Country Bob, but Still Incredible
Zachary Hackett | Reno, Nevada | 04/22/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This record opens with a haunting version of "Girl from the North Country," which Dylan sings with Johnny Cash. Haunting to be sure, because any song sung by Mr. Cash was haunting, but this one, with Dylan using his new countrified voice was even more so, spooky. This song alone is worth buying the album for. "Girl" is followed by the instrumental "Nashville Skyline Rag," which I've heard said is a reworking of the instrumental "The Cough Song," which first appeared on the "Stealin'" bootleg. I don't know if that's true, but it's a doggone good guitar piece.
And, of course, everybody knows "Lay Lady Lay" which was kind of a top forty hit and is still played on classic rock stations all over the world. It's a good song, but I like "I Threw it All Away" and "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You," better. This is a country album. "John Wesley Harding" with its country musicians leaned that way, but "Nashville Skyline" got all the way there and Dylan would stay country for two more records (some would say three), then he'd burst back on the rock scene with a vengeance. Still, country or not, this is a five star piece of work. Yes, Dylan did country, but he did it very, very well."
Bob Dylan Goes Country
Danielle Lane | Horseshoe, North Carolina | 04/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a nice record, good to put on when you want to relax with a glass of wine and a good book. I know that's not the usual way one would listen to a Dylan record, but this is not a usual Dylan record. "Nashville Skyline" is full of uplifting, twangy songs, plus it has the Dylan mega hit on it, "Lay, Lady Lay which has always been a favorite of mine. I also like "Peggy Day" an awful lot as well as the duet Dylan sings with Johnny Cash, "Girl From the North Country." That song is just sublime. "Tonight I'll be Staying Here With You," is another sublime song about the narrator's lost love that will pull a tear from the driest eye, if you're a sentimental girl like me anyway. Then there is "Tell Me that it isn't True" another song about lost love, well a love about to be lost anyway, as the narrator is asking his girl about another man. Yes this is, at least up to now, a totally new direction for Bob Dylan, but it's a direction I kind of like."
Oh Me, Oh My!
Ophella Paige | Reno, Nevada | 04/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Dylan goes country and he does it well. This is a record far too short. Good songs here, but not enough of them. It seems like you've just put the CD in the player and it's over. But other than the fact that there isn't as much music here as on a normal Dylan CD, I have no complaints. Dylan is in fine voice here, sort of a country, high pitched twang that works very nicely. He tells these songs of love and loss with such sincerity, such honesty. But then he attacks everything he does that way, so it should be no surprise. This is just a wonderful, if a bit too short, record."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1