The Record That Changed My Life: James Willamson on BOB DYLAN (1962)
I could actually name any Dylan album of the Sixties here, but no other album has turned my life so completely upside down like his debut did. Maybe we don’t sound like him, but even for The Stooges his approach was very important: Dylan wasn’t only endlessly talented, he was also the first Rock-musician who had no reverence for the past. That impressed me, as did his ability to express the thoughts of an entire generation with absolute clarity. Of course, he always resisted the perception that that was his intention, but I’m not quite buying it. I believe that he simply never cared about being honest when it came to judging his work or his image in public. He wanted to talk down his influence on the social movements of the 60s. But honestly: how can he really do that when he stood in the back of a pick-up truck, singing protest songs?
From a purely musical point of view, Dylan also coined wonderful, original chord progressions- for that matter, I have always tried to emulate him. I’m probably one of the few musicians who would really like to meet Dylan, simply to talk about his songwriting. I do not find him to be intimidating, but rather funny from today’s point of view. But my chances are pretty bad, he is a very private person who does not go out very often. That’s okay. Nobody can take the music away from me.
by James Williamson
(Read about other artists’ album choices and reviews here)
[…] of our songs he said: “That sounds like Gimme Danger from The Stooges– and you sound like James Williamson.” I didn’t know the Stooges back then and was quite pissed off: when you’re 14 you […]
‘House of The Rising Sun’ from that debut is my favorite Bob Dylan track, hauntingly beautiful.
Agree! My favourite ‘pre electric’ Dylan song!
Two great articles in one day! James Williamson is a fascinating guy. We don’t hear to many people cite the debut as a source of inspiration. Particularly not guitar players. But I’m glad he chose something different and it’s great to see the differences between iggy and James. Sometimes I struggle to imagine them both in the same band. Perfect Sunday morning reads.