Boston Harold Podcast

New music from Robyn Hitchcock, Emma Swift's 'Blonde on the Tracks,' and Kimberley Rew. By Harold Lepidus For fans of Robyn Hitchcock and his extended musical family, some exciting news! The self-proclaimed cult figure is working on Midnight Tram to Nowhere, the full-length follow-up to his critically acclaimed eponymous 2017 album, scheduled for release in 2021. He’s recording it in East Nashville, where he shares a home with his partner Emma Swift, who has a new album of Bob Dylan covers, Blonde on the Tracks. Kimberely Rew, Hitchcock’s former band mate in the Soft Boys, also has a couple of recent releases of note. The Man Downstairs (Tiny Ghost Records) UPDATE : Hitchcock has just announced the release of The Man Downstairs: Demos & Rarities , a collection of originals and covers unused on the Joe Boyd-produced The Man Upstairs , including Hitchcockian takes on "Born In Time" by Bob Dylan, Nick Drake's "River Man," Syd Barrett's "A...

 Harold Lepidus, July 16, 2020 (c) On today's Boston Harold (Video) Podcast, I welcome Mojo Magazine' s Michael Simmons. His many accomplishments include writing the liner notes for Bob Dylan's Another Self Portrait: Bootleg Series Volume 10,  as well as a compilation of original Dylan masters called The Music Which Inspired Girl From the North Country , Michael Bloomfield's  From His Head to His Heart to His Hands box set   (produced by his friend Al Kooper), plus releases by Kris Kristofferson, Phil Ochs, Kinky Friedman, Arthur Lee & Love, Gary Stewart, Paul Krassner, and a Mose Allison tribute.  Simmons wrote a review of the new Bob Dylan album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, for the August issue of Mojo magazine, which is currently available in some areas of the world, with U.S. imports on the way (although one may have to look extra hard to find it during these rough and rowdy days). Here we talk about that album, how he got into Dylan and music journalism, ...

Bob Dylan, "STREET-LEGAL," and the Ghost of Elvis  by Harold Lepidus. #WOBD2019 A recreation of my presentation at  THE WORLD OF BOB DYLAN SYMPOSIUM,  Tulsa, OK, May/June, 2019.  Please share and subscribe ...  Credit: SONY Thanks! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdNJkersUFM&feature=youtu.be

BOB DYLAN CONFRONTS HIS OWN LEGACY ON “ROUGH AND ROWDY WAYS” “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about” - Oscar Wilde In “I Contain Multitudes,” the opening number on his new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways, Bob Dylan tells us something we already know. He is a man of contradictions, which he has previously attributed to his astrological sign, Gemini. In interviews, when asked about anything, his answers, like his songs, are almost always a surprise, coming out of nowhere, and heading somewhere unexpected. Offbeat observations and suspicious disclosures. Has he ever uttered the phrase, “Yes, I agree with you?” If he has, would he have been putting us on? When he is praised, he deflects. When imitators steal him blind, he is not flattered. On this song, and album, Dylan finally owns up to his own legacy. Rough and Rowdy Ways, like much of Dylan’s output, is a protest album. What’s he protestin’? Whadaya got? Twenty years ago, if not 50, Bob Dylan had already r...

(Credit: bobdylan.com) (Credit: Jonathan Cape/MacMIllan) “Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” - Bob Dylan, “Gotta Serve Somebody,” 1979 “You’ve got to serve yourself” - John Lennon, “Serve Yourself,” in response. Official Video On the evening of March 26, 2020, I made the mistake of going to bed at 11 p.m. At about 3:30 a.m., I woke up, and against everyone's best advice about sleep hygiene, I checked my phone for messages.  It was “blowin’ up,” as they say in today’s vernacular.  Late Show With Stephen Colbert Unexpectedly, Bob Dylan had posted a recording of his first original composition since 2012’s Tempest album. The song was called “Murder Most Foul,” with a portrait of President John F. Kennedy as the only image on the official You Tube video. This snappy little toe-tapper is currently number one - his first #1 single ever!  - on one of those new co...