by Jochen Markhorst
XI “Dylan opted for the slower version”
The many similar stories of studio musicians over the decades, the specific memories of the H61 sessions of Frank Owens, Al Kooper, Harvey Brooks and Michael Bloomfield, and our own ears: it seems clear now that we owe the sudden, extraordinary, mercurial beauty descending on “Phantom Engineer” after lunch to the banal fact that Kooper and Bloomfield deliberately slowed down a bit to introduce both newcomers to the song.
Al Kooper especially then: although Kooper is listed as the organist, the afternoon session is the first and only “Phantom Engineer” session without an organ. And the first and only session with acoustic guitar. An acoustic guitar with a guiding role even: the opening is for that guitar, which thus sets tempo and groove for the whole song. It seems obvious that that is Al Kooper; not only because we no longer hear the organ, but also because the guitar is played suspiciously “clean” with that undylanesque frivolous tinkle on the high strings, and because the guitar is actually Kooper’s weapon of choice. After all, Kooper only sneaked behind the organ at the time because he saw his hopes of joining a Dylan session dashed when Dylan came in with Mike Bloomfield;
“The guy just shuffled over into the corner, wiped it off with a rag, plugged in, and commenced to play some of the most incredible guitar I’d ever heard. And he was just warming up! That’s all the Seven Lick Kid had to hear; I was in over my head. I embarrassedly unplugged, packed up, went into the control room, and sat there pretending to be a reporter from Sing Out! magazine.”
(Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards – Al Kooper, 1998)
But that was six weeks before today, that was at that legendary “Like A Rolling Stone” session. Meanwhile, Kooper has penetrated the inner circle, we survived the Battle of Newport together, and Dylan insists on having him at the H61 sessions – by now he does dare to pick up a guitar again despite Bloomfield being around. In addition, we hear Dylan playing his most concentrated and lyrical harmonica solos of all the sessions; apparently he has his hands free.
So a different scenario from that which Tony Glover would have us believe, with that anecdote about Dylan toiling at the piano while the others are gone for lunch. Unlikely anyway as Glover explicitly mentions Dylan sitting at the piano – if Dylan were to be the architect of the mood swing, the tempo slowdown and the quicksilver of the post-lunch performances, he surely would have designed his conversions on the guitar and then demonstrated them to the returning colleagues on the guitar as well – after all, the acoustic guitar is now the conductor. It is more plausible that Glover watched Dylan merely trying to incorporate and try out his radical textual changes – and indeed, the piano suffices for that.
In this more obvious scenario, Kooper then sets the pace, in all likelihood out of collegial concern: to give Harvey Brooks and Frank Owens some time to get to know the song and give them room to find a fill-in – Dylan never says anything, after all. A producer-like role to which Kooper seems naturally inclined. A few months later, in Nashville during the recording for Blonde On Blonde, that role is assigned to him more explicitly and semi-officially – Kooper and Dylan practising the songs, the two of them by themselves in the hotel room, Dylan then reporting to the studio only after Kooper has set the song up for Charlie McCoy and the rest of the Nashville Cats. But today, then, it seems to be a first, spontaneous action on his own initiative.
It Takes a Lot to Laugh – penultimate take:
After Harvey Brooks‘ name, however, despite Brooks’ own recollection, we still should put a question mark. It really still seems to be the same bassist as the bassist on the “Phantom Engineer” and “Tombstone Blues” takes of the morning session, i.e. still Russ Savakus; up to and including the last, final take, we hear the grinding of the strings against the frets. It is not until the following song, “Positively 4th Street”, that we hear a completely different sound and a completely different approach to the bass. Suddenly, we no longer hear a single grind, in any of the three complete takes, nor in any of the four breakdowns. Instead, we now hear a warm, cool swinging and remarkably unobtrusive, servient bass. This is definitely a different bass player – so “Positively 4th Street” must be marking the switch from Savakus to Brooks.
Positively 4th Street – 1st complete take:
Guitarist Michael Bloomfield, meanwhile, seems to be taking Al Kooper’s cue. Gone are the sharp licks and energetic exclamations. Instead, after lunch, Bloomfield plays a truly servile, country-like, melody-following part. Modest fills, no solo and even a hint of an occasional Bakersfield twang… in all three complete takes of that decisive afternoon session, Bloomfield gracefully leaves plenty of room for Dylan’s harmonica and Owens’ piano.
Just as gracefully Kooper conceals years later, when he writes his autobiography Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards, that he is the architect of the change of direction that turned out so sublimely:
“When I’d played on Highway 61 Revisited, we’d cut some songs two or three times with different arrangements each time. One such song was Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh It Takes a Train to Cry.” We originally recorded it as a fast tune, but Dylan opted for the slower version cut a few days later as the keeper for his album. I pulled out the fast arrangement and taught it to everyone and we had song number two.”
So: “Dylan opted for the slower version,” as Kooper reminisces about his first struggles with repertoire for the legendary LP Super Session, the record he makes in 1968 with Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. And with Harvey Brooks, by the way, who contributes the atmospheric, jazzy closing track “Harvey’s Tune”. That same Side 2 then opens with Kooper’s reinterpretation of “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry”. It’s a still radiant, goosebump-inducing cover that effortlessly succeeds in defending its place in the Top 5 Best “It Takes A Lot” Covers. Thanks to Stephen Stills‘ guitar and Harvey Brooks’ superb, electrifying bass playing. Playing what needs to be played. Once again demonstrating that a Dylan song stands or falls with the artistry of the hired workers.
Bloomfield, Kooper, Stills – It Takes A Lot To Laugh:
To be continued. Next up It Takes A Lot Part 12: You don’t whistle in church
Jochen is a regular reviewer of Dylan’s work on Untold. His books, in English, Dutch and German, are available via Amazon both in paperback and on Kindle:
- Blood on the Tracks: Dylan’s Masterpiece in Blue
- Blonde On Blonde: Bob Dylan’s mercurial masterpiece
- Where Are You Tonight? Bob Dylan’s hushed-up classic from 1978
- Desolation Row: Bob Dylan’s poetic letter from 1965
- Basement Tapes: Bob Dylan’s Summer of 1967
- Mississippi: Bob Dylan’s midlife masterpiece
- Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
- John Wesley Harding: Bob Dylan meets Kafka in Nashville
- Tombstone Blues b/w Jet Pilot: Dylan’s lookin’ for the fuse
- Street-Legal: Bob Dylan’s unpolished gem from 1978
- Bringing It All Back Home: Bob Dylan’s 2nd Big Bang
- Time Out Of Mind: The Rising of an Old Master
- Crossing The Rubicon: Dylan’s latter-day classic
- Nashville Skyline: Bob Dylan’s other type of music
- Nick Drake’s River Man: A very British Masterpiece
- I Contain Multitudes: Bob Dylan’s Account of the Long Strange Trip
- Bob Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways – Side B
- Bob Dylan’s High Water (for Charley Patton)
- Bob Dylan’s 1971
- Like A Rolling Stone b/w Gates Of Eden: Bob Dylan kicks open the door