Word: ballads
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Maybe Dylan believes in the early Christians. They were believable. The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest is the story of what happens to a modern hero who gets tempted as Christ was by the Devil in the wilderness. The hero, Frankie Lee, dies in a whorehouse that Judas Priest convinced him was some sort of heaven. In this one, Dylan twists his images a little more the way he used to. Frankie Lee is Dylan's conception of most people. "Nothing is revealed," says a little boy (Dylan) at the end. He is saying Frankie is revealed...
...Just so, the recorded voice of William Jennings Bryan seems to rub elbows with a fantasy concerning an ancient veteran of the Battle of Manila. And a talking blues for Edgar Allen Poe (which recounts the remarkable circumstances of his demise in Baltimore, Maryland) is followed by a mocking ballad for Lyndon Johnson, in high Nashville country style...
...Miles's slender, wavery trumpet tone never loses its quirky cool. Always listening intently to his direction are wizard apprentices, sorcerers in their own right. Tenorman Wayne Shorter composed four tunes on the album, notably the tense and shadowy Prince of Darkness. Drummer Tony Williams contributes a mysterious ballad as well as his inspired, erratic drum effects. Bassist Ron Carter lays the undertone for Pianist Herbie Hancock's inimitable brush strokes of color, while Miles quavers the quintessential, kaleidoscopic themes...
...melodic continuity set to disciplined rhythmics. The finest chapter of their musical book is in Verse, a rubato theme that moves into a flowing waltz tempo. Edging into the avant-garde on 8-4 Beat and Black Circle, the instrumentalists whirl gracefully around some unexpected chords. On the quiet ballad Summer Nights, vibes and piano trace shimmering patterns on the surface of a serene pool...
...that thousands of viewers also own high-powered stereo rig: suggests that they may well object to the feedback, spotty pickups or imbalances that occur when Carol Burnett drowns out Jack Jones in a duet, or the band on The Ed Sullivan Show blasts through a crooner's ballad. To compensate, about one-third of the singers on TV practice "lip sync"-mouthing the lyrics to a prerecorded sound track. But this leads to such unnatural sights as lips out of gear or Joey Heatherton dancing frantically and singing sweetly while her chest heaves like a half-miler...