would do the same, then we'd think of some that we would particularly like to do."
Dylan left for New York
in October to compose new material for album sessions scheduled in November. Dylan already had three songs ("Forever Young," "Nobody 'Cept You," and "Never Say Goodbye") which he had demoed in June, and when he returned to Malibu after twenty days in New York, he had six more.
On Friday, November 2, Dylan and The Band held a session at Village Recorder Studio A in Los Angeles
, California. Engineer Rob Fraboni
recalls the proceedings as fairly relaxed and informal, an opportunity "to get set up and to get a feel for the studio." Drummer Levon Helm
was not even present, as he was still in transit, on his way to Los Angeles from the East Coast. Nevertheless, the session was devoted to all three songs demoed in June, and Dylan and The Band succeeded in recording complete takes of "Forever Young" and "Nobody 'Cept You" as well as the master take for "Never Say Goodbye."
When Dylan and The Band reconvened at Village Recorder the following Monday, with Levon Helm now present, they made another attempt at "Nobody 'Cept You." Robertson abandoned the wah-wah pedal used during the November 2 session, and a satisfactory take was completed and marked for possible inclusion. Master takes for "You Angel You" and "Going, Going, Gone" were also completed.
"Forever Young" occupied a portion of the Monday session, and the results would not meet Dylan's satisfaction. He would return to it for three more sessions, as it would prove to be the most difficult song to record.
The next day, on November 6, Dylan and The Band recorded master takes for three more songs: "Hazel," "Something There Is About You," and "Tough Mama."
They reconvened two days later, on November 8, performing three takes of "Going, Going, Gone" before recording "On A Night Like This." Attempts at the former would not replace the master take from the 5th, but a master take of the latter was successfully recorded. The session would then end with "Forever Young."
After several false starts, Dylan and The Band executed what would ultimately be one of two master takes for "Forever Young." However, Dylan nearly rejected the performance after hearing some disparaging criticism from one particular visitor.
"We only did one [complete] take of the slow version of 'Forever Young,'" recalls Fraboni. "This take was so riveting, it was so powerful, so immediate, I couldn't get over it. When everyone came in nobody really said anything. I rewound the tape and played it back and everybody listened to it from beginning to end and then when it was over everybody sort of just wandered out of the room. There was no outward discussion. Everybody just left. There was just [a friend] and I sitting there. I was so overwhelmed I said, 'Let's go for a walk.' We went for a walk and came back and I said, 'Let's go listen to that again.' We were like one minute or two into it, I was so mesmerized by it again I didn't even notice that Bob had come into the room...So when we were assembling the master reel I was getting ready to put that [take] on the master reel. I didn't even ask. And Bob said, 'What're you doing with that? We're not gonna use that.' And I jumped up and said, 'What do you mean you're not gonna use that? You're crazy! Why?' Well,...during the recording...[Dylan's childhood friend] Lou Kemp and this girl came by and she had made a crack to him, 'C'mon, Bob, what! Are you getting mushy in your old age?' It was based on her comment that he wanted to leave [that version] off the record."
Fraboni would defend the recording, and when he refused to relent, Dylan reconsidered and allowed him to include it on the album. Fraboni also convinced Dylan to do his first vocal overdubs for the album. (While The Band had three regular vocalists in Richard Manuel
, Rick Danko
, and Helm, none of them sing on the album.)
On November 9, Dylan held what he intended to be the final session for the album. From Fraboni's perspective, Dylan already had a perfect take of "Forever Young" from the previous day, but Dylan still attempted a different, acoustic arrangement, which was ultimately rejected. Dylan would tell Fraboni that afternoon, "I been carrying this song around in my head for five years and I never wrote it down and now I come to record it I just can't decide how to do it."
The last song recorded on the 9th was a new composition titled "Wedding Song," which Dylan had completed over the course of the sessions. "Nobody 'Cept You" was originally planned as the album's closing number, but without a satisfactory performance, it would be omitted and replaced by "Wedding Song."
Though there was enough material to fill an album, Dylan decided to hold one more session. On the 14th, The Band was called back to record two songs. The first was another arrangement of "Forever Young," this time with Helm on mandolin and Danko on fiddle. This new version of "Forever Young" would create the second of two master takes for the song, and both of them would be included on the album.
The second song recorded on the 14th was "Dirge" (or "Dirge For Martha" as it was marked on the tape box). "Bob went out and played the piano while we were mixing [the album]. All of a sudden, he came in and said, 'I'd like to try 'Dirge' on the piano.'...We put up a tape and he said to Robbie, 'Maybe you could play guitar on this.' They did it once, Bob playing piano and singing, and Robbie playing acoustic guitar. The second time was the take."
as "a spare but twisted collection of songs." As a whole, they deal with domestic themes with a few tracks seeming like straightforward love songs, particularly the opener "On A Night Like This" and "You Angel You" (which Dylan dismissed in 1985 as having "dummy lyrics"). However, as NPR
's Tim Riley notes, many of the songs take on darker overtones, with lyrics suggesting "death ('Dirge'), suicide ('Going, Going, Gone,' a song that doesn't toy around with the idea), and the brick wall that love collides with when possessiveness curdles into obsession (the overstated contradictions of 'Wedding Song')." Unlike the "settled-in homilies" of Nashville Skyline
and New Morning
, Planet Waves is "rounded out with more than one shade of romance: subterfuge, suspicion, self-hate ('Dirge,' 'Tough Mama'), and memory ('Something There Is About You') counter lighthearted celebration ('On A Night Like This')."
Many critics gave the performances on Planet Waves plenty of attention, perhaps more than the songs themselves. Dylan and The Band had performed on numerous occasions, most notably on tour in 1966 and during the "Basement Tapes" sessions of 1967, but at the time of Planet Waves release, very few of these performances were officially released.
"The Band's windup pitch to 'Going, Going, Gone' is a wonder of pinpoint ensemble playing," writes Riley. "Robertson makes his guitar entrance choke as if a noose had suddenly tightened around its neck, and you get the feeling these guys could shadow Dylan in their sleep." Riley also writes that "'Tough Mama' is the track that exemplifies the best playing on Planet Waves, and a pitch of writing that shows Dylan can still challenge himself." Clinton Heylin also singled out Dylan's performances, noting that "Tough Mama" featured "one of his raunchiest vocals".
Arguably the most celebrated song on Planet Waves, "Forever Young" was originally written for his children, and a demo recording from June 1973 (released on Biograph
in 1985) explicitly shows this. As described by Heylin, the song is "an attempt to write something hymnal and heartfelt that spoke of the father in him." Though two different versions were released on the album, most critics and listeners defer to the "beautiful slow waltz of a performance" recorded on November 8 as the primary recording.
"Dirge", "his most twisted song since the accident," writes Heylin, "represents a quite astonishing catharsis on Dylan's part. As the narrator expresses an underlying hatred for 'the need that was expressed' by her presence, he encapsulates all the ambivalence this popular artist felt for both muse and audience." Critics also singled out Dylan's piano playing in praising the recording. Some fans believe the song is attributed to his marriage with Sara Lownds that was ending.
The closing number on Planet Waves is "Wedding Song," and over the years, a number of critics have called it autobiographical. "It begins with the narrator attempting to convince his lady love that he loves her 'more than life itself,'" writes Heylin. "However, the focus begins to turn when he informs her, 'we can't regain what went down in the flood,' suggesting that their search for a new Eden was always doomed to failure. By the sixth verse we have come to the crux of the song—the singer's protestation that he does not wish 'to remake the world at large,' because he loves her 'more than all of that.'" Many critics have dismissed such claims of autobiographical content, making "Wedding Song" one of the more debated numbers on Planet Waves.
Of these outtakes only "House" and "Nobody" are known. The remaining four songs are not circulating in collector circles.
The one original song left on the cutting room floor was also one of the oldest. Originally demoed in June, "Nobody 'Cept You" was a simple, straightforward song where the narrator pledges his love and devotion to the object of his affection. Dylan had considered closing Planet Waves with "Nobody 'Cept You" before dropping it altogether. During the live tour with The Band, he performed it during his solo acoustic sets, and though it was dropped from the rotation after a few weeks, it was a concert highlight for many fans. A recording of "Nobody 'Cept You" taken from the Friday, November 2 session, was issued on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991
.
During the first session held on November 2, Dylan and the four present members of The Band jammed on an instrumental, titled "Crosswind Jamboree." They also covered the traditional folk standard, "House of the Rising Sun," which Dylan had recorded on his self-titled debut. Considering Fraboni's comments regarding the first session, it's possible both recordings were merely warm-ups.
Planet Waves would ship gold, topping Billboards album charts on the basis of advance orders, but by the end of 1974, it sold a modest 600,000 copies, selling only 100,000 units after those initial orders were made. The figures were a surprise considering the enormous success of the tour; it is estimated that $92 million worth of checks and money orders were sent in from roughly ten million ticket applicants.
