This was only my 2nd time ever listening to this CD. I know this because I remember the 1st time fairly well--even if I don't remember where I was, I remember what I was doing: wandering the streets of a Spanish city (probably Sevilla, but it might have been Granada, Córdoba or even Barcelona) listening on my Discman & wondering what the hell kind of album I had just bought. Aside from the small print on the cover that says "Bob Dylan Soundtrack," this is presented as a regular studio album by Dylan. I knew that it came somewhere between New Morning & Blood on the Tracks, both of which I loved. But this is not a Dylan album. This is a movie soundtrack written & performed by Bob Dylan, with a grand total of 2 actual songs on it, 1 of which is repeated in 3 different incarnations. A bit puzzled & a bit disappointed, after it ended I took the CD out of my Discman & never listened to it again.
In retrospect, as a stranger wandering through a strange town like a mythical cowboy hero was a great way to first experience this album, & I wish I had been a little less beholden to my expectations & a little more open to what the CD had to offer. I should say that I've never been much of a movie score listener: I love film music in the context of films, but as a listening experience I have trouble concentrating. Music that is written specifically to accompany visuals tends to have a hard time standing on its own. A lot of people like it for mood-setting background music or for its hypnotic repetitive qualities, both of which are roles the plucky acoustic guitar textures on this disc serve well. I should also add that I haven't seen the film. Sam Peckinpah has a great reputation among cinephiles, but I've only ever watched The Wild Bunch & Straw Dogs, neither of which I liked very much.
I know Dylan wrote & recorded a lot more songs for these sessions (1 of which was a fragment called "Rock Me Mama" that ended up being completed 30 years later by Old Crow Medicine Show & released as "Wagon Wheel"). I would almost like 2 different albums: one with all the songs, & another pure instrumental soundtrack album. Contrary to how I felt about it 20 years ago, today I think the songs with vocals seem out of place among the instrumental mood pieces.
Of course, one of those songs with vocals is "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," which I'm sure is one of Dylan's most iconic (& most covered) songs. I don't have anything to say about it here that hasn't already been said, except that this was the first time I've deliberately played this song in many years (as opposed to hearing it on the radio or whatever) & it was a lot shorter than I remembered. Anyway, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid the album is probably remembered by most people as "the album with 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' plus a bunch of other stuff," but the other song with lyrics, "Billy," is interesting too. This was an era when movies would have musical montages where pop singers would sing directly to the characters ("Billy they don't like you to be so free.") It's a decent song, & Dylan has abandoned his Nashville Skyline croon in favor of the throaty howl he started to transition to on New Morning. Unfortunately, we have to hear this song in 3 different versions, the last of which he sings in a gravelly growl that I suspect might be an attempt to sound like Kris Kristofferson, who stars in the film.
When it comes to the instrumental stuff, the musicianship is at a very high level, particularly Booker T.'s bass playing. The opening track sets the tone, with its acoustic guitar melodies & insistent tambourine. The next few tracks are all variations on that theme: 3-chord strummy guitar foundations for dusty picked melodies. This repetitiveness (both within the songs & between them) can certainly become hypnotic, but it can also become boring. Thankfully it switches up a bit on "Bunkhouse Theme," the best & most harmonically complex of the instrumental tracks, which is a guitar duet between Dylan picking restless arpeggios & Carol Hunter exploring with her 12-string.
No, I won't be playing this album again for a while. It's still kinda weird & unsatisfying & not really my thing. But today I can at least appreciate it for what it is. Next time I'm floating around a strange European city, wandering beneath Roman archways & over stone bridges & through narrow alleys lined with stout doors of raw oak, I hope I'll have remembered to bring it.
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