Desolation Row | northumbrian : light

Different faces …

Posted on December 5, 2015 by northumbrianlight

… you would not think to look at him
That he was famous long ago
For playing electric violin
On Desolation Row

There is nothing that connects the above image with the next other than they are both block mounted, both have been yellowing in the attic and both were taken around the same time, in the late 1970s/early 1980s. I would guess they were taken with a Praktica L using one of the many lenses I carried together with my Dad’s Mamiyaflex – humping that lot about was like going to war and not conducive to capturing Cartier-Bresson’s ‘moment decisif’. This tousle-haired snub-nosed cherub is my eldest, Patrick – taking the controls of a helicopter at a Cornish air museum:

And finally, this one has absolutely no connection with the above. On Thursday I made the annual pilgrimage to Birmingham for the Motorcycle Live Show at the NEC. This young lady caught my attention – I cannot imagine why 😉 A modern day Loren, she could only grace the Ducati stand:

As I type this, the wind is blasting around the house, the rain lashing at the window and I fully expect the power to go off at any moment.

Highway 61 Revisited

Posted on August 31, 2015 by northumbrianlight

Highway 61 Revisited was released on 30th August 1965. It is now more than fifty years old and yet, it still sounds as fresh as when I first heard it, hidden away in my bedroom – turn that awful music down Robin – this minute! Except it wasn’t awful and I didn’t – so the rebellion began.

Michael Gray, author of the first critical study of Dylan’s work, Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan, argues that the sixties started with this album. By contrast, Joe Boyd suggests the sixties began in the summer of 1956, ended in October of 1973 and peaked just before dawn on 1st July 1967 (from his memoir, White Bicycles).

I was born too late. My sixties began on 25th April 1969 and ended on 6th October 1973. Regardless of beginnings and endings, it is certain that this album and these songs were an essential part of the mix. I remain eternally grateful for its sound and influence, so this post is a brief tribute: