Rough and Rowdy Ways

[stratmad]

As an afterthought, there is another indicator for relevance (apart from the praise of your peers, which he has got in abundance), and that is whether people will cover your songs.
This hasn't happened a lot yet, and many times he was involved in the recordings, so they're collaborations rather than covers.
My theory on why it's not happening a lot is not because the songs are bad or irrelevant, but simply because the guitar work is so out of this world that you can't possibly interpret it, make it your own in some way. BIA by Sinead O'Connor was maybe an exception, and there are 2 or 3 others, but in many songs it's the combination of the guitar and the vocals that is simply unique.
Same problem with Pink Floyd, Santana and the Eagles: you may copy the songs, and it might sound good, but you can't turn them into your own artistic creation, because the original just sits there like Mt Everest in the background.

[Robson]

BIA by Sinead O'Connor? I haven't heard.

[quizzaciously]

BIA by Sinead O'Connor? I haven't heard.

Probably he meant Joan Baez. Her version of "Brothers In Arms" is surreal since it completely lacks any guitar solos. It just doesn't make sense to me, it's like covering a song that's famous for harmonies and taking one voice out. It does sound fresh and people who couldn't care less about guitar love it, I'm obviously not a fan though. Gotta have at least some solos in Brothers.

[Rolo]

...but in many songs it's the combination of the guitar and the vocals that is simply unique.

Yes.
Funny because "feels wrong" when I see a band playing DS with a vocalist aparted to a guitar player.
Innovations or interpretations on covering  DS song is dangerous.

The character of MK is the main reason that i fell that DS will almost desappear in 20 years. Just because is so unique.

[quizzaciously]

Note that all around always stress out how "prolific" he is
 That's mainly about the numbers of songs, not the quality. It's not enough to write about anything that crosses your path or cranks your traktor like books, overheard remarks and stuff. It has to be applicable for the audience in one way or the other.

LE

I really don't know, man. I remember Bob Dylan coming to Russia with a show and it was some kind of a disaster... The majority of people here simply don't speak English and don't understand the lyrics that much, and without lyrics Bob is absolutely irrelevant I'm afraid. It's like watching a dubbed movie in a foreign country and trying to understand what's happening.

On the other hand, Mark toured Russia in 2001, 2005, and 2008 and cancelled his shows in 2013 (I'm sure he'd play there more if politics allowed) and had a success. His music is more universal, besides, as I've said he's a guitar player which brings another dimension to the audience. In fact, I first came to his show to hear a guitar player, not a songwriter.

What about these legendary artists with "first album of original material" in 10, 20 years? I usually listen to them once and say "meh". Mark, on the other hand, will always produce a song that you will love, doesn't matter if it's about goulash, a quality shoe or a crime, and it will be original. What about Sir Van Morrison? I don't know what happened to him, but he seems to produce 5 records a year and they are full of covers.

[quizzaciously]

...but in many songs it's the combination of the guitar and the vocals that is simply unique.

Yes.
Funny because "feels wrong" when I see a band playing DS with a vocalist aparted to a guitar player.
Innovations or interpretations on covering  DS song is dangerous.

The character of MK is the main reason that i fell that DS will almost desappear in 20 years. Just because is so unique.

I like how you said it's dangerous to cover a DS song. That's exactly a testament to the quality of the songs. Whenever you hear a cover of Mark's song, it is almost destined to have at least something that's out, especially something that doesn't have anything to do with singing and guitar playing, as people will concentrate on that. But what fails is all the rest, which requires unworldly attention to detail and an astronomical amount of taste.

I think uniqueness beats uniqueness in this case and the only chance to cover Mark's song properly is to be a unique and established artist yourself and do it in a completely different style than Mark's, or else it's way easier just to ((((attempt)))) to repeat what he's already done. And tribute bands have a hell of a bar trying to achieve, gotta respect those guys.

Speaking of disappearing, it's safe to say Mark has composed many songs that will never die, and as long as these songs are alive, there will always be a new audience discovering deep cuts as well, so I can't see DS fading into obscurity any time soon. Less popular, yes, like anything, but this band's legacy is written in stone like "Tunnel Of Love" lyrics in Newcastle.

[Pottel]

In the 80s, it was often said that Dire Straits was the biggest band in the world. I know, it's a journalistic slogan. But I buy it and I always liked these words.

Agree.
But honestly I can't think of many 80s _bands_ that were in the same league. There were a few superstars, Prince, Madonna, Jackson etc. And then there there were the great bands from the 70s that were still around, but some had split or reformed or whatever. In terms of bands, I think it was mainly Genesis (without Peter Gabriel), Pink Floyd (without Roger Waters) and the Police (split), at that level of success.
DS kept going, they appealed to a wider "pop" audience and to the music enthusiasts and guitar nerds, people of any age and class.
I read somewhere that almost every British household had a copy of BIA at the time. Quite a phenomenon, considering that MK never wanted to be a rock star.   

I know Dusty Springfield will hate me for saying this, but if you crank numbers DS was not the biggest band in the world at any point in time, it wasn't even the biggest band in the UK

With respect, I was there, BiA was EVERYWHERE.

But please, crank the numbers and tell me which band was bigger than DS in 1985.

same here.

[Pottel]

And back to the fantastic sound of Dylan's latest albums. I'm not sure it's really the studio that is to praise or to blame (although I agree that Shangri-La sounds great). I guess Dylan's team could record a fantastic-sounding album in British Grove. I'm not sure what they do differently, but they've definitely been on to something from Oh Mercy onwards. Production geniuses like Blake Mills or Daniel Lanois certainly played a role, but my favourite in terms of sound is Love and Theft, with no famous producer on board. It's a mistery to me ...

Mark's albums still sound much better than most other artists, but I agree that they don't sound as great as Dylan's.

after his last (AWESOME) collab with Lanois he produced ALL his albums himself, ..as JAck Frost

[quizzaciously]

And back to the fantastic sound of Dylan's latest albums. I'm not sure it's really the studio that is to praise or to blame (although I agree that Shangri-La sounds great). I guess Dylan's team could record a fantastic-sounding album in British Grove. I'm not sure what they do differently, but they've definitely been on to something from Oh Mercy onwards. Production geniuses like Blake Mills or Daniel Lanois certainly played a role, but my favourite in terms of sound is Love and Theft, with no famous producer on board. It's a mistery to me ...

Mark's albums still sound much better than most other artists, but I agree that they don't sound as great as Dylan's.

after his last (AWESOME) collab with Lanois he produced ALL his albums himself, ..as JAck Frost

Why pseudonym? I can of course google it, but interesting to hear a fan's viewpoint.

[Love Expresso]

https://talkinbobdylan.blogspot.com/2020/11/producing-bob-dylan.html?m=1

This is a great read.

LE

[stratmad]

BIA by Sinead O'Connor? I haven't heard.

Probably he meant Joan Baez. Her version of "Brothers In Arms" is surreal since it completely lacks any guitar solos. It just doesn't make sense to me, it's like covering a song that's famous for harmonies and taking one voice out. It does sound fresh and people who couldn't care less about guitar love it, I'm obviously not a fan though. Gotta have at least some solos in Brothers.

Of course it's Joan Baez! Sorry. There's a song called "up in arms" by Sinead O'Connor, but that's got nothing to do with.

I heard it when it came out, and I was shocked and somehow angry. I felt that she had no right to do that to the song ;-) Obviously, I was a stupid teenager, and had no clue who Joan Baez was either! 
It's just as Robson said: it's a whole different song without the guitar solos, so the artist created something new and unique. The same thing has happened with many Dylan songs, where the cover versions are far more famous than the more "boring" original (Mighty Quinn, Knocking On Heaven's Door...). A truly great song will stand the test, and become even better, until one day maybe it will turn into a traditional.

[Robson]

"It's just as Robson said..."

quizzaciously 

And he was probably more critical

[stratmad]

"It's just as Robson said..."

quizzaciously 

And he was probably more critical

Sorry!
In fact, I don't much like the Baez version either. But she's a great singer, of course.
And she dated Bob Dylan for while, which brings us back to the original topic! 

[Robson]

"It's just as Robson said..."

quizzaciously 

And he was probably more critical

Sorry!
In fact, I don't much like the Baez version either. But she's a great singer, of course.
And she dated Bob Dylan for while, which brings us back to the original topic! 

A clever combination 

[Chris W]

https://youtu.be/KLO3_ggRnoU?si=fEzUwgqFe4Owa7WX