The critical reception was generally positive, if a bit muted. The consensus was ultimately strong enough to secure Planet Waves at #18 on The Village Voice
s Pazz & Jop
Critics Poll for 1974. "In a time when all the most prestigious music, even what passes for funk, is coated with silicone grease, Dylan is telling us to take that grease and jam it," wrote critic Robert Christgau
. "Sure he's domestic, but his version of conjugal love is anything but smug, and this comes through in both the lyrics and the sound of the record itself. Blissful, sometimes, but sometimes it sounds like stray cat music - scrawny, cocky, and yowling up the stairs."
Ellen Willis of The New Yorker
wrote, "Planet Waves is unlike all other Dylan albums: it is openly personal...I think the subject of Planet Waves is what it appears to be—Dylan's aesthetic and practical dilemma, and his immense emotional debt to Sara."
Though most of Planet Waves was played on the tour (including a solo, acoustic rendition of the outtake, "Nobody 'Cept You"), as the tour progressed, songs from Planet Waves were removed from the setlist. By the end of the tour, only "Forever Young" would remain.
In the meantime, Dylan and The Band would professionally record many of the shows as they planned their next release. Only "Forever Young," "Hazel," and "Tough Mama" have been performed in recent years.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's 14th studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
, released by Asylum Records
Asylum Records
Asylum Records is an American record label founded in 1971 by David Geffen, and partner Elliot Roberts, who had previously worked as agents at the William Morris Agency. Founded specifically to provide a record contract for Jackson Browne, the label signed Tom Waits, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell...
(Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
in the UK) in January 1974.
Dylan is supported on the album by longtime collaborators The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, with whom he embarked on a major reunion tour following its release (documented on the live album Before the Flood
Before the Flood
Side threeSide four-Personnel:* Bob Dylan – vocal, guitars, harmonica, piano* Robbie Robertson – electric guitar, backing vocal* Richard Manuel – vocal, piano, electric piano, organ, drums* Garth Hudson – Lowrey organ, clavinet, piano, synthesizer, saxophone...
.) With a successful tour and a host of publicity, Planet Waves was a hit, enjoying a brief stay at #1 on the US Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
- a first for the artist - and #7 in the UK. Critics were not negative, as they had been with some recent Bob Dylan albums (namely Self Portrait
Self Portrait (Bob Dylan album)
Self Portrait is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's tenth studio album, released by Columbia Records in June 1970.Self Portrait was Dylan's second double album, and features mostly cover versions of well-known pop and folk songs. Also included are a handful of instrumentals and original compositions...
and Dylan), but still not enthusiastic for the album's brand of laid-back roots rock
Roots rock
Roots rock is a term now used to describe rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid sub-genres from the later 1960s including country rock and Southern rock, which have been seen as responses to the...
.
The album was originally set to be titled Ceremonies Of The Horsemen, a reference to the song "Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is a song written by Bob Dylan for his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home, released in 1965 . The song was originally written as a tribute to Dylan's future wife Sara Lowndes...
", from the 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home
Bringing It All Back Home
Bringing It All Back Home is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's fifth studio album, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. The album is divided into an electric and an acoustic side. On side one of the original LP, Dylan is backed by an electric rock and roll band - a move that further alienated...
; the release was delayed two weeks when Dylan decided to change the title at the last minute.
Artwork
The cover art is drawn by Dylan himself. Written on the right side of the cover image is the phrase, "Cast-iron songs & torch ballads," apparently signaling Dylan's own conception of the album. On the left side is written "Moonglow", which is sometimes interpreted as a subtitle. The initial release also included an insert which reportedly set out excerpts from Dylan's personal journals.Recording sessions
In the summer of 1973, Robbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, lead guitarist of The Band, relocated to Malibu, California, not far from Dylan's residence. According to Robertson, the idea of collaborating with Dylan evolved from a conversation that took place sometime after July 28, when The Band played to hundreds of thousands of people at Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen was a 1973 rock festival which once received the Guinness Book of World Records entry for "Largest audience at a pop festival." An estimated 600,000 rock fans came to the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceway outside of Watkins Glen, New York on July 28, 1973, to see The...
in upstate New York. After much discussion about that experience, the idea of touring again "seemed to really make sense," says Robertson. "It was a good idea, a kind of step into the past...The other guys in the Band came out [to Malibu] and we went right to work."
Dylan had not toured since 1966, when The Band accompanied him as The Hawks. Since then, he had played with The Band on a number of occasions, including a New Year's concert in 1971/1972; that was the last time Dylan had played with The Band, and it was warmly received by the audience. When Dylan joined The Band for a test run at Robertson's home in September 1973, he was satisfied by the results, enough to proceed with touring plans.
"We sat down and played for four hours and ran over an incredible number of tunes," recalls Robertson. "Bob would ask us to play certain tunes of ours, and then we would do the same, then we'd think of some that we would particularly like to do."
Dylan left for New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in October to compose new material for album sessions scheduled in November. Dylan already had three songs ("Forever Young," "Nobody 'Cept You," and "Never Say Goodbye") which he had demoed in June, and when he returned to Malibu after twenty days in New York, he had six more.
On Friday, November 2, Dylan and The Band held a session at Village Recorder Studio A in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California. Engineer Rob Fraboni
Rob Fraboni
Rob Fraboni is a California-born record producer and audio engineer well-known for his work with Bob Dylan, The Band, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Tim Hardin, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, and Bonnie Raitt, and as Vice President at Island Records where he remastered the entire Bob Marley catalog...
recalls the proceedings as fairly relaxed and informal, an opportunity "to get set up and to get a feel for the studio." Drummer Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
was not even present, as he was still in transit, on his way to Los Angeles from the East Coast. Nevertheless, the session was devoted to all three songs demoed in June, and Dylan and The Band succeeded in recording complete takes of "Forever Young" and "Nobody 'Cept You" as well as the master take for "Never Say Goodbye."
When Dylan and The Band reconvened at Village Recorder the following Monday, with Levon Helm now present, they made another attempt at "Nobody 'Cept You." Robertson abandoned the wah-wah pedal used during the November 2 session, and a satisfactory take was completed and marked for possible inclusion. Master takes for "You Angel You" and "Going, Going, Gone" were also completed.
"Forever Young" occupied a portion of the Monday session, and the results would not meet Dylan's satisfaction. He would return to it for three more sessions, as it would prove to be the most difficult song to record.
The next day, on November 6, Dylan and The Band recorded master takes for three more songs: "Hazel," "Something There Is About You," and "Tough Mama."
They reconvened two days later, on November 8, performing three takes of "Going, Going, Gone" before recording "On A Night Like This." Attempts at the former would not replace the master take from the 5th, but a master take of the latter was successfully recorded. The session would then end with "Forever Young."
After several false starts, Dylan and The Band executed what would ultimately be one of two master takes for "Forever Young." However, Dylan nearly rejected the performance after hearing some disparaging criticism from one particular visitor.
"We only did one [complete] take of the slow version of 'Forever Young,'" recalls Fraboni. "This take was so riveting, it was so powerful, so immediate, I couldn't get over it. When everyone came in nobody really said anything. I rewound the tape and played it back and everybody listened to it from beginning to end and then when it was over everybody sort of just wandered out of the room. There was no outward discussion. Everybody just left. There was just [a friend] and I sitting there. I was so overwhelmed I said, 'Let's go for a walk.' We went for a walk and came back and I said, 'Let's go listen to that again.' We were like one minute or two into it, I was so mesmerized by it again I didn't even notice that Bob had come into the room...So when we were assembling the master reel I was getting ready to put that [take] on the master reel. I didn't even ask. And Bob said, 'What're you doing with that? We're not gonna use that.' And I jumped up and said, 'What do you mean you're not gonna use that? You're crazy! Why?' Well,...during the recording...[Dylan's childhood friend] Lou Kemp and this girl came by and she had made a crack to him, 'C'mon, Bob, what! Are you getting mushy in your old age?' It was based on her comment that he wanted to leave [that version] off the record."
Fraboni would defend the recording, and when he refused to relent, Dylan reconsidered and allowed him to include it on the album. Fraboni also convinced Dylan to do his first vocal overdubs for the album. (While The Band had three regular vocalists in Richard Manuel
Richard Manuel
Richard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....
, Rick Danko
Rick Danko
Richard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
, and Helm, none of them sing on the album.)
On November 9, Dylan held what he intended to be the final session for the album. From Fraboni's perspective, Dylan already had a perfect take of "Forever Young" from the previous day, but Dylan still attempted a different, acoustic arrangement, which was ultimately rejected. Dylan would tell Fraboni that afternoon, "I been carrying this song around in my head for five years and I never wrote it down and now I come to record it I just can't decide how to do it."
The last song recorded on the 9th was a new composition titled "Wedding Song," which Dylan had completed over the course of the sessions. "Nobody 'Cept You" was originally planned as the album's closing number, but without a satisfactory performance, it would be omitted and replaced by "Wedding Song."
Though there was enough material to fill an album, Dylan decided to hold one more session. On the 14th, The Band was called back to record two songs. The first was another arrangement of "Forever Young," this time with Helm on mandolin and Danko on fiddle. This new version of "Forever Young" would create the second of two master takes for the song, and both of them would be included on the album.
The second song recorded on the 14th was "Dirge" (or "Dirge For Martha" as it was marked on the tape box). "Bob went out and played the piano while we were mixing [the album]. All of a sudden, he came in and said, 'I'd like to try 'Dirge' on the piano.'...We put up a tape and he said to Robbie, 'Maybe you could play guitar on this.' They did it once, Bob playing piano and singing, and Robbie playing acoustic guitar. The second time was the take."
Songs
Critic Bill Wyman described Planet Waves via Salon.comSalon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
as "a spare but twisted collection of songs." As a whole, they deal with domestic themes with a few tracks seeming like straightforward love songs, particularly the opener "On A Night Like This" and "You Angel You" (which Dylan dismissed in 1985 as having "dummy lyrics"). However, as NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Tim Riley notes, many of the songs take on darker overtones, with lyrics suggesting "death ('Dirge'), suicide ('Going, Going, Gone,' a song that doesn't toy around with the idea), and the brick wall that love collides with when possessiveness curdles into obsession (the overstated contradictions of 'Wedding Song')." Unlike the "settled-in homilies" of Nashville Skyline
Nashville Skyline
Nashville Skyline is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's ninth studio album, released by Columbia Records in April 1969.The album marked a dramatic departure for Dylan, previously known for his groundbreaking, poetic folk music and rock and roll...
and New Morning
New Morning
New Morning is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 11th studio album, released by Columbia Records in October 1970.Coming only four months after the controversial Self Portrait, the more concise and immediate New Morning won a much warmer reception from fans and critics. Most welcome was the return of...
, Planet Waves is "rounded out with more than one shade of romance: subterfuge, suspicion, self-hate ('Dirge,' 'Tough Mama'), and memory ('Something There Is About You') counter lighthearted celebration ('On A Night Like This')."
Many critics gave the performances on Planet Waves plenty of attention, perhaps more than the songs themselves. Dylan and The Band had performed on numerous occasions, most notably on tour in 1966 and during the "Basement Tapes" sessions of 1967, but at the time of Planet Waves release, very few of these performances were officially released.
"The Band's windup pitch to 'Going, Going, Gone' is a wonder of pinpoint ensemble playing," writes Riley. "Robertson makes his guitar entrance choke as if a noose had suddenly tightened around its neck, and you get the feeling these guys could shadow Dylan in their sleep." Riley also writes that "'Tough Mama' is the track that exemplifies the best playing on Planet Waves, and a pitch of writing that shows Dylan can still challenge himself." Clinton Heylin also singled out Dylan's performances, noting that "Tough Mama" featured "one of his raunchiest vocals".
Arguably the most celebrated song on Planet Waves, "Forever Young" was originally written for his children, and a demo recording from June 1973 (released on Biograph
Biograph (album)
Biograph is a 53-track compilation spanning the career of Bob Dylan, from his 1962 debut album to the 1981 LP Shot of Love. Released in 1985 by Columbia Records, on both a 5-LP and a 3-CD Box set, it was one of the earliest and most successful examples of the CD Box set...
in 1985) explicitly shows this. As described by Heylin, the song is "an attempt to write something hymnal and heartfelt that spoke of the father in him." Though two different versions were released on the album, most critics and listeners defer to the "beautiful slow waltz of a performance" recorded on November 8 as the primary recording.
"Dirge", "his most twisted song since the accident," writes Heylin, "represents a quite astonishing catharsis on Dylan's part. As the narrator expresses an underlying hatred for 'the need that was expressed' by her presence, he encapsulates all the ambivalence this popular artist felt for both muse and audience." Critics also singled out Dylan's piano playing in praising the recording. Some fans believe the song is attributed to his marriage with Sara Lownds that was ending.
The closing number on Planet Waves is "Wedding Song," and over the years, a number of critics have called it autobiographical. "It begins with the narrator attempting to convince his lady love that he loves her 'more than life itself,'" writes Heylin. "However, the focus begins to turn when he informs her, 'we can't regain what went down in the flood,' suggesting that their search for a new Eden was always doomed to failure. By the sixth verse we have come to the crux of the song—the singer's protestation that he does not wish 'to remake the world at large,' because he loves her 'more than all of that.'" Many critics have dismissed such claims of autobiographical content, making "Wedding Song" one of the more debated numbers on Planet Waves.
Outtakes
Like most Dylan albums, Planet Waves had a few outtakes, though not as many as some of his other albums. These are the known outtakes.- "Adalita"
- "Crosswind Jamboree"
- "House of the Rising Sun"
- "Nobody 'Cept You"
- "Short Jam"
- "Untitled Instrumental"
Of these outtakes only "House" and "Nobody" are known. The remaining four songs are not circulating in collector circles.
The one original song left on the cutting room floor was also one of the oldest. Originally demoed in June, "Nobody 'Cept You" was a simple, straightforward song where the narrator pledges his love and devotion to the object of his affection. Dylan had considered closing Planet Waves with "Nobody 'Cept You" before dropping it altogether. During the live tour with The Band, he performed it during his solo acoustic sets, and though it was dropped from the rotation after a few weeks, it was a concert highlight for many fans. A recording of "Nobody 'Cept You" taken from the Friday, November 2 session, was issued on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991
The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 is a compilation box set by Bob Dylan, issued on Columbia Records, catalogue C3K 86572. It is the first installment in the Dylan bootleg series, comprising material spanning the first three decades of his career, from 1961 to 1989...
.
During the first session held on November 2, Dylan and the four present members of The Band jammed on an instrumental, titled "Crosswind Jamboree." They also covered the traditional folk standard, "House of the Rising Sun," which Dylan had recorded on his self-titled debut. Considering Fraboni's comments regarding the first session, it's possible both recordings were merely warm-ups.
Aftermath
Planet Waves was Dylan's first 'proper' album in three and a half years. With a planned tour to follow (his first since 1966 and backed by the same band that supported him on that legendary tour), the media coverage was enormous. Asylum Records planned on releasing Planet Waves the same day the tour began, but an album title change (from Ceremonies of the Horsemen) and a last minute substitution in liner notes (also written by Dylan) pushed the release date back two weeks.Planet Waves would ship gold, topping Billboards album charts on the basis of advance orders, but by the end of 1974, it sold a modest 600,000 copies, selling only 100,000 units after those initial orders were made. The figures were a surprise considering the enormous success of the tour; it is estimated that $92 million worth of checks and money orders were sent in from roughly ten million ticket applicants.
The critical reception was generally positive, if a bit muted. The consensus was ultimately strong enough to secure Planet Waves at #18 on The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
s Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
Critics Poll for 1974. "In a time when all the most prestigious music, even what passes for funk, is coated with silicone grease, Dylan is telling us to take that grease and jam it," wrote critic Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
. "Sure he's domestic, but his version of conjugal love is anything but smug, and this comes through in both the lyrics and the sound of the record itself. Blissful, sometimes, but sometimes it sounds like stray cat music - scrawny, cocky, and yowling up the stairs."
Ellen Willis of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
wrote, "Planet Waves is unlike all other Dylan albums: it is openly personal...I think the subject of Planet Waves is what it appears to be—Dylan's aesthetic and practical dilemma, and his immense emotional debt to Sara."
Though most of Planet Waves was played on the tour (including a solo, acoustic rendition of the outtake, "Nobody 'Cept You"), as the tour progressed, songs from Planet Waves were removed from the setlist. By the end of the tour, only "Forever Young" would remain.
In the meantime, Dylan and The Band would professionally record many of the shows as they planned their next release. Only "Forever Young," "Hazel," and "Tough Mama" have been performed in recent years.
Track listing
Chart positions
| Year | Chart | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Billboard 200 | 1 |
| 1974 | Austria 40 | 4 |
Personnel
- Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, vocals - Robbie RobertsonRobbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
- guitars, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Garth HudsonGarth HudsonEric Garth Hudson is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist. As the organist, keyboardist and saxophonist for Canadian-American rock group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound...
- keyboards, organ, piano, accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, saxophones - Richard ManuelRichard ManuelRichard George Manuel was a Canadian composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his contributions to and membership in The Band....
- piano, keyboards, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Rick DankoRick DankoRichard Clare "Rick" Danko was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.-Early years :...
- bass, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello.... - Levon HelmLevon HelmMark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
- drums, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
Production personnel
- Rob Fraboni - producer, engineer
- Nat Jeffery - assistant engineer
- Robbie Robertson - special assistance
- David Gahr, Joel Bernstein - photography