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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 37, No. 16. July 10, 1974

Records

Records

Planet Waves: Bob Dylan Asylum. 1974.

"Planet Waves" is an album eminently worthy of attention as it heralds the return from relative seclusion of Bob Dylan, bursting with "Joie de vivre", and putting down a collection of lovesongs together with his old friends. The Baud. It has the same invigorating simplicity of "Nashville Skyline" and "New Morning" and in keeping with the tradition of "highway 61 Revisited" and "John Wesley Harding" has those same esoteric and elusive lines on the cover telling of Goya cashing his chips in when Joshua brought the house down and glassy-eyed priests in overalls jumping off fire engines and getting killed On motor-cycles, whatever.

Robbie-Robertson and The Hand back Dylan extremely well and almost take the attention off him, proving that, as of old, they are still the only musicians who could do such a garangantuan task, and do it well. The Dylan/ Band relationship is a much experienced and encouraging one, each one providing incentive for the other to take their musical expression onto new and high planes, though at the same time never discarding that solidly based feel that both styles engender.

It is easy to become cynical and condescending with lovesong type music when it is considered just how cliched and putrid that music has become, but when a musician like Dylan puts down that music, cynicism is soon forgotten, and replaced by respect and appreciation. He is no crooner but a person whose difficult personal searching has led him through the stages of realisation, each step highlighted by a previous album, to the couclusion that his type of fulfillment is in a stable relationship with love as its cornerstone.

The music on "Planet Waves" is simple though very appealing. Dylan's rasping voice sings about his good tunes, his harmonica and acoustic punctuating his lines with mercurial sounds. Robbic Robertson gets everybody right up there with clever use of his lead guitar, partnering Rick Dauko who drives into the gaps with inventive base riffs. Garth Hudson plays his organ so as to give Dylan's lyrics that added touch at sincerity, and Richard Manual is responsible for the very bluesy piano notes. The tracks are all original material, and "Going, going, gone", "Hazel", and "Wedding Son" just go to show how damned beautiful they are. H. Lawrence's elemental tension is present in the lyrics and T.S. Eliot and William Make make fleeting appearances, well disguised by words, just as on "Bringing it all Back Home" in 1965.

"Planet Waves" shows Dylan has had enough of treading soft ground, and as he says—"I'm not here to remake the world, or lead the battle cry, I'm just here to love you." his house is built on hard ground now.

Artwork of a ghoul-like creature with a large ear

Max Bruch—Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor and Scottish fantasia: Kyung-Wha Chung (soloist) with the Royal Philharmonic conducted

Max Bruch (1838-1920) is best known for his first violin concert, a success at its first performance and still popular today. He wasn't a virtuoso violin player himself, yet this concerto is demanding on any soloist. The concerto's form is somewhat unusual; although it consists of three movements, the first two are joined, there is no cadenza as such and movement one is almost simply an introduction to the very melodic adagio. The final movement (allegro energico) exploits the violin to the full with difficult runs and double-stopping passages.

In this recording Kyung-Wha Chung makes light work of all the inherent difficulties. Her performance is hard to fault, except for a certain lack of strength in places during the final movement. She is at her best however in the more melodic sections; her phrasing is very lyrical.

The second movement, as a whole, is conducted slightly to slowly, and this makes it seem rather long winded. The final movement however doesn't flag at all. Kyung Wha Chung's playing in the Scottish Fantasia is just as good as her interpretation of the Concerto. Her attack is strong throughout, but once again she seems happier with the lyrical, slower sections; though this isn't to say she's not technically capable of performing the taster, extremely difficult parts. In many ways the Fantasia is more difficult, to play than the Concerto and this could be one reason why it is less popular.

The overall impression of the LP is highly favourable, and offers further evidence of the talents of the Chung family. Myung-Whan, KyungWha's brother is a very capable pianist who visited New Zealand only a few months ago.