Bob Dylan - We Better Talk This Over

The show behind us, but still ringing in my ears, we move on back to kickin the funkiest jams from all genres.  To take us there is our old friend and musical mastermind Zach Ainsley, diggin up unknown classics to show you new things in places you thought you knew.

To label anything Bob Dylan has produced as “underrated” is a bit of a misnomer. From his first steps on the path blazed by Woody Guthrie to the southern-tinged grumbles of his latest album, the man has consistently churned out masterpieces. Take a peek at any serious rock critic's “all-time best albums” list and you will undoubtedly find records such Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks, and Highway 61 Revisited jockeying for position near the top. What you will likely not find, however, is 1978's underrated (there's that word again) jam-fest Street Legal.

Those of you (and by you I mean people higher up on your family tree) who shed a tear when Dylan went electric may want to avoid this album, as it certainly is not Bob's folkiest affair. What it is is unapologetic and soul-bearing Rock 'n Roll featuring a chorus of backup singers that melt my heart and move my butt every time they echo Dylan's words.

As my gun-to-the-head best jam pick, I submit We Better Talk This Over, which not only poignantly sums up a failed relationship, but encapsulates the tone and spirit that runs through Street Legal. While the song is told from the perspective of a man who is clearly beat-down and love-sick, it is anything but a weepy ballad. As Dylan opens the song with “I think we better talk this over/maybe when we both get sober” he has instantly struck a chord with anyone who has ever known the ups and downs of a serious relationship. Moreover, as the groovy riff and the “Ahh Ahhs” of the accompanying vocals hit, he has instantly struck a chord with anyone who has ever who decided to turn their stereo to 10 and bust a serious move.

We Better Talk This Over may not have the political firepower of Masters of War or speak of lost love with the force of Shelter From the Storm, but what it does have is the ability to resonate not only in the chambers of your heart, but in the soles of your dancing shoes. Talk This Over is what happens when the greatest lyricist of all-time decides to make a break-up song so catchy that he almost makes you want to be dumped....if only by someone this funky. Though, as Dylan says, “thats not likely to happen/like the sound of one hand clappin."

  We Better Talk This Over-Bob Dylan  by  jamandahalf