Bob Dylan, what can you say about him that already hasn't been said. How about this:

Over-rated, senile old coot, whiny baby, disillusioned, angry, horrible vocalist (OK, I'm sure that's been said already), etc.

You get my drift. Let me step back for a bit and say that I do like a couple of Bob Dylan songs, and respect both his song writing ability and what he's done for music. That being said, all of the previous above comments are true, IMHO. Before anyone jumps down my throat regarding this, let me toss out a few Dylan quotes from a recent RS article:

“You listen to these modern records, they’re atrocious…there’s no definition…” - Bob Dylan

"I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really" - Bob Dylan

"Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway." - Dylan, on whether or not people should be able to download music for free.

"There’s no stature to it” - Dylan, commenting on the physical size of a compact disc.

Really Bob, is that all you've got? He goes on to note- like many an old crusty codger before him convinced that the world in his time was better and railing against the quality of today's recordings.

These are obviously all blanket statements, but I have a feeling old Bob really means it. I'd like to be sure he's speaking specifically about the "sonic quality" of the recordings and not the talent or song writing ability, but I'm not so sure. Of course Cd's have their limitations, that's hard to argue.

For example: A digital recording is actually just samples of real (analog) audio. It's just a lot of samples per second. Currently the industry standard sample rate for digital audio is 44.1 kHz, or 44,100 samples of audio per second. Each sample of audio is a distinct piece of digital information that is stored as data and has a resolution of 16 bits. In audio, bits are the number of ones and zeroes used to describe the amplitude of analog wave form through Pulse Code Modulation. The more bits there are the more accurately the original analog waveform is represented.

I could get into much greater technical detail on all this digital audio stuff (the Nyquist theory & frequency response of human hearing, compression algorithms, loss of harmonics, anti-aliasing filters, etc) but the bottom line is that digital audio will never be as true to the original sounds coming out of the instruments as analog (vinyl or cassette) will. So in part, I agree with Bob.

Now that all that is out of the way, Bob is still insane. Modern music formats (CD, SACD, DVD, and other digital audio formats) are all crystal clear. Only trained professionals or audiophiles on a very good stereo or in a studio setting can differentiate between vinyl and CD. The average music listener hears music in their car, on headphones, or on computer speakers all of which cannot replicate the delicate details in a recording the way they are heard in the studio or on a premium stereo.

I'm not quite sure what Bob's big problem is here. Yes there is a harshness to Cd's due to some of the digital audio processing I mentioned above, but I'd like to see Dylan put a record player in his car. Or for him to take a jog and listen to music by strapping a turntable to his waist. Oh and by the way Bob, make sure you keep your records constantly at room temperature with low humidity so they don't warp. And make sure to keep them lint and scratch free by cleaning the vinyl before each play so they don't skip.

Eventually, I will buy a record player and get some classic albums on vinyl. Stuff that's meant to be listened to on vinyl like, "Darkside of the Moon", or "Abbey Road", or "Led Zeppelin IV". But for now Cd's seem to be doing alright by everyone but Mr. Dylan.

And I hope he's not talking about studio techniques. There is more control over the recording process now than you could ever imagine. You can tweak just about every element of sound now in a studio, whereas back in the day you got 6 mics and a two track stereo reel to reel tape recorder and went at it. Not an easy way to record. And if you hate modern recording techniques, I know there are some great studios out there with vintage tape machines, tube compressors, reverb plates, some great old handmade microphones and a nice big great sounding room you can record in.

I seriously hope Bob's not talking about the quality of music either. While I will agree that Rock n' Roll and music in general will most likely never be as good as it was in it's heyday, there are plenty of great new artists out there making good stuff. You just have to look a little harder for them. Let me remind Bob of some of the "atrocious" recordings of the past 20 years that he seems to look down upon so mightily from his high-horse:

“Joshua Tree” - U2
“Ten” - Pearl Jam
“Graceland” - Paul Simon
“Harvest Moon” - Neil Young
“OK Computer” - Radiohead
"Grace" - Jeff Buckley
"Nevermind" - Nirvana
"Appetite For Destruction" - Guns n' Roses
"Odelay" - Beck

Just a few that I thought I'd mention.

There was a famous man who once wrote "Oh the times they are a changin'". I think that famous man was named Bob Dylan. Maybe it's time to heed your own words you old coot.

- these thoughts flowed through Jeff's fingers @ 3:16 PM