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   9 <title>Down In The Groove (1988)</title>
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  15 <h1><img alt="Down in the Groove" src="../graphics/down.jpg" width="150" height="150" />
  16 Down In The Groove (1988)</h1>
  17
  18 <p class="recdate">Recorded: Aug 1986 to May 1987<br />
  19 Released: May 31, 1988</p>
  20 <div id="songs">
  21 <ol>
  22       <li><a href="lets_stick_together.htm">Let's Stick Together</a> </li>
  23       <li><a href="whendid.htm">When Did You Leave Heaven?</a> </li>
  24       <li><a href="sallysue.htm">Sally Sue Brown</a> </li>
  25       <li><a href="deathis.htm">Death Is Not The End</a> </li>
  26       <li><a href="hadadream.htm">Had A Dream About You Baby</a> </li>
  27       <li><a href="ugliest.htm">Ugliest Girl In The World</a> </li>
  28       <li><a href="silvio.htm">Silvio</a> </li>
  29       <li><a href="ninetymiles.htm">Ninety Miles An Hour (Down A Dead End Street)</a> </li>
  30       <li><a href="shenando.htm">Shenandoah</a> </li>
  31       <li><a href="rank_strangers.htm">Rank Strangers To Me</a> </li>
  32 </ol>
  33     <p>Outtake:</p><ul>
  34       <li><a href="../00_misc/important_words.htm">Important Words</a> </li>
  35     </ul>
  36 </div>
  37 <div id="intro">
  38 <h2>Introductory Remarks</h2>
  39     <h3>Eyolf &Oslash;strem</h3>
  40
  41     <p><em>Down in the Groove </em>came at a time when Dylan wasn't exactly
  42     at the zenith of his powers as a recording artist. His struggles with
  43     the modern recording techniques (at the time mostly resulting in lost
  44     battles), as well as a steadily decreasing audience since his religious
  45     trilogy, hadn't been good for his reputation. And <em>Down in the
  46         Groove </em>didn't make things much better.</p>
  47
  48 <p>It is probably one of the last albums people buy. And in my most
  49 critical moments I'm inclined to say: &ldquo;And for good reason.&rdquo;
  50 But still: the album has qualities, not only compared with <em>Knocked out
  51     Loaded</em>, which only has <em>one</em> quality (&ldquo;Brownsville
  52 Girl&rdquo;). </p>
  53
  54     <p>I'll return to the qualities in a moment. First a general overview:
  55     The six first songs, and eight out of ten songs on the album as a
  56     whole, are in the key of A major, most of them are fairly standard
  57     12-bar blues, with slight variations (such as the F#m in <a
  58         href="hadadream.htm">Had a Dream About You Baby</a>, which in this
  59     case is counterbalanced by the rather monotonous singing)(I didn't say
  60     it was bad, though). The main difference between <a
  61         href="lets_stick_together.htm">Let's Stick Together</a>, <a
  62         href="sallysue.htm">Sally Sue Brown</a>, <a
  63         href="hadadream.htm">Had A Dream About You Baby</a> and <a
  64         href="ugliest.htm">Ugliest Girl In The World</a> is the titles.</p>
  65
  66 <p><a href="deathis.htm">Death is Not the End</a> is, I think, the only
  67 Dylan song that has left a really bad taste in my mouth. It was a general
  68 joking subject around here, until someone wanted to borrow the album to
  69 play this song in his wife's funeral. They had heard it on the radio a few
  70 days before she died, probably the only time it was ever played on the
  71 radio. I pass her gravestone every day on my way to work. It hasn't changed
  72 my opinion about the song, I just don't laugh about it anymore.</p>
  73
  74     <p><a href="silvio.htm">Silvio</a> is a strange song in many ways. The
  75     lyrics by Grateful Dead-lyricist Robert Hunter are often referred to as
  76     typical Dylan-wannabe-writing. Be that as it may &ndash; on this album
  77     it compares favourably not only to the non-Dylan songs. For a very long
  78     time it was the regular ending of the first electric set of just about
  79     every show, which added to its strangeness: a song that for
  80     tape-collectors was a nuisance and a drag, as the eternal song no. 5,
  81     but which most others had never heard &ndash; who had got <em>Down in
  82         the Groove</em> apart from the collectors (the song request of all
  83     times: in Stockholm, June 9 1998 someone yelled out
  84     &ldquo;SILVIO&rdquo; after song nr. 4)? </p>
  85
  86     <p>Musically it is a carbon copy of <em>Isis</em>. That's perhaps not
  87     where the real genious of <em>Isis</em> lies, but it's a persistent
  88     little bugger of a riff.</p>
  89
  90     <p>The songs that are neither square rock'n'roll in A or &ldquo;Death
  91     is not the end&rdquo;, go to the other opposite &ndash; three of them
  92     are played in a very loose rhythm (<a href="whendid.htm">When Did You
  93         Leave Heaven?</a>, <a href="shenando.htm">Shenandoah</a>, <a
  94         href="ninetymiles.htm">Ninety Miles an Hour</a>). These are not
  95     only standing out, they are really outstanding. Sure enough, the
  96     drumming on &ldquo;When did you leave heaven&rdquo; is a bit strange,
  97     but that's forgiveable. &ldquo;Ninety miles&rdquo; is a perfect example
  98     of how to create an intensive pulse (quite fitting the lyrics) without
  99     a drum or even a fixed rhythm.</p>
 100
 101     <p>One song left, one performance, and what a performance! <a
 102         href="rank_strangers.htm">Rank Strangers To Me</a> is one of the
 103     reasons to have this one on CD &ndash; not because of the sound, but
